Sylvester Stallone Was Afraid To Be On Dave's Show | Letterman

Look, Sylvester, I really hate to do this, and normally I wouldn't do this, but Paul, Paul Schaefer, is really quite a fan of you and your work, and he asked me, when he heard you were going to be on the show, if it would be okay if, you know, he could meet you before the show. Oh, of course. Is that alright? Anytime, anytime. I'm a big fan of yours, too. Thank you. This is such a thrill. You know, nobody loves Rambo or Rocky as much as I do. Hey, would you mind doing one thing for me? I don't know if it's too much to ask. Would you mind just punching Dave in the stomach as hard as you can, like you did with Drago, you know, in Rocky's heart? Would you really do that? Don't bother him, please, Paul. You're embarrassing him. I'm your guest, and if you really want me to... That would be great. A really good one? Yeah. Let him have it. This would be great. That was fabulous. Thank you. That was great. Paul, Paul, I told you not to bother him. It's over. We're on the opening. Paul, I asked you... This is my next guest's first appearance on this program. It's a pleasure to welcome him here with us, and he has a new movie soon to be out. It's called Stop or My Mom Will Shoot. It opens nationwide on February 21st. Ladies and gentlemen, here he is, Sylvester Stallone. Good to see you. You know, it occurs to me, and I'm sorry to bring this up, but you must have guys trying you every minute of the day. N-Girls. No, seriously, no. As a matter of fact, the first time I ever got, quote, sucker punched, I was doing fist in Iowa. I thought a very peaceful place, Dubuque, Iowa. And this girl comes up, and she looks like Julie Andrews. She goes, I love your films. I said, fine. She goes, I love your films. I love your films. And bang, she hits me in the shot. I'm telling you, I saw birds. I saw my mother circling. I saw a thing that was knocked back in the childhood. So, yeah, there are a lot of people that like to do that. I guess it's because, obviously, of some of the movies you've made. You play a fighter. Some of the movies you play just a tough guy. And everybody seems to think, and I guess after a couple of beers, I'm going to find out how tough this guy is. This is true. This is true. Usually my ex-wives. Boom! Perfect. Now, all right, I mentioned at the top of the program that this is the first time you've been here. We've wanted to have you on for years and years and years, of course. Your brother Frank has been here. Let me check the seat. No, no, no. Still wet. Oh, God, no, no. Just kidding. Just kidding, Frank. It's a brother wet joke. Oh, it's a brother wet joke. It's one of those things. And also, your mother was here on a very early, early birthday. I would have been touched. Wet joke. Okay. But how was it that it's taken you so long to get here? Well, the truth is, you know those pump cars all across the world? Well, I'm kind of like very tentative coming to the East Coast now and then. Usually the only time I come is for free clothes and to do movies. And since you were offering neither, I said, oh, what the heck. I'll wait ten years. Now, I just wanted to see if you really wanted me, so I'm kind of like a slow study. Yeah, well, we certainly appreciate you being here. And let me guess. Actually, I was a little nervous to come on because, you know, in the beginning, you were like this Attila the Hun of late night, you know. I mean, there were organs strewn around the stage. It was like something like Chainsaw Massacre. But you know why that was? Why? Steroids. But I learned. That's right. You did it. No more. Yes, sirree. And you mentioned when you come East, and of course, I think now, and correct me if I'm wrong, you're on your way to France. Is that right? This is true. Yeah, what's the purpose of that trip? I am going to get an award. It's called the Legion of Honor Award, Letter to Artiste, for people that don't want a refund for my films. They finally gave me something. And then there's a thing called the Caesar Awards, and that's equivalent to their French Oscar. Yeah. Wow. Well, what it is, they kind of like mistaked me for Jerry Lewis. Okay, I'll take it. I'll lie to you. I'll do it. I'll take it. You know, we had a director on here a couple of months ago, and he was explaining to us that the guy who used to translate the Jerry Lewis dialogue for the French people passed away at a certain point, and they had to start using a different guy. And after he died, Jerry Lewis was not as popular as he was when the original guy was doing the translation. And we were thinking that perhaps it was the guy who was doing the voice who was actually very popular, and not so much Jerry. Well, you know, there's a lot to... Seriously, voices play a very, very important part. If you notice, very, very famous stars throughout history have always had quite distinctive voices. I mean, that's why they're imitated, and I think there's something to that. Yeah. Let's see, do we want to talk a little bit about the movie here? Do we have time to take a look at a clip now, or...? Okay, all right, we'll do a commercial, and then when we come back here, we'll talk some more with our friend Sylvester Stallone. Back to the program, Sylvester Stallone is here. We have cowboy junkies with us, a Canadian group, and we have an axe thrower and a lumberjack, Shannon Strong. You ever do any of that? You ever climb any trees, or...? No, I've seen a lot of bull throwers, but axes, no. Yeah, well, that's a very nice young woman, and she'll be out later. Really nice. Yeah, throw some axes. I like it. Okay, now the film, the new film opens February, what was the date, 20...? 