While not quite as famous as "Rocky" or "First Blood," "Cliffhanger" is nonetheless a must-watch for any Sylvester Stallone fanatic.

And hard as it may be to believe, the film was released 25 years ago this week. Celebrate this death-defying action movie by checking out some fun facts you may not know about "Cliffhanger."

1. Star Sylvester Stallone is afraid of heights, and he has said that he took on the role specifically to help himself confront that fear.2. The aerial helicopter transfer scene broke the Guinness World Record for the most expensive aerial stunt ever filmed. Stuntman Simon Crane alone was paid $1 million for his participation, as the scene required the filmmakers to forgo the use of safety equipment.

3. While the movie is set in the Colorado Rockies, it was actually filmed in Italy's Cortina d'Ampezzo-Dolomites mountains.4. Stallone paid $100,000 out of pocket in order to reshoot the rabbit hunting scene, as test audiences had a severely negative reaction to (shocker to no one) seeing the rabbit get killed.
5. Test audiences also reacted poorly to a scene where Gabe makes an impossible 40-foot cliff-to-cliff leap. The original scene appears in the theatrical trailer, but it was re-shaped in post to look more plausible in the finished version.6.Christopher Walken was originally cast as the villain Qualen. John Lithgow was cast only after Walken dropped out before production began.

7. Director Renny Harlin revealed that his first choice to play Qualen was actually singer David Bowie.

8. Originally, the bat cave scene featured live bats, but they had to be removed and digitally added during post-production because neither Stallone nor co-star Janine Turner were willing to film near the animals.
9. The film is dedicated to Wolfgang Gullich, who served as Stallone's stunt double and died in a car accident shortly after production ended.

10. In 1994, development began on a sequel called "Cliffhanger 2: The Dam," which would have pitted Stallone's character against a group of terrorists at the Hoover Dam.

11. As recently as 2015, Stallone has voiced an interest in returning for a sequel, though no plans have materialized so far.