The two real pillars of his achievement are Rocky Balboa and John Rambo. Both characters are presentations of a particular idea of masculinity - a staple of the Hollywood idiom that is the artistic atmosphere Stallone breathes. Both were inarticulate men who knew how to do only one thing - violence - and to whom the blessings violence brought were distinctly mixed.

In the past couple of years, and despite being well over 60, Stallone has revisited these two action heroes for a final time. I'm currently encamped in a motel in a snowy Boston retail wasteland, killing time before my interview with the crime writer Robert B Parker so, on Saturday, I ambled down to the local popcorn palace for a sneak preview of Rambo.

I don't think it's pretentious to take the view that, like most extremely successful pop cultural franchises, these films have something to tell us about their culture.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/02/11/do1105.xml