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There was a time when Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger were always competing for the top spot in the action movie genre. In the 80s, both men were in their primes and always being compared to one another — kind of like Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in their primes — but now Stallone has made a huge admission in an appearance in the new Netflix documentary, Arnold.
During an appearance in Arnold, Stallone opened up about the rivalry between him and Schwarzenegger. “The 80s was a very interesting time because the definitive ‘action guy' had not really been formed yet. Up until that time, action was a car chase like [the ones in] Bullit or The French Connection — a film all about intellect and innuendo and verbal this and verbal that,” said Stallone, setting the stage for the rivalry.
But then there was a shift in the action genre. It became less about dialogue and more about physical aura. “You actually relied upon your body to tell the story,” he continued.
“Dialogue was not necessary. I saw that there was an opportunity because no one else was doing this except some other guy from Austria, who doesn't need to say much… He was superior. He just had all the answers. He had the body. He had the strength. That was his character,” Stallone admitted.
He went on to name a key difference between him and Schwarzenegger — that being his physicality and ability to withstand the physical toll of being in action movies. “I had to get my a** kicked constantly, whereas Arnold, he never got hurt much,” said Stallone.
He concluded, “And I'm going, ‘Arnold, you could go out and fight a dragon and you'd come back with a Band-Aid.”
While Stallone was laying the compliments on heavy for Schwarzenegger, the latter was quick to compliment his former rival: “Every time he came out with a movie like Rambo II, I had to figure out a way of now outdoing that. Without Stallone, I maybe wouldn't have been as motivated in the 80s to do the kind of movies that I did and to work as hard as I did. I'm a competitive person.”
Both Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger are legends of the industry. After launching the Rocky franchise, Stallone went on to appear in the likes of the Rambo franchise, Cobra, Over the Top, and Cliffhanger. Schwarzenegger had an equally successful career after making a name for himself in the likes of Conan the Barbarian, The Terminator, and Predator. While the two had their rivalry, they both appeared in The Expendables 2 and 3 together (it's unknown if Schwarzenegger will appear in the fourth film). Schwarzenegger was most recently seen in FUBAR — another Netflix collaboration — while Stallone and his family starred in the Paramount+ reality series, The Family Stallone. He was also recently seen in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, reprising his role of Stakar Ogord.
Arnold is streaming on Netflix now.
