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Now, on with the show. This is The Rich Eisen Show. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Teeth is in Touchdown Chicago. Earlier on the show, ESPN college football analyst Josh Pate.
Steelers defensive tackle Cam Hayward. Coming up. Broncos head coach Sean Payton. Actor and author Sylvester Stallone. And now, it's Rich Eisen.
Okay. All right, everybody. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Great chats with Josh Payton, Cameron Hayward in hours one and two of this show. If you missed anything already, along with Overreaction Monday on a Tuesday and our reaction to the Bears wrapping up week number three with a win with their third string quarterback in Case Keenum last night against the Eagles, there's our Disney Plus page.
You can click on all three hours of this show as soon as we're done to review any of that. There's our podcast version of the show. You can listen to us however you get your podcast as well. There's our YouTube channel. There's all of our feeds for the show cut up into Reels format.
We have, by the way, over a million followers on Facebook now. Woo! Look at them apples. Didn't see that one coming a few years ago, but we're so thrilled and delighted to have fans follow us however you wish to find us. 844-204-Rich is the number to dial on the program.
Sean Payton of the Denver Broncos is To getting set to join us in just a matter of moments, from what I'm told. And then, after Sean Payton joins this book, The Steps, a memoir, Sylvester Stallone is going to zoom into this program and have a conversation with us.
So he got that going for us, which is nice. The Braves and the Phillies are getting set to kick off everything for a quadruple header of baseball action. Let's go. Wild card action. Is Sarah okay?
Is she all right? You know what? Where is she watching right now? Probably at home in the dark. In the dark.
I'm actually going to text her, make sure she's okay.
Okay, you should do that. How are you? Check in on the missus, man. Right now. Let's go to Matthew in Connecticut.
Take his phone call on the WeatherTech fan line while Sean Payton's about to join us. Hello, gentlemen. What's going on, Matthew? Hello. Not much um Just wanted to talk about this JJ McCarthy trade and some of my concerns.
I have three and three in particular. His health, Too much hero ball and his consistency.
So my question is, with this RPO run scheme that Matt Nagy and Greg Roman are running, how can they get JJ to be the guy that he was when he won a national championship that Kevin O'Connell could not get out of? Great question.
So go Yankee. Thank you, Matthew. I greatly appreciate it. Listen, that's the million-dollar question here. Again, the way that you're born into the league, he gets drafted by a team, his knee gets blown out, and then the guy that he was competing with gets an opportunity who makes the most of it.
And that's a perfect example for him. Sam Darnold bounced around the league.
Now he's officially bounced from one spot to another. in the league. And he now has an opportunity. With a first-round drafted quarterback having a knee injury of his own. Go ahead and make the most of it.
Do what Sam Darnold did, because then you'll be in your own driver's seat. And give give the Giants front office. and coaching staff a champagne problem. Of Get oh. What do we do with our successful young quarterback and the other quarterback that we were building around?
Who looked successful before he got hurt? What do we do? I don't know. Do they flip J.J. McCarthy for a better draft spot?
Because. They don't have a fourth and uh a seventh they've got Um only one Day three pick in Washington, D.C.
next year. I don't know what the answer is. The answer is run the football. I mean, that's what Michigan did very well, and then let J.J. McCarthy rip it every now and then, Roman Wilson or everyone else down the field.
I mean, J.J. McCarthy would let it rip. Go and look at that video of the time that he won in the horseshoe. He was going up top. Quite a bit.
Quite a bit. And everybody out there said Michigan had the plays. Why were we down at halftime and in the third quarter then? If we had the place. If we had man, I wish Michigan would put me had put me in a rocking chair more often than they did.
But JJ's got the chance. I just don't know when they're going to figure that piece out. Because Jameis has got to get the snaps with the ones prior to games. How are they going to get J.J. McCarthy up to speed?
