Tagline
Lincoln Hawk will fight for his son the only way he knows how
[Ed Note: i.e. arm wrestling].
Entire Story in Fewer Words Than Are in This Sentence
Sly arm wrestles back the heart of estranged son.
Homoeroticism
This movie can be viewed on two levels. On one level, this is a film about father-son bonding. On another level, it is super-duper gay. The film has one female character who, of course, dies. The rest of the film is about arm wrestling truckers. During the film’s climax, Sly and his opponent lose their grip on one another. The solution? They are bound together with a leather strap!
Every time Sly picks up his son, the boy’s shirt comes out his pants, revealing a tantalizing patch of flesh. In the space of thirty seconds Sly says all of the following things to his son.
- “Let’s spend the night in the truck tonight.”
- “Lots of truckers do it.”
- “Use my shoulder as a pillow.”
Also, the son’s name is “Mike Hawk.” Say it out loud.
Corpse Count
One. The mom dies during heart surgery. Aside from that paltry sum, Stallone wrestles with former NWA star, Terry Funk. Funk gets thrown through a window. He also beats up some guys who try to kidnap his son. That’s it for violence. Nobody’s arm even gets snapped in two pieces during the arm wrestling. Lame.
How Bad Is It Really?
A few paragraphs ago, I mentioned that this is a film about arm wrestling truckers, which basically renders this section unnecessary. I’ll add however, that Over the Top is a production of Cannon Films, the people who brought us many of the worst/greatest Action films of the 80s. Also, this film’s sound track is enough to make any film suck. Seriously. The 400 Blows with this sound track? A shitty movie.
One part that stands out as especially bad is when the announcer at the arm-wrestling finals says that the tournament is double elimination at least four times so that the audience will know that when Stallone loses, he isn’t out of the tournament. The meaning of ‘double elimination’ is even explained twice.
Best One-Liner
“Lots of truckers do it.”
Stupid Political Content
Only one of the arm wrestlers is a sore loser: the black teamster.
The boy has been raised by his “weak” mother, which has made him a liberal wimp because he doesn’t eat steak. Luckily for the boy, his mother dies so his dad can raise him to be a real man.
What You Learned
There really is a professional, or semi-professional arm-wrestling circuit. Jonny’s old metal-shop teacher is in the movie and was a real arm wrestler. When I asked Jonny if the shop teacher ever bound himself to students with leather straps, Jonny just said that he had to go to the bathroom.