A Decade of Big Muscles and Bigger Egos

Sylvester Stallone in Rambo III, 1988. (credit: Allstar Picture Library Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo)

Sonny Bunch’s Saturday pod has joined The Ankler. He’s a contributing columnist at the Washington Post, The Bulwark culture editor, and member of the Washington Area Film Critics Association.

This week I’m joined by Nick de Semlyen, editor of Empire magazine and author of the new book The Last Action Heroes: The Triumphs, Flops, and Feuds of Hollywood's Kings of Carnage. We talk Sly, Arnold, Bruce, and the other big names of the 1980s, how the cinematic heroes of the decade dovetailed in a way with the presidency of Ronald Reagan, and how a second-rate Chuck Norris feature may have inspired a revolution.