One of the most beloved sports film series of all time, Rocky, stands as a bastion among inspirational underdog stories. The eponymous small-time boxer’s (Sylvester Stallone) heavyweight bout against the world champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) is arguably the most iconic fight in all of cinema — but that’s not even the sole reason why the film is considered to be so legendary. At the time of writing the film, Stallone was broke and on the brink of giving up his acting career. But like his iconic character, Sly worked tirelessly and capitalized on his opportunities to make one of the best films of all time — one that he not only starred in, but wrote and directed! However, for all the praise levied towards Rocky and Stallone’s career breakthrough, his rise to stardom had its fair share of misses, too. Before Rocky II was released in 1979, Stallone worked on another sports drama, Paradise Alley, which was far less triumphant than his first directorial outing. Similar to Rocky, Paradise Alley explored the underdog, Cinderella-story motif, but suffered from a complicated production that resulted in a final product that didn’t quite make it out of the ring with the heavyweight belt.
What Is Sylvester Stallone’s ‘Paradise Alley’ About?
Paradise Alley follows the Carboni brothers, a trio of Italian American siblings living in Hell’s Kitchen, New York in the 1940s. Capitalizing on the size and strength of their youngest brother, Victor (Lee Canalito), Cosmo (Stallone) and Lenny (Armand Assante) persuade him into joining a professional wrestling circuit. Similarly to Rocky, though the story is framed by a sports story about an up-and-coming wrestler, the heart of the film is the interpersonal connection between the three brothers, each of whom have their own distinct personalities and motivations that both bring them together, and push them apart.
While they all share the same desire to improve their lives and escape their negative circumstances, their approaches to this endeavor lead to some interesting contrasts. Where Cosmo is more of a hustler, eager to weave and con his way into profit, Lenny is more stalwart, a former war hero suffering from the consequences of his deployment. Caught between the two is Victor, the most well-meaning of the trio and a gentler soul, despite his imposing physical stature. Though the contrast between these characters is already an interesting premise, the movie sees Cosmo and Lenny undergo dramatic character shifts that add tension and complexity to the story. The two managing brothers reflect the best and worst of each other, serving as narrative foils that add depth and complexity to the story. As Lenny becomes more exploitative of Victor, Cosmo begins to feel remorse over the physical pain inflicted on his younger brother because of his machinations. But there are matches to be won, and so the brothers are forced to find a way to win, and a way to escape the trappings of their current lives.
Sylvester Stallone Wrote ‘Paradise Alley’ Before ‘Rocky’
Though Paradise Alley was made after Rocky, Stallone had actually been working on the professional wrestling story long before he had ever thought of the Italian Stallion. Stallone had originally written Paradise Alley as a novel, before adapting it into a screenplay and signing it off to a producer. However, before the film was made, Stallone met with producers Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler, developing a strong relationship that directly led to the creation of Rocky. In a Q&A panel, Stallone shared that the reason he wrote Rocky was specifically because Paradise Alley was already committed to the previous producer. “I optioned the screenplay of Paradise Alley to a real… how should I say this… maggot, who put his hooks in so deep I could never get it away from him. So the first time I went in to meet Chartoff and Winkler, I was there on an acting job. I didn’t get it, but on the way out I said, “I have this screenplay called Paradise Alley.”
Stallone continued, “They wanted to make it, but the other cretin that I had optioned it to was so obnoxious, so overbearing, that the producers wanted nothing to do with me or the screenplay. So on the way out, they said, ‘If you have any ideas, we’d be happy to look at them.’ …The door of opportunity was wide open and I had nothing to carry over its threshold. That’s when I started to write Rocky. So thank God for the maggot; otherwise I never would’ve written the story of Mr. Balboa.” Rocky won the Academy Award for Best Picture to establish itself as one of the most iconic sports films of all time. After the success of that film, Stallone got his opportunity to bring Paradise Alley to the silver screen as well, but the results were far less triumphant.
Stallone Wasn’t Happy With ‘Paradise Alley’s Theatrical Cut
Unfortunately, Paradise Alley was not well received by fans or critics alike, barely avoiding being a complete box-office bomb but paling in comparison to his more successful work. In an interview with Robert Ebert, Stallone holds himself accountable for the film’s poor reception, admitting to acquiescing to so many edits that it greatly altered the final product from his original vision. He recounted: “There were a lot of scenes in there to give atmosphere and character, and they wanted them out just to speed things along. They removed 40 scenes, altogether. I put 10 of them back in for the version shown on TV. For example, the whole sequence of the soldier without legs, sitting on a bar eating peanuts.” While many of these scenes weren’t as action packed as others in the film, their presence would have created a more consistent, overarching tone, allowing the movie to move at a more natural pace. The edits wouldn’t end with the theatrical version, however, as in an interesting decision, the 1990 release of Paradise Alley in the Philippines featured the hit MC Hammer song “U Can’t Touch This” on its soundtrack. Sly’s thoughts on this creative direction are undetermined.
While Paradise Alley may not have been Stallone’s breakthrough work as he originally intended, it’s still an irreplaceable part of his storied movie career. But even if the critically panned film was a right hook for the rising movie star, Stallone himself exemplified the themes of resilience that he encouraged in his films through his continued perseverance with future projects. And as Rocky says, “It’s not about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” And it’s a good thing that Stallone kept moving forward.
Paradise Alley is available to watch on Prime Video in the U.S.