“You’re a lunatic”: Why did Quentin Tarantino call Sylvester Stallone a coward?
Sylvester Stallone has had an outré career arc, to say the least. If he had retired after the initial Rocky and Rambo movies in the 1970s and early 1980s, he’d probably be remembered as a thoughtful and sensitive actor—albeit one with a bodybuilder’s physique. It’s easy to forget that those first films were quiet reflections on masculinity and its endemic tendency toward violence.
However, the movies made money. So they made more, escalating the tone from pondering upon the urge to fight–and even kill–which exists down into our bone marrow and in sequel after sequel, to enthusiastically endorsing it. Going from heartfelt scenes to scenes of people getting their hearts torn out through their ribs.
Stallone isn’t exactly a world-class intellect when it comes to assessing his own work, though. You probably don’t know off the top of your head how many Expendables movies he’s been in. And you shouldn’t. The Creed films (at least the first one) redeem some of the excesses of the Rocky sequels, but time hasn’t been so kind to John Rambo. To put it in objective journalist terms, the attempts at rebooting Rambo in 2008 and then in 2019 were both extremely stupid.
And it goes much further than this. Rambo and Rocky are worn around Stallone’s sweaty forehead like one of his bandanas, and each installment in both franchises has its fans. But he’s done some inexcusable work too—prolifically so. Ask a film fan whether Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot! or Driven is worse, and you’ll find yourself on the wrong end of a visceral debate.
Of course, Quentin Tarantino has opinions about Stallone’s career choices. Thinking back on Rambo, Stallone says, “In the book, Rambo gets killed. I thought it was not the proper message. There had been close to 200,000 suicides by returning Vietnam vets. I said, ‘Why don’t we take him right to the edge without annihilating him?'”. It’s up for spirited discussion whether the book or the film had the more poignant ending.
“Rambo is me before coffee in the morning. Rocky is me after coffee,” Stallone says, thinking that “Rambo has reverted into kind of like an id: primitive, reactive and instinctual, almost like an animal. I love this character because he hasn’t quite been fleshed out. He’s like an errant knight, looking to die in a glorious fashion. He has no desire to go into old age or have a family. Rocky is the antithesis: he cannot live without family”. This sums up the films well enough and demonstrates that he puts at least some thought into his performances.
Tarantino, ever the contrarian, disagrees. He told Stallone: “You’re a coward, you should have killed him!” to which Stallone retorted: “Quentin, you’re a lunatic. I want to do some sequels, brother.”
Perhaps Quentin Tarantino was on to something – whether you think Rambo should have died or not – we could have done without most of the sequels.
Never Miss A Take
The Far Out Quentin Tarantino Newsletter
All the latest Quentin Tarantino content from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.