Stallone is rejected; Russell’s influence is placed later, around Tombstone and the Escape from LA sequel. — Bill Simmons
No major actor seems at an apex: Face is countered with Maniac Cop and the henchman actor with 48 Hours. The film ranks highly as unintentional-comedy buddy-cop entertainment. — Bill Simmons
The fictional Los Angeles Chronicle is endorsed for its many front pages. — Bill Simmons
Lockup wins among Stallone prison films, with its muddy football game praised. — Bill Simmons
The grunts, hanging, fighting and football power-I play are praised, with Stallone a believable athlete. — Bill Simmons
Lethal Weapon rip-offs are endorsed; actor/character crossover moments are proposed with the overall apex unresolved. — Bill Simmons
Last Action Hero’s Stallone-as-Terminator poster is a comparison, but the Rambo joke remains a strong candidate. — Bill Simmons
The script was originally The Setup; Swayze reportedly dropped out to make Roadhouse and Russell replaced him. — Bill Simmons
Swayze here and Russell in Roadhouse is an appealing counterfactual, but both films are thought slightly worse in that swap, especially Russell’s leg-fighting credibility. — Bill Simmons
The swap is compared with Van Damme leaving Predator for Bloodsport; Face and the Cockney henchman reportedly gained scenes during rewrites at Stallone’s request. — Bill Simmons
Face’s broken-jaw recollection implies earlier clashes with Tango beyond the opening arrest; Stallone is reported to have fired the original cinematographer. — Shea Serrano
Joking and mutual mockery in frightening situations are enjoyed and believed. — Bill Simmons
The badge demand and Jack Palance’s later City Slickers Oscar are highlights; his exaggerated performance seems far removed from Oscar prospects. — Bill Simmons
The villain’s elaborate non-killing plan, prison diversion and convoluted trap for Cash are mocked affectionately. — Bill Simmons
Fubar is speculatively said to originate with this movie and its 90s TNT exposure. — Bill Simmons
Young Terry Hatcher is praised as a breakout, with later Seinfeld and Lois & Clark visibility recalled. — Bill Simmons
Insult nicknames and repeated jokes about the men’s bodies form part of the appeal. — Bill Simmons
Owen and the prototype armored vehicle exemplify the gadget-guy and supercar era; Stripes is compared. — Bill Simmons
Kurt Russell is selected, with the missing modern Russell/Swayze type of witty, resilient action star contrasted with current actors. — Bill Simmons
Michael B. Jordan is urged toward a buddy-cop franchise; Without Remorse scenes show potential, while a vaguely recalled Jamie Fox film illustrates overly serious modern action. — Bill Simmons
A possibly unanswerable question: would a news-breaker ruin this tape-delayed game in 2020 by announcing "USA wins 4-3"? (ASR "Woge"/"Walsh"). — Bill Simmons
A top five Russell movies list is deferred to Probably Unanswerable Questions. — Bill Simmons
A Ralph Cox sequel would be watched, perhaps as season two where he becomes super successful. — Bill Simmons
Asked where this ranks, one list is hedged as "six or seven, maybe five": Escape from New York one, The Thing two, Tombstone three, Tango & Cash four, Miracle five; Big Trouble in Little China is loved less by one host than the other. — Bill Simmons
Russell is also really good in Silkwood and great in Death Proof and The Hateful Eight; a "Silkwood shower" line once made the other host laugh hard. — Bill Simmons
Is this the greatest motivational speech in sports movie history? It was forgotten for Apex Mountain; top three are this, Friday Night Lights and Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday, with Pacino first. — Bill Simmons
The chef's Pele story in Vision Quest must be mentioned; Friday Night Lights is good but Pacino is still the apex; Vanderbeek at halftime in Varsity Blues is a good bad one. — Bill Simmons
The through-line: coaches say nothing matters more than winning, then say they will love the players anyway, like Hackman in Hoosiers. — Chris Ryan
Kurt Russell: no. His apex is the Tango & Cash / Escape from L.A. era leading to Tombstone, where he had the most juice; Escape from New York is his best. — Bill Simmons
The P&E Agrodome apex is still Rocky 4, where Stallone broke his ribs and filming stopped for two weeks. — Bill Simmons
Al Michaels: 1980 no, but 2004 yes, when as the voice of Monday Night Football at the pinnacle of his powers he came back to voice Miracle. — Bill Simmons
Jokes about Michaels later working with Collinsworth and Collinsworth calling the 1980 game. — Bill Simmons
Sports Illustrated peaked in 1980, not the movie, when the covers meant the most, and this cover arguably was its apex. — Bill Simmons
For evil mute Russian sports-movie villains, Drago versus the hockey coach: the movie does not give enough of the coach to make him a villain. — Bill Simmons
Russell's pay cut for extras' meals; Russell playing left-handed; the Vancouver arena shared with Rocky IV; other Dream On uses; Michael Mantenuto's later life; Jim Craig's 39 saves; Jim Craig's DUI
Russell took a pay cut so the 800 to 1,000 extras playing fans could get a full hot meal instead of a brown-bag lunch. — Bill Simmons
Russell, right-handed, used his left hand in the movie; Herb Brooks was a lefty. — Bill Simmons
The Soviet game was filmed in Vancouver at the P&E Agrodome, which also hosted the Rocky-Drago fight for Rocky 4, the Cold War sports mecca. — Bill Simmons
Dream On has also appeared in a live orchestrated Last Action Hero, The Virgin Suicides, Cold Case episode 49 and Glee. — Bill Simmons
Michael Mantonuto, who played O.C., left acting, joined the Army, served with the Green Berets, came home and died by suicide; he was good enough to have been an actor. — Bill Simmons
Jim Craig really did stop 39 shots, 39 to 16 in shots, and the movie seems to show all of them. — Bill Simmons
Jim Craig had a DUI in the 80s that the speaker thinks was a manslaughter; he has rebuilt to some degree. — Bill Simmons
O'Connor was focused on Kurt Russell the whole time, so there was no casting what-if. — Bill Simmons
Buzz Schneider is played by his son Billy, which they did not realize until after casting; 4,000 people auditioned for the 20 roles, all real hockey players. — Bill Simmons
The actor who played O.C., Michael Mantonuto, got into a fight at tryouts, apologized, and O'Connor cast him because he was the first to drop the gloves. — Bill Simmons
Gavin O'Connor has a cameo draping the flag on Jim Craig; a director should try to appear in his own movie like Scorsese in Taxi Driver. — Bill Simmons
