Stallone at the peak of his creative powers (Regardless of box-office)

First off, I love Rocky and Rambo (plus everything else Sly does) but Paradise Alley (regardless of it's failure at the box-office) is Stallone at his (creative) peak. After this, he slipped (all too easily, yet no less enjoyably) into sequels and (primarily) dumb action flicks.

Here we have Stallone, willing to take a back-seat to the action, whilst predating his interest in both 'arm-Wrestling' and 'Wrestling' (which would later resurface in 'Over The Top' and 'Rocky III', respectively)

F*I*S*T aside, It took him almost another 20 years later, to give 'acting' another go with 'COPLAND' (but by then, he had nowhere near enough 'say-so' or 'creative-vision' than he had in 1978, with this movie)

The cast, pacing, script, performances and dialogue are amazing. This is the greatest movie that James Cagney *NEVER* made (and would easily fit in fine with Warner's forties Gangster output)

Stallone was looking to diversify after Rocky, but sadly this film didn't set the box-office on fire (hence, the Italian Stallion returned) but this movie always gets overlooked (which is a crying shame)

The 'novelization' (also by Stallone) is pretty much word-perfect to the movie (with a few more 'personal' passages) and Stallone's opening theme tune 'Too Close To Paradise' (written by Carol Bayer Sager, no less) is another classic.

As much as I love all of Stallone's output, I do wonder where his career would have went, had this movie been a bigger box office hit?