And it holds up. “When I watch it now, it’s really convincing that Stallone was up there,” says Joyner. But Stallone was nowhere near the Dolomites’ Vajolet Towers – a cluster of dizzying summits – for the film’s defining stunt: actress Michelle Joyner dangling on a line between the towers at 4,000ft. Indeed, any mention of Cliffhanger and Michelle Joyner’s big moment is almost certainly the scene that comes to mind – before it plunges gut-ward and triggers some primal, blood-freezing terror within. A promotional making of feature was keen (a bit too keen, perhaps) to persuade viewers that Stallone had indeed done plenty of real climbing. Leaving the relative safety of those generously-heeled boots, Stallone did ultimately muck in by doing some climbing and dangling off ledges. As expedition leader, Harlin had another job to add to those demands: coaxing Stallone higher and higher up the mountain. There were lightning storms at 13,000ft, helicopter evacuations, and – back in the US – a record-breaking aerial stunt. The crew spent months in the Italian mountains (which doubled for the Colorado Rockies) with a team of world-class climbers performing stomach-lurching ascents. Stallone – Rambo himself – swore he wouldn’t go any higher than the heels of his cowboy boots.Ĭliffhanger was as much an expedition as a film production. But the actor admitted to being scared of heights. In the film – which dropped into cinemas 30 years ago – Sly would play a rescue ranger who battles a gang of hijackers. That’s where he planned to shoot Cliffhanger: at the top of the mountain. In the Dolomites – a vast mountain range in northern Italy – director Renny Harlin led Sylvester Stallone to the foot of an 11,000ft peak.
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