9 Movies Sylvester Stallone Regrets Making

From the Rocky franchise to the Rambo franchise, Sylvester Stallone has a resume every budding actor would wish to have. Even better, he has been relevant for nearly five decades, the kind of grace most celebrities only dream of having but never quite get. His films have grossed billions of dollars, and in the process, he has landed two Oscar nominations. The actor’s foray into television has also been wildly successful, with Tulsa King emerging as one of the best shows of the 2020s.

Like every other human, Stallone has also had his terrible moments. You are unlikely to notice it, but he has more flops than hits and is one of the most Razzie-nominated actors in history (a whopping 40 nominations). The award body named him Worst Actor of the Decade for the 1990s, and also Worst Actor of the Century. Harsh, but the actor himself recognizes some of his misfires. While most people pretend to be proud of all their work, Stallone admits that there are a few movies he should never have made.

7

‘Judge Dredd’ (1995)

Release Date

June 30, 1995

Runtime

96 minutes

Eager to have his own Terminator, Sylvester Stallone quickly accepted Judge Dredd when it was offered to him, despite having never read the 2000 AD Comics it’s based on. The film about a corps of “Judges” who serve as police, judges, juries, and executioners, all rolled in one, turned out to be one of the worst in his career.

So Serious?

There’s some potential inside Judge Dredd. The film touches on important topics like police brutality and bio-engineering, but the glow was lost while trying to make it yet another Stallone action flick. During an interview with Uncut, the actor expressed regret, stating that the movie “didn’t live up to what it could have been,” and that “it probably should have been much more comic, really humorous, and fun.” Thankfully, comic fans were treated to a better screen adaptation a few years later starring Karl Urban.

6

‘Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot’ (1992)

Release Date

February 21, 1992

Runtime

87

Cast

Sylvester Stallone
, Estelle Getty
, JoBeth Williams
, Roger Rees
, Martin Ferrero
, Gailard Sartain

Everyone remembers Sergeant Joseph Andrew Borowski as the role Sylvester Stallone was tricked into accepting. His then-rival Arnold Schwarzenegger faked interest in playing the cop whose overenthusiastic visiting mother insists on tagging along in his crime-solving exploits. Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot ended up putting a big stain on Stallone’s resume, and the actor admits he made a big mistake.

Stop! Or You’ll Ruin Your Career

Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot isn’t entirely an unwatchable movie. There is some fun in watching the mum try to shoot, but the jokes never land, and the action star often looks like he’d rather be somewhere else. During a question and answer session with AICN, Stallone was asked about the movies he regrets making, and this was the first that came to his mind. It’s interesting how Schwarzenegger smelled the stink from miles away.

5

‘Oscar’ (1991)

Oscar

Release Date

April 26, 1991

Runtime

109 Minutes

Cast

Sylvester Stallone
, Marisa Tomei
, Vincent Spano
, Ornella Muti
, Tim Curry
, Peter Riegert
, Chazz Palminteri
, Martin Ferrero
, Harry Shearer
, Kirk Douglas
, Paul Greco
, Richard Foronjy
, Joey Travolta
, Yvonne De Carlo
, Don Ameche
, Richard Romanus
, arleen sorkin
, William Atherton
, Ken Howard
, Eddie Bracken
, Tony Munafo
, Kurtwood Smith
, Art LaFleur
, Linda Gray
, Robert Lesser
, Joycelyn O’Brien
, Mark Metcalf
, Sam Chew Jr.
, Elizabeth Barondes
, Sal Vecchio
, Danny Goldstine
, Kai Wulff
, Marshall Bell
, Tom Grant
, Louis D’Alto
, Rick Avery
, Jim Mulholland

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The early ’90s were ideal years for anyone who wished to star in a gangster movie, so Sylvester Stallone did. Unfortunately, the script required him to be a funny guy, rather than a cold-blooded hoodlum, something fans and critics didn’t like. Oscar — a film about a mobster who struggles to keep his promise to go legitimate — thus underperformed on all metrics.

No Oscar for ‘Oscar’… Not Even Close

Oscar ought to have worked. After all, it was crafted by the gifted hands of the Blues Brothers director, John Landis. Somehow, somewhere, things didn’t go right. Stallone seems to understand where the ship hit the iceberg, telling Comicbook.com that people didn’t embrace the movie because it was “too much of a shocking transition from Rambo.” Thankfully, the actor would redeem himself in the gangster genre years later by playing the dapper Dwight Manifredi in Tulsa King.