Because he's going to start, man. It's gonna happen. It feels like it. And that's just based on like how Jameis has looked in a, you know a little more than two, you know, almost two games, but Right. I don't think Minnesota necessarily gave up on J.J.
They sure did.
Well, I think the situation kind of mitigated that they they couldn't afford to have him on the roster. What is w like afford how? What does that mean? They elevated Max Brosmer or Brosmer. I mean, come on now.
Because you need a third. You're not getting a pick for Max Brosmer. They had a chance to get an asset here, and McCarthy was just going to be inactive every single game of the season.
So that's a wasted spot. Or he was only inactive for one game when they were clearly going to trade him. I mean, Wentz started a game. Kyler Murray, you know, is one you know, Wentz is one snap away, and then after that, you're in Brosmerville instead of J.J. McCarthy.
That's why you're running the risk of trading him. Trading quarterback depth is a risky move, man, in this league. Case Keenum just won a game. For the Bears. After they lost to the Vikings.
You know, honestly, like the Falcons fans wish they had somebody like that Cooper Rush played like Case Keenum. And Stefanski is no slouch drawer.
So you're not preparing to play your third quarterback ever.
So that's just a guy you don't really spend much time thinking about. And McCarthy being their third quarterback is someone they could flip for an asset. That could actually help their team. They gave up on having J.J. McCarthy there.
End of story. They did. To the point where, oh, we'll take a fifth-round selection. Sure.
Some was something just clearly wasn't working. for him and they decided to make that move. And we'll see what happens. You know, the Vikings do appear to be set. You know, moving from here on out.
Joining us here now on the Rich Eisen Show is a A great friend, not going to lie. I've known this man for decades, and now he's joining us here on the Rich Eisen Show, fresh off the Sunday night win against the Rams. Getting set for the night is Sean Payton. Good to see you, coach. How are you, brother?
Good seeing you guys doing well. Game planning We're kind of you know We're getting back into a normal part of the schedule where You know, week one was a Monday night, and you had the short, you know. And you get into the the routine of playing Sundays, so um It's going well. Clearly, you know, some of the storylines, if you will, for your team coming out involves the slow starting. On offense, how does one go about Dealing with that, although it's not like that didn't happen last year and you almost made the Super Bowl, Sean, right?
Yeah, look, I think I was asked that. post game and There's an element as the head coach, you love seeing the you know the grit or or the resilience of a team that can fight back, and then you also recognize that You know, we're going to. We're going to play in games where we're going to have to be able to start quicker in the first half. Um And You know, it's an ongoing, I'd say, work in progress. You know, it was one of the keys last week.
We thought And playing a a a really good Offense and a good team in the Rams that it would be hard if you got behind. Um so I I think that there's a lot that goes into that. I love the fact that we can play well in the second half because in our league, there's going to be games that are close, and you're going to have to, in the final drive, Um make the plays that matter. Um but we're going to play good opponents as we move forward where If we dig ourselves in a hole, it's going to be more challenging.
So Um Yes, I think that's kind of my approach to the team when we met Um You know, on Monday, it's like, man, I love the fact that you guys. feel like you're in every game, but we do have to figure out Uh a way to be More efficient in four quarters. How did it feel for 24 hours at least to have people talking about a pass interference call that went your way against the Rams in the fourth quarter of a crucial game? How did that feel for you? Sean, is that a new feeling?
It was interesting. There were two calls in that final drive. I didn't. When you're in the midst of the game, you don't necessarily have great. vantage point.
Like one of them happened on our sideline, the other one didn't.
So it really wasn't until afterwards that When you watch the tape, Um You had a chance to see Um you know, those calls and I think I think the thing anymore like, you know, As a young coach, he would live with these calls and be on the phone the next day. Um You know Pretty soon you realize that Um Da. you begin to become wiser where you burn your calories. And so Um like we had a play last week. Two weeks ago.
