MovieChat Forums > Over the Top (1987) Discussion > Michael was a little over the top.

Michael was a little over the top.


The amount of times he cried and shouted Dad! Dad! was just a bit over the top.

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Yeah, maybe a little. But there are hundreds of child actors who are WAY more over the top than Michael.

"I'm the dude, playing a dude that's disguised as another dude".

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That's where the movies title came from. It was named after the filmmakers had seen Michaels acting.

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Are we going to ignore the fact that this character's name is Mike Hawk?

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lol, no wonder he went by Michael Cutler

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[deleted]

The kid that played him (David Mendenhall) won a Golden Raspberry Awards for worst supporting actor and worst new star. I think that's what motivated him to get out of the business.

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You're missing the elephant in the room. It's heavily implied at the end that Lincoln Hawk's son, Michael, wants to take his dad's name as an affirmation of the love and respect earned through their journey together.

The kid basically says he wants to live the rest of his life as Mike Hawk.

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When I said "business", I meant "show business".

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Amusing though it is, thats not even relevant to the conversation , let alone "the elephant in the room"

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https://lebeauleblog.com/2015/11/19/golden-raspberry-awards-1987/3/

Let’s go ahead and get this out of the way. David Mendenhall was a child actor at the time he appeared in Over the Top. He played Sylvester Stallone’s son who goes on the road and bonds with his truck driver dad over arm-wrestling competitions. Yes, it’s a bad movie. Yes, he’s bad in it. Yes, I understand that the Razzies have a mad on for Stallone this decade. I don’t care. You don’t give Worst New Star to a kid. You just don’t do it. So it’s time for the Boo gif.

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The razz motivated the poor kid to leave the acting business. I find that a little cruel.

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Gene Siskel in his review of Over the top even point blank, said that David Mendenhall wasn't a good actor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1EqrQHdD4I

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Yeah that's pretty brutal for them to give a Razzie to a kid, let alone two. That's the only time they did that, and for the most part they avoided nominating kids. 1994 being an exception, when they nominated 3, but none won.

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You get the feeling that Hollywood looks upon child actors as miniature adult actors.

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He was the most annoying kid character in history, and that’s saying a lot.

If I was Stallone’s character I would have dropped him off at a truck stop and left. 🤣 He was just brutal.

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[deleted]

Yeah, at the end, during the final arm-wrestling match. The kid kept shouting “Dad!” so many times

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