Posted on 01/18/2015 10:03:27 PM PST by RC one
This weekend, you can see Sly lay waste to hundreds of fools in The Expendables 3. But the man formerly known as John Rambo is, surprisingly, one of the NRA’s most reviled stars.
On Friday, The Expendables 3 hits theaters. It’s the third installment in the star-studded, old-school, bullet-riddled action series spearheaded by Sylvester Stallone—of the Rambo franchise or, for the less-discerning filmgoer, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.
The latest Expendables flick was never destined to garner much love from film critics. “You need The Expendables 3 like you need a kick in the crotch,” wrote Variety’s Justin Chang. Regardless, the movie will no doubt satisfy fans of the kind of ’80s action vehicles in which large objects explode and nameless henchmen are heroically gunned down.
But here’s a thing to keep in mind whenever a new Stallone guns-guts-and-glory fest comes out: Sylvester Stallone is the most anti-gun person working in Hollywood today (really).
This probably strikes you as weird, given that the impossibly ripped, snarling actor has built his image and fortune on being one of American cinema’s most iconic gun-toting protagonists. “[M]ovie cult figures like Rambo are seen as boosters for every American's right to bear arms,” reads a Reuters story from 1985, noting that national gun-control efforts had weakened due to a “newly aggressive U.S. mood.”
It’s not that Stallone is a raging liberal, or anything. He is widely regarded as a Hollywood conservative who has supported Republican presidential contenders from Reagan on. (Here he is attending festivities for the first George W. Bush inauguration, along with Chuck Norris and Meatloaf.) But he’s not a strict ideologue, and has donated money to the DNC and Democratic candidates including Joe Biden and Barbara Boxer. Stallone, truth be told, isn’t vocal about very many political issues—but he definitely isn’t shy about publicly voicing his opinions on gun control and gun violence in America.
After the shooting death of his friend, comedian Phil Hartman, in 1998, Stallone became particularly passionate about the issue. And it wasn’t just lax gun laws he was angry about; he wanted to blow a hole through the Second Amendment: “It has to be stopped, and someone really has to go on the line, a certain dauntless political figure, and say, ‘It’s ending, it’s over, all bets are off, it’s not 200 years ago, we don’t need [the Second Amendment] anymore, and the rest of the world doesn’t have it,’” Stallone told Access Hollywood in 1998. “Why should we?”
“Until America, door to door, takes every handgun, this is what you’re gonna have,” added Stallone. “It’s pathetic. It really is pathetic. It’s sad. We’re living in the Dark Ages [in America].”
The actor also addressed the charges of hypocrisy celebrities like him face when they favor stricter gun laws while acting in movies where a higher body count generally means a fatter paycheck. “I know we use guns in films, [but the time has come] to be a little more accountable and realize that this is an escalating problem that’s eventually going to lead to, I think, urban warfare.” Stallone, along with the late comedian Bernie Mac, attended an event sponsored by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence back in 2006 (the buff actor had previously supported the 1994 “Brady Bill.”) And in response to the Newtown Elementary School massacre in 2012, he again called for banning assault weapons.
“I know people get [upset] and go, ‘They’re going to take away the assault weapon,’” Stallone said in early 2013, right around the time he was promoting his then-new film, Bullet to the Head. “Who…needs an assault weapon? Like really, unless you’re carrying out an assault…You can’t hunt with it…Who’s going to attack your house, a fucking army?”
For comments such as these, Stallone didn’t make any new friends in the so-called pro-gun community. Fox News even called him out over his support for post-Newtown gun-control legislation:
In early 2012, Guns & Ammo listed Stallone as one of their eight “surprising” anti-gun celebrities: “Some actors and celebrities may hope and wish for gun control, but their takes aren’t as totalitarian as Stallone’s,” the piece reads. And the following year, he was included on the National Rifle Association’s enemies list—alongside fellow ass-kickers Barry Manilow, Michael Moore, figure skater Tara Lipinski, and Henry Winkler.
In the eyes of the NRA, Rambo is as grave a threat to gun rights as The Fonz—or the director of Bowling for Columbine.
FReep You Rambo!! You want my gun, come and take it!!
Interestingly that's just what *YOU* (Stallone) proposed when you said this:
"“Until America, door to door, takes every handgun, ..."
QED, Sly.
Stallone? Stalin? Coincidence?
I hasten to add that's it's the second amendment that's secured our freedom to this point (unlike the socialist/fascist/islamo Europe).
It’s Lame Neeson....Kan’t you spell?
I really wanted to see Taken 3 and enjoyed “Nonstop” but, now that I see their vile remarks, idiotic hypocrisy and thoughtful ignorance I think I could do with a little less buttered popcorn.
I have added John J. Rambo and Lame to those actors I will not support because they have such a public voice and are very exacting in the tortious effect they fervently hope and work for.
The rest of the world doesn’t have a 2nd amendment?
Well, the rest of the world also doesn’t have a 1st amendment, 4th amendment, 5th amendment, 6th amendment and so on...
and the rest of the world either wants to be American or like America.
Levis, Coke, McDonalds.
You don’t see the world saying “Hey, I want some “Ping” if only to be somewhat Chinese”.
“I want afternoon tea, to feel more English” uhhh nope.
Hell, Mexico tourism is built around Americans. Cabo sucks and feels pretty much American.
And what are the rights people have in those countries? Try searching for anything you normally search for in China on the Internet. Limited.
Try saying the Holocaust didn’t happen in some countries and they will absolutely jail you. I know it happened but, the point is you should be free to say whatever bat shit crazy thing you want.
No more Stallone or Lame for me.
Yeah, well, you know we’re not going to have “urban warfare” because some crazy b*tch killed her husband, or even because some psychos killed a bunch of school children or movie goers.
I mean, we MIGHT have urban warfare, but those things will have nothing to do with it.
Why would anyone hate gum? What does he have against dental hygiene?
When Stallone gives away all the money he made in films where he used a gun, or a film he was in that glorified guns, and publicly denounces each and every such film he was in,
then he may have a small shred of credibility with his (current extremely hypocritical) message.
I never thought an action star could be such a pussy in real life.
Sylvie has never impressed me as being the sharpest tool in the box.
No, man.
Oh sh*t, Not another one!
They have all kinds of gun control in Australia. Laim and Sly should both move there immediately and begin filming Brokeback Mountain 2.
And to think I used to avoid his movies just because his acting sucks.
Well, I’m not suprised that Barry Manilow AKA “Barely Man enough” is a gun grabber.
CC
That is his only movie that I liked.
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