You know, kind of a third-down play to Waddle. And You know, a big part in the game in the first half. And Um And it's one of those where it could have easily been an interference or a holding call. Um You just you just go you can't You can't really control it. By the end of the season, more fall in your favor.
We spent a lot of time on pre-snap fouls versus post-snap fouls technique. And I think that The things that you can control relative to the technique of players. Um, certainly, we've had some pre-snap fouls. You know, we aligned too deep the other day on a running play, and so that was whistled. Um Immediately.
Those are the things that I think you spend your time. as a coach on now and and uh Um you just you know you hope that you that you do enough in your preparation to eliminate the pre-snap Or the Post-snap fouls that take place, celebration, taunting, whatever those might be. Yeah, I know. You're deep in coach mode here. I can sense it, but there wasn't a part of you.
that thought cosmically, karmically, You should get a lot of things. I read and saw some of those things. I wouldn't even. That seemed like an eternity ago. It is.
So thanks for having me on your show to remind me. But I mean, that's what everyone's talking about. It's like, how can anybody complain that Sean Payton had a call go his way against the Rams involving pass interference on the sideline? You know what I mean? Yeah, I think that, look, I understand the irony or the.
Um but I I know um It does seem like a long time ago, and I know those guys. Um out on the field are trying to get it right. The game's going fast and uh Um You know, you're going to get some of those, you're not, and then Obviously, there was a lot drawn to Um That playoff play Because of the finality of where it was at in the game, and then it involved a trip to the Super Bowl. Um I I really hadn't even didn't even hit me until I read some of the Uh The comments about it.
So, yeah, we are kind of grinding in coach mode and. And it's kind of good. It's that time of the year where every one of these teams, we're all in this. You know, this race to improve, and most of the improvement takes place in the first four to six weeks. of a season and Um And you just have to be able to clean up.
The errors, you know, when you have a tough win or a tough loss, there's some things in there that are positive, but When you have a win like we did the other night, man, there's a lot of things on that tape that that if we don't get cleaned up um You know, it's going to cost us as a team.
Well, it seemed like Davis Webb was in his bag in the second half for this game for sure, Sean. And that's my last question for you because I know you've got to go to a meeting. And by the way, I do have Sylvester Stallone coming up next, which is, I'm glad you're closely associated with Rocky here. Will you allow me inside your inner monologue while somebody else is calling plays for you?
So far through the first three weeks here? Uh yeah, I think You know We're part of the process on offense. In other words, I'm not in those meetings. I'm in those meetings. You know, throughout the game, there might be: hey, think about this relative to the runs, think about this relative to.
Play action. Um And I think It's important, I think. from Davis's perspective to Um When we get into a series, unless there's a break, like a clock stoppage, a timeout. But I think the play callers racing onto the next play.
Now, When the series is over, You know, here are the next two or three runs. Um, here's the thought. relative to play action or drop back? Um And then certainly there are these situational You know, we're down in scoring position. Hey, it's 16 to nothing.
That's a kind of a lower scoring game in the third quarter. Be ready for a two-point play. Normally, I wouldn't look at that chart. until the fourth quarter, but You know, I felt like at that point points were at a premium. There wasn't a ton of scoring.
Um Or I want you to think about Four-down territory.
So your call on third and six at the 40 going in. If the head coach tells you think four down could be a lot different than Just third and six. Um I think you're trying to help in a productive way without. Creating too much noise and um Yeah, in the second half it it It certainly flowed better than in the first and and uh Enough for, you know, we were able to climb back into that game.
So are there moments in time where you're like, Don't say what's in your mind right now because I wouldn't have liked it. I wouldn't have liked it if if Bill or just keep on anybody that you were coordinating for and calling plays for, I wouldn't have liked it if that happened to me. Have you had moments? Yeah, now listen, Bill, Bilt was funny because Bill You learned right away with every play was a drone. There was some type of.