4

‘D-Tox’ aka ‘Eye See You’ (2002)

D-Tox

Release Date

January 4, 2002

Runtime

96 minutes

Cast

Polly Walker
, Sylvester Stallone
, Charles S. Dutton
, Kris Kristofferson
, Christopher Fulford
, Jeffrey Wright
, Courtney B. Vance
, Robert Patrick
, Tom Berenger
, Stephen Lang
, Robert Prosky
, Sean Patrick Flanery
, Anthony J. Mifsud
, A.C. Peterson
, Hrothgar Mathews
, Dina Meyer
, Angela Alvarado
, Tim Henry
, Rance Howard
, Frank Pellegrino
, James Kidnie
, Yves Cameron
, Harrison Coe
, Peter Flemming
, Chris Nelson Norris

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Based on the 1999 novel Jitter Joint by Howard Swindle, D-Tox follows an FBI Agent (played by Sylvester Stallone) suffering from PTSD after witnessing a brutal killing. He checks himself into a rehabilitation center for lawmen in the remote wilderness of Wyoming, only for a serial killer to show up and start targeting everyone.

A Messy Production

Stallone recalls that the signs of bad things were there right from the start. The original producer pulled out, and after that, the studio lost faith. The film would be shelved for over a year before being released.

“The movie had the smell of death about it. Actually, if you looked up, you could see celluloid buzzards circling as we lay there dying on the distributor’s floor.”

On the bright side, we got to see a different side of Stallone, one who was on defense rather than offense. The film’s exploration of mental health also makes it superior to others of its kind.

3

‘Rhinestone’ (1984)

Rhinestone

Release Date

June 22, 1984

Runtime

111 minutes

Cast

Dolly Parton
, Sylvester Stallone
, Richard Farnsworth
, Ron Leibman
, Tim Thomerson
, Steve Peck
, Penny Santon
, Russell Buchanan
, Ritch Brinkley
, Jerry Potter
, Jesse Welles
, Phil Rubenstein
, Thomas Ikeda
, Christal Kim
, Arline Miyazaki
, Tony Munafo
, Don Hanmer
, Dean Smith
, David Cobb
, Speck Rhodes
, Guy Fitch
, Stan Yale
, Robert Cook
, Cindy Perlman
, Robert Martini

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It’s still hard to believe that Sylvester Stallone starred a musical, alongside Dolly Parton. Unlike many of the latter’s many works, this wasn’t a hit. Rhinestone — drawing its name from Larry Weiss’ 1975 hit song “Rhinestone Cowboy,” — follows a country singer as she trains a taxi driver on how to sing so that they can perform together.

Singing Sly

The Golden Raspberry Awards named Rhinestone “The Worst Musical of the Last 25 Years.” From poor song choices to a lack of chemistry between the leads, the film has nothing worth praising. Stallone regretted everything about it, admitting to AIC that it “went in a direction that shattered my internal corn meter into smithereens,” and adding that he “would have done many things differently.”

Interestingly, in the book Reel Power: The Struggle for Influence and Success in the New Hollywood, Fox executives suggest that Stallone is to blame for all the mess, revealing that his insistence on changing huge chunks of the script, ruined the plot completely.

2

‘Driven’ (2001)

Driven

Release Date

April 27, 2001

Runtime

116 Minutes

Sylvester Stallone’s attempt to make his own version of Days of Thunder fell flat. Driven, about a young racing driver’s attempt to win the now defunct CART FedEx Championship Series auto racing championship, was a commercial failure, grossing way less than its $72 million budget.

Didn’t Quite Cross the Finishing Line

Like many other Stallone flops, Driven suffers from narrative failures, with more focus placed on cool dialogue and stunning race sequences. It’s watchable, but not memorable, so the actor wishes he had kipped this one. Talk show host, Jay Leno, a renowned gearhead, also named this one of the worst car movies ever made.

Related

10 Action Stars Who Turned Down Stallone’s Offer to Be in The Expendables

The Expendables franchise has a large roster of talented action stars, but not every big name was willing to come on board.

1

‘Get Carter’ (2000)

Release Date

October 6, 2000

Runtime

102 Minutes

Cast

Sylvester Stallone
, Miranda Richardson
, Rachael Leigh Cook
, Alan Cumming
, Mickey Rourke
, John C. McGinley
, Michael Caine
, Rhona Mitra
, Johnny Strong
, Mark Boone Junior
, John Cassini
, Garwin Sanford
, Darryl Scheelar
, Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe
, Lauren Lee Smith
, Tyler Labine
, Mike Cook
, Morgan Brayton
, Yves Cameron
, Alexander Pervakov
, Chris Duggan
, Michael Rumain
, Rob Lee

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The decision to remake one of the greatest British gangster films still baffles many, but we can’t fault Sly for his confidence. He felt he would do a better job than what Michael Caine did in the ‘70s. So came the new Get Carter, a film about a mobster who suspects that his brother didn’t die of a car accident as initially reported. He thus starts digging.

Carter’s Financial Woes

Get Carter made less than a third of its budget, prompting detractors to suggest that Stallone’s star power was truly gone. Praise to the actor though, as he is outstanding here, and only let down by a poor, routine script. Stallone would express his regret to The Hollywood Reporter, stating:

“I learned the hard way that [remakes], even if you do it better than the original, there’s a tremendous nostalgia attached to the original. And quite often they’re not done as well.”

Accurate sentiments! The actor has wisely stayed away from remakes since then.

You can view the original article HERE.