In this FandomWire Video Essay, we explore the infamous Sylvester Stallone p*rno, Italian Stallion.
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The 70s Stallone P*rno: Italian Stallion
From porn star to an Academy Award-nominated actor… That’s not a transition that many performers could successfully achieve, but that’s exactly what Sylvester Stallone managed to accomplish during his long and complicated career. These days, he’s best known for leading franchises and playing iconic characters like Rocky Balboa and John Rambo. But his first starring role came in the form of a low-budget, soft-core X-rated film titled “The Party at Kitty and Stud’s.” The film itself has become something of an urban legend. A myth or an idea that is spread through small talk and the sharing of cinematic trivia. “Did you know Sylvester Stallone made an X-rated movie?” But very few have actually seen the film, leading many to question the authenticity of its existence. Well I can assure you… it’s real.
But how did he do it? How did Sylvester Stallone go from leading man in a micro-budgeted smut film in 1970, to two nominations at the Oscars just seven years later? And perhaps even more important than the how… is the why. Well, slide into something comfortable and hang on, as we explore the rags-to-riches leap of Sylvester Stallone’s journey from Adult Film star, to the Academy Awards.
The Party at Kitty and Stud’s is classified as “Soft Core” pornography. While the definitions and differences between softcore and hardcore differer greatly depending on the source, it ultimately comes down to the graphicness of the sexual acts being depicted on screen. Soft Core is more… subtle, leaving more to the imagination and insinuating the sex, rather than actually showing it in great detail. Even still, seeing the face and… MUCH more, of any actor as popular and well-known as Stallone appearing in an Adult Film is unexpected.
These days, largely thanks to the convenience of the internet, the realms of pornography and theatrical cinema are separated by a large divide. There’s no shortage of X-rated content available on the web, but seeing that content released to cinemas is nearly unheard of now. But, that wasn’t the case in the 1970’s. During the “Porno Chic” movement, which spanned from the late 60’s to the mid 80’s, adult films releasing theatrically was a common occurrence. We covered this topic in great detail in our other video about Deep Throat, the most popular porno in history, so be sure to check that out if you haven’t.
But adult entertainment was never used as a launching pad for a legitimate acting career. The jump from one to the other just wasn’t something that happened. And while a young Sylvester Stallone was chasing his dreams of making it big in Hollywood, he was fighting an uphill battle of poverty, homelessness, and desperation. Desperation can lead a man to dark places. In the case of Stallone… It led him to Porn.
According to Stallone, he’d fallen on hard times and found himself evicted from his apartment. He was sleeping in a New York City bus station in the middle of winter with nothing to his name and nowhere to turn. In one interview with Playboy magazine from 1978, Stallone said, “It was either do that movie or rob somebody because I was at the end, at the VERY end, of my rope.”
He was paid two hundred dollars for two days of filming and starred opposite Henrietta Holm. She was Kitty and he was Stud. The plot… if you can call it that, was thin. Simply put, the film is about Kitty and Stud’s relationship, culminating in a group sex party at the movie’s climax that gives the film its title. It’s an odd movie, even by the lower standards of the adult film industry, that features almost no dialogue. Instead, most of what we hear are the thoughts of Kitty’s internal monologue as she recounts her sexual fantasies and desires. It’s undoubtedly a product of its time, feeling overly reminiscent of the hippie movement. There’s yoga, dancing, and proclamations of “Far out!”
Perhaps the most notable moment of the film, besides the fact that it features a fully nude Sylvester Stallone, of course, involves a moment in which Kitty bites Stud in a… sensitive area during a particular romantic act… Use your imagination. This sends Stud into a violent rage, throwing Kitty onto the bed and whipping her repeatedly with his belt. The whipping and the pain excites Kitty and the lovemaking eventually continues. It’s an awkward scene that lasts longer than it should and feels as fake and scripted as the rest of the story. But it’s notable for its representation of an apparent sado/masochistic relationship.
In the years since filming The Party at Kitty and Stud’s, Stallone has been vocal about his disdain for the film, saying that by today’s standards, it could pass for a PG rating. While that of course isn’t accurate, the film is incredibly tame by today’s standards and expectations of X-rated cinema. But no matter how bad the film may be, there’s no avoiding the fact that it put Stallone on a trajectory that would launch his career into overdrive and make him a star just six short years later with Rocky. But if he thought Rocky would help to bury his raunchy, adult film past, Stallone was in for a rude awakening as his newfound stardom would cast a spotlight on the porno, bringing it to the public’s attention in ways it had never been before.
