Rocky II - wikipedia Rocky II Rocky II Theatrical release poster Directed by Sylvester Stallone Produced by Robert Chartoff Irwin Winkler Written by Sylvester Stallone Starring Sylvester Stallone Talia Shire Burt Young Carl Weathers Burgess Meredith Music by Bill Conti Cinematography Bill Butler Edited by Stanford C. Allen Janice Hampton Danford B. Greene ( sup ) Distributed by United Artists Release date June 15, 1979 ( 1979 - 06 - 15 ) Running time 120 minutes Country United States Language English Italian Box office $200.1 million Rocky II is a 1979 American sports drama film written, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the sequel to the 1976 film Rocky, and was the last installment in the film series that was distributed solely by United Artists. Stallone, Carl Weathers, Tony Burton, Burgess Meredith, Burt Young and Talia Shire reprised their original roles. The Ring magazine heavyweight championship belt makes its first appearance in the series. Released on June 15, 1979, the film was followed by Rocky III in 1982. Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 3.1 Music 3.1. 1 Chart positions 4 Reaction 4.1 Critical response 4.2 Box office 5 Other media 5.1 Novelization 6 References 7 External links Plot On New Year 's Day in 1976, boxing heavyweight champion Apollo Creed has successfully defended his title in a split decision against challenger Rocky Balboa. He and Rocky are taken to the same hospital. Apollo challenges Rocky to a rematch, but Rocky declines and retires from professional boxing. His girlfriend, Adrian, supports his choice, and so do his doctors, who reveal that he will require surgery for a detached retina, a condition that could lead to permanent blindness. In a private moment, Rocky goes to see a recuperating Apollo, and wants a truthful response if Apollo gave his all in the fight, to which Creed agrees. After Rocky is released from the hospital, he enjoys the benefits of his life 's changes : Rocky 's new fame attracts an agent who sees Rocky as a potential endorsement and sponsorship goldmine, and his sudden wealth encourages him to propose to Adrian. She happily accepts, and they marry in a small ceremony. Soon after, Adrian reveals that she is pregnant. Meanwhile, fueled by hate mail, Apollo becomes obsessed with the idea that a rematch is the only way to prove that Rocky 's performance was simply a fluke. Determined to rectify his boxing career 's only blemish, Apollo ignores all pleas by his friends and family to forget the fight, and move on to other potential opponents, and instead demands his team do whatever necessary to goad Rocky out of his hiatus and have a rematch with him. Rocky, at first, seems unaffected by Apollo 's smear campaign, but his inexperience with money causes him to run into financial problems. After several unsuccessful attempts to find employment, Rocky visits Mickey Goldmill, his trainer and manager, at his gym to talk about the possibility of returning to boxing. At first, Mickey declines, concerned about Rocky 's health, but he soon accepts after Apollo publicly insults Rocky. Adrian confronts Rocky about the danger of returning to boxing and reminds him of the risk to his eyesight. Rocky argues that he knows nothing else, so this is the only way he can provide. Adrian, furious at Rocky for breaking his promise, refuses to support him. Rocky and Mickey begin training, but Rocky 's mind is not fully set due to Adrian 's disapproval. Adrian 's brother, Paulie, confronts his sister about not supporting her husband, but she faints during the confrontation, and is rushed to the hospital, where she goes into labor. Despite being premature, the baby is healthy, but Adrian falls into a coma. Rocky blames himself for what happened, refusing to leave Adrian 's bedside until she wakes up, and will not go to see his new baby until they can see it together. When Adrian comes out of her coma, she finds Rocky by her bedside, and the couple are shown their new baby, a boy, which they name Rocky Jr. Adrian gives her blessing to the rematch, and Rocky quickly gets into shape for the match. When he makes the same training run that he did before, ending at the stairway by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, he is now followed by a crowd of hundreds of children, some of whom followed him with his consent near the start of his