Rocky Balboa, a smalltime boxer working for pocket change becomes a working-class hero when he is given a shot at the heavyweight champion title against Apollo Creed.
I grew up in a household with a huge movie collection because my father worked from home when I was young and used movies kind of like audio books to accompany his work. Dad’s collection consisted mostly of sci-fi and the one-man army action schlock of the 80’s and 90’s (which I still regard as a guilty pleasure), and yet out of all of them some of the films I watched the most often at that age were the Rocky films, especially Rocky IV. I mean c’mon! Lundgren was the biggest, scariest dude ever with a punch that could wipe out buildings and there were like seven montage scenes that pumped me up beyond reason and James Brown and Paulie’s really weird, completely unnecessary robot! Okay, I’ll admit that the sequels would get pretty silly, making it sometimes difficult to remember how fantastic and uplifting the original Rocky film is. This really is the ultimate crowd-pleasing underdog film of all time with really incredible performances (this film received four acting nominations) propelling charming characters. It’s really a film about people that have been told they are nothing their whole lives working hard to make themselves into something; Rocky’s infectious charm and confidence in asking Adrian on a date leads her to assert herself to her oppressive, self-loathing brother Paulie who finds his calling on Rocky’s team. A large part of what makes this film so inspiring is how it mirrors the real life of previously unknown Sylvester Stallone. After starring in a variety of second-rate thrillers and even some soft-core porn, Stallone wrote the screenplay to Rocky which against all odds received ten Oscar nominations and would ensure a decades-long career. Stallone would write and direct nearly every Rocky film (save the original and Rocky V), including the surprisingly excellent and necessary Rocky Balboa. I used to be upset that Rocky beat Taxi Driver as Best Picture as I am an avid Scorsese enthusiast, but I think I get it now: at the end of Taxi Driver, you kind of feel like shit and at the end of Rocky, you feel awesome. That’s the lasting legacy of Rocky, which continues to make people feel awesome decades later.
I liked Rocky but I will never like Rocky as much as Tim. I'm really glad I've finally seen it because there are so many pop culture references to it. When I was in the Czech Republic in college, our group went to a puppet theatre. There we got to see the theatre space and play around with puppets that were all so unique and different. When we were done, they brought us back into the theatre and performed a scene with puppets from Rocky V. It was in Czech so all I could make out was, "ADRIAN!" but it was hilarious. I think it's probably funnier now that I know what it's about…I mean…. it's Rocky. Everyone knows what it's about…but you know what I mean. A few months ago, Tim's 7th and 8th grade band performed the Rocky theme and he was talking to the audience about how fun Rocky was to perform. Then he said, "I showed them part of the movie. Don't worry… just the training montage……..no blood." It was pretty funny. And the movie was a great film about the awkward, yet deserving underdog.
When shooting the scenes in the meat-locker where he punches the slabs of beef, actor Sylvester Stallone punched the meat so hard for so long that he flattened out his knuckles. To this day, when he makes a fist, his knuckles are completely level.
I grew up in a household with a huge movie collection because my father worked from home when I was young and used movies kind of like audio books to accompany his work. Dad’s collection consisted mostly of sci-fi and the one-man army action schlock of the 80’s and 90’s (which I still regard as a guilty pleasure), and yet out of all of them some of the films I watched the most often at that age were the Rocky films, especially Rocky IV. I mean c’mon! Lundgren was the biggest, scariest dude ever with a punch that could wipe out buildings and there were like seven montage scenes that pumped me up beyond reason and James Brown and Paulie’s really weird, completely unnecessary robot! Okay, I’ll admit that the sequels would get pretty silly, making it sometimes difficult to remember how fantastic and uplifting the original Rocky film is. This really is the ultimate crowd-pleasing underdog film of all time with really incredible performances (this film received four acting nominations) propelling charming characters. It’s really a film about people that have been told they are nothing their whole lives working hard to make themselves into something; Rocky’s infectious charm and confidence in asking Adrian on a date leads her to assert herself to her oppressive, self-loathing brother Paulie who finds his calling on Rocky’s team. A large part of what makes this film so inspiring is how it mirrors the real life of previously unknown Sylvester Stallone. After starring in a variety of second-rate thrillers and even some soft-core porn, Stallone wrote the screenplay to Rocky which against all odds received ten Oscar nominations and would ensure a decades-long career. Stallone would write and direct nearly every Rocky film (save the original and Rocky V), including the surprisingly excellent and necessary Rocky Balboa. I used to be upset that Rocky beat Taxi Driver as Best Picture as I am an avid Scorsese enthusiast, but I think I get it now: at the end of Taxi Driver, you kind of feel like shit and at the end of Rocky, you feel awesome. That’s the lasting legacy of Rocky, which continues to make people feel awesome decades later.
I liked Rocky but I will never like Rocky as much as Tim. I'm really glad I've finally seen it because there are so many pop culture references to it. When I was in the Czech Republic in college, our group went to a puppet theatre. There we got to see the theatre space and play around with puppets that were all so unique and different. When we were done, they brought us back into the theatre and performed a scene with puppets from Rocky V. It was in Czech so all I could make out was, "ADRIAN!" but it was hilarious. I think it's probably funnier now that I know what it's about…I mean…. it's Rocky. Everyone knows what it's about…but you know what I mean. A few months ago, Tim's 7th and 8th grade band performed the Rocky theme and he was talking to the audience about how fun Rocky was to perform. Then he said, "I showed them part of the movie. Don't worry… just the training montage……..no blood." It was pretty funny. And the movie was a great film about the awkward, yet deserving underdog.
When shooting the scenes in the meat-locker where he punches the slabs of beef, actor Sylvester Stallone punched the meat so hard for so long that he flattened out his knuckles. To this day, when he makes a fist, his knuckles are completely level.
Adrian: Why do you wanna fight?
Rocky: Because I can't sing or dance.
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