F. I. S. T
Promotional movie poster for F. I. S. T.
Directed by	Norman Jewison
Produced by	Gene Corman
Written by	Joe Eszterhas (story) Joe Eszterhas and Sylvester Stallone (screenplay)
Starring	Sylvester Stallone Rod Steiger Peter Boyle Melinda Dillon David Huffman Kevin Conway and Tony Lo Bianco
Music by	Bill Conti
Cinematography	László Kovács
Editing by	Graeme Clifford
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	1978
Running time	145 min. Norman Frederick Jewison CC, BA, LLD (born July 21, 1926) is an Academy Award -winning Canadian Film Josef Eszterhas (born November 23, 1944) is a Hungarian - American Writer, known for his screenplays for the films Basic Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone (born July 6 1946 is an American Actor, director, producer and Screenwriter. Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone (born July 6 1946 is an American Actor, director, producer and Screenwriter. Rod Steiger ( April 14, 1925 – July 9, 2002) was an American Academy Award -winning Actor known for his Peter Lawrence "Pete" Boyle ( October 18, 1935 &ndash December 12, 2006) was an American Actor. Melinda Rose Dillon (born October 13, 1939 in Hope, Arkansas) is an American actress Kevin Conway (born May 29, 1942) is an American Actor and Film director. Tony Lo Bianco (born October 19, 1936) is an American Actor in Films and Television. Bill Conti (born April 13 1942 in Providence Rhode Island) is an Italian American film music composer who is frequently the conductor at the Academy Awards László Kovács, ASC ( May 14, 1933 &ndash July 22, 2007) was a Cinematographer, most famous for his award-winning work on Graeme Clifford a leading film editor for over ten years Clifford made an impressive feature directorial debut with Frances, the dramatic real-life story of This article is about the film studio Previously it was affiliated with a cinema chain bearing its name now owned by Regal Entertainment Group. Year 1978 ( MCMLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar)
Language	English
Budget	$11,000,000
IMDb profile

F. I. S. T. is a 1978 movie directed by Norman Jewison and starring Sylvester Stallone. Year 1978 ( MCMLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar) Norman Frederick Jewison CC, BA, LLD (born July 21, 1926) is an Academy Award -winning Canadian Film Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone (born July 6 1946 is an American Actor, director, producer and Screenwriter. In this film, Stallone plays a Cleveland warehouse worker named Johnny Kovak who becomes involved in the labor union leadership of the fictional "Federation of Inter State Truckers", and finds that he must sacrifice his principles as he moves up through the union and attempts to expand its influence. A trade union or labour union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas such as wages hours and working conditions forming The movie is loosely based on the Teamsters union and their former President Jimmy Hoffa. TemplateInfobox Union for usage-->The International Brotherhood of Teamsters ( IBT) formerly known by the James Riddle ("Jimmy" Hoffa ( February 14, 1913 - disappeared July 30, 1975, exact

A number of other well known actors and actresses appeared in F. I. S. T. They included Kevin Conway, Brian Dennehy, Rod Steiger, Melinda Dillon, Richard Herd, and Peter Boyle. Kevin Conway (born May 29, 1942) is an American Actor and Film director. Brian Mannion Dennehy (born July 9 1938 is an American two-time Tony Award -winning Actor who has appeared in movies, on television and performed Rod Steiger ( April 14, 1925 – July 9, 2002) was an American Academy Award -winning Actor known for his Melinda Rose Dillon (born October 13, 1939 in Hope, Arkansas) is an American actress Richard Herd Jr (born September 26, 1932) is an American Actor in Television and Film. Peter Lawrence "Pete" Boyle ( October 18, 1935 &ndash December 12, 2006) was an American Actor.

Plot

The film begins with a shot at a loading dock. The man in charge of watching over these men is Mr. Gant, who we see welcoming a new worker, Lincoln Dombrowsky. He tells him the job requirements along with how he will be paid. He tells him that be paid for working 8 hours and if he works overtime, he still only gets paid for 8 hours. The man in charge also tells Dombrowsky if he drops any of the merchandise, it comes directly out of his pay. These are a couple of the many unfair working policies that these men have to go through. Later on Lincoln drops a few carts of tomatoes, which is taken out of his pay, and another fellow labor worker is fired for helping him pick it up. This sparks a little riot, led by Johnny Kovak, another mistreated labor worker. After the riot, many of the workers come into the office of their superior, Boss Andrews. Kovak believes he has negotiated himself a deal for himself and his fellow workers. The next day Kovak and his friend Abe are informed that none of their demands have been met and both of them have been fired. Kovak is depressed; now seemingly out of a job.

Johnny and Abe spend the next couple of days in bars, when they are approached by Mike Monahan, who witnessed Kovak lead their labor riot. Mike offers Kovak and Abe positions in the Federation of Interstate Truckers (F. I. S. T. ). They will only be paid based on how many members they can get and they at the time, reluctantly join. Kovak was given a car straight up to help to convince him to join. Johnny drives around trying to get the attention of a woman he met at a party a while back, Anna Zarinkas. After a few attempts, Johnny finally gets a date with Anna and they start seeing each other. During this time, Johnny is also starting to get a little more members and this comes to the attention of the leaders of the people running the labor businesses. They feel a bit threatened by Kovak and try to offer him a deal to join them and be a voice in helping bring more labor workers. Kovak immediately rejects the offer, which results into him being set up and beat up. Kovak remains strong and holds his ground, as they get more people to join. We are then introduced to another leader of F. I. S. T. , Max Graham. He is known by many labor workers and is a bit of a hot head. He doesn't respect Kovak or believe he should really represent F. I. S. T. This sets up something later in the film because Kovak doesn't forget about the hostility Max showed in the beginning.