Something and that became kind of, and I say this respectfully, almost white noise where you couldn't let it affect you, but like there was a lot of. A lot of Adjectives and comments, and that was just his personality. I'm probably not the same that way. And yet, yeah, there's times where Ah, oh, good play. You know, like we're, you know, you think it's not going to be something you like, but then it is.
Um You know, what you hope to do as best you can. Like today, for instance, you're hoping. in a lot of cases to arrive at decisions Um that can take place for you in the game. that have been made well in advance.
Now there's still that sequencing of Running it, throwing it, but especially when you get the third down red zone, tight red, short yardage, you kind of have an idea how those are going to come out. Um But in the normal flow of the game I think that discussion's best. You know, between series or at the start of a series, or oftentimes there's a TV break, the quarterback's in that triangle, it's a third down. Um it happened at Jacksonville where You know, you're discussing a play and then Bo has a thought and and That collaboration I think is important, but I think Davis has done a good job of balancing that and um And then You know, creating a flow. And I think.
It's back to your original question, which is important in or statement. Um, you know, we can't be seventh or eighth out of the gate all the time with these starts. And you know, eventually that You know, there's going to be a time where someone stays out of reach, and I think that we have to work on that. Sean Payton, it's great to see you, man. Always.
Thanks, Pal. Great seeing you guys. Yeah. And have a great game against San Francisco and beyond. I'll keep checking in with you.
You be well.
Sounds good, man. Thank you, Richard. That's Sean Payton, everybody. Going out to work there in Denver. Going back to work there in Denver.
Great stuff. I'm just giving you some insight on. On how this works, you know, the the mechanics of all this stuff. It ain't easy. Whether it's a crisp fall morning or a full-blown thunderstorm, or you're loading up the car and heading to the game, whether you're kicking through piles of leaves or trudging through puddles of mud.
Whether you call it fall or autumn, or you're just one of those sweater season people, you're going to want WeatherTech for your vehicle. Whether the mess is your fault, your kids' fault, the dog's fault, just the weather's fault, you're going to want WeatherTech. For American-made floor liners and seat protectors that laugh in the face of fall weather, visit WeatherTech.com today. Sylvester Stallone, the author. And so much more when we come back, great celebrity true or false around the corner.
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Iron cages in the Central Park Zoo, right? I mean, that's what you were doing, riding on the side. It sounds comical, but it's a brutal and a sad job. It really is. But it paid the bills for a couple of weeks, and the bills weren't that much.
But the deli, the deli was almost a surreal situation because I would do the night shift, and you would get some pretty interesting characters coming in there, like gypsy guys and tough guys and people on drugs, people wanting to rob you. It was something else.
So that provided a lot of color. The thing is, Rich, I think all these jobs... Good and bad. just provided the tapestry and of Building knowledge. Built, and I've always been fascinated by odd characters, people that just stood out.
Even as a child, I go, What was my favorite football player, like Bronco Nogerski? No one ever heard of him, but I just thought the name Bronco Nagerski. Look at that, he was a wrestler, he was an odd boy, he was an outcast. And just I'm always attracted to those kinds of social, you know, individuals that are so out of sorts with the mainstream.
Well, I finally realized that Working in a deli, getting into trouble. This is the where am I going to learn a craft? And though it sounds ludicrous, I said If you really want to learn about films, why don't you go to where the films are? And that's when I got a job as an usher. And people said, Boy, you really hit rock bottom.
I go, see, that's the point, guys. You automatically assume an usher is a non-human being, like a waiter. They don't exist. They have no soul. You don't understand that.
You know, if you really study the business, if you really go there and try to take something out of it. Then I see a purpose in it.
So going, I learned more about filmmaking than, you know, I went to college for a couple of years and would study film. Nothing compared to what I learned at a theater, a movie theater dressed in an usher's outfit. You changed my life. Sylvester Stallone here on the Rich Eisen Show, The Steps, a Memoir, is available wherever you get your books. And I cover the NFL draft for the NFL network and that the draft one year in Philadelphia.