21st. 21st, and this is you and Estelle Getty, from what I've been able to gather. It is a slight departure, you know, she's like my little pocket fisherman mother, you know, she's one of these foldable things, she's very small, but, you know, she's riotous. In the film, she comes out and she tries to dominate my life, and I think this clip is, I am a cop who's trying to help a suicide who's about to jump off a ledge, and then she starts hassling me from the street and almost causes me to jump off. All right, now, is your mother also a cop, or a retired cop, or just hanging around you? She's an ag. Okay. Do you agree with the way the film came out? Yeah, I think that we've got a film that is, I mean, it's not exactly going to, you know, cure for any kind of ailment, but it's not bad, not bad. Good for you. How many movies have you made? I think about 25, and, yeah, about 25 going on, yeah. And do you know, do you have a rough figure how much revenue those 25 films have generated? It's unbelievable, isn't it? Let's see. It's about $2.6 billion. $2.6 billion? Oh, my God. And why am I on welfare? I don't know. Something wrong with my aging team? I don't know. But now, what do you, what does a man, now, because you get like... No, I didn't pocket that. No, no, no, no, no, I understand, but you're making deals where you get, like, half the money goes to you. Well, then half goes to spouses, and then spouses' wives, and then their buddies, and their boyfriends, and it goes down to, like... Spouses' buddies get affected? Yeah, like, you know, sewage removal. That's in the cards. Mamamoni, Palamoni, you got it all. But, now, what do you do? I know you collect art, is that right? Yes, I am a serious art collector. I started, actually, quite an auspicious beginning. I was driving down Pacific Coast Highway, and I saw a finger painting of John Wayne on velvet and said, that's for me. I feel that velvet. And I went on from there, and I was taken, and you're taken for a fortune before you understand how it all works. Right, now, can you give us an example of some mistakes you've made in the art world? I mean, are they reputable, or do they say, oh, here comes Mr. Movie Guy, let's go, let's go to work with him. Well, I can't mention names, but there have been some situations where literally millions of dollars somehow have been mistakenly overcharged. You know, like, excuse me, this is $4 million, and it cost them, like, $1.98. Get the dumb nouveau riche Italian, he'll buy it. Just cover it with sauce. Put sauce on it, he'll buy it. And you're driving home thinking you got a bargain. I got a real bargain. Now, has it worked the other way? Have you looked at something and said, somebody says, no, no, this, really, you ought to consider this, and you say, no, I don't like it, and then later you find... All right, at one time, you know, there were a lot of threats, so I had a security fellow with me, a real nice guy, kind of like a happy, kind of guy, he'll appreciate that one. His name was Tony. So we're going to look at a Ducuni. At the time, the Ducuni was about $80,000, and again, I had just gone from John Wayne, $90,000, to Ducuni for $90,000. It was a little shocking. I was ready to sign it. I'm going to take it. Six-foot Ducuni, and the guy, I go, what do you think, Tony? He goes, me, I wouldn't put that piece of crap in my dog house, you know? My dog! Hey, hey! I'll kill you, you buy that! I mean, he was really adamant. And it kind of spooked me, you know what I'm saying? So I said, I don't want it. Anyway, to make a long story short, that sold for $4.7 million. Oh, my! My! And Tony is still with us. Tony is floating eastward right now. With a hole in his stomach. But now, I don't think it's fair to leave the impression that you're only in it to speculate. No, no, no. Actually, you do go to that speculation period, and then you say, you know what, I'm just going to buy something I like hanging on the wall. So what I do is, I usually, you know the dog shooting pool? One of my favorites. I used to keep it cheap. Keep it light and lively, David. You know, a lot of T-shirts. Hey, they're a good way to impress the babes, too. They can dry themselves on your art, seriously. You know, that's my kind of trick. Oh, let's see. I can't tell you how glad I am you finally decided to come join us in our second decade. Thank you very much. And you're on your way to France. Have a great trip. And when you come back, the new film will have opened. Stop or My Mom Will Shoot. Stop or I Will Shoot My Mom, the sequel. On February 21st. Pleasure to see you. Thank you. Thank you so much.