The episode treats Cliffhanger as a quintessential early-90s action movie: fast, muscular, slightly cheesy, and still thrilling on rewatch. Bill and Kyle admire its opening mountain-rescue sequence, its compact pace, its practical-stunt energy, and the way Michael Rooker and John Lithgow elevate the movie around Stallone. They also note how much of the movie’s appeal comes from huge action set pieces, campy dialogue, and absurd but memorable violence.
Based only on this episode’s transcriptTimes approximateSpeakers were clearly identifiedExplore the connections
Uses The Rock as a modern action-star comparison but argues he is not in Schwarzenegger's class.
About 48 min
4 ThemesThe larger ideas in the discussion
Stallone comeback and movie-star rivalry
The movie is framed as Stallone reasserting himself after a rough run, in contrast to Schwarzenegger's hotter streak.
Opening minutes
Early-90s action aesthetics
The film is praised as a marker of the era when action movies were getting slicker, bigger, and more self-conscious.
About 8 min
Rooker as a scene-stealer
Michael Rooker is repeatedly described as bringing the most heat, with intense overacting and strong confrontational scenes.
About 16 min
Campy villainy
John Lithgow is praised for a theatrical, heightened bad-guy performance that fits the movie's tone.
About 16 min
25 Facts and referencesProduction notes and other movies mentioned
Production note
Carolco had multiple abandoned pre-Cliffhanger projects for Stallone, including a John Hughes comedy and an 'Isobar' train-monster movie, before landing on Cliffhanger.
About 16 min
Production note
The film made about $255 million on a $70 million budget and was nominated for three Oscars but lost all of them to Jurassic Park.
About 16 min
Production note
The plane-to-plane stunt was paid at a reported cost of one million dollars and is described as a Guinness-record aerial stunt.
About 48 min
Production note
Stallone reportedly spent $100,000 of his own money to reshoot the rabbit sequence so the rabbit would survive.
About 40 min
Production note
A deleted jump between cliffs was removed because preview audiences laughed at it.
About 40 min
Production note
The movie's money plot is built around $100 million stolen in midair, which the hosts feel is too small for the scale of the operation.
About 48 min
Production note
Stallone said his top physical-condition movies were Rocky IV, Cliffhanger, and Rambo III.
About 48 min
Production note
The movie was shot in part in the Dolomites near Cortina d'Ampezzo.
About 48 min
Production note
Stallone wanted the opening glove slip to feel real; the stunt team used an oversized glove and even filled it with Vaseline before the glove finally came off.
About 48 min
Production note
A sequel called The Dam was developed years later and then again in 2008, but never happened.
About 1:04
Die Hard
Used repeatedly as the template for 'Die Hard on a mountain/plane/bus' style action movies.
About 8 min
Mission: Impossible
Cited as the later franchise that improved upon the stunt style Cliffhanger was trying to sell.
About 8 min
Terminator 2
Mentioned as another early example of 'how did they do that' effects filmmaking.
About 8 min
Rocky III
Used as a comparison point for Stallone's guilt-driven character beats.
Opening minutes
Rocky IV
Referenced for Stallone's upside-down hanging and mountain-climbing imagery.
About 32 min
Kindergarten Cop
Cited as part of Schwarzenegger's hot streak versus Stallone's slump.
About 8 min
Under Siege
Referenced as part of the wave of smarter, bigger 90s action films inspired by T2.
About 8 min
True Lies
Named alongside Under Siege as part of the stronger 90s action style.
About 8 min
Ricochet
Used to illustrate Lithgow's darker villain work.
About 16 min
Footloose
Referenced as another Lithgow villain role.
About 16 min
JFK
Mentioned as one of Michael Rooker's notable credits.
About 16 min
Days of Thunder
Used as a reference point for Michael Rooker and his aggressive supporting performances.
About 16 min
Above the Rim
Referenced as the role where Leon peaks and 'throws heat.'
About 24 min
Shoot to Kill
Cited as a near-identical earlier mountain-thriller premise.
About 48 min
The Dam
The planned sequel concept described as 'Die Hard in a dam.'
About 1:04
11 Running jokes and short linesRecurring bits captured from the conversation
Rooker sauce
Kyle repeatedly jokes that Michael Rooker is operating at full 'Rooker sauce' intensity and should be in more action movies.
About 16 min
Die Hard on a blank
They riff on the movie as part of a family of 'Die Hard on a mountain/plane/bus' imitations.
About 8 min
Early-90s technology praise
They mock the era's crude but impressive-looking tech, TVs, and green-screen tricks.
About 8 min
Bill and Ted / comic-relief henchmen
They keep mocking the movie's silly comic-relief bad guys as a dated action-movie device.
About 48 min
No bullets, bitch
Leon's line becomes a repeated favorite, emblematic of the movie's absurd coolness.
About 32 min
Soccer villain bit
Delmar's soccer-kicking fight style is treated as bizarrely memorable and slightly racist in tone.
About 32 min
Kyle Brandt
“one of the greatest opening scenes”
Opening minutes
Bill Simmons
“No bullets, bitch!”
About 32 min
Bill Simmons
“It was a bad time for everybody.”
About 40 min
Bill Simmons
“The action is the juice”
About 24 min
Speaker not identified
“Kill a million, and you're a conqueror.”
About 56 min
MAKE IT A MOVIE NIGHT
Where to watch
UNITED STATES
Checking where Cliffhanger is available…
WHAT TO WATCH NEXT
Movies to watch before and after.
Three movies to watch before Cliffhanger, and three to watch next.
Finding six movies…Three to watch first and three to watch next.
ON THE MIC
2 voices on this episode
Bill SimmonsThe Rewatchables
Kyle BrandtThe Rewatchables
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