SYLVESTER STALLONE IN F.I.S.T.

year: 1978 rating: **
cast: Sylvester Stallone, Richard Herd, Rod Steiger, Peter Boyle

During the depression, unions were important, being that there weren't many and workers were exploited. And that's what this movie shows from the first minute to the last, all within a two-and-a-half hour epic that needed more humanity than plot: that is, the moments between the strikes and hardships were too few and far between, never really getting to know the characters as actual people. Sylvester Stallone, fresh from his breakthrough in ROCKY, is hit-or-miss. His sometimes mumbling, other times voracious character moves up the ladder, from put-upon factory worker to spokesman for a trucker's union, way too fast. And the side-characters, including Peter Boyle and Rod Steiger, serve only as fuel to entice or enrage Stallone: who's fighting for a real cause... but it's all too heavy, and goes on way too long, to be genuinely effective. And while this might be the kind of thing Stallone always wanted to do, and finally got the chance, it doesn't mean he should have.