F.I.S.T (1978)

Johnny Kovak joins the Teamsters trade-union in a local chapter in the 1930s and works his way up in the organization. As he climbs higher and higher his methods become more ruthless and ... See full summary »

Director:

Norman Jewison

Writers:

Joe Eszterhas (story), Joe Eszterhas (screenplay),

Stars:

Sylvester Stallone, Rod Steiger, Peter Boyle

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sylvester Stallone	...	Johnny Kovak
Rod Steiger	...	Senator Madison
Peter Boyle	...	Max Graham
Melinda Dillon	...	Anna Zarinkas
David Huffman	...	Abe Belkin
Kevin Conway	...	Vince Doyle
Tony Lo Bianco	...	Babe Milano
Cassie Yates	...	Molly
Peter Donat	...	Arthur St. Clair
John Lehne	...	Mr. Gant
Henry Wilcoxon	...	Win Talbot
Richard Herd	...	Mike Monahan
Tony Mockus Jr.	...	Tom Higgins (as Tony Mockus)
Ken Kercheval	...	Bernie Marr
Elena Karam	...	Mrs. Zerinkas

Storyline

Johnny Kovak joins the Teamsters trade-union in a local chapter in the 1930s and works his way up in the organization. As he climbs higher and higher his methods become more ruthless and finally senator Madison starts a campaign to find the truth about the alleged connections with the Mob.

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Plot Keywords:

senator | trade union | 1930s | investigation | revenge | 

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Taglines:

A love story between a man, a country, the people he led and the woman he loved.

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Hungarian Lithuanian Latin Italian

Release Date:

17 August 1978 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

F.I.S.T.

Filming Locations:

Attercliffe, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$11,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Chateau Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

145 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Cleveland scenes were filmed in Dubuque, Iowa, partly because none of the homes or buildings had rooftop TV antennas.

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Quotes

Babe Milano: Nobody's 100%... Nobody.

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Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theater 3000: Quest of the Delta Knights (1998)

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Soundtracks

"Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"
Written by J. Fred Coots
Lyrics by Haven Gillespie
Performed by Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters
Courtesy of MCA Records

User Reviews

Stallone's Sleeper Best Performance

You cannot judge Stallone's acting career without seeing this movie. The movie was made during the height of Rocky-mania, and I don't recall it getting much attention on its first run.

Sly plays a blue-collar grunt at the pre-dawn of the organized labor movement in the US. I think the film does a commendable job showing the audience what conditions were like before the work force was unionized. Indeed it depicts what what drove workers to form the original labor unions. Federated Inter-State Truckers or FIST is the union that Stallone's character reluctantly helps organize and lead through the early dark years of violent strikes and lockouts to the later years of labor successes breading union corruption.

I am not a fan of the Rocky series, but did enjoy First Blood 1. I found FIST to be the best film of his career.