Column: Sylvester Stallone, Cowboy

Image credits: Paramount+

some lovers the sopranos (1999-2007) They were sure: Tulsa King – Sylvester Stallone plays a New York mafioso who, after being sentenced to prison, is building a new criminal life in the US state of Oklahoma – it will be successful. Not a strange idea in itself: Sometimes the screenwriter is Taylor Sheridan — see hell or high water (2016) and Yellowstone (2018-) – very accurate. Actor – known b Sons of Anarchy (2008-2014) – who began writing screenplays and has since emerged as a frontier historian; From the Wild West. Stallone at this time – after Jeff Bridges hell or high water And Kevin Costner Yellowstone – Cowboy on duty.

This is ironic: Stallone (76) is a movie star. Who in the fall of his life turns to television. Perhaps because there he can play the roles he longs for. Or because the TV pays better? I read this week Cinema speculationThe new book from superhero director Quentin Tarantino. A pure hymn to cinema and to Stallone. Tarantino loved muscle in his youth, and blockbuster movies in particular rocky (1976). Boxing movie genius according to the maker of classics like Pulp Fiction (1994). The embodiment of the American dream.

This is what Westerners are all about today: nostalgia. When the world was supposedly a lot less complicated. You have to be careful with this premise. Soon you’ll be making TV dramas or movies that just spawn about things that were “better.” See also English (2022-) – a passion project for actress Emily Blunt, who also produces – as a cute anti-model. The British-American Western series revolves around a cowgirl (Blunt) rather than a cowboy and also shifts the focus to “minorities”—that is, the indigenous people of the United States, who were once the majority.

But back to Stallone. Members the sopranos She had high expectations Tulsa King. Because Stallone plays in it. But also because max casella – benny fazio from the sopranos He plays in it, as well as Dominic Lombardozi, who the viewer will recognize the wire (2002-2008). In short, it should be fine. However, of course it doesn’t work that way. Stallone + Sheridan + Fazio + Lombardozzi = no success is guaranteed. Above all: Stallone hasn’t made a memorable movie in years — it recently appeared on Prime Video Samaritan (2022) is sad proof of that. A flawed western superhero filmed in the big city.

Tulsa King – Crime series from streaming service Paramount + is not yet available in the Netherlands – Received nice reviews. But, therefore, it is not a successor to it in terms of the technical level the sopranos, if you want to believe the American TV press. Nor should everything be compared to that near-perfect TV epic. Although sometimes James Gandolfini’s car also resembled a Western: Tony Soprano sometimes felt very lonely, as if he was crying out for water in a very dry desert. rocky It is also Western in this respect, with the boxer as the archetype Single. Sometimes, cowboys — Stallone was born in Hell’s Kitchen, New York — simply come from D.C., and that’s just plain obvious.

Receive our newsletter? Every Friday the latest series and movies in your inbox! Register here.