Everyone who was growing up during the ’80s and ’90s will surely remember the Golden Era of action films that were defining the film industry. With so many films dedicated to testosterone-filled violence, the stars who were the faces of the genre were considered to be heroes. Thus, Arnold Schwarzenegger found himself at the top of the food chain.
The only other individual who could give the star a run for his box office money was none other than Sylvester Stallone, another icon of the action era. Their clashes at the box office as well as with their popularity gave birth to the most heated rivalry Hollywood had ever seen. But looking at it in retrospect, Schwarzenegger cannot help himself but laugh at his childish behavior.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Remembers His Rivalry With Sylvester Stallone As A Childish Act
When there is only one of you in the whole world, then you start to like that feeling, until another jumps into the scene and threatens that sense of uniqueness and superiority. This is what happened when Arnold Schwarzenegger realized that Sylvester Stallone was becoming the next big thing in the action genre of films, which made him compete for the top spot.
But looking back at it now, he saw the absurdity and the childishness of the whole scenario that people still talk with passion about today.
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In the recent release of Stallone’s documentary film, titled Sly, the Commando star made an appearance in the movie, where he recalled the days he spent vying for the title of the biggest action star in the business. He said that since Stallone was trying to achieve everything he stood for, like big muscles and bigger guns, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of rivalry starting to brew up.
But after all these years of fighting in their prime, they reconciled and buried the hatchet, and when they look back at it today, they cannot help but laugh at it. Schwarzenegger said:
“Sly, all of a sudden with Rambo, he stepped into my arena. All of a sudden, he was ripped and everyone was talking about his body, and that created competition, of course. At that point, we were like little kids. Who uses bigger knives? Who uses bigger guns and holds them in one arm and [gunfire imitaion], you know like that. Who has bigger muscles, and who has more muscle definition. Who has less body fat? I mean, stupid stuff that we would be fighting over. Now we look back, and we laugh at the whole thing.”
Just goes to show how the sense of competition can push people towards achieving greatness and creating history with their actions.
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How Heated Was The Rivalry Between The Two?
To call this a heated rivalry would be an understatement as this is by far the most memorable and intense competition between two Hollywood bigshots in history.
Not just on-screen, they took this rivalry personally. It was reported that during the 1977 Golden Globe ceremony, the stars were witnessed verbally attacking each other’s action movies. Since then, they had decided to bring each other down by any means necessary. In fact, the Rocky star allegedly provided false information to the press that Schwarzenegger was a believer in Nazi ideology like his father.
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