Rocky is a
1976 film written by and starring
Sylvester Stallone and directed by
John G. Avildsen. It tells the
rags-to-riches American Dream story of
Rocky Balboa, an uneducated but good-hearted
debt collector for a
loan shark in
Philadelphia. Balboa is also a club fighter who gets a shot at the
world heavyweight championship when the scheduled contender breaks his hand. Also starring in
Rocky are
Talia Shire as Adrian,
Burt Young as Adrian's brother Paulie,
Burgess Meredith as Rocky's trainer
Mickey Goldmill, and
Carl Weathers as the champion,
Apollo Creed.
The film, made for only $1.1 million
and shot relatively quickly (28 days), was a
sleeper hit; it made over US$117.2 million,
the highest grossing film of 1976 for US, and won three
Oscars, including
Best Picture. The film received many positive reviews and turned Stallone into a major star.
It spawned
five sequels:
Rocky II, III, IV, V and Rocky Balboa.
Plot
In November 1975,
Rocky Balboa is introduced as a small-time
boxer and collector for Anthony Gazzo (
Joe Spinell), a
loan shark, living in
Philadelphia. The World Heavyweight Championship
bout is scheduled for
New Year's Day 1976, the year of the
United States Bicentennial. When the opponent of undefeated
heavyweight champion Apollo Creed (
Carl Weathers) is injured, Creed comes up with the idea of fighting a local underdog and, because he likes Rocky's nickname, "The Italian Stallion", he selects the unknown fighter. He puts it in light by proclaiming "Apollo Creed meets 'The Italian Stallion'".
To prepare for the fight, Rocky trains with 1920s-era ex-
bantamweight fighter and gym owner,
Mickey Goldmill (
Burgess Meredith), while Rocky's good friend, Paulie (
Burt Young), a meat-packing plant worker, lets him practice his punches on the carcasses hanging in the freezers. During training, Rocky dates Paulie's shy, quiet sister, Adrian (
Talia Shire). The night before the fight, Rocky confides in Adrian that he does not expect to beat Creed, and that all he wants is to
go the distance with Creed (which no fighter has ever done), meaning that lasting 15 rounds (the typical scheduled length of championship fights at the time) against him would mean he "... wasn't just another bum from the neighborhood".
Creed does not initially take the fight seriously, but Rocky unexpectedly knocks him down in the first round and the match turns intense. The fight indeed lasts 15 rounds with each fighter suffering many injuries; as the final round bell sounds with both fighters locked in each other's arms, an exhausted Creed vows "Ain't gonna be no re-match", to which an equally spent Rocky replies "Don't want one". After the fight, Rocky calls out for Adrian, who runs down to the ring. As the ring announcer declares the fight for Apollo Creed by virtue of a split decision, Adrian and Rocky embrace while they profess their love to one another, not caring about the results of the fight.
Cast
Main cast
Cameo appearances
With the character of outspoken Apollo Creed influenced by
Muhammad Ali, one interesting detail is the cameo appearance of
Joe Frazier, another real-life former world
heavyweight champion who fought Ali three times. During the
Academy Awards ceremony, Ali and Stallone staged a brief comic confrontation to show Ali was not offended by the film.
Due to the film's low budget, members of Stallone's family played minor roles. His father rings the bell to signal the start and end of a round, his brother
Frank plays a street corner singer, and his first wife, Sasha, was the
set photographer. Other cameos include Los Angeles television
sportscaster Stu Nahan playing himself, alongside radio and TV broadcaster Bill Baldwin and
Lloyd Kaufman, founder of the independent film company
Troma, appearing as a drunk. Longtime
Detroit Channel 7 Action News anchor
Diana Lewis has a small scene as a TV news reporter.
Tony Burton appeared as Apollo Creed's trainer,
Tony "Duke" Evers, a role he would reprise in the entire
Rocky series, though he is not given an official name until
Rocky II.
Production
The studio liked the script, and viewed it as a possible vehicle for a well-established star such as
Robert Redford,
Ryan O'Neal,
Burt Reynolds or
James Caan. Stallone appealed to the producers to be given a chance to star in the film. He later said that he would never have forgiven himself if the film became a success with someone else in the lead. He also knew that producers
Irwin Winkler and
Robert Chartoff's contract with the studio enabled them to "greenlight" a project if the budget was kept low enough.
