Paradise Alley

Paradise Alley (1978) is a drama written and directed by Sylvester Stallone — watch online on iFILM. He also composed and performed songs on the soundtrack. It was his directorial debut, arriving two years after Rocky turned him into a star.

New York City, 1946. Three brothers — Cosmo, Victor, and Lenny Carboni — are grinding through life in Hell's Kitchen: hauling ice, running small cons, going nowhere fast. Cosmo (Stallone) decides their ticket out is Victor, the biggest and strongest of the three. Put him on the wrestling circuit, work the promotions, collect the money. What nobody accounts for is the circuit running its own game. Armand Assante and Lee Canalito co-star; Tom Waits turns up in a bar scene and delivers the film's most memorable thirty seconds.

The film shares Rocky's working-class hunger but drops most of the sentimentality. Stallone was trying something harder here. Stream Paradise Alley (1978) on iFILM.