The 80s were a wonderful time in action cinema. Franchise media wasn't as common as it is today. Instead, individual stars would get one incredibly absurd feature after another. Sylvester Stallone would eventually become one of the biggest names in action, but his early days were packed with weird projects he'd probably laugh at today. No Stallone film is more worthy of a comedic look back than Over the Top.
Stallone's career took a while to take off. He spent a lot of years in minor background roles and bit parts before he got called up to the big leagues. His first real moment in the spotlight was Rocky, which was an absolute knock-out in 1976. The following decade included several massive hits and a couple of disastrous flops, eventually leading him to a multi-film deal with Cannon Studios. Over the Top closed out that deal at a low point.
Over the Top follows Stallone as Lincoln Hawk, a truck driver who makes extra cash on the side in arm wrestling tournaments. Hawk ran out on his wife and son a decade ago, but she's since been hospitalized due to heart disease. Hawk is tasked with picking up the son he barely knows from military school in the hopes that he can finally be a father. On the long drive, Lincoln and Mike finally forge a bond that becomes even more important when they reach the hospital and discover that Mike's mother has died in surgery. Mike is justifiably devastated, and he runs away to his maternal grandfather's massive estate. Lincoln is forced to sign over custody after failing to take Mike back by force. Without other options, Lincoln Hawk enters into a series of escalating arm wrestling tournaments to earn the money he'll need to get his kid back.
This film enters the grand tradition of sports films that glorify their subject. Several real professional arm wrestlers appear in major roles and cameos. The referee in the final match is portrayed by Andrew "Cobra" Rhodes and Stallone's rival is Rick Zumwalt, both professional arm wrestlers. It really does everything in its power to make arm wrestling as compelling as a fight scene. The title is almost ironic because very little of this film is willing to go above and beyond. The soundtrack is packed with ridiculous rock songs from every 80s icon. Kenny Loggins, Sammy Hagar, Asia, and Eddie Money have tracks on the film. It's trying to be big and extravagant, but it's a movie about grown men struggling to pin each other's hands for large sums of money. It's just not as dynamic as professional wrestling or boxing, no matter how hard it tries to get there.
The strange thing about the film is its premise. Surely Stallone could've just been an enterprising young man trying to fight his way to the top of a niche sport. Why did we have to bring custody of his son into the mix? Stallone's character is a hilarious pastiche of the actor's worst gimmicks. There's no depth to him, he's just a generic sports hero in the same role as any other film in the genre. The film could be more comedic in tone, taking the format established by Stallone's own Rocky and putting it towards a sillier competition. It could've taken the straight route, giving the audience a more full picture of the professional arm wrestling scene. It could've even taken the custody battle aspect more seriously and depicted Stallone as a more tragic figure. It lands on none of those options, resulting in a ridiculous mess that has earned due mockery about its absurd pitch.
Over the Top was directed by Menahem Golan, who does more work as a producer than a director. He had a hand in the production of classic terrible superhero films like Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and Albert Pyun's 1990 Captain America. He put down the cash for the 1987 Masters of the Universe film. He wrote, directed, and produced the hilarious 80s Enter the Ninja franchise. He tried to make a Spider-Man movie for a decade, leading to the death of the studio he was working with. He'd even worked with Stallone in the past, producing his 1986 film Cobra. Golan's bizarre career defined a lot of what people love about the 80s, even though the majority of films he worked on were terrible.
If nothing else, Over the Top is the best film about a man arm wrestling for the fate of his son. Stallone turns his hat backward to symbolize kicking into high gear in a way that revolutionized movie masculinity in the 80s. It's influential in its absurdity. People just don't make movies like this anymore. Could the world even imagine a film like this coming out as a comedy today? Stallone's career has some weird points, but he's still having fun.