Sylvester Stallone’s Netflix documentary Sly is a hit, landing on the streamer’s latest global top ten movies chart. The star of the hugely successful Rocky and Rambo franchises returned to movie theaters in 2023 with the action-packed Expendables 4, and should be back on the small screen soon with Tulsa King season 2. In the meantime, Netflix has released a well-received documentary covering Stallone’s life, reaching back in time to his obscure beginnings, recalling his meteoric rise to global superstar status with the release of Rocky and charting his later ups-and-downs as a Hollywood heavyweight.
There is indeed no doubt that the legendary Stallone retains the ability to captivate an audience, as evidenced by the success of Sly, which has landed on Netflix’s global top ten movies chart, checking in at number 7 for the week ending November 5. According to the streamer’s numbers, Sly logged 7.5 million hours viewed and 4.7 million views.
Sly Boasts Many Rambo, Rocky and Schwarzenegger Revelations
In addition to providing a compelling overview of Stallone’s career, Sly also amply feeds its audience’s appetite for behind-the-scenes nuggets, offering up several fun revelations about the star’s most famous movies. A big reveal from Stallone himself concerns the physical toll exacted upon him by filming of The Expendables, an ordeal that he says changed his approach to work. “Truthfully, I’ve never fully recovered from Expendables 1,” he says in the doc. “It did such a number on my body, I’ve never been the same.”
Stallone’s rival Arnold Schwarzenegger received his own three-part Netflix documentary, Arnold, in summer of 2023.
In another revealing Sly moment, the star talks about making the 1978 movie F.I.S.T., in which his character dies at the end, and how the experience convinced him to avoid letting his characters be killed. “I just hate sad endings,” Stallone said, adding, “Shoot me!” More revelations come from Stallone’s rival Arnold Schwarzenegger, who talks in the documentary about their famous ‘80s feud (via People):
“We were like little kids. Who uses bigger knives? Who uses the biggest guns and holds them in one arm? Who has more muscles, who has more muscle definition, who has less body fat?”
Such BTS stories, and other gems from Stallone’s 50-year-plus Hollywood career, are a big part of why Sly has now become a top ten global hit on Netflix.