I wanted to but couldn't!

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Saw this in 1978, aged 15, loved it then, love it now ( aged 55 ).... great sequences in this film, great to see early Stallone

From the beginning of the credits scene, we know that we are about to see a very interesting story..Stallone(the most underrated actor in movie history) directs,writes,produces,stars and even sings on the credits song of this marvelous film and he does energetically. this film is nostalgic, beautiful and powerful.In my opinion it must have been a longer film,and Stallone should have developed the brothers characters and the relationship of his brother with the Asian girl a little bit more.But anyway everything on the film works perfect.This movie was made after Rocky, is the debut Stallone as a director,this film is been unjustly forgotten and it must be rediscover.Sylvester Stallone is a great actor, director and writer and is unfair how the critics have been treating him during the years.Paradise Alley is a great film.

Stallone's Paradise Alley is not a perfect movie. But it is fun and entertaining to watch Stallone try and come into his own as a filmmaker. It's only natural after Writing Rocky that STallone would get interested in actually making a movie that would be his entirely from start to finish and is it good? Well Yes it is good the acting is very watchable and the Carboni brothers are easy enough to cheer on. BUT. Some things are not explained enough or some characters suddenly change their nature in the middle of the film and it's things like this that make you wonder if you missed a scene or two. Assante in his first film role has a incredible debut and let's face it HE Steals The show from Stallone at times. Stallones's Cosmo is a easy enough loser /con man to actually cheer for or to indenified with after all who hasn't actually tried to run a con at one point in their lives? Terry Funk delivers a sinister performance as Frankie the Thumper. And Kevin Conway delivers just as good of a performance here as he does as Vince Doyle in F.I.S.T. A incredibly good actor of great range. Stallone mixes it all into Paradise Alley love Chaos Action Comedy and enough pathos to remind us of the sad value of life that others exploit for their ends. Stallone also delivers a wonderful surprisingly Theme Song To his Film Too close to paradise. A good film hard to forget after you've seen it and worthy enough to be remembered.

People get a hold of yourselves. Let's not fight about this. Plain & simple this movie rules!! It is so innocent & sincere that people who don't like it aren't really watching the movie...they're thinking' to themselves "Stallone got too popular too quick & He's got a fat head since the Oscars, I don't like the mumble mouthed prick at all" This movie is a throwback to films of the 40's when you went to the movies for a great story with characters you can care about. No car chases, no mutants lookin' to propagate & most importantly no unnecessary violence. It's just a good movie with great performances & a lotta heart. Stallone wrote & directed & even sang the theme song & he did a fine job with all three....even the theme song (Although I still can't understand all the lyrics)!! Just do yourself a favor and buy it. You can get it for $6-9 dollars at wal-mart or best buy. Go home & enjoy it. It really is a whole lotta fun.