Product Details

• Actors: Sylvester Stallone, Robert Loggia, Susan Blakely, Rick Zumwalt, David Mendenhall
• Directors: Menahem Golan
• Writers: Sylvester Stallone, David Engelbach, Gary Conway, Stirling Silliphant
• Producers: Menahem Golan, James D. Brubaker, Tony Munafo
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: September 4, 2001
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (100 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302816580
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #142,283 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Arm-wrestling might be far down on most viewers' list of "most cinematic sports," but Sylvester Stallone certainly goes the distance to prove the contrary in this lightweight but entertaining mid-'80s action/family feature. Stallone (who co-wrote the script with Stirling Silliphant) plays taciturn trucker Lincoln Hawk (though he's called "Hawks" by large portions of the cast), who faces two considerable challenges at once: to win the Las Vegas Arm Wrestling Championship, and to impress the son (David Mendenhall) who's been turned against him by his grandfather (Robert Loggia, snarling up a storm). Menahem Golan's direction and the soundtrack of bombastic '80s pop-rock (by Sammy Hagar, Kenny Loggins, and others) is anything but subtle, and the host of opponents Stallone faces look like they were culled from professional wrestling (indeed, veteran grappler Terry Funk is in the cast), but Sly stalwarts and '80s action aficionados may find this rousing entertainment. The widescreen anamorphic DVD offers only the original theatrical trailer as an extra. – Paul Gaita

Product Description

Sylvester Stallone creates another sports hero with heart in the Rocky mold, a big-rig trucker using his armwrestling talent to rebuild his shattered life. Year: 1987 Director: Menahem Golan Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Robert Loggia, Susan Blakely

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Over the Top is better than Roy Fripple!, January 7, 2000

By 

Steve Samuals (Creve Cour, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Over the Top [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Over the top is such an emotionally moving film. The music that runs throughout the entire movie just adds to the effect. If someone is looking for the most inspirational speech in the history of mankind, then look no further than the scene right before the final arm wrestling match between Hawk and Bull Harley. Stallone emotionally explains how he becomes like a machine, or more specifically a truck, by simply turning his hat backwards. I watch this scene every morning to keep me going. This movie did not have enough white guys with perms in it, though.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars CLASSIC STALLONE!, April 8, 2000

By 

"tee-vee-stevie" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Over the Top [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is a typical Stallone film with a typical Stallone script, which is exactly why I enjoyed it so much. All the elements are present in Lincoln Hawk, Stallones character in OTT, that made films like Rocky and First Blood so special. This is basically a road movie about a father whose trying to win the love of his son, Lincoln's ambition to win the world arm wrestling championship is cleverly used as a constant parody to the developing relationship between father and son. So as long as you aren't looking for anything too deep and meaningful and appreciate Stallones other films then you should really enjoy this.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easily the best Arm Wrestling movie of all time!, July 14, 2008

By 

Jason (Funkytown) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Over the Top (DVD)

Over the Top is exactly that, over the top. The clever title is an obvious double-entendre in that it's a story about arm-wrestling that is completely ridiculous; yet, it somehow manages to be a highly enjoyable movie with real, albeit unanticipated, drama.

Amidst the preposterous father-son bonding, in which a borderline mongloid named Hawk (Sylvester Stallone) shares a long-haul trucking get-together with his son, as well as the finer points of arm wrestling - via a pulley system generically rigged up by Hawk (pun intended) - there is one the most comical, unbelievable scenes in movie history. While stopping for a bite to eat at a greasy spoon diner - in which Hawk's prissy, weakling, snowflake, WASP son preaches about the benefits of health food - Hawk decides that it is high time his son proves his worth and strength via an absurd arm-wrestling match staged between his son and a tough, street kid on top of a pinball machine. I'll let you be "surprised" by the outcome.

The ultimate arm wrestling showdown seems more like a collection of carnies or psych-ward patients than a group of competitors in an arm wrestling tournament. There is a pretty good chance that there was no blood testing at the time of this event, and if there were, more than one guy would be found with horse steroids or psychotropic drugs in his system. The favorite of the competition, Bull Harley, who seems like a villian in a video game because of his epic proportions, probably has stool bigger than Hawk's arms. Through sheer will and determination, Hawk manages to spin his hat around and channel the energy of 100 suns in order to win the title.

I'd feel bad about the spoiler if it weren't so painfully obvious and insignificant. The pleasure in this movie is the journey, not the destination. It's a great, mindless movie, and I watch it nearly every time it's on late-night TV.