Sylvester Stallone's top 5 performances

5. First Blood (1982)

Corruption. Power-hungry small-town cops. PTSD. Survival instinct. Of course, when the arrest of Vietnam veteran John Rambo goes south for the dirty cops in Hope, Washington, they have no idea that the manhunt they're about to embark on will get them all killed, since Rambo's only real area of expertise is killing other people. Delta Force soldier Rambo uses guerrilla tactics to deceive, capture and disarm the entire police force in one of the best action thrillers of the 70s and here Sylvester Stallone succeeds very well in conveying the inherent darkness that the character carries around. He also succeeds very well in conveying, without tropes or clichés, the fact that he really is as deadly as the character in the book is described as.

4. Rocky II (1979)

There has often been a skilfully portrayed underlying sadness and darkness in Stallone's finest characters that was never allowed to take over but gives depth and humanity to what may often (on paper) have been rather a one-dimensional "hero". This is evident in a film like Cliffhanger where all the characters are caricatures except for Gabe Walker, whose inherent darkness and broken conscience give him an extra dimension compared to everything else in the film. The best example of how Stallone has always dug a little deeper in his macho action roles is Rocky in the second film, where he grapples with all sorts of emotions ahead of a rematch with Apollo Creed.

3. Creed (2015)

It's a finely tuned, wounded and poignant portrait of a broken, wounded old man who refuses to give up, which Stallone offers in Ryan Coogler's absolutely brilliant boxing drama. Sly manages to weave together the Rocky of the 70s with all his qualities and weaknesses with a credible father figure who guides, helps and assists Creed Junior, something that is turned upside down in the middle act when Rocky falls ill and then instead becomes the one who is forced to ask for help.

2. Cop Land (1997)

Stallone's portrayal of the somewhat slow-witted, hard-of-hearing, good-natured and more than a little naïve sheriff Freddy Heflin is a suitably melancholy one that stands out in a film where big-name stars like Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta and Harvey Keitel also appear, which of course says a lot. Sly portrays Freddy with a sensitivity we had never seen from him before and he uses just the right means to tell us in the most austere of ways that he is calm and collected on the outside, but well on the way to bursting inside.

1. Rocky (1976)

There are, of course, as we all know, plenty of lovable underdog stories from film history and perhaps the best of them all is the true story of how an untrained, clueless Stallone refused to sell his golden script Rocky to one of Hollywood's biggest studios unless they allowed him to play the lead. Because Rocky was all the rage back then. Several major production giants wanted to make a feature film of young Sly's poignant story of the already downtrodden, out of his depth, wise-cracking and slightly dim-witted Philly boy who stood up against the odds, bet on himself and won - even though he lost. But Sly didn't back down and finally got the chance to prove he could take on his own starring role, which he did with aplomb. Now that it's been 48 years since Rocky, when you rewind the tape and watch it again, it's easy to be struck by how well Stallone understands his own character. Stallone's acting here gives me constant Marlon Brando vibes from the always brilliant Big City Harbour and there is a naturalness to his presence and a delicacy to his humanity that shines through in every little scene.