Certain elements of the story were altered during filming. The original script had a darker tone: Mickey was portrayed as
racist and the script ended with Rocky throwing the fight after realizing he did not want to be part of the
professional boxing world after all.
Although Chartoff and Winkler were enthusiastic about the script and the idea of Stallone playing the lead character, they were hesitant about having an unknown headline the film. The producers also had trouble casting other major characters in the story, with Adrian and Apollo Creed cast unusually late by production standards (both were ultimately cast on the same day). Real-life boxer
Ken Norton was initially sought for the role of
Apollo Creed, but he pulled out and the role was ultimately given to
Carl Weathers. Norton had had three fights with
Muhammad Ali, upon whom Creed was loosely based. According to
The Rocky Scrapbook,
Carrie Snodgress was originally chosen to play Adrian, but a money dispute forced the producers to look elsewhere.
Susan Sarandon auditioned for the role but was deemed too pretty for the character. After
Talia Shire's ensuing audition, Chartoff and Winkler, along with Avildsen, insisted that she play the part.
Garrett Brown's
Steadicam was used to accomplish a smooth shot running alongside Rocky during his training run up the flight of stairs. It was also used for some of the shots in the fight scenes and can be openly seen at the ringside during some wide shots of the final fight. (
Rocky is often erroneously cited as the first film to use the Steadicam, although the distinction actually goes to
Bound for Glory as the first production to use it.
Marathon Man also has a claim, as it premiered prior to either film.
)
While filming
Rocky, both Sylvester Stallone and Carl Weathers suffered injuries during the shooting of the final fight; Stallone suffered bruised ribs and Weathers suffered a damaged nose.
The poster seen above the ring before Rocky fights Apollo Creed shows Rocky wearing red shorts with a white stripe when he actually wears white shorts with a red stripe. When Rocky points this out he is told that "it doesn't really matter does it?". This was an actual mistake made by the props department that they could not afford to rectify, so Stallone wrote the brief scene to ensure the audience didn't see it as a goof. The same situation arose with Rocky's robe. When it came back from the costume department, it was far too baggy for Stallone, so rather than ignore this and risk the audience laughing at it, Stallone wrote the dialogue where Rocky himself points out the robe is too big.
Stallone's inspiration
Sylvester Stallone was inspired to create the film by the famous fight between
Muhammad Ali and
Chuck Wepner. Wepner had been TKO'd in the 15th round by Ali, but nobody ever expected him to last as long as he did. Wepner recalls in a January 2000 interview, "Sly (Stallone) called me about two weeks after the Ali fight and told me he was gonna make the movie."
Some of the plot's most memorable moments—Rocky's carcass-punching scenes and Rocky running up the steps of the
Philadelphia Museum of Art, as part of his training regime—are taken from the real-life exploits of heavyweight boxing champion,
Joe Frazier, for which he received no credit.
Rocky Steps
[
Museum of Art Pennsylvania USA.jpg|right|thumb|300px|[[Philadelphia Museum of Art].]]
The famous scene of Rocky running up the steps of the
Philadelphia Museum of Art has become a cultural icon. In 1982, a statue of Rocky, commissioned by Stallone for
Rocky III, was placed at the top of the
Rocky Steps. City Commerce Director
Dick Doran claimed that Stallone and Rocky had done more for the city's image than "anyone since
Ben Franklin."
Differing opinions of the statue and its placement led to a relocation to the sidewalk outside the
Philadelphia Spectrum Arena, although the statue was temporarily returned to the top of the steps in 1990 for
Rocky V, and again in 2006 for the 30th anniversary of the original
Rocky movie (although this time it was placed at the bottom of the steps). Later that year, it was permanently moved to a spot next to the steps.
The scene is frequently parodied in the media. In the
Simpsons episode "
I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can",
Lisa Simpson runs up a flight of stairs wearing a tracksuit similar to the one worn by Rocky.
In the movie
You Don't Mess with the Zohan, Zohan's nemesis, Phantom, goes through a parodied training sequence finishing with him running up a desert dune and raising his hands in victory. In the fourth season's finale of
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, as the credits roll at the end of the episode, Will is seen running up the same steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art; however, as he celebrates after finishing his climb, he passes out in exhaustion, and while he lies unconscious on the ground, a pickpocket steals his wallet and his wool hat.
