This week we dust off the rhinestones, tune up the cab meter, and discover what happens when Rocky Balboa trades the boxing gloves for a cowboy hat. Rhinestone, directed by Bob Clark and starring Sylvester Stallone, Dolly Parton, and Richard Farnsworth, follows country singer Jake Farris as she wagers she can turn absolutely anyone into a credible country performer — only for “anyone” to turn out to be loudmouthed New York cabbie Nick Martinelli. More than four decades later, is this glitter-covered collision of Stallone swagger and Dolly charm an ‘80s embarrassment best left buried, or has Rhinestone finally found a little shine? Does this country-fried curiosity still hold up, or should Sly have stayed in the ring?
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Release Details
Title: Rhinestone
Year: 1984
Director: Bob Clark
Writers: Phil Alden Robinson and Sylvester Stallone; the concept originated from Larry Weiss’s song “Rhinestone Cowboy.”
Top-Billed Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Dolly Parton, Richard Farnsworth
Running Time: 111 minutes is the commonly listed theatrical runtime; the AFI Catalog records its print at 114 minutes.
Country of Origin: United States
Official U.S. Release: June 22, 1984
Studio/Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Other Notable Projects
Bob Clark — Director: Black Christmas (1974) established him as an important early slasher filmmaker; Porky’s (1981) became a giant comedy hit; and A Christmas Story (1983), released just months before Rhinestone began its troubled production, eventually became his most beloved film. Few directors have a résumé that jumps from proto-slasher to sex comedy to Christmas classic to Stallone/Dolly musical.
Phil Alden Robinson — Writer: The disappointment of Rhinestone did little to define his career. He later wrote and directed Field of Dreams (1989), directed Sneakers (1992), and directed The Sum of All Fears (2002). In hindsight, his complaint that the finished Rhinestone did not represent his original screenplay becomes considerably more interesting.
Sylvester Stallone — Nick Martinelli: He came into the movie after Rocky III and First Blood and immediately followed it with Rambo: First Blood Part II and Rocky IV in 1985. Rhinestone therefore sits almost absurdly between the movies that cemented him as the defining action star of the decade.
Dolly Parton — Jake Ferris: She had already proven herself onscreen in 9 to 5 and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Five years after Rhinestone, Steel Magnolias reminded everybody how naturally funny and affecting she could be in the right ensemble.
Richard Farnsworth — Noah Ferris: The former stuntman became one of Hollywood’s great late-career character actors, earning acclaim for The Grey Fox, appearing in Misery, and eventually receiving an Academy Award nomination for David Lynch’s The Straight Story.
Ron Leibman — Freddie Ugo: A veteran stage and screen actor whose work ranged from Norma Rae to an Emmy-winning television career and, much later, Rachel’s memorably overbearing father on Friends. His aggressively sleazy Freddie is pitched at exactly the volume Rhinestone demands.
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