The draft hall was a makeshift draft hall on the steps of that Philadelphia Art Museum. Really? Yeah, and off to the side was the stat was you know, they they they had to remove the statue for just a few days. And and they moved the statue to the side of the stage. And the number of people that were lined up to take a photograph with that statue rather than the actual NFL draft stage in the Ben Franklin parkway that was behind it, it's amazing.
And so it's an indelible Film that you made, and that you're obviously chronicling your lead-up to it. But when was the first time you started putting pen to paper? about Rocky Balboa. Sylvester. probably about 10 screenplays.
They were pretty mediocre. But again, it's a skill set that takes a lot of work. And it's all about reduction vision. In other words, you take a sentence that's 25 words. Anyone can do that, that's just typing, and then you reduce it to 10.
And those 10 words got to make sense with the next 10 words. It becomes kind of like literary math. All the words have to add up to telling the story.
Well, that takes a lot of practice. When I went to California, I finally figured I couldn't stay in New York anymore. I pretty much bombed out as much as I could. And I made a couple of dollars. Doing Lords of Flatbush, and bought a car, went to California, and then I found a place in the valley was really rough for like 250 bucks a week.
And that's when I said I got to keep writing. You have to constantly keep going to the gym of the brain, otherwise, it'll become dormant.
So my whole philosophy was. I could not have any social life. You couldn't have that and have absolute 100% discipline dedication. To the fight that's coming up. It's kind of like with Marvin Hager would go to the mountains to train as opposed to training in Vegas and then going to a casino.
It was absolute isolation.
Well, so I wrote the screenplay, Paradise Alley, which is pretty good, but I was so broke, I optioned that I gave it away for $100. And I felt as though, God, there's this one producer that showed a little spark of interest. I said, I got to do something. A lot of people think that it was based on Chuck Webner. It wasn't.
I always was fascinated with Rocky Marciana because we're like exactly the same size.
So it was feasible that a guy like me could, you know, in. Inhabit. That kind of character. But nobody knew Rocky Marciano because that was the 50s. And right then, The weaponer fight came on and I used that.
I went to the producers and I said, see, this is actually feasible that a nobody of them. Could go the distance with the greatest. I want to write the screenplay. He said, Yeah, sure, whatever. And I went back there.
And I I literally They say, God, please, man, do something like give it to me. And I I didn't stop for seventy two hours writing it longhand. First draft wasn't very good, but it was at least it was there. Rocky was not a very savory guy. And then I added Adrian and the Love.
And actually he wasn't even a boxer. I added that and then we now had Apollo Creed and Mickey and all these other characters that inhabited the story that gave it life and relatability. And that's when the journey really started about. Do you sell out? Do you stay true to it, or do you sell out because you know?
You're never going to have this opportunity again. You literally wrote a story that no one would ever give you. You're never going to come across it as designed. For all your assets? and cover all your flaws.
It's like made for me.
So when the price got up to this absurd amount, And I needed the money badly. It was... You know, pregnant wife and afford a dog and like $80 left. And I was I was dreading that they were going to say. We're done.
We don't want you any more. Deals off. Then I was in big, big trouble. But I knew and I told my wife, I said, if I saw this. We'll have some money.
But you have a broken husband. I will never be able to forgive myself. for not going the distance, at least trying. I've been doing this for six years. I gotta ride it out because I'm never gonna have this opportunity again.
And then good fortune struck. Sure did, man. And before we get to the Oscar night, which is the end of your book here, which scene are you most proud of? Rocky. Whether it's one you acted in or one you wrote.
And at you know, obviously you wrote it all, but is Which one? Oh, that's a fun question. There's two of them. The most pivotal scene is the one I wrote about in the book with that. It was Cancelled.
I said, we have to do this scene. This is the key. to the whole movie. And they go, now we have no time. We're, quote, pulling the plug.
