Sylvester Stallone Movie:

Editorial Review:
Considering that Sylvester Stallone's first film of any real distinction was Rocky, an Academy Award winner for best picture and an instant classic, it's a safe bet that he had free rein when it came to his next project. In F.I.S.T. (released in 1978), he chose a vehicle that matched him with a big-time director (Norman Jewison of In the Heat of the Night and The Thomas Crown Affair renown), a screenwriter on the verge of stardom (Joe Eszterhas, whose future would include Flashdance and Basic Instinct), and veteran actors like Rod Steiger, Peter Boyle, and Tony Lo Bianco. Yet while F.I.S.T. is filmmaking on a grand scale, it also has the underlying themes that made the Rocky Balboa saga such a hit, particularly the plight of the common man as he struggles to maintain his dignity in the face of daunting odds. Stallone portrays Johnny Kovak, a blue-collar worker in late 1930s Cleveland who joins the nascent Federation of Inter-State Truckers (the Teamsters, basically) and rises up through the ranks until, a couple of decades later, he becomes the union's head honcho. Along the way, his ambitions lead to an alliance with organized crime, and while Kovak is an essentially decent fellow, the compromises he's made eventually catch up to him in the form of an investigation by a grandstanding, blowhard U.S. Senator (Steiger) and big trouble with an oily mob boss (Lo Bianco). All of that takes quite a while to play out; at 145 minutes, the movie is too long, especially considering that Jewison and Eszterhas (Stallone co-wrote the script) take an approach that's no more nuanced and subtle than, well, a flying fist. It also seems somewhat dated; viewing it now, in an era when CGI and other effects wizardry would have greatly enhanced some of the bigger scenes (a truckers rally in Washington, confrontations between union members and strike-breaking thugs), one is reminded more of a '70s TV movie that the epic the filmmakers clearly intended to create. The DVD includes no extras. --Sam Graham

F.I.S.T [Region 2] Reviews:
My dad was in the film...I had to buy it.
2009-04-24 - In one of the early scenes my Dad is seen sitting on the back of a truck parked near a dock...he is the one spitting. They did two takes for that scene and Dad thought he should do something to get noticed...on the second take his spit stuck to his chin...thanks goodness they didn't use that take! Filmed in my hometown of Dubuque, IA. I knew several people in this film...all extras...even the sniper in a later scene.

JOHNNY KOVAK
2008-11-03 - F.I.S.T.
Between starring in the ROCKY movies, Sylvester Stallone, played another fighter, Johnny Kovack, in this film, which he also co-wrote. F.I.S.T stands for FEDERATION of INTER-STATE TRUCKKERS, a labor union, formed by Kovak, in the thirties, to overcome, company-stooges and the police. Stallone has to progress, from youth to middle-age, in the course of the story, and he does so effectively. Norman Jewison produced and directed. F.I.S.T concentrates on the corruption that goes, hand in hand, with the blind-struggle, for absolute power.

THIS F.I.S.T. LACKS ROCKY'S PUNCH!
2008-02-17 - It's hard to believe I never watched this movie before recently. I had caught a few minutes of it here and there on TV over the years but, never bothered to watch it through. For the most part the story itself is compelling enough but, the characters seem one dimensional and after a good first half the characters, not the story make the film drag. It's a shame because the film's not bad but, it's pretty forgettable. Like the movie 'Hoffa' which this film is obviously emulating it has an unsatisfying ending, this one being way too abrupt! I had invested 2 1/2 hours in this mediocre film and it just ended badly! It's OK as I did enjoy the film but, I doubt I will ever watch it again.

A Great Film!!!!!!
2007-11-12 - At some point in his career Sly became "Stallone" and made easy (money making) choices. Thankfully with his recent "Rocky Balboa" he is working at recapturing the "good" work that he did..and F.I.S.T. is the best. A fictionalized work about Jimmy Hoffa, Stallone's acting (and that of the other performers) is superb. He even gains weight to go from the young immigrant to the well fed union boss.
I do not know why this is not remembered...everytime I watch it I see parts of "The Godfather," and the basis of a great American rise-fall-struggle story. I am so happy this is on DVD and I pray people will discover the great film (plot, dialoge, acting, production) that this until now forgotten gem really is.

4.5 for one of Sly's best performances
2007-06-06 - The storyline is somewhat predictable, but Stallone's performance...was not. [Correct me if I'm wrong], but if this movie followed "Paradise Alley", and you sat slack-jawed in that popcorn palace somewhere in Bergen County, N.J., witnessing a cultural event not exactly designed to inspire, his acting will floor you sooner than a Rocky upper-cut. He seems to have aged ten years (in movie years) and stays in character, in a non-*character* role!
In only one scene do we see encounter any off-beat Balboa-isms, the scene in which he exchanges romantic glances with Melinda Dillon. Perhaps his most powerful scene occurs in Washington, DC, as he refuses to back-down in a National contract conference. This time, the guy-from-the-streets-turned-Union Leader, overplays his hand, and the whole game begins to break down.
It all comes apart with a shattering thud: his terrible judgement in believing in bad people, believing that some illegality was acceptable if it meant supporting his Union - just an uncomfortable sacrifice on his part; in ways revealing (to the viewer, not the character) his own flaw as an individual capable of violence.
Tony Lo Bianco gives an amazing career performance, as his "outside help", who becomes a bottomless pit of helping himself to the fruits of the labor of many blue-collar workers.
Rod Steiger and Peter Boyle, like Sly and Tony, also deliver performances one might describe as drammatically over-the-top.
Good attention period detail.