F.I.S.T. (1978)

Outa the frying pan...

Excellent movie that is a rough Hoffa protrayal. Stallone plays a great Cleveland blue-collared hunky. The parallel involves the working man laboring under awful conditions for low pay (today it's just low pay) against a pack of greedy corporate shi@#eads with muscle. The union folks tried the honest way by striking. The company sends goons to bust the strike. The union fights back by hiring the Mafia to come in and fight-with-fire. They win the strike BUT loose to the greedy Mafia shi$%eads. Joe Esterhasz wrote the screenplay. Awesome dialogue, great action and portrays a perfect sense of the times. March 15, 2008

THIS F.I.S.T. LACKS ROCKY'S PUNCH!

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. February 17, 2008

A Great Film!!!!!!

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. November 12, 2007

4.5 for one of Sly's best performances

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. June 6, 2007

Okay movie about the labor movement.

I purchased this movie because parts of this were produced in the city of Dubuque,Iowa some 30 years ago. The movie was released after the first Rocky movie came out. Critics were lukewarm to this movie but I thought Sly Stallone gave an okay performance as Johnny Kovac, a man instrumental with the Federation of Inter State Truckers, sort of like the Teamsters. The movie follows Kovac in his years working in a loading dock,followed by a strike and the eventual leadership of his union into the 1950's to his death. Good acting but too bad the movie didn't get the recognition it deserved. May 6, 2007

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