America loves an underdog, both in real life and depicted within the entertainment they consume. And that’s part of what made Rocky such a significant success upon its release in 1976. The idea of an “everyman” getting a shot to win the belt and become the heavyweight boxing champion of the world seemingly overnight, is the type of feel-good, against-the-odds storytelling that audiences thrive on. It’s hard to imagine now, but the Best Picture-winning film was nearly VERY different. Stallone wrote the film in just three and a half days after watching a championship fight between Muhammid Ali and Chuck Wepner. While Ali went on to win the match in the fifteenth round, Stallone, along with many others, were impressed by how long Wepner lasted against the boxing legend Ali.
The script was bounced from Studio to Studio, with many expressing interest in the film, but none wanting Stallone in the title role. Studio execs imagined the picture as a vehicle for an already-established movie star like Burt Reynolds or Robert Redford. At the time, Stallone was still an unknown with no real leading credits to his name besides… well, you know. But Stallone was determined to not only get the film made but to star in it himself.
That goal was within his grasp when ABC purchased the script with intentions to adapt it into a made-for-television movie starring Stallone. Stallone was good friends with Henry Winkler who had recently made a name for himself as Arthur Fonzarelli, aka The Fonz on the hit sitcom Happy Days.
Winkler used his sway at ABC to get the film on track. However, Stallone was filled with regret after learning that ABC execs planned to have a new writer brought on to rewrite the screenplay prior to production. So Winkler, using the same sway he had used to get ABC on board in the first place, convinced them to sell the rights back to Stallone at the same price they’d purchased them, essentially undoing the deal and placing the struggling actor right back where he’d started.
But, undeterred, he carried on and his determination paid off when United Artists agreed to release the movie with him headlining it. Rocky was met with immediate acclaim, with Roger Ebert himself giving it a perfect four out of four-star rating and comparing Stallone’s performance to that of a young Marlon Brando. The acclaim didn’t end there, and the film made major waves at the Oscars, winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing, and landing Stallone not one, but TWO nominations for Best Actor and Best Screenplay. Stallone would go on to be nominated for an acting Oscar once more, years later, again for his portrayal of Rocky Balboa in the 2015 spin-off reboot Creed.
But along with the acclaim and newfound fame that Stallone found through Rocky, came an ultimatum from the owner and creator of The Party at Kitty and Stud’s. He allegedly approached Stallone and offered to sell him the film rights for approximately one hundred thousand dollars in order to bury the film and prevent it from ever releasing. If that sounds like blackmail, that’s because it kind of is. Stallone, however, was unfazed and rejected the offer, stating that he wouldn’t buy it for two bucks.
The film was re-edited and retitled in an effort to piggyback off the success of Rocky and the two film’s shared star. Kitty and Stud’s was released to theaters under the new name of Italian Stallion, which was of course the nickname of Rocky Balboa. Stallone’s name and face were featured prominently on the film’s poster with the tagline “Sylvester Stallone ‘Star of ‘Rocky’ Goes X-Rated!” Also included in the newly edited release was a score that featured music unmistakably and eerily similar to “Gonna Fly Now,” the iconic theme song of Rocky which plays over a montage of the boxer training and running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It’s as memorable of a movie moment as it gets.
The theatrical run of Italian Stallion did little to halt Stallone’s rise to stardom or damage his reputation in the industry. Throughout the 1980s he competed in a fierce rivalry against Arnold Schwarzenegger, with each fighting to maintain the title of the number one action star in the world. By 2023 there had been five direct sequels and three spin-off sequels to Rocky, with Stallone playing a major on-screen role in all but one of them. These days, Stallone can be seen popping up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, leading his Expendables franchise, or even in the world of reality television with The Family Stallone on Paramount Plus. But he’ll likely never escape the Mythic tale of his old school, 1970s softcore start as a leading man in The Party at Kitty and Studs. Or, should I say, Italian Stallion.
Have you seen the infamous Sylvester Stallone porno? Have you heard of it before, or did we just open your eyes to a dark and dirty side of Sly Stallone that you never knew existed? Let us know in the comments, and if you’ve seen it, please, tell us your thoughts. We’d love to hear them. Be sure to like, subscribe and hit that notification bell so you never miss a video. We’ll see you next time. “Yo, Adrian!”
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