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Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Not everyone gets the just of this movie but for those that do it is a laugh riot!! Stallone is hysterical as the animated Cosmos Carboni who is incessantly trying to make an easy buck with random scams. Armand Assante plays Lenny, Cosmos' older brother and voice of reason for the Carboni Boys. Finally, there is the younger brother Vick who can haul 300lbs of ice up 15 flights of stairs without blowing his breakfast but has the IQ of a gnat. So many scenes are gut busters in this movie and I don't want to give them away but a few of my favorites include: Stallone waking up hungover to discover a plate full of roaches on his previous night's dinner. He proceeds to take aim on the plate with his Louisville Slugger and shatters it along with the roaches with his brother and pet bird looking on. The same day he is out in the streets freezing with a stolen concierge outfit on, holding a monkey chained to a table and chanting "see the dancing monkey!" This is his latest money making scheme after Vick won the monkey in a previous night's arm wrestling match. Anyway, it's crude and low brow humor, but that is what makes this film a great Friday night viewing among good buddies.

This film has a texture and depth that was missing from many of the films that year. The appearance of cameos such as Tom Waitts give the film an authenticity lacking in many other period pieces. The oppression of the human spirit by the New York of the times rings true and demonstrates the power and fragility of the human spirit. The costumes and sets of New York portrays the darkness of the spirit that was rampant at those times. The relationships of the three brothers portrays the relationship and struggles we all wrestle with, from time to time, as we both exploit and nurture our inner beings. The opening scene is an immediate indication of how plans go sour.

I didn't quite know what to make of "Paradise Alley" when it first came out in 1978, and quite truthfully, I don't quite know what to make of it today. Back in the mid 1960's I became quite a fan of professional wrestling, oxymoron as that description is. So it was the wrestling theme that prompted me to see it during it's theatrical release. Coming off the success of "Rocky", it was as if Sylvester Stallone had to follow up that first hit with another self propelled film as writer, actor and director. The comparisons to "Rocky", inevitable as they are, should be a cautionary one though. The former was a true diamond in the rough honored as "Best Picture", while "Paradise" and it's characters have trouble defining themselves in post War 1946 Hell's Kitchen.It seems as if each of the Carboni Brothers undergoes a personality change during the story. Cosmo (Stallone) is the schemer who prompts Victor (Lee Cannalito) to become a wrestler by going up against and defeating the house champion Big Glory (Frank McRae). Brother Lenny (Armand Assante) is at first protective of Victor, but with the wrestler's success in the ring, the tables turn and Cosmo begins to question Lenny's ethics and handling of the purses. Lenny becomes the stereotype of a boxing manager, deflecting questions about his integrity and how he's handling Vic's money.For me, a couple of things didn't ring true historically for the film's 1940's setting. The characters of Annie (Anne Archer) and Bunchie (Joyce Ingalls) looked just a little bit too glamorous for the story's backdrop. As for the wrestling scenes, though well done and featuring some of the mid '70's top mat stars, they were based quite heavily on the actual wrestling style of the Seventies. You had your grappling moves defined by flips and throws, punctuated by a Ray Stevens maneuver as he catapults into a turnbuckle. However most mat action prior to the 1960's was anything but, with rare exception. Even the widely available 1960 championship bout between Buddy Rogers and Pat O'Connor featured a lot of stale and boring rest holds.Ironically, I just saw this film again on the cable Yes Network hosted by Yogi Berra in a format titled "Yogi and a Movie". Between scenes, the famed Yankee great would talk about his youth and watching pro wrestlers like Lou Thesz and Strangler Lewis. Story boards between acts mentioned a lot of trivia about the film that appears on the IMDb site for this movie, which leads me to believe that it could have been a reference point for the presentation.There are a number of reasons to check out "Paradise Alley", and not just to be a Stallone completist. The filming style, particularly some of the bar scenes with their red tint lends a certain uniqueness to the movie. Another is the voice of Sly Stallone singing "Too Close to Paradise" over the opening credits and the rooftop race against "Rat" (Paul Mace). The one scene though that will test your patience is Victor singing to his parakeet, it's probably the one scene in film history that had me wishing for fingernails on a chalkboard.

This film has got to be the best thing next to Rocky 1 that Sly has done. Though I had yet to be born in 1946, I know some of those people, that is the main reason that it is one of my fav's of all time. Every one of them was a freak and the whole film was a freak show. I lived a long time in south Baltimore and Bunchi, Victor, Len, Frankie, and even Cosmo I have known in real life. The time and place were perfect, it was well shot and easy to follow as it should have been for this type of film. The roof race, the Christmas cheer truck ride, the ice block on the stairs, Bunchi's Christmas presents scene, this is great stuff. Am I biased cause it's a city movie, yea I am but I gave it a 10 for a lot of reasons other than that.