Sylvester Stallone's First Major Film Almost Starred A Famous Superman Villain

Before he became a star Sylvester Stallone fronted a thriller that went largely overlooked, despite the fact it was re-released several times in the post-"Rocky" world. Originally called "No Place to Hide," the film saw a 25-year-old Stallone portray a political activist who plans several bombings — and he was almost joined by a similarly up-and-coming Richard Pryor, who a decade later had become a big enough star to play a villain in 1983's "Superman III."

In 1969 a young Stallone moved to New York City to pursue his acting dream. Seven years later, he propelled himself to stardom by writing "Rocky" (in an incredible three short days) and somehow convincing the studio execs to let him play the lead role despite having little to no profile whatsoever. So began one of the most legendary careers in Hollywood history, and Stallone had certainly paid his dues. The period between 69 and 76 was a rough one for the young hopeful, who took odd jobs between acting gigs including cleaning enclosures at the Central Park Zoo and working as a movie theater usher.

Still, he did manage to land several somewhat significant gigs. Sly played a villain in pre-"Rocky" cult classic "Death Race 2000" and made an uncredited appearance in one of the greatest war movies ever. He even led a softcore sexploitation film named "The Party at Kitty and Stud's." Before all of that, however, a 21-year old filmmaker cast him as anti-war activist Jerry Savage in the micro-budget effort "No Place to Hide," which was later repackaged as "Rebel" to capitalize on the success of "Rocky." That was a smart move on director Robert Schnitzer's part. Had he stuck to his original instincts, however, the enterprising filmmaker would have had two stars to help resell his movie.

Director Robert Schnitzer used a credit card to fund "No Place to Hide," which as you might imagine, meant performers from the Screen Actors Guild were off the table. As IndieWire notes, Schnitzer therefore saw more than 500 actors for the lead role (though a 1987 report from People, via AFI, stated that there were closer to 800 candidates for the part). Sylvester Stallone, still relatively fresh to New York City at the time, was among them.

At the same time he was sifting through hundreds of headshots for the Jerry Savage role, Schnitzer was also trying to cast the rest of his movie, including Savage's co-conspirator Ray Brown. The role ultimately went to Dennis Tate, but during the audition process a young Richard Pryor tried out. At that point, Pryor was still a relative unknown himself, despite having moved to New York in the early '60s and becoming a fixture of the standup circuit. Still, Schnitzer could see something in the soon-to-be star.

As the director told IndieWire, "For the part of Ray, the Black co-conspirator, we saw an actor who said, 'Look, I'm really a comedian. Can I audition by doing a little bit of my stand-up?' He did a five-minute routine, which was hilarious, and I said to my team, 'I want this actor to play Ray.'" Unfortunately, the rest of Schnitzer's crew couldn't see the vision. "They said, 'You don't want a comedian, this is a dramatic film,'" he explained. "And I got tired of fighting them, even though he was my first choice. I've lived to regret it because that actor was Richard Pryor."

"No Place to Hide" premiered at the 1973 Atlanta International Film Festival before given an extremely limited release in 1975. The film saw Sylvester Stallone's Jerry Savage lead a group of activist students as they plot to bomb the offices of companies working with Central American dictators. After the FBI gets involved, their plans unravel, ultimately leading to tragedy.

According to AFI, the film was produced in 1972 for under $100,000, and its minuscule distribution likely meant Robert Schnitzer never saw any profit. After Stallone shot to fame with "Rocky," however, the director re-released the movie, adding an additional storyline and music to create a new version of the film which he distributed as "Rebel." By that time, Richard Pryor had become a star in his own right, landing high profile roles such as that of August "Gus" Gorman in "Superman III." Unfortunately, star Christopher Reeve blamed Pryor for sinking the movie, and it's true that the comedian's tech-savvy villain was far too comical to maintain the quality showcased by Richard Donner's "Superman" in 1978, which provided a blueprint for the modern blockbuster.

Still, it was an indication of how far Pryor had come since auditioning for "No Place to Hide." In 1989 the rights to "Rebel" were acquired by a group called "Anonymous Rebel Filmmakers," which, bizarrely, recut the film to turn it into a parody of the "Rambo" movies entitled "A Man Called...Rainbo." The final re-release came in 2025 when Schnitzer remastered the film in 4K and screened "Rebel: Director's Cut" across the United States. Sadly, there's no early Pryor performance in the film, but it does provide a fascinating look at a young Stallone who between takes was probably cleaning lion enclosures in Central Park.