run. The night of the match arrives, and Apollo has made a public goal of beating Rocky in no more than two rounds to prove the first match going the full fifteen rounds was a fluke. This match is not nearly as close this time as Rocky, fighting right - handed to protect his eye instead of his natural southpaw, is knocked down twice by Creed and outclassed for much of the fight. By the fifteenth round, Creed is well ahead on points and only needs to stay away from Balboa to win the fight by decision. Creed, not wanting the fight to end like it did the first time, ignores his trainer 's pleas, and decides to carry on alone. In the final round, Rocky switches back to his natural stance, and in dramatic fashion, both men, exhausted, trade punches until they knock each other down. If neither got up, it would be a draw with Creed retaining the title. Rocky gets back up at the count of nine while Apollo collapses from fatigue, giving Rocky the win by knockout, and making him the new world champion. Rocky then gives an impassioned speech to the crowd and holds the belt over his head with a message for his wife, who is watching the fight on TV : `` Yo, Adrian, I did it ! '' Cast Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa, `` The Italian Stallion '' : the underdog who was given one chance at attaining the Heavy Weight Champion title from Apollo Creed in the first film. Due to the public 's belief that it was very possible that Rocky would have won, he gets a second shot at the title in this film. Talia Shire as Adrian Balboa : Rocky 's love interest - turned - wife. During labor, with their first son, she enters a coma for a large portion of the film. Burt Young as Paulie Pennino : Rocky 's best - friend - turned - brother - in - law Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed : Current Heavyweight Champion of the world who gave Rocky a shot at the title in the first film, during which he won by split - decision. Because of the close outcome of the fight the general public believes that Apollo did not necessarily win, and thus he gives Rocky a second chance in a rematch. Burgess Meredith as Mickey Goldmill : Rocky 's friend, manager and trainer ; a former bantamweight fighter from the 1920s and the owner of the local boxing gym. Tony Burton as Tony `` Duke '' Evers : Apollo 's father - figure, friend, trainer, and manager. Sylvia Meals as Mary Anne Creed : Apollo Creed 's wife. Seargeoh Stallone as Robert `` Rocky '' Balboa, Jr. : Rocky and Adrian 's newborn child. Seargeoh appeared in the film uncredited. Joe Spinell as Tony Gazzo : Loan shark and Rocky 's former employer. Paul J. Micale as Father Carmine : Rocky 's priest. Jeff Temkin portrays the ring announcer. Appearing as themselves are referee Lou Filippo and commentators Brent Musburger, Stu Nahan and Bill Baldwin. LeRoy Neiman makes an uncredited non-speaking cameo appearance during the training scenes in the film ; he is shown drawing a picture of Apollo while he is training. Production After the enormous success of the first Rocky, the producers were anxious to make a sequel. Stallone again wrote the script, originally titled Rocky II : Redemption, but John G. Avildsen declined to direct again because he was busy with pre-production on Saturday Night Fever. Stallone wanted the job and waged as big a campaign as he had for the lead role in the previous film. United Artists executives were reluctant to give the actor the directing reins because, while he had previously directed the drama Paradise Alley, it was not a success. However, producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff understood how much of the success of the first Rocky had come from Stallone 's enormous input and lobbied hard to get him the job. The story development of involving Rocky surprising Creed by switching to fighting right - handed was not in the original script and only came about because of an accident onset. While getting in shape for the film, Stallone was bench pressing and ripped his left pectoral muscle and needed surgery. Therefore, he could not fight with his left hand. The film 's ending fight sequence also posed a challenge because at the time Talia Shire was busy making the drama Old Boyfriends and could n't be on the set. So Stallone came up with the idea of having her watch the fight from home because of the new baby. Adrian 's