Sylvester Stallone Archives

On July 24, 1982, the band Survivor hit the top of the Billboard pop charts with the song “Eye of the Tiger.” The song from Rocky III (1982) continued to hold that position at the top for six weeks.

Sylvester Stallone had sought out the band after hearing their 1981 song “Poor Man’s Son.” The songwriters in the band –Frankie Sullivan and Jim Peterik — responded to Stallone’s request for something with a “rock beat” with the hard-hitting “Eye of the Tiger.”

“Eye of the Tiger” has some clunky lyrics, such as “They stack the odds ’till we take to the street/ For the kill with the skill to survive.” But it was a great song for the over-the-top Rocky III, and the band’s lead singer at the time, Dave Bickler, does a great job.

Rocky III is one of my favorites in the franchise. After all, it has Hulk Hogan and Mr. T, introducing the latter’s catch phrase, “I pity the fool.” But the song title captures the essential theme of the movie about a man trying to find what made him find success in the first place after becoming complacent.

Another cool thing is how the band named Survivor managed to work in the words “survive” or “survivor” so many times. The words appear at least six times in the song.

The song’s six-week run at the top of the charts was longer than the run of the other hit from the Rocky franchise. “Gonna Fly Now (Theme from Rocky).” That song from the first Rocky (1976) was the number-one song for one week in 1977. “Eye of the Tiger” also was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

As for Survivor, they never matched the hit status of “Eye of the Tiger.” The band members changed over time, with some breakups and getting back together. And singer Jimi Jamison, who became lead singer after the success of “Eye of the Tiger,” passed away in 2014. “Eye of the Tiger” singer Bickler had joined the band again before that, but in 2016 he was fired. But, living up to the group’s name, the band Survivor is still around and continues to tour.

What is your favorite Rocky music? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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Apocalypto: Mad Max Meets Rambo (Missed Movies)

Pop Culture Roundup for Late October 2011

(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

When Mel Gibson announced he was going to follow up his hit The Passion of the Christ (2004) with unknown actors in a film set in the Mayan kingdom in the early 1500s using the Yucatec Maya language with subtitles, many thought he was crazy (besides other reasons that people think he is crazy). But Apocalypto (2006) is not a dry history lesson but the type of exciting action yarn one might expect from Gibson, despite its unusual setting.

The film begins in a peaceful village and you are immediately drawn to the characters despite the language barrier. Among the characters, we are introduced to the young warrior Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) and his pregnant wife, Seven (Dalia Hernandez). But soon, things are disrupted when warriors from the center of the civilization arrive to destroy the village, attack the women, and take the men back to the temple in the city for sacrifice. As Jaguar Paw becomes separated from his wife after hiding her and his son, we wonder if he will be able to escape the captors led by Zero Wolf (Raoul Trujillo) to be able to return to rescue her.

The film has some similarities to Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ and Braveheart (1995) in that they all follow a movie tradition of having the hero suffer brutality so that the audience wishes for some type of vengeance against the tormentors. And there are scenes of blood and brutality. But the film that Apocalypto most reminded me of was First Blood (1982), the original Rambo movie. Like that Sylvester Stalone film, the hero here is captured and we watch as he tries to escape, survive, and defeat his pursuers.

Of course, nowadays any film attached to Mel Gibson suffers because of his controversial behavior away from the screen, and the film likely suffered at the box office because of its connection to Gibson. Questions about the film’s accuracy in portraying an ancient civilization also caused some controversy. But as a film, Apocalypto has much going for it, as recognized by other actors and directors like Robert Duvall and Quentin Tarantino.

Conclusion?: If you avoided Apocalypto when it was released because a film about Mayans in another language sounded boring, and if you like action adventure films, you should give the film a chance. It might be worth reading the subtitles to see an entertaining and exciting action film.

Other Reviews Because Why Should You Listen to Me?: Critics at Rotten Tomatoes combine to give Apocalypto a 65% rating, but audience members enjoyed the action yarn more, giving the film a 79% rating. On ReelViews, James Berardinelli gave Apocalypto 3-1/2 stars (out of four) and concluded that “it’s unlike any other movie to reach theaters this year and, because it is as visual an experience as it is visceral.” By contrast, Rob Gonsalves at eFilmCritic.com pans the film, calling it “a skimpy action flick.”

{Missed Movies is our continuing series on good films you might have missed because they did not receive the recognition they deserved when released.}

What do you think of Apocalypto? Leave your two cents in the comments.