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 | |
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John Lehne | ... | Mr. Gant |
Henry Wilcoxon | ... | Win Talbot | |
Richard Herd | ... | Mike Monahan | |
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Tony Mockus Jr. | ... | Tom Higgins (as Tony Mockus) |
Ken Kercheval | ... | Bernie Marr | |
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Elena Karam | ... | Mrs. Zerinkas |
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. Written by Mattias Thuresson
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.