Although Sylvester Stallone initially struggled to establish his career, he earned popularity after writing and portraying the titular character in 1976’s Rocky. Over the years, the actor penned five sequels, solidifying his place as one of America’s top actors.
By the 1980s, Sylvester Stallone was also well-known for his portrayal of action hero John Rambo in First Blood and its succeeding sequels, which he co-wrote. Despite a distinguished career, Sylvester Stallone’s early parts were mostly uncredited, including cameos in Jane Fonda’s Klute, Woody Allen’s Bananas, and Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H. Meanwhile, he was ushering people into movie theatres, immersing himself in a world he would later rule.
With a strong desire to write, his scripts eventually enabled him to pursue his desired vocation.
Sylvester Stallone rose to prominence as one of Hollywood’s most recognizable action stars. However, the release of Rocky V in 1990 was a box-office flop, largely regarded as the franchise’s worst installment. The next year, Stallone starred in Oscar, another box-office flop. The period comedy, directed by John Landis, the author of An American Werewolf in London, was a critical and commercial disappointment, garnering Stallone, a Golden Raspberry nomination for ‘Worst Actor’.
The film featured Sylvester Stallone in a comic role rather than his regular tough-guy attitude as seen in the Rocky and Rambo movies. Despite flopping at the movie office, Stallone attempted another comedy in 1992 with Roger Spottiswoode’s buddy police film Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.
The film received unanimously negative reviews after making $70 million worldwide. Sylvester Stallone agreed to participate in the film after learning that his infamous action opponent, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was interested in the role. In 2017, however, the latter admitted that he feigned interest in the film in order to entice Stallone to accept the “really bad” script.
During a panel at Beyond Fest, he explained: “I read the script. It was so bad. You know, I’ve also done some movies that went right in the toilet, right? That were bad. But this was really bad. So I went in – this was during our war – I said to myself, ‘I’m going to leak out that I have tremendous interest.’ I know the way it works in Hollywood. I would then ask for a lot of money. So then they’d say, ‘Let’s go give it to Sly. Maybe we can get him for cheaper.’”
Schwarzenegger added: “He went for it! He totally went for it. A week later, I heard about it, ‘Sly is signing now to do this movie.’ And I said, [pumps fist] ‘Yes!’” The result was a terribly unsuccessful movie on all fronts. For Stallone, the film is one that he’d much rather forget.
Sylvester Stallone mentioned Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot in 2006, noting that it was “by far the worst film I’ve ever made… possibly one of the worst films in the entire solar system, including alien movies we’ve never seen… Stop! It could have been written by a flatworm. Otherwise, my mother will shoot.
In other nations, such as China, running Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot once a week on official television has resulted in a zero birth rate. If they ran it twice a week, I believe China would be extinct in twenty years. Does that help put things into perspective?”
Check out the Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, featuring Sylvester Stallone’s trailer below.
