If anyone else but Sylvester Stallone had starred in Rocky V then in the panned movie Oscar and then got talked into doing Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot their career would have been over. But just like Rocky Balboa himself Sly has always managed to come back from the bottom. The early 90s were a prime example of his ability to keep going. In 1993 a year after Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot Stallone was in Cliffhanger and Demolition Man. These movies helped put his career back on track. 1995's Judge Dredd did not help much. But the determined Stallone kept working. In 1997 he led a crime drama that turned out to be a quiet hit and got good reviews.
That movie was Cop Land. James Mangold who also directed A Complete Unknown wrote and directed it. Stallone played Freddy Heflin the sheriff of a small New Jersey town. This town was just across the Hudson River from New York City. The town was a perfect hiding spot for corrupt NYPD cops looking to get away from their department's internal affairs. But Heflin always wanted to join the NYPD. He was not about to ignore corruption. When he found out about a conspiracy led by senior officers he and Robert De Niro's Internal Affairs officer Moe Tilden tried to bring the dirty cops to justice.
Besides its two biggest stars Cop Land also had strong supporting performances. Harvey Keitel Ray Liotta Peter Berg Janeane Garofalo Robert Patrick and Michael Rapaport were all in it. This helped the movie do well at the box office and get good reviews. In the years since Cop Land has not been called a classic. But in the age of streaming there is always a chance for old movies to get new attention. This is exactly what is happening with Mangold’s crime drama on Paramount+.
Sylvester Stallone's Forgotten 90s Hit Is Finding A New Audience On Streaming Platforms
How Cop Land Is Climbing The Global Charts And Why Fans Are Rediscovering This Crime Thriller
James Mangold has built up a lot of good feelings with his movie Logan from 2017. But some of that was lost when his 2023 Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny did not do well at the box office. However much like Sylvester Stallone Mangold was not going to let one stumble stop his career. He came back in 2024 with the Oscar-nominated Bob Dylan movie A Complete Unknown. Now he is set to direct a Star Wars movie called Dawn of the Jedi. It seems Mangold is back on track.
Cop Land moving up the Paramount+ charts probably does not mean a lot to the director. But even if it is a small change it is a good one. The movie arrived on the platform in the United States on April 1 2025. It seems to have had a different release schedule around the world. According to the streaming viewership tracker FlixPatrol Mangold’s crime drama is currently the fourth most-watched movie on the service globally. It is interesting that Cop Land is not currently charting in the U.S. However it has moved up the rankings in 18 countries worldwide. This has helped it reach its current global chart position.
FlixPatrol shows that Cop Land first appeared on the charts in 17 countries on April 24. This suggests it was added to international servers the day before. On May 15 it was charting in 18 countries. It has stayed on the charts in those markets since then. It has not hit number one in any of them yet. But there is still plenty of time for that to happen. Paramount+ is home to many of Taylor Sheridan’s TV shows. This includes Tulsa King which is a comedy-tinged crime drama. Sylvester Stallone stars in this series as Dwight "The General" Manfredi. He is a disgraced mobster. After being released from prison he is sent to Tulsa to try and take over the city for the mafia.
The show has been popular so far. It seems that Paramount+ subscribers might have been drawn to Cop Land because they enjoy Sly’s show on the small screen. Whatever the reason for the movie's success it is nice to see a good movie moving up any streaming charts. Streaming services do not always show the best quality movies. Not only did Cop Land make $63.7 million on a $15 million budget it also impressed enough critics to get a 75% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Even the good reviews were not overly enthusiastic. David Edelstein of Slate said the movie "shares its leading man's slow-wittedness but also his likability." Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote that even though it was "too simplistic in its good-guys/bad-guys approach to morally and emotionally ambiguous material Cop Land emerges as an absorbing and dramatic yarn about exposing the evil doings of some of New York's finest."
However Roger Ebert was not impressed. He wrote in his Chicago Sun-Times review "A movie with such a promising concept so poorly executed that it begs to be remade." Still on the whole Cop Land is remembered well. It is definitely worth watching if you have not seen this solid movie from Stallone's mixed 90s film career.