And I always thought that was a, you know, euphemism for a joke. No, they pulled the plug.
So all the lights went out, and this really we were down in the Bowery in Rocky's little Then there it was horrible. And it's the first time I actually lost my composure. And I went to the producer. I said, you got to let me have one take. Please, I'm begging you.
One take because this is the take. And I've never heard this before, where a man knows he's going to get terribly punished. He's going to get beaten. He knows he cannot win. But his interpretation of what victory is.
is so personal That that in itself. is a victory in a championship. And He goes, Okay, you got one take.
So they put the lights back on. And the camera starts to move, and I'm getting nervous because it's a long scene. If I stumble, they're going to pull the plug and we got to go. But that's the scene when Rocky says. I can't wait.
He's better than me. I've been out walking around. I can't win. And she says. which is perfect.
Not you can do it, Rocky, or just try your best because what are we going to do? There you go. I don't know, but it doesn't really matter if he opens my head. Rocky lays out for the first time that it's not about. The victory that other people see.
We all have our own goal. that we consider. a world championship. And that was something that everyone could relate to because I'm going to lose, but it's how I lose. That's important.
And I felt that was the key scene.
So the next day, The producers come out of the screen and go, Whoa, that's the most important thing. No, I told you. That's the whole plot.
So that's it. And the other scene watch Was when Mickey comes up to the apartment, nobody wanted to know me, I was a pariah, I was a loser, and then he wants to get involved because he sees an opportunity to try to salvage some of his life on Rocky's back. But he was never there when I needed him. And it's that venting. And what I loved about that scene, he couldn't do it to the old man's face.
He just didn't have that cruel streak. But he just rambled on and rambled on, and that was very biographical from my own life. And What was so funny was she so that thing really took it out of me. And The sound man goes, were we rolling? He was wet.
What? He goes, well, just do it again, I go. Let me tell you about a fact of life. You cannot. Ad living, had live.
And I'd live. is a one-off.
So you have to go down and dig something else out. And I was, oh man, I was so exhausted because if you saw that scene, it's one of those, you pull out all the stops. But luckily That character was such a blessing for me, and I felt so much for that character of Mickey, Burgess Marathon, his brilliant energy, that it came out very, very well. And I thought that was The real that was such an act of forgiveness. It's almost like a father and son coming back.
I forgive you. for ignoring me and like degrading me my whole life.
Now I love you. Let's do it together.
So that scene was to me very, very, very valuable for the continuity in the soul. I love it. Love it. And um Last one for you on this here. You're going to eat lightning and you're going to crap thunder.
Is that your writing, or is that Burgess Merritt of Ad Living? That's me. Where'd that come from? You hear it somewhere, or you just. No, it's an old.
You know, I try to go for all these euphemisms from the past, like, you know. You know, women weakened legs and all that kind of stuff. And these were fighters which, you know. Yeah. What is it?
Pull up your socks and knock that guy's jack off. Or women weaken legs, or you're going to eat thunder and you're going to crap lightning and crap lightning. These are old terms from the 20s. Mm-hmm.
So I would go back and I'd try to, you know, rework them because that's where Mickey's brain was. Love it. I love it. Before I let you go, if you don't mind, we have a game called Celebrity True or False about filmography and things from a career with somebody as vast a filmography as you. Arnold's played it, so he survived it.
If you don't mind, we've got a few for you for Other projects outside of the one that's in your book, The Steps, a Memoir, Sylvester Stallone, Celebrity True or False. Hit it, please. Hit it. Here we go. Celebrity, true or false.
You can't handle the truth. That's our production value. We're just trying to show off for you, Sylvester Stallone. Am I supposed to guess who that is? Oh, you know who that is.
I mean, that's Jack. Do you ever work with Jack? No, I wish, I wish, I wish. But I know him socially. He's a very brilliant guy.