In 2006,
E! Entertainment Television named the "Rocky Steps" scene number 13 in its
101 Most Awesome Moments in Entertainment.
During the
1996 Summer Olympics torch relay, Philadelphia native
Dawn Staley was chosen to run up the museum steps. In
2004, Presidential candidate John Kerry ended his pre-convention campaign at the foot of the steps before going to Boston to accept his party's nomination for President.
Critical reception
Reviews
Rocky received many positive reviews when it was released in 1976.
Roger Ebert of the
Chicago Sun-Times gave
Rocky 4 out of 4 stars and said that Stallone reminded him of "the young
Marlon Brando."
Box Office Magazine claimed that audiences would be "...touting Sylvester 'Sly' Stallone as a new star".
[.] The film received positive reviews from such critics as
Pauline Kael,
Richard Eder, Katie Kelly, Lita Eliscu, Ben Nolan, and David Sterritt.
Negative reviewers included
Vincent Canby of the
New York Times, who called it "pure '30s make believe" and slammed both Stallone's acting and Avildsen's directing, calling the latter "...none too decisive..."
liked the film, calling it "almost 100 per cent
schmaltz," but favoring it over current movie cynicism.
Richard Corliss, in
Time, found the film "Preposterous. One can really not deal with such a howler and at the same time interest oneself fully with Rocky's quest for a moral victory" and that the film's preposterousness is predicated on the fact that "an entire film devoted to so dreary a fellow would be intolerable." He lamented that a film such as this had been the small-budget independent to break through to mainstream commercial success.
[Richard Corliss. Time. December 13, 1976.]
More than 30 years later, the film enjoys a reputation as a classic and still receives positive reviews;
Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 93% fresh rating.
Another positive online review came from the
BBC Films website, with both reviewer Almar Haflidason and BBC online users giving it 5/5 stars.
[ ] In Steven J. Schneider's
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, Schneider says the film is "often overlooked as schmaltz."
In 2006,
Rocky was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry by the
Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
In June 2008, AFI revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community.
Rocky was acknowledged as the second-best film in the sports genre.
In a review published in October 2008, film critic
David Thomson finds the film "excruciating" and harshly criticizes its poor acting, writing, and production values.
[David Thomson. "Have You Seen...?": A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films. Knopf, 2008.] In an interview, Thomson said of his review, "Now, I think Sylvester Stallone is absurd, in every thought and movement. But he is a vital, vitally absurd part of the movies... the trashiness in movies will never die."
[www.sf360.org/features/david-thomson-rounds-up-1000-unusual-suspects]
Awards
Rocky received ten
Academy Awards nominations in nine categories, winning three:
has also appeared on several of the
American Film Institute's
100 Years lists.
The
Directors Guild of America awarded
Rocky its
annual award for best film of the year in 1976, and in 2006, Sylvester Stallone's original screenplay for
Rocky was selected for the
Writers Guild of America Award as the 78th best screenplay of all time.
Soundtrack
All music by Bill Conti.
- "Gonna Fly Now (Theme from "Rocky")" (vocals: Deetta Little/Nelson Pigford) 2:48
- "Philadelphia Morning" 2:22
- "Going the Distance" 2:39
- "Reflections" 3:19
- "Marines' Hymn/Yankee Doodle" 1:44
- "Take You Back (Street Corner Song from "Rocky")" (vocals: Valentine) 1:49
- "First Date" 1:53
- "You Take My Heart Away" (vocals: Deetta Little/Nelson Pigford) 4:46
- "Fanfare for Rocky" 2:35
- "Butkus" 2:12
- "Alone in the Ring" 1:10
- "The Final Bell" 1:56
- "Rocky's Reward" 2:02
Rockys soundtrack was composed by Bill Conti. The main theme song, "Gonna Fly Now," made it to number one on the Billboard Magazines Hot 100 list for one week (from July 2 to July 8, 1977) and the American Film Institute placed it 58th on its AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs.
Bill Conti was also the composer for
Rocky II,
III,
V, and
Rocky Balboa.
The version of "Gonna Fly Now" used in the film is different from the versions released on later CDs and records. The vocals and guitars are much more emphasized than the versions released. The "movie version" has yet to be released.
