Paradise Alley (1978)

For the first time ever on Blu-Ray comes Paradise Alley, Sylvester Stallone's directorial debut from 1978, his first project after his Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor Oscar nominations for Rocky in 1976. Stallone actually wrote this first but it was the success of Rocky that made this film possible...

Cosmo Carboni (Sylvester Stallone) and his brothers Lenny (Armand Assante) and Victor (Lee Canalito) live and work in a poor section of New York City known as "Hell's Kitchen" in the 1940s. Cosmo, particularly, sees that they need to get out of this depressing situation. When he sees an illegal wrestling match, he realises that his younger brother Victor could have beat the champion handily -- and that a lot of money is being passed around.

With some effort he persuades the kind-hearted boy to compete. Lenny, too, comes along for the ride: managing a wrestler is a lot more interesting than his old job at a funeral parlor. Pressure builds and the stakes grow higher, until a local mobster puts "Frankie the Thumper" into the ring, and Victor must fight for his life.

Paradise Alley, released on dual-format DVD and Blu-ray 4th September 2017 from 101 Films, marks Stallone's directorial debut: he also wrote the screenplay, starred, wrote a novel based on the film, and sings the title song.

Please note - Disc special features are subject to change, may differ from format to format and/or may differ from region to region.