Sylvester Stallone's Enduring Appeal and His Latest Adventures On Screen
From Resilient Rocky Balboa To A Mob Boss In Tulsa King, Sly Keeps On Entertaining Us
The original Rocky movie remains the standard by which many other sports films are judged. It is a testament to this series’ long-lasting popularity that its best sequel came out 30 years after the first one. When Rocky first showed in 1976 it made Sylvester Stallone famous worldwide. It even won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. This success led to several sequels. Rocky fought his rival and later friend Apollo Creed. He also faced other enemies like Clubber Lang and Ivan Drago. Almost every movie in the Rocky series had something special to offer. Rocky II was an inspiring comeback story. Rocky IV even touched on themes from the Cold War. Watching Rocky grow and change as he trained and kept going throughout the series was amazing to see. But it was not until 30 years after the first movie that it truly felt like the original again.
That movie was Rocky Balboa. It was a legacy sequel that understood what made Rocky a success in the first place. It was an incredible final chapter for the main series. While other Rocky movies featured some of the most famous moments in the series Rocky Balboa showed Sylvester Stallone at his best. It was a legacy sequel coming 16 years after the disappointment of Rocky V. Stallone knew he needed a good reason if he was going to bring back this old movie icon. Rocky V ended with a disappointing street fight. Rocky Balboa offered a chance to make the character better and give him the heroic goodbye he deserved.
This was Rocky as we had never seen him before. He was even more interesting because of it. Rocky Balboa was a mature movie filled with emotion. It showed an older Rocky who was almost 60 years old. He lived a quiet life as a retired widower after his wife Adrian passed away from cancer four years earlier. The flashy 1980s style of many Rocky sequels was not in this movie. Stallone gave an impressive dramatic performance. It was full of emotion humility and wisdom. This was Rocky like we had never seen him before and he was all the more interesting for it.
His relationship with his son Robert was also a major part of the movie. Robert grew up struggling to live in his famous father's shadow. The movie explored their complicated father-son relationship. This deeper look tapped into the subtle emotional details that made Rocky a hit back in 1976. The film made Stallone's age a central part of the story. This allowed the movie to avoid looking silly. An older Rocky proving his doubters wrong one last time gave the story real emotional feeling. Rocky Balboa felt like a proper ending to the story of cinema’s most famous underdog fighter. It ended the series on a high note. While Rocky did come back in a teaching role in the Creed series this felt like a natural handing over of responsibility. It made the series’ standing even stronger. Although Stallone became famous as an action hero through roles like John Rambo Rocky Balboa stands as perhaps his most thoughtful and mature film.
Beyond the Rocky world trouble is never far from Sylvester Stallone's Dwight Manfredi in the Paramount+ crime series Tulsa King. Since getting out of prison in season 1 Dwight has found trouble even when he was not looking for it. Despite winning against Neal McDonough's Cal Thresher and Rich Ting's Jackie Ming in season 2 Dwight ended the season by being taken from his bed in the middle of the night by unknown armed men. Season 3 of Tulsa King is now filming. There is no release date yet. But the famous star shared an image from the new season on Instagram.
Stallone posted a photo of Dwight in the same interview room he was brought to by the masked agents who broke into his home in the season 2 finale. Dwight was a bit shocked by how sneaky and quick the team was. His stern scowl is back. His look in the photo matches the Dwight Manfredi we all know and like. The actor wrote "Things are getting nasty in TULSA!" with the photo. The new image suggests that season 3 will likely pick up right where season 2 left off. It will probably show the rest of the conversation Dwight has with his mystery abductor who told Dwight "You work for us now." This new situation could be his toughest yet. It might involve Dwight working for someone connected to the United States government and the FBI. The accuracy of his captors suggests government-backed groups. Dwight does not like being controlled so a violent fight for freedom might be coming in season 3. Dwight's enemies in Tulsa King have been many. Some are gone but others remain in play. Cal Thresher might have lost to Dwight in season 2 but he is coming back as the governor of Oklahoma in season 3. This is certainly not good news for Dwight and his crime family.