# Sylvester Stallone's early movie career **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 16, 2019, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302 "2019-09-16T06:29:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302/1 "2019-09-16T06:29:38Z")
I was looking up the cast of _MASH_ (the movie) for another thread and I was surprised to see that Sylvester Stallone was in that movie. He was an uncredited extra as a soldier. I checked his filmography and I see that Stallone appeared as an uncredited extra in several movies before he began to get significant roles. _Downhill Racer_ (1969) _MASH_ (1970) _Lovers and Other Strangers_ (1970) _The Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker_ (1970) _Bananas_ (1971) _Klute_ (1971) _What’s Up, Doc?_ (1972) The thing that interested me was that, with the exception of _The Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker_, these are all well regarded movies. Movies that people are still watching five decades later. And even _Pigeons_ was probably considered a good movie back in its day. Stallone may have been an extra in the background but he wasn’t doing it in cheap forgotten films. (Okay, he also appeared in _The Party at Kitty and Stud’s_ during this period but that was the only exception.) This was before Stallone was a star or even a known actor. But he seems to have stumbled on to walk-on parts in a number of really good films. Was he just lucky or was there some reason? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302/2 "2019-09-16T09:27:18Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Was he just lucky or was there some reason? He was a good actor and ambitious? People sometimes forget he wrote _Rocky_, and pushed to star in it, and the PTB approved because he was seen as worth the risk. Reviews at the time likened him to the young Brando. All of that would have been evident before than, probably. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302/3 "2019-09-16T11:56:44Z")
I don’t recall seeing him in most of the films on the OP’s list, which wouldn’t be surprising for an extra. But he REALLY stands out in **Bananas** , where he [plays a thug that goes after Woody Allen’s character in a New York Subway. You get a full-screen head-on shot of him that’s hard to miss – he’s not some random face in the background. When the movie came out in '72, nobody knew who Stallone was, so it was no big deal. But four years later, after the success of Rocky (with all those movie stills and posters with his face on them, besides the movie itself, of course), you couldn’t miss him when they showed _Bananas_ in revivals, and the audience always reacted when they saw him. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302/4 "2019-09-16T13:31:04Z")
I have to bring up Stallone’s first “starring role” in 1970’s The Party at Kitty and Stud’s, an incredibly bad soft core porn movie. He worked two days and was paid $200. He was also the inspiration for this exchange between Mike Seaver and his best friend “Boner” (real name Richard Stabone). Mike: So your mother says to your father…What is your father’s first name? Boner: Sylvester Mike: So your mother says to your father Sylvester…Wait a minute? Your father’s name is Sylvester Stabone?" Boner: Who knew? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302/5 "2019-09-16T19:43:35Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > He was a good actor and ambitious? Like several hundred other actors in New York City. Most actors, even ones who go on to great success, start out with a string of bad credits. It’s paying your dues. You appear in cheap drive-in movies or direct-to-video movies or whatever the modern equivalent is. You get some credits in a few TV series. Maybe you get a role in a soap opera. Maybe you work on the stage and build up an acting reputation in regional theater. Maybe you get a different job working on movie sets and you’re handy when the director wants an extra to appear on camera. But Stallone seems to have mostly avoided this. For some reason, he was able to start out in quality movies. Not just once or twice, which might happen by luck. He had a string of good credits. > [@MrDibble](#): > > People sometimes forget he wrote _Rocky_, and pushed to star in it, and the PTB approved because he was seen as worth the risk. Reviews at the time likened him to the young Brando. All of that would have been evident before than, probably. This was all before he made _Rocky_. This was back when Stallone was a complete unknown off the street. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302/6 "2019-09-16T19:47:43Z")
didnt Roger Corman give him his first major role in death race 2000? ---
**Author:** ![Teddie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@Teddie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teddie)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302/7 "2019-09-16T19:52:56Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > He was a good actor and ambitious? > > People sometimes forget he wrote _Rocky_, and pushed to star in it, and the PTB approved because he was seen as worth the risk. Reviews at the time likened him to the young Brando. All of that would have been evident before than, probably. I’m not entirely in agreement that I personally saw him as a young Brandon but I definitely think he was an actor who had something about him. As you say he wrote Rocky and for me he was great in the lead roll, he made the film(s) his own. I still enjoy watching him in Rocky and my 84 yr old grandad loves the Rambo films which I’ll also happily sit and enjoy watching with him. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302/8 "2019-09-16T20:22:10Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Like several hundred other actors in New York City. Those actors weren’t getting their own movies made. So clearly no, they were \*not \*as ambitious. > [@](#): > > But Stallone seems to have mostly avoided this. For some reason, he was able to start out in quality movies. Not according to his bio - he had a while of not getting \*any \*roles. Then _Party @_, which was \*not \*quality. And \*someone \*has to do the bit roles in quality movies. So I don’t get the puzzlement. > [@](#): > > This was all before he made _Rocky_. Yes, you can tell I know this was before by the way I said " All of that would have been evident before than"[sic] > [@](#): > > This was back when Stallone was a complete unknown off the street. Clearly he wasn’t a \*complete \*unknown. He’d been on the New York acting scene for a couple years by then, and he had certain distinctive physical characteristics that would make him stand out from the generic wannabes. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302/9 "2019-09-16T21:47:29Z")
Clearly _Bananas_ also boosted Howard Cosell’s career. Only did a few fights before that. Afterwards he was everywhere! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302/10 "2019-09-16T22:41:00Z")
