One of the best Stallone films set in the 1930s in which gives a good performance as a worker who joins the Teamsters trade-union in a local factory and being accompanied by a fine supporting cast . It deals with a love between a man, a country, the people he led and the woman he loved . Johnny Kovak (Sylvester Stallone) is an employee who works his way up as organizer and leader of Federation Interstate Truckers . Meanwhile he falls in love and marries a worker (Melinda Dillon) . As he climbs higher and higher thanks his connection with the Mob (Tony LoBianco). As his methods become more corrupt and ultimately senator Madison (Rod Steiger ) begins a campaign to discover the truth about his allegedly greedy practices .

This poignant film packs emotion , thrills , a love story political events and being quite entertaining though contains some ,predictable moments and cliché-ridden . The picture details biographic events about an Union leader , Jimmy Hoffa-lookalike, from his starts until his fall . Jewison cast some largely known actors as Sylvester Stallone , Melinda Dillon , Peter Boyle and a remarkable support cast as Richard Herd , Tony LoBianco , Peter Donat , Kevin Conway, Cassie Yates , Richard Herd and the veteran Henry Wilcoxon and several others . Stallone , also screenwriter along with Eszterhas creates an even more interesting character than Rocky Balboa . Atmospheric musical score including moving sounds by Bill Conti and appropriate cinematography by excellent cameraman Laszlo Kovacs.

The motion picture is well produced and directed by Norman Jewison . He is a prestigious and veteran filmmaker, his greatest film is of course Jesus Christ Superstar . He directed successful movies as Fiddler on the roof , Agnes of God , Moonstruck , Thomas Crown and Cinncinati Kid . However , he also got some flops as Bogus, In country , Only you and Other's people money and his last picture titled The statement . He considers The Hurricane (1999) the last in a trilogy of racial bigotry movies he's realized, the first two being In the Heat of the Night (1967) and A Soldier's Story (1984). Rating : Good, worthwhile seeing for its epic moments and thought-provoking issues .

This is a real hidden gem of a film. Thought provoking, intelligent and times indignant, without resorting to sentimentality.

Contrast this,with the commercially lucrative but artistically meaningless "Crash, Bang, Wallop" movies that Stallone became synonymous with in the 1980s.

Stallone can act when he wants to, and FIST amply demonstrates this wasted potential.

Based (very loosely) on the life of the Teamsters boss, Jimmy Hoffa, FIST charts the rise and fall of a Trade Union leader. A cautionary tale of how noble causes can be sullied by ambition and hubris.

I highly recommend it, if only to convince others that Stallone occasionally turned in a credible performance without the promise of a big pay day.

You cannot judge Stallone's acting career without seeing this movie. The movie was made during the height of Rocky-mania, and I don't recall it getting much attention on its first run.

Sly plays a blue-collar grunt at the pre-dawn of the organized labor movement in the US. I think the film does a commendable job showing the audience what conditions were like before the work force was unionized. Indeed it depicts what what drove workers to form the original labor unions. Federated Inter-State Truckers or FIST is the union that Stallone's character reluctantly helps organize and lead through the early dark years of violent strikes and lockouts to the later years of labor successes breading union corruption.

I am not a fan of the Rocky series, but did enjoy First Blood 1. I found FIST to be the best film of his career.