The more I think about this movie the more I love it

Rating: 7/10 (6 April 2016)

Wow not sure what I was expecting from a movie centering around arm wresting, but I guess I got it. This gem is from 1987 and about all it has going for it is the B-grade 80's campiness that now make it fun to watch. I mean who doesn't want to cut all the sleeves off your t-shirts, slap on a pair of suspenders, oil up your arms and drive your big rig off into the sunset while listening to Frank Stallone and Kenny Logins on the 8-track and yelling "over the top" at the screen. Awesome stuff.
This is one of those so bad its good movies that just gets better with age because it gets cheesier. Its along the lines of Rocky V -which was pretty terrible too- and is more of a father/son drama than the sweaty, sinew straining, pulse pounding action you'd probably expect from a movie about arm wresting.
Sylvester Stallone is the awesomely named 'Lincoln Hawk' a truck driver trying to reconcile and gain custody of his estranged son after his ex-wife becomes deathly ill. Grandpa (Robert Loggia), is not having it though and his son is angry and disrespectful which makes for a (not so) fun road trip after Hawk busts him out of military school and takes him out truckin' in an attempt to bond.
Ultimately it comes down to Sly oiling up and arm wrestling for the custody of his son at the Las Vegas world arm wrestling championships.
This is heavy on the family drama and emotion and dare I say, takes too long to get to the arm wresting part which (come on) is why we're watching this. That part of this film isn't so bad, Sly knows how to do these kinds of action scenes and (I guess) there are some genuine techniques used -It looked good. I'm not embarrassed to admit by the end I was totally invested in him winning the championship and the custom semi-truck so he could start his own trucking company and the more I think about this movie the more I love it. 3/7/16