MOTHER TRUCKIN’ MAY: OVER THE TOP (1987)

For every move there is a counter. Each attack has a defense. Within the confines of this digital dojo–wait a Hawk & Son second… This isn’t my regularly scheduled serving of The Art Of Shelf Defense, this is Mother Truckin’ May–boots Robert Loggia into a bottomless pit–which is a month-long celebration of truck-centric theater and what’s a bonanza of big rig B-movies without Menahem Golan’s much maligned arm-wrestling 18-wheeler opus, OVER THE TOP (1987)?

For the uninitiated this is the sensitive story of a man, Lincoln Hawk played by Sylvester Stallone, building a relationship with his estranged son, Michael Cutler played by David Mendenhall, via truck driving and arm-wrestling and before you shake your head with a chuckle of derisive dismay let me ask you, is that any more ludicrous than a beefy brain damaged bloke ending the Cold War through boxing?

“So much for small talk. Okay. Here we go.” – Lincoln Hawk

It is my contention that OVER THE TOP is not remembered more fondly due to its lack of box office success and reputation as one of the three theatrical death nails for Cannon Films with the other two being SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE (1987) and MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (1987). Cannon Films was a production company founded in 1967 with a focus on softcore sexploitation flicks like INGA (1968) and THE YUM-YUM GIRLS (1976). When acquired by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus in 1979, the company made a shift into a more action movie-oriented release schedule with films like ENTER THE NINJA (1981), DEATH WISH II (1982), and THE DELTA FORCE (1986). Building a working relationship with action luminaries like Sho Kosugi, Charles Bronson, and Chuck Norris and enjoying a string of successes in the subgenre, they subsequently wooed Sylvester Stallone to star in COBRA (1986). With COBRA being the biggest hit the production company had they doubled down on Sly offering him the most an actor had been paid ($12 million, that’s a lot of steak dinners) for a single film at the time to star in OVER THE TOP despite his reluctance with the script.

The original screenplay by Gary Conway and David Engelbach was conceived as an understated character-driven drama earmarked for a Don Johnson type as the lead. Coming off the behemoth box office successes of RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II (1985) and ROCKY IV (1985), Cannon was determined to retool this as a Stallone vehicle despite his disinterest in the material. Years after the fact Sly was quoted to say “Menahem Golan kept offering me more and more money, until I finally thought, 'What the hell - no one will see it!” Stallone paired up with Stirling Silliphant, writer of THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972) and THE TOWERING INFERNO (1974), with the resulting pumped-up parable bringing tears to David Engelbach’s eyes (derogatory).

If the rewriting process struck you as ramshackle then there is some further evidence to suggest that some additional creative juices may have been flowing in the wrong direction. In the scene where an enraged Hawk drives through Jason Cutler’s mansion after Cutler absconds with Michael, the resulting crash demolishes a wall of the palatial estate (incidentally this same mansion was used as the home of corrupt union leader Michael Carlito in ARMED AND DANGEROUS (1986) also played by Robert Loggia). The plywood that set designers utilized for the breakaway-partition had "Property Of Cannon Films" stamped all over it and when director of photography, Nick McLean, informed director Menahem Golan of this visible gaffe Golan reportedly surveyed the wreckage with a shrug and said, ”'By the time the audience sees that, I've already got their money in my pocket. Print it, let's move on!”

“Gotta go to work.” – Lincoln Hawk

Production peccadillos aside, even I have a couple of qualms with the proceedings. The aforementioned plywood incident is indicative of continuity issues like Lincoln’s last name oscillating from “Hawk” to “Hawks,” fluctuating geography, the vanishing and reappearing chrome hawk hood ornament, and Bull Hurley not being expressly double eliminated in the tournament. These minutiae might take you out of the moment but my bigger concerns are with omitting some salient plot points. Why did Jason Cutler come between Christina and Lincoln in the first place? How did Hawk lose “everything” as Cutler puts it? Why did Christina hide Hawk’s letters from Michael? Sure, we can infer that Bull got one elimination via disqualification via that errant punch to Hawk and that Christina left Lincoln for his lack of financial stability but we as the audience don’t really know for sure.

The one thing that really grinds my gears though is Lincoln Hawk’s interminable tardiness. Dude is a trucker and being at an appointed place at a specific time is kind of the whole job yet time after time we see Mr. Slick Hair & Suspender saunter in late. He does it at his kid’s graduation ceremony, his wife’s death, and even her funeral! Come on, Stallion, leave a little earlier and allow time for traffic!

“I can’t tolerate stupidity.” – Jason Cutler

Now at this point you must be thinking, “I’d have to be stupid and abnormal to enjoy a film like this.” Well, read on if you’re feeling good and strong and maybe I can make you into a loser like me. Sure, some scenes can be sorta silly and there are inconsistencies...but it’s also highly inspirational. The soundtrack gets me so pumped that I can’t help but buy into Lincoln Hawk’s demure badass attitude and aesthetic. If to “survive a war, you gotta become war” then by the transitive property “to win a truck, you gotta become truck.” This is basic Rambo-nomics, people! He almost makes me wish I was the strong silent type instead of the type that prattles on for pages about a movie that people don’t appreciate to my satisfaction. I said almost. And if you find yourself immune to the world class witticism of naming Lincoln’s son “Mike Hawk” and the sight gag of Stallone transporting cologne then congratulations on being a mature adult. Your certificate should be arriving any day now. Most importantly, perhaps, Stallone really plays Hawk with vulnerability and sincerity that I can’t help but root for. Some of you haters have clearly never had your father meet you halfway across the sky and it shows.

“Alright then. Let’s get right to it.” – Jason Cutler

At the time of its release the film was chastised for not being realistic enough despite organizing an actual "Over The Top" arm-wrestling tournament. Designed to be "the biggest event in arm-wrestling history” and boasted an international year-long competition culminating with an 18-hour marathon tournament where much of the film’s finale was filmed and where winner John Brzenk (basis for the Lincoln Hawk character) won a 1986 White Volvo 164 which he later drove across the country to promote the film.

Despite all that Stallone claimed he would have preferred a gritty urban presentation with an original score instead of Monsters Of Rock power ballads. OVER THE TOP presents arm-wrestling in a very stylized way that injects pro-wrestling glitz, glamor, gloss to ramp up the drama and directly influenced how the sport was presented for decades to come. Just pop on ESPN during the World Series of Armwrestling (WSA) and OVER THE TOP will feel oddly prophetic. If you doubt this film’s cultural bonafides then just play the arm-wrestling portion of Track & Field II for the Nintendo Entertainment System and you’ll see 8-bit renderings that look a lot like Hawk and Bull gripping, grimacing, and grunting it out for the gold. Although not the financial windfall creators were banking on, the film reinvented how pop culture perceives arm-wrestling. While our beloved Binky Balboa downplays his creative contributions, a wise man once said “As long as you lose like a winner, it doesn't matter, because you did it with dignity.”