Director: John G Avildsen
Writer: Sylvester Stallone (Screenplay)
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith, Thayer David
Plot: Rocky Balboa, a small-time boxer gets a supremely rare chance to fight the heavy-weight champion, Apollo Creed, in a bout in which he strives to go the distance for his self-respect.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Underdog Comes Good
Story: Rocky starts as we meet Rocky (Stallone) an amateur boxer who has never been a spectacular in the ring with an average win/loss rating, he works on the side as muscles for local mobsters and knows everyone in the neighbourhood. When the Champion of the World Apollo Creed (Weathers) comes to town for his big fight his opponent pulled out of the fight due to injury. Not wanting to let the world down Apollo offers Rocky a chance at the title partly as a PR stunt to show he will give anyone a chance and partly so he can get an easy win.
We have to watch Rocky get from a nobody to training for the fight of his life as he starts early romance with Adrian (Shire). Rocky has old friends coming from all angles as they want to be part of his payday but can Rocky really overcome the odds against the greatest boxer on the planet?
Rocky will always go down as one of the greatest underdog stories in sports movie history, sure we know how most of it will end up because everyone has talks about it for years. We know that this is nothing like this would ever happen but it is something we can all enjoy. I would have liked to see more from the Apollo side of the story which is the only bad thing about this one.
Actor Review
Sylvester Stallone: Rocky is the streetwise amateur boxer who dreams off making it one day but until that he is the good guy around the community that also works for local mobster who makes him do the dirty work. When he gets a chance from nowhere to fight the champion he goes into intense training for his once in a lifetime opportunity. Sylvester gives his best performance of his career.
Talia Shire: Adrian is the love interest of Rocky, she is a shy lady with a big heart that gets involved after finally giving Rocky a chance to take her out, she becomes part of his inspiration to win. Talia does a good job this role but doesn’t get too much screen time or character development.
Burt Young: Paulie is one of Rocky’s best friend and brother to Adrian. When Rocky gets the fight he starts to try and get his own pay day by trying to make Rocky a celebrity to the world. Burt gives a solid performance but doesn’t really do enough with the character that changes too much through the film.
Carl Weathers: Apollo Creed is the champion of the world, he is prepared for his title defence but when he opponent pulls out he needs to find a new challenge. He hand picks Rocky as a good PR stunt but refuses to do any research on the challenge thinking it will be an easy win. Carl is great in this role as the cocky boxer who thinks he is undefeatable.
Support Cast: Rocky has a supporting cast that you would expect to see from the world of boxing with no one really standing out.
Director Review: John G Avildsen – John gives us one of the best sporting underdog films of all time.
Sports: Rocky brings us the brilliant sports drama showing how hard it is to train for one moment in a sports person.
Music: Rocky uses that one song in different levels through the film to show the moment going on screen.
Settings: Rocky uses Philadelphia for the settings using the momentums to help identify where we are.
Suggestion: Rocky is one everyone should have seen once because of the inspirational story. (Watch)
Best Part: Training
Worst Part: Not enough time of the supporting cast.
Action Scene Of The Film: Fight
Believability: No
Chances of Tears: No
Chances of Sequel: Has sequels
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: Won 3 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Editing
Box Office: $117 Million
Budget: $960,000
Runtime: 1 Hour 59 Minutes
Tagline: His whole life was a million-to-one shot.
Trivia: During his audition, Carl Weatherswas sparring with Sylvester Stalloneand accidentally punched him on the chin. Stallone told Weathers to calm down, as it was only an audition, and Weathers said that if he was allowed to audition with a ‘real’ actor, not a stand-in, he would be able to do a lot better. Director John G. Avildsen smiled and told Weathers that Stallone was the real actor (and the writer). Weathers looked at Stallone thoughtfully for a moment, and said, “Well, maybe he’ll get better.” Stallone immediately offered him the role.
Overall: A classic that will long stand the test of time
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