Although the Bill Conti version of "Gonna Fly Now" is the most recognizable arrangement, a cover of the song performed by legendary trumpeter
Maynard Ferguson on his
Conquistador album prior to the release of the motion picture soundtrack actually outsold the soundtrack itself.
[Liner notes of the Conquistador album]
Home video release history
- 1982 – CED Videodisc and VHS; VHS release is rental only; 20th Century Fox Video release
- October 27, 1993 (VHS and laserdisc)
- April 16, 1996 (VHS and laserdisc)
- March 24, 1997 (DVD)
- April 24, 2001 (DVD, also packed with the Five-Disc Boxed Set)
- December 14, 2004 (DVD, also packed with the Rocky Anthology box set)
- February 8, 2005 (DVD, also packed with the Rocky Anthology box set)
- December 5, 2006 (DVD and Blu-ray Disc – 2-Disc Collector's Edition, the DVD was the first version released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and was also packed with the Rocky Anthology box set and the Blu-ray Disc was the first version released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)
- December 4, 2007 (DVD box set – Rocky The Complete Saga. This new set contains the new Rocky Balboa, but does not include the recent 2 disc Rocky. There are still no special features for Rocky II through Rocky V, although Rocky Balboas DVD special features are all intact.)
- November 3, 2009 (Blu-ray box set - Rocky The Undisputed Collection. This release included six films in a box set. Previously, only the first film and Rocky Balboa were available on the format. Those two discs are identical to their individual releases, and the set also contains a disc of bonus material, new and old alike. [1])
To date
Rocky has generated five sequels. The first,
Rocky II (1979) sees Rocky reluctantly called back for a rematch with Apollo Creed.
Rocky II reunited the entire cast of the original
Rocky, and was just as successful, grossing $200 million worldwide.
[Business Data for Rocky II at the Internet Movie Database] A new character appears in 1982's
Rocky III,
Clubber Lang (played by
Mr. T), an outspoken young fighter insisting on a fight with Rocky. Rocky loses this
bout, with Mickey suffering a fatal heart attack after the fight (he dies thinking Rocky won, Rocky doesn't have the heart to tell him otherwise). Rocky accepts an offer from his rival-turned-friend Apollo Creed for help in regaining the title.
Rocky IV (1985) introduces
Ivan Drago (
Dolph Lundgren), a strong Soviet fighter who is convinced he can defeat any American fighter. A retired Apollo takes up the challenge and is killed in the ring by Drago. After Apollo's death, Rocky decides to fight against Drago, despite his wife Adrian urging him not to, and travels to the Soviet Union to train for the fight. Rocky defeats Drago but has to give up his official heavyweight title as the boxing commission did not sanction the fight. Released in 1990,
Rocky V was a departure from the rest of the series, as Rocky no longer fights professionally, due to brain injuries, but instead trains younger fighters, including
Tommy Gunn (played by real life boxer
Tommy Morrison). It becomes apparent that Gunn is merely using Rocky's fame for his own ends, and the film ends with Rocky defeating Gunn in a fight in the street. The movie also is the first to introduce Rocky's son, Robert, as a major character. The final addition to the
Rocky series,
, released in 2006, has the 60 year old Rocky fighting against a real-life boxer again, in this case former light heavyweight champion
Antonio Tarver playing
Mason "The Line" Dixon.
Rocky Balboa was the most critically well received Rocky film of the entire series since the original, 30 years earlier.
Video games
Several video games have been made based on the film. The first
Rocky video game was released by
Coleco for
ColecoVision in August 1983; the principal designer was Coleco staffer B. Dennis Sustare. Another was released in 1987 for the
Sega Master System. More recently, a
Rocky video game was released in 2002 for the
Nintendo Gamecube,
Nintendo Game Boy Advance,
Sony PlayStation 2, and
Microsoft Xbox, and a
sequel (
Rocky Legends) was released in 2004 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. In 2007, a video game called
Rocky Balboa was released for PSP. In 1985,
Dinamic Software released a boxing game for the
Sinclair ZX Spectrum (also advertised for and/or published on the Sega Master System, Amstrad CPC and MSX) called
Rocky. Due to copyright reasons it was quickly renamed "Rocco".
Notes
External links
wikiquote
start box
end box
Rocky
John G. Avildsen
Sylvester Stallone
AcademyAwardBestPicture 1961-1980
GoldenGlobeBestMotionPictureDrama 1961-1980
