Arnold & Sly: Rivals, Friends, Icons

Yet again, we see all too many times the producers wedge themselves into subject matter they don't belong to.

Here we have Harvey Levin dictating and dominating most of this documentary. We have the two greatest action stars in history presented in a way that seems rushed, chopped up, and overtaken by Harvey.

A very short documentary at 43 minutes. Even though all the rights to the movies were paid off, we could've had a little bit more movie references and footage, it was nice to see the family life of both people.

Harvey went over many of the same revelations we already know. But overall, it just seemed very watered down, redundant, and PG.

This was a fun and - for me - enlightening interview. I haven't seen any other documentaries on this subject so can't compare it as others have.

These two actors were my heroes when I was younger and they still are today.

I have to knock one star off only because it was too short. I would have liked a longer runtime so that we could hear more of their story. I bet they have many more anecdotes about the times when they were at their peak.

There will never be another rivalry between two action heroes like Sly & Arnie; they are unique and they changed action movies forever.

Just nineteen characters left. That's got it!

Right, well when I stumbled upon this 2024 docunentary titled "Arnold & Sly: Rivals, Friends, Icons", there wasn't even a split second of doubt whether I should watch it or not. I mean, growing up with the action movies of the 1980s from both Stallone and Schwarzengger, of course I had to watch this.

Sure, it was entertaining and enjoyable, but... Yes, unfortunately there is a but here. I feel that the documentary was a bit rushed and superficial. It was as if Stallone and Schwarzenegger weren't really given the opportunity to just open up and share whatever they wanted. It was a very one-sided documentary, where the host, Harvey Levin, sort of steered the direction with a bit too much of an iron grip.

I missed more insight into the rivalry, what drove them to do things that they did, and what they did to overcome the rivalry, the reason for becoming friends, and such. It wasn't really brought into the light throughout the course of the 43 minutes that the documentary ran for. It felt like the documentary didn't really bring new information out into the light, but instead playing it safe by sticking to stories already told.

It wasn't all bad, because there definitely were nice parts to the documentary as well, no doubt about that.

Watchable for what it was, I feel that "Arnold & Sly: Rivals, Friends, Icons" was a missed opportunity, because these two mastodons of action movies most definitely had a lot of tales to tell.

My rating of "Arnold & Sly: Rivals, Friends, Icons" lands on a five out of ten stars.

There is no doubt that Stallone and Schwarzenegger changed the movie industry. Whether it was a change for the better or worse is subjective.

The fascinating thing to me is that they were rivals, not only aware of the other bit driven to outdo the other. This led to bigger guns in their films and higher body counts.

I've seen both of their recent documentaries so I was aware of all this, but this interview was still interesting to me. Harvey Levin did a great job of bringing these two icons together and fleshing out their relationship; both the adversarial part as well as the admirational part. The story about Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot was the best part of this interview.

If you grew up like me, watching all the Rambo and Terminator movies, you'll enjoy this interview.