Paradise Alley

With "Rocky" (1976), Sylvester Stallone became only the third actor to garner simultaneous Oscar nominations for both writing and acting. When the opportunity arose for his directorial debut, Stallone penned a 1940s drama about two Italian-American brothers (Stallone and Armand Assante) from Hell's Kitchen who try to escape their dead-end lives by promoting their younger sibling (Lee Canalito) in the wrestling ring. Laszlo Kovacs's glorious cinematography perfectly compliments this nostalgic throwback to classic films of the studio era.