I bet so. All right, so we have a few questions. Celebrity true or false, Sylvester Stallone. True or false, in the Rocky sequel, you and Dolph Lundren once filmed a boxing scene that sent you to the hospital. Is that true?
Very unf unfortunately, yeah. What happened? I had seen the Havler and Hearns fighting. And these guys hated each other so much they absolutely Threw caution to the wind and came out like two angry amateurs and just blasted each other. I said, Dolph, we hate each other, our characters, so much.
I want you to come out and for the first 20 seconds, try to not be cold. I sort of know what you're going to do, but just rip it. Yeah. So I say this to the six foot five, 245 pound former world kickboxing champion, and he blasts me in the chest. And I thought my ribs caked in, but I said, oh, okay, I'll get over it.
That night, my blood pressure went close to 200 and like 260. They put me on a low altitude flight to St. John's emergency room.
Next thing you know, I was in ICU surrounded by four nuns. Hmm. Walking around at the servo, he said, Oh my God, I'm really checking out. And I was there for like eight days. And they said, Your periocardial sac got swollen.
Usually, we see that in car accidents. I was hit by a truck, trust me. Wow.
Okay. So that is true. Oh, yeah. Wow.
A couple more for you. Listen, we've talked before on this show that, you know, Rocky's more maybe a love story than a sports movie. But there's no question that Victory is a sports movie. It's one of my favorite sports movies. Sylvester.
Thank you. And it's also obviously very reminiscent of The Great Escape, which is a terrific movie in its own right. True or false, Pele personally helped choreograph the soccer action. For victory, Pele himself. He did, and he taught me a painful lesson.
I thought, like, how hard can this really be?
Now, they're using World War II shoes, which are steel-tipped, and the ball, which is like a cannonball.
So I go, you know, this is it can't be that hard. He goes, I want you to stand in the net. I'm going to kick it exactly right here. You stand right there, and there's not a thing you can do about it. Oh, come on.
He kicked the ball. It came by, it broke my finger. Oh, that one right there. Yeah, con con con. Sepp went and then it was a kind of a dry rotted net because it was World War Two.
It tore through the net and it smashed the windows of the prisoner's bunker.
Okay. And this is a guy who is friendly to me. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, he's Pele, man.
He's Pele. He only knows one speed. Last two for you. True or false, you hated the original three-hour cut of First Blood so much you tried to buy the movie and destroy the negative. Yeah.
I'm embarrassed to say that's true. It was like The character stayed in the woods for over an hour and 15 minutes, just running around. I go, this is becoming a little redundant. Can we move on? Also The character Rambo was talking too much.
And I felt that the mystique would be he doesn't talk. He's withdrawn. Everybody talks about him, but he doesn't talk about himself. And they said, oh, mind your own business and whatever.
So they screened it and it was a disaster. I said, can I buy it back? They said, no. I said, well, at least can I try to edit it? And so we edited it down to 91 minutes.
And the rest is history of work. Is it true that the the last one is that you you were supposed to die in the original ending of First Blood, but you convinced everybody to s shoot an alternate ending on the fly?
Well, here's what we've yes, I was supposed to die, and then I started doing a lot of research with vets. I go, I can't do this. This is not the message I want to send out to all these Vietnam vets.
So I wrote this monologue where Bramble has a nervous breakdown. It's the first time he's really spoken.
So everything is coming out just jumbled up and confused. truly impassioned. And I finished it. And then, you know, the colonel comes over and he embraces me and we walk outside. And the director goes, that's not the way it's got to be.
I go, that's the way it's got to be. It has to be that way. He shouldn't die. He doesn't deserve to die. He goes, he's going to die.
I said, he's not going to die.
So now we're having this argument, die, die, not die, die. And he flips out and starts destroying the office. He throws a moose head through the window. He flips over the desk. He takes the guns off the rack.
He smashes them over chairs. Literally, it was a storm. that went around me. The entire set was gone. And he goes, You're going to do it.
