When I was in third grade I saw a movie trailer that changed my life. It was for Over The Top starring Sylvester Stallone. If you don’t know, then 1) shame on you!; 2) it’s about a trucker named Hawk who occasionally stops to armwrestle in truck stops. But that wouldn’t be much of a movie, would it?
Well, of course it would, but it wouldn’t provide as many emotional opportunities and it would be tougher to match with the soundtrack that it eventually received.
Plot summary for Over The Top
Hawk has to take his bratty little military cadet son cross-country. But this is a problem, you see. Hawk is a brawler and wears lots of tank tops. The kid is a prissy little mama’s boy. And as if that wasn’t enough, it turns out that Hawk abandoned the family years earlier. When the mother dies, the son has nobody but an armwrestling trucker for family.
But what an armwrestling trucker! Stallone strikes fear into the hearts of armwrestlers everywhere when he pulls in to refuel, except for this guy:
This guy is a real terror, despite occasionally wearing a pink tank top. He likes “Breakin’ arms and armwrestlin’.” Sounds about right.
Bull Hurley–that’s Bull up above–and Hawk are on a collision course to clash in Las Vegas where the winner of the biggest armwrasslin’ tourney will get a new truck and heaps of glory.
On the way, Hawk and son will bond, exercise in the cab of the truck, defeat a bully in an arcade who wears a dangling cross earring, and do their best to evade the boy’s grandfather, who can never forgive Hawk for walking out on his daughter.
The best part of the movie is the armwrestling tournament. Do you know what goes on at these things? Well, people eat lit cigars, for one. And they drink motor oil:
If you are still wondering why this movie is so awesome, then you probably won’t think it’s awesome no matter what. But it is! Watch the video again. It is so awesome that I eventually formed an armwrestling club in elementary school, which you can read about with that link.
Stallone Over The Top. Say it fast. Say it proud.
Josh
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This movie is awesome. Most Stallone films are. Why? My tongue in cheek theory: http://themanfromthegarage.com/?p=82
You, sir, are awesome.