Paradise Alley (1978)

So much average

A different way of telling a story

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Saw this in 1978, aged 15, loved it then, love it now ( aged 55 ).... great sequences in this film, great to see early Stallone

From the beginning of the credits scene, we know that we are about to see a very interesting story..Stallone(the most underrated actor in movie history) directs,writes,produces,stars and even sings on the credits song of this marvelous film and he does energetically. this film is nostalgic, beautiful and powerful.In my opinion it must have been a longer film,and Stallone should have developed the brothers characters and the relationship of his brother with the Asian girl a little bit more.But anyway everything on the film works perfect.This movie was made after Rocky, is the debut Stallone as a director,this film is been unjustly forgotten and it must be rediscover.Sylvester Stallone is a great actor, director and writer and is unfair how the critics have been treating him during the years.Paradise Alley is a great film.

I watched this movie and contemplated suicide. Yeah, it was that bad. After the first hour, I only continued with the film with the thought there had to be something appealing. And there wasn't. I am rather shocked it was distributed in DVD format.I can't think of a worse movie now, this is the very bottom. The story was really shallow, the characters acted poorly. The type of characters were like that of a bad comic book. Timing was so slow that the story literally stops in spots. And the music was lousy. I think Sly actually sang the opening and closing song! 2 hours of my life totally wasted!This movie stole 2 hours of my life! Nighly not recommended.

An after World War 11 film set in Manhattan where Sylvester Stallone further hurts the image of Italian-Americans with his Rocky like talk. This is most disparaging. At least, the award winning "Rocky" had a good story. In "Paradise Alley" Stallone plays a low-life hustler named Cosmo Carboni. He looks to take advantage of his younger brother's physique by making him a big-time wrestler. An interesting performance here is by Armand Assante as the middle brother. Maimed and bitter by his injuries during the war, he becomes a promoter for his wrestling brother and really doesn't mind when the latter is getting hurt. It's all for the money for him. Assante, in his first film, gives a convincing performance nicely showing the changes that take place with him.This film offers no violence which is one of its few assets. Other than the character development part of Lenny Carboni, (Assante) the film offers little else.