I said, I'm not going to do it. And I, you know, said, thank you very much. I had a Vietnam bet on the set. I said, did I do okay? He goes, yes.
And I went home. And then they sued me. He brought me back. Five months later, and I was totally different shape. My hair was different, everything.
I didn't have that feral look. You know, I was just, you know, I. You know, backed up to the fat hoes, you know, it's just like and uh. I so he shoots me in the stomach, like in the book.
So they screened it and it was met with booze and jeers. And so they put back the one where you see in the film now. And it worked out. It sort of worked out. It sort of worked out for sure.
What a pleasure. Thanks for the time, Sylvester Stallone. The Steps, a Memoir. Again, it's all about the journey, but the destination is unbelievable. I mean, the lit.
The list of movies you beat out in 1977 is truly a Hall of Fame list. All the President's Men Network, Bound for Glory, and Scorsese's Taxi Driver. My gosh. That's a hell of an Oscar you have there, sir. Thank you, Rocky.
Yes. Thanks again. The Steps and Memoir is available now wherever you get your book, Sylvester Stallone here on The Rich Eisen Show. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast. Great sound does more than just fill up a room.
It pulls you into the moment, the build-up before a big game, the score of a great film, a song that takes you somewhere else. And this is why I use Sonos at home. It's a system that's built to work together in every room. When everything connects, so do you. Love the sound, feel the system.
Visit sonos.com to build your system. All right, we're gonna go here just because it's personal. Um Everybody's got a bad beat in poker and fantasy. I totally understand that. But good lord, do I love guillotine leagues like nothing else?
There's nothing like it. There, but for the grace, go anybody. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Brockman, you got guillotined last week. I did. Stunk.
It was awful. But you knew it was coming, you know, like Monday night football between the Giants and the Rams was over. It was done. It was finished. Yep.
Last night, the game was over, 27-7. There's one play left from scrimmage. It's fourth and one after the two-minute warning. You know, this is good. This is it.
It's over. TJ Jefferson Has Roma Dunze. Craig Susser Restauranteur to the stars in Los Angeles, California, Nashville, Tennessee. Craig's great spot if you can get a reservation. He's at 1%.
TJ, you are 100% in the clear going into this snap. Craig Susser's got Luther Burden and DeAndre Swift. Who gets the ball? DeAndre Swift. A 15-yard game.
Normally, you don't have to think any of it. In our text chain, oh, it was on like Donkey Kong.
Okay. 'Cause then boom, as soon as it's over, Totally flips. Over. TJ gets axed, and we were just nonstop texting one another in the chain. Non-stop.
Cooper's in the mix. Vinny Pasquatino's in the mix.
Well, Sarah was on the block two for the moment. Sarah was on the block two. Right, I know, right? But she got in the clear. And TJ Jefferson.
Sends everyone a GIF of a kid waving goodbye and sliding down a slide. Great gift, man. And leaves the chat. We can go home now. He rage quits.
You rage quit. Rage. Oh, yeah. You rage quit. I actually think that TJ is relieved to be on the rage.
You are such a sweetheart of a guy. You meet everybody with open arms. You are one of the easiest. Individuals to approach and talk to. That I am.
You are. The number of celebrities that are coming here and that know you from back in the day, and whatever, it just. But you're so anti-social when it comes to a text chain. I don't get it. Doesn't jibe.
You left the chat. You've gone. Yeah. See ya. Even OJ, O Shea is very upset about it.
O'Shea's very upset about it. Look, I had these anime memes last night trying to will you into victory. Yeah. I had two responses ready. Had I hung on to one, I had Steph Curry after the Olympics running down court talking about, don't worry about me.
I had that one ready, and then I had the slide if I lost. I lost. Peace. And you rage quits. Guillotine League, baby.
Ducks quacked. Is that what part? Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show Podcast. You can watch and listen to The Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to 3 Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app, The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.
