F.I.S.T.
F.I.S.T.
PG | 26 April 1978 (USA)
F.I.S.T. Trailers

Johnny Kovak joins the Teamsters trade-union in a local chapter in the 1930s and works his way up in the organization. As he climbs higher and higher his methods become more ruthless and finally senator Madison starts a campaign to find the truth about the alleged connections with the Mob.

Reviews
Ehirerapp Waste of time
Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.
Tetrady not as good as all the hype
WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.
DS3520 Without a doubt, "F.IS.T." Is not merely Stallone's finest film performances, but one hell of a knockout performance! A thinly veiled account of the career of labor leader Jimmy Hoffa, this film is engrossing from beginning to end. The entire cast give believable performances, but it is Stallone to whom acting honors must go! Even the makeup job on cast members is believable, as the characters age over the years from "Kovack's" (Stallone's character) early rise to the time he reaches the pinnacle of power as a controversial national labor leader. The story holds your interest, as he makes his way up the ladder, first as a reluctant union organizer to finally heading up the most powerful labor group in the country. "F.I.ST." Is a picture that is not to be missed. No movie lover can fail to appreciate a film that has all the elements of fine movie-making........compelling story and excellent performances
adonis98-743-186503 A rebellious Cleveland warehouse worker rises through the ranks of a trucking industry union to become union president but his organized crime links cause his eventual downfall. F.I.S.T proves that Sylvester Stallone can act he is no punching bag in this film and as much as i love the Rocky films i think this came out in a time when people didn't care about Stallone the actor except Stallone the boxer and was left inside a box with the forgotten flicks. The perfomances in this movie are incredible Stallone and Steiger shine as a whole, the story is inspiring and terrific, the direction incredible and Bill Conti's score fits well with the tone of the film plus the ending was shocking. (A+)
Martin Onassis FIST is a fictional biopic of a fictional organized labor leader, played by Sylvester Stallone.The movie is split into two, with the first half following the rise of a food-packer named Kovacs (Stallone), to trucking local union organizer in the pre-war midwest, ostensibly Cleveland. The second half follows the growth of the union into a national behemoth in a post-war period of organized crime involvement and congressional investigation.This is a very convincing, beautifully shot period film, from the factories to the clothes to beautiful examples of period vehicles. Stallone's character delivers textbook instruction on how to motivate a crowd, strike, and hardball negotiate.Kovacs grows into middle-age and the compromises he's made earlier with the mob come back to bite him, attracting the attention of an anti-mafia senator, played coolly but fiercely by the great Rod Steiger in a role reminiscent of Robert Kennedy's time as attorney general.FIST is a great film which condenses decades of American history into two hours, and gives a balanced overview of the battle between labor and capital. The first half is totally sympathetic to labor, and makes management look purely evil, but the second half shows the corruption from within of the labor movement, and of any movement that succeeds. It shows how the leaders who scrapped together in the streets eventually are forced to turn on each other. At the start, the enemies are the factory-owners, later the enemies are the associates who were let in the back door. Of course, 30 years later, FIST has a different reference, almost as a period piece when labor had any power whatsoever.FIST was made four years after Godfather II, and 12 years before Goodfellas, which closely share its biopic rise and fall structure.FIST is a great movie in the tradition of classic Hollywood, a huge time-spanning spectacle that is tightly written, shot, and acted. Equally importantly, FIST gets to the core and contradictions of being a worker, a leader, or a boss, and the many conflicts therein.
bluesman-20 F.I.S.T. Is not your normal Stallone movie. In this early one he actually get's a chance to ACT and create a role that is not even remotely like Rocky Balboa The Story is simple enough Johnny Kovack is a dock worker in the middle of the depression and he is a disgruntled worker who does not like being used or being taken advantage of. When Kovack leads a worker staged revolt on the warehouse dock he meets the Big boss and lays the conditions down that they want met. Kovack and the boys lose their job however the local union federation of interstate truckers F.I.S.T. is interested in hiring Kovack. HE it seems has a gift of Gab and he's a strong leader they hire him as a union organizer and Kovack begins organizing the Truckers all around the state. However Kovack creates a strike at one of the toughest businesses in Cleveland and Tragedy happens. Kovack angered and grief stricken turns to the mob to get a little extra push to secure good contracts and break companies that want to strike break or break unions. Kovack accepts the mobs help in return he gives them little favours. And that's the story more or less The story starts in 1938 and ends roughly around 1959-60 with the racketeering investigation by the senate. Rod Steiger portrays a crusading senater out to clean up the labour movement and burn the mobs out and Johnny Kovack the charismatic and powerful leader and president of F.I.S.T. is his next target. The movie is a grand and Epic film the kind we wish were made more today but are not. Stallone has clearly his best role as the Jimmy Hoffa influenced Johnny Kovack. The movie didn't really go anywhere when it was released and it fed the rumors that Stallone was only really able to act if the movie was a Rocky film later to be just Rocky and Rambo films but here Stallone burns very brightly as a good but not great actor taking his first steps in a movie that should have done much better and a role that should always be long remembered as one of his greatest roles even more then Rambo. This is a movie that shows us there are no unscarred heroes just scarred men fighting to survive in a world that does not care about them.