Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that Over the Top is a 1987 movie in which Sylvester Stallone plays a truck driver trying to make amends with his estranged son while also trying to redeem himself by winning an arm-wrestling tournament. The music, montages, and hair alone make this movie more '80s than the '80s were, and for all its cheese, it still manages to be entertaining. There is violence: fistfights, car chases, and, of course, lots and lots of arm wrestling. A boy is bullied, but the whole situation arises because his father asks the bullies to arm-wrestle the boy; the bullies proceed to call him names like "wimp" and "girl" before the boy finds it within himself to out-arm-wrestle the bullies. There is also some profanity, including "s--t" and "a--hole." Product logos are rampant, especially at the end for the big arm-wrestling championship.
Sexual
Content
Not applicable
Violence
A boy runs into oncoming highway traffic to escape his father, narrowly avoids getting hit, and causes an accident. Fistfights in a bar. Some bullying -- a boy arm-wrestles another on a pinball table and makes verbal threats about ripping his arm off. A boy runs away from his grandfather's mansion and steals a truck; he's underage and drives recklessly. A car chase leads to a crash.
Language
Occasional profanity, growing in frequency toward the end: "s--t," "a--hole," "hell," "ass." Bullies call a boy a "wimp" and "a girl."
Social
Behavior
Talk of never quitting, always doing your best.
Consumerism
Characters wear hats and T-shirts advertising Budweiser, Alka-Seltzer, Sportscreme, and Duracell.
Drugs / Tobacco /
Alcohol
Beer drinking in a bar. A boy's grandfather drinks alcohol.
