Over the Top is a brilliant movie that I loved as a kid. It was THE catalyst for my totally obsessive, hardcore, 2 week arm wrestling phase. I recently rediscovered it and I love it one thousand times more as an adult. I may catch flack for this, but I am going to say it anyway. Over the Top is THE best arm wrestling movie ever made. Period. There I said it! It's out there, what are you gonna do about it?



10 reasons why Over the Top is the best movie ever


#10 Over the Top is the heartwarming story of a father, Lincoln Hawk (played by Sylvester Stallone), reconciling his relationship with his estranged son, to the backdrop of the Arm Wrestling World Championship.



#9 This movie has the greatest film character names ever: Lincoln Hawk, John Grizzly, Bull Hurley, Mad Dog Madison, the slightly, racistly-named African-American character Harry Bosco (look it up).

#8 Over the Top was painstakingly crafted so as to account for every detail and eliminate any plot holes or oversights. Having said that, after we, the viewer, are reminded, literally 10 times, that the Arm Wrestling World Championship tournament is double elimination, Lincoln's nemesis Bull Hurley is defeated once and loses the championship.

#7 During one of the documentary-style interviews with the arm wrestling contestants, Harry Bosco offers this Shakespearean monologue: "My whole body is an engine. (He holds up his arm) This is a fireplug, and I'm gonna light him up." I don't even know what that means but he still sounds threatening and awesome. Does he mean that his body is a fire engine? And somehow attached to his fire engine is a fireplug, or hydrant? So he's going to "light him up" as a firefighter would use a fireplug to "light up" a building that is on fire? I don't understand it, but I get the point! Harry Bosco is not an arm wrestling contestant to be taken lightly.

#6 At the world championships, one contestant is wearing a Soloflex T-shirt. Everyone knows that huge mastodon-like arm wrestlers don't train with weights or use steroids. They use rubberband-based resistance training machines sold through infomercials.

#5 Before a match, a particularly crazy contestant named John Grizzly, menacingly swallows a cigar he is smoking. How could you possibly get more awesome than swallowing a cigar in front of your opponent?



#4 Before the next match John Grizzly drinks a can of motor oil! Nothing gets an athlete primed for a strenuous competition like knocking back a cool quart of 10w-30. Now before you email me, remember this was back in the good old days of arm wrestling, before motor oil was added to the list of banned performance-enhancing substances.



#3 When it's match time, Lincoln turns his trucker hat backwards because it makes him "feel like a machine." Awesome.



#2 In the World Championship Tournement, Lincoln Hawk competes in "The Trucker Division." Apparently there were so many truck drivers competing in arm wrestling in the 80's that they needed to be given their own official division.

And the #1 reason Over the Top is the best movie ever...

#1 Bull Hurley: "I drive truck, break arms, and arm wrestle. It's what I love to do, it's what I do best." Total muscle-bound badasses don't drive "trucks." Pluralizing is for pussies.