I remember him getting mugged by Jack Lemmon in one of those early movies. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302/11 "2019-09-17T06:51:45Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > didnt Roger Corman give him his first major role in death race 2000? No, that was in 1975. Stallone’s first major role was in _The Lords of Flatbush_ which was a year earlier. Stallone also had a significant part in _Capone_ (he played Frank Nitti) which came out between _The Lords of Flatbush_ and _Death Race 2000_. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302/12 "2019-09-17T06:54:10Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > I remember him getting mugged by Jack Lemmon in one of those early movies. That was _[The Prisoner of Second Avenue](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gFXYgiukZg)_ (after _The Lords of Flatbush_ and before _Capone_). ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302/13 "2019-09-17T08:12:06Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > People sometimes forget he wrote _Rocky_, and pushed to star in it, and the PTB approved because he was seen as worth the risk. Reviews at the time likened him to the young Brando. All of that would have been evident before than, probably. Huh? Everything I have ever heard about Rocky says that the PTB most definitely did not want Stallone to star in it, and that the only reason he was able to do so was because he wrote it and resolutely refused to sell the screenplay unless he was cast as the star. Your post makes it sound like they saw the potential in this young guy and decided to take a chance, when they didn’t see a young Brando at all, they just really, really wanted the screenplay. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302/14 "2019-09-17T09:18:11Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > Huh? > > Everything I have ever heard about Rocky says that the PTB most definitely did not want Stallone to star in it, and that the only reason he was able to do so was because he wrote it and resolutely refused to sell the screenplay unless he was cast as the star. Yes, that’s what I mean - worth the risk on his acting, based on his writing. They initially wanted a star, but they took the risk anyway, and they wouldn’t have done that if there was _nothing_ there, they couldn’t be that hard-up for scripts. > [@](#): > > Your post makes it sound like they saw the potential in this young guy and decided to take a chance That would be what I mean by “worth the risk” - “decided to take a chance” is just a restatement of the same thing. > [@](#): > > , when they didn’t see a young Brando at all, they just really, really wanted the screenplay. No, the “young Brando” quote comes from after, but I’m saying they probably saw the potential before - _The Lords of Flatbush_ was quite the indie hit. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302/15 "2019-09-17T09:29:25Z")
Plus, young Stallone was a [good-looking guy](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/00/d0/1c/00d01c6d072a8333527de7b4a6af9b16.jpg), which doubtless factored into things. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302/16 "2019-09-17T11:44:30Z")
The big jump though is going from being an extra to getting your SAG card. One guy said he did it when he was an extra and they at the last minute told him to tell a line to the main actor as he walked by, which made it a speaking role so he got his card. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302/17 "2019-09-18T00:52:11Z")
The great majority of movies filmed don’t get released or listed in IMDB. I’m confident Stallone was in a few of those, too. I’m just surprised he didn’t have more of a TV career, just a couple episodes of _Kojak_ and _Police Story_. ---
**Author:** ![kirkrapine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@kirkrapine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirkrapine)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302/18 "2019-09-18T01:55:17Z")
He does have a limited range as an actor. But, so have many stars – Michael J. Fox spent his whole career playing Alex Keaton: Alex Keaton travels through time, Alex Keaton serves in Vietnam, Alex Keaton moves to New York and does lots of drugs . . . ---
**Author:** ![Katakuri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Katakuri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katakuri)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2019, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302/19 "2019-09-19T08:27:15Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > **The great majority of movies filmed don’t get released or listed in IMDB.** I’m confident Stallone was in a few of those, too. I’m just surprised he didn’t have more of a TV career, just a couple episodes of _Kojak_ and _Police Story_. That’s poppycock. In fact, 99.9% of movies that have ever been filmed have indeed been released and are listed on IMDb. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2019, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302/20 "2019-09-19T13:17:33Z")
> [@Katakuri](#): > > That’s poppycock. In fact, 99.9% of movies that have ever been filmed have indeed been released and are listed on IMDb. And that’s way, way too extreme going the other way. There are a surprising number of films sitting on the shelf, never released. All sorts of bad things happen. Test audiences hate it. There’s a new studio chief and they hate the previous one so a bunch of films are “forgotten”. Some rights issue pops up. The film was made with no intention of releasing it in order to satisfy some contract. And on and on. Hardly the majority of all films made but a significantly larger number than 0.1%. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvester-stallones-early-movie-career/840302.md?page=2)