The film that might convince kids there was a huge arm wrestling fad that swept the nation in 1987.
This was a glorious piece of Cannon fodder.
Menahem Golan, the infamously hard headed honcho at Cannon Films himself, sat in the director’s chair. Not only did Golan direct Over the Top (1987); he wholeheartedly believed in it and went all-in – including a watershed 12 million dollar paycheck for Sly. He thought this was the movie that would propel Cannon into the Hollywood A-list. In Ron Howard’s voice: It didn’t.
The film made back a fraction of what Cobra had pulled in the year before. And that was without the promotional expense. No franchise, no sequel, no breakout. It eventually found its way to the action section where it quietly waited for someone in need of a Rocky movie, but also not a Rocky movie.
La trivia! The Giorgio Moroder-produced soundtrack was the real MVP. Kenny Loggins’ FM radio power ballad “Meet Me Halfway” went to number 11 on the Bilboard charts, and pretty much cemented Loggins as the reigning king of movie soundtrack mixtapes (Caddyshack, Footloose, Top Gun…).
Sammy Hagar’s “Winner Takes It All,” got in on that Billboard action but peaked at number 31. -Pop