Paradise Alley (1978)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Sylvester Stallone

Writer:

Sylvester Stallone (written by)

Release Date:

22 September 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The Carboni Boys. They haul ice, lay out stiffs and dance with monkeys.

Plot:

Three Italian-American brothers, living in the slums of 1940's New York, try to help each other with one's wrestling career using one brother's promotional skills and another brother's con-artist tactics to tho wart a sleazy manager. |

Plot Keywords:

Italian American | Con Artist | Wrestling | New York | Street Performer

Cast

Sylvester Stallone	...	Cosmo Carboni
Lee Canalito	...	Victor Carboni
Armand Assante	...	Lenny Carboni
Frank McRae	...	Big Glory
Anne Archer	...	Annie
Kevin Conway	...	Stitch
Terry Funk	...	Frankie the Thumper
Joyce Ingalls	...	Bunchie
Joe Spinell	...	Burp
Aimée Eccles	...	Susan Chow
Tom Waits	...	Mumbles
Chick Casey	...	Doorman
James J. Casino	...	Paradise Bartender
Fredi O. Gordon	...	Paradise Alley Hooker
Lydia Goya	...	Bar Room Hooker #1

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:18 (1979) | Iceland:12 | Australia:M | West Germany:18 | Netherlands:16 | Sweden:15 | Australia:PG (DVD rating) | Finland:K-16 | USA:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Image Ten

Trivia:

Tom Waits' acting debut.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Cosmo drives Victor's ice truck up on the curb, the back panels fall of before they crash through the window. As the drive away, the wood panels are still on the truck.

Quotes:

[to his gang about Victor]
Stitch: That guy's too stupid to be scared. He's a primitive.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Just Your Luck (1996) (V)

Soundtrack:

(Meet Me in) Paradise Alley

Paradise Alley is where you go when you have no where else to turn to.

Stallone's Paradise Alley is not a perfect movie. But it is fun and entertaining to watch Stallone try and come into his own as a filmmaker. It's only natural after Writing Rocky that STallone would get interested in actually making a movie that would be his entirely from start to finish and is it good? Well Yes it is good the acting is very watchable and the Carboni brothers are easy enough to cheer on. BUT. Some things are not explained enough or some characters suddenly change their nature in the middle of the film and it's things like this that make you wonder if you missed a scene or two. Assante in his first film role has a incredible debut and let's face it HE Steals The show from Stallone at times. Stallones's Cosmo is a easy enough loser /con man to actually cheer for or to indenified with after all who hasn't actually tried to run a con at one point in their lives? Terry Funk delivers a sinister performance as Frankie the Thumper. And Kevin Conway delivers just as good of a performance here as he does as Vince Doyle in F.I.S.T. A incredibly good actor of great range. Stallone mixes it all into Paradise Alley love Chaos Action Comedy and enough pathos to remind us of the sad value of life that others exploit for their ends. Stallone also delivers a wonderful surprisingly Theme Song To his Film Too close to paradise. A good film hard to forget after you've seen it and worthy enough to be remembered.