Soon Mike, Johnny, and Abe begin working to get the F. I. S. T. members working at Consolidated Trucking a labor agreement. Management refuses to deal with them, resulting in the F. I. S. T. workers striking. The F. I. S. T. members set up a camp outside of Consolidated Trucking's gates. This only works for while, until the members of F. I. S. T. are pushed off the ground by physical force. This disgusts Mike, who goes into a truck and with intention to ram their gates. Instead Mike is shot at and killed. At Mike's funeral Johnny decides to get some real muscle to get his point across and accepts help from local gangster Vince Doyle. At a union meeting, Johnny tells Graham to leave, that the F. I. S. T. local would take care of things themselves. Vince's men attack trucks that are trying to make deliveries. Local mobsters and the members of F. I. S. T. join forces to storm the gates of Consolidated Trucking. In the end the President of Consolidated Trucking is forced to sign a labor agreement.

After the strike, Johnny and Abe travel throughout the Midwest, recruiting more workers to join F. I. S. T. as the union becomes stronger. Kovak becomes wealthier and marries Anna. Then a new crime figure Babe Milano comes on the scene - wanting in on what Johnny and Abe are doing. Kovac meets Milano with Doyle and although reluctant to involve him in his business, he decides it will be best for now.

The film then goes to 20 years after all the other events have taken place. F. I. S. T. is now a large union and is an important union for the workers. Johnny goes and has a meeting with Max and he informs him he will no longer be president of F. I. S. T. , telling him that he should have never treated him the way he did. Johnny is now the president of F. I. S. T. , but now he has Senator Madison after him as he suspects Kovak of having ties to the mafia. Later on Abe comes and visits Johnny and their relationship as friends have seemingly deteriorated as the years have gone by. Abe asks Johnny to cut off Milano and make the union clean again. Kovak ignores his request. Then Vince tells Johnny that Abe will testify against him and Milano and everybody else. Johnny says that he doesn't want Abe to be touched. Johnny is then called in to testify in front of the Senator, where he informs him that Abe has been killed and he believes that Kovak is responsible for it (although it was really Milano's men who did it). This shocks Johnny and as the Senator continues to accuse him of other crimes, Johnny erupts into an emotional outburst and storms out of the hearing. A night Johnny returns home and finds out that Anna and his children are missing. He runs throughout the house looking for them and gets his gun, but as he goes towards the staircase, is shot and killed by Milano's men. They feared that Kovak would cut Milano's mob off and testify against Milano. The movie ends with a bumper sticker on a truck saying, "Where's Johnny?"

Locations

Most of the filming was done in Dubuque, Iowa. Dubuque is a city in the US State of Iowa, located along the Mississippi River. Dubuque was chosen firstly because the older sections of the town looked more like Cleveland of the 1930s than Cleveland did, and secondly because of the absence of roof-mounted television antennas due to most of the homes having cable television. Cleveland is a City in the US state of Ohio and the County seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state The 1930s were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression. Because of the large bluffs, over-the-air television signals had problems reaching homes in the low-lying areas, so a cable system was developed in the mid-1950s, which was considerably earlier than many other municipalities.

Some locations used in filming included St. Raphael's Cathedral, Sacred Heart Church, the Fourth Street Elevator, E. The Fourth Street Elevator is a funicular railway located in Dubuque Iowa. J. Voggenthaler Co. and Dubuque Star Brewery. The Dubuque Star Brewery, located in Dubuque Iowa, is a building that for many years made Dubuque Star Beers The Brewery is located just north of the Filming was also done at the former Caradco manufacturing company in Dubuque. Portions of the Caradco building were fitted with new windows which were then purposely smashed for filming. The windows were replaced by the end of filming. Other Dubuque locations that were also visible in the finished film were the Dubuque County Courthouse and Saint Mary's Catholic Church. The Dubuque County Courthouse is located in Dubuque Iowa. The current building was built in 1891 to replace an earlier building that was built in 1839

Some filming was also done in the English city of Sheffield. Sheffield ( is a city and Metropolitan borough in South Yorkshire, England

Trivia

• The 1978 Dubuque city directory listed Stallone on page 535 and Dillon on page 121. The fictional John and Anna Kovaks - two of the main characters in the film - were listed on page 309, and gave the brick duplex on the corner of 24th Street and Washington St. in Dubuque as their address.
• In the final credits, Kevin Kovak is listed as being played by Cole Dammett. This is the pseudonym for the future lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Anthony Kiedis. A pseudonym is a fictitious alternative to a person's legal name (see Alias) Red Hot Chili Peppers are Anthony Kiedis (kiːdɪs "kee-dis" (born November 1 1962 is an American musician and the lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
• The scene depicting the large "Consolidated Trucking" sign over the factory gate being pulled down was done in one take. This was because the crew only had one sign, and once it was damaged it couldn't be used again.

Reviews

Despite the popular cast and strong reviews, F. I. S. T. was not a box office success. The minimal marketing and advertising the film received ultimately caused it to suffer financially. The story is ultimately about idealism corrupted and betrayed.

External links

• F.I.S.T. at the Internet Movie Database
• F.I.S.T. at the Rottentomatoes