scenes were actually filmed some months later, toward the end of the shoot. An estimated 800 school children were used as extras in the scene in which Rocky runs through Philadelphia. Music Rocky II Soundtrack album by Bill Conti Released 1979 Length 35 : 04 Label United Artists Records -- LP EMI Manhattan Records -- CD Just as in the previous installment, Bill Conti composed the film 's music. A soundtrack album containing Conti 's score was released on August 25, 1979, and charted on the Billboard 200 for five consecutive weeks. `` Redemption '' -- 2 : 34 `` Gonna Fly Now '' -- 2 : 35 `` Conquest '' -- 4 : 42 `` Vigil '' -- 6 : 31 `` All of My Life '' -- 3 : 56 `` Overture '' -- 8 : 38 `` Two Kinds of Love '' -- 2 : 37 `` All of My Life '' -- 2 : 27 Personnel Bill Conti -- piano ( 1 ) Mike Lang -- piano ( 8 ) David Duke -- horn solo ( 4 ) Frank Stallone -- vocals ( 7 ) DeEtta Little, Nelson Pigford -- vocals ( 5 ) Chart positions Chart ( 1979 ) Peak position US Billboard 200 147 Reaction Critical response Rocky II holds a 74 % approval rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes ; out of 27 reviews, the average rating is 6.5 / 10. The site 's consensus reads : `` Rocky II is a movie that dares you to root again for the ultimate underdog -- and succeeds due to an infectiously powerful climax. '' The film won Best Picture at the American Movie Awards and won the People 's Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture. Dre Rivas of Film.com included it in his list of top ten films of 1979. Box Office Rocky II finished in the top three highest - grossing films of 1979, in both the North American market and worldwide. The film grossed $6,390,537 during its opening weekend, $85,182,160 at the U.S. box office, and $200,182,160 overall. Rocky II returned to UA 75 % of Rocky 's rentals in the United States and Canada ( $42 million vs. $56 million ) when the rule of thumb at the time was that a sequel would only do 30 % to 40 % of the business of its predecessor. Other media Novelization A novelization was published by Ballantine Books in 1979. Sylvester Stallone was credited as the author. The book is a first - person narrative told by Rocky himself. References Jump up ^ `` Rocky II, Box Office Information ''. The Numbers. Retrieved January 27, 2012. Jump up ^ `` Rocky II ''. TCM database. Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved February 27, 2016. Jump up ^ Maslin, Janet ( 1979 - 06 - 15 ). `` Screen : ' Rocky II ' Fights a Rematch : Second Stanza... '' ( Subscription required ). The New York Times. Jump up ^ `` Filmtracks : Rocky II ( Bill Conti ) ''. Filmtracks. 15 December 2009. Retrieved 29 October 2012. Jump up ^ Rocky II ( Original Motion Picture Soundtrack ) -- Bill Conti -- Awards. Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Accessed on August 9, 2013. Jump up ^ `` Rocky II Movie Reviews, Pictures ''. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved July 26, 2018. Jump up ^ `` Alan Alda, Sally Field Earn Outstanding Acting Awards ''. Toledo Blade. Associated Press. February 12, 1980. p. P2. Jump up ^ `` Rocky II ( 1979 ) ''. The New York Times. Retrieved December 2, 2015. Jump up ^ Rivas, Dre ( June 8, 2007 ). `` The 10 Best Movies of 1979 ''. Film.com. Film.com. Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Retrieved June 11, 2010. Jump up ^ `` Movie Rocky 2 -- Box Office Data, News, Cast Information ''. The Numbers. Nash Information Services. Retrieved September 1, 2010. Jump up ^ `` Rental Champs Rate of Return ''. Variety. December 15, 1997. Retrieved July 1, 2018. Jump up ^ Pollock, Dale ( October 17, 1979 ). `` Year 's Number One Grosser Punches A Hole in Theory Covering Sequels & Wickets ''. Daily Variety. p. 1. Jump up ^ `` Rocky II ( Book, 1979 ) ''. ( WorldCat.org ). 2016 - 05 - 11. Retrieved 2016 - 12 - 10. External links Wikiquote has quotations related to : Rocky II Rocky II on IMDb Rocky II at Box Office Mojo Rocky II at AllMovie Rocky II at Rotten Tomatoes Rocky Films Rocky ( 1976 ) Rocky II ( 1979 ) Rocky III ( 1982 ) Rocky IV ( 1985 ) Rocky V ( 1990 ) Rocky Balboa ( 2006 ) Creed ( 2015 ) Creed II ( 2018 ) Characters Rocky Balboa Adonis Creed Apollo Creed Ivan Drago Tony `` Duke '' Evers Mickey Goldmill Clubber Lang Adrian Pennino Paulie Pennino Music Rocky `` Gonna Fly Now '' `` Eye of the Tiger '' Rocky IV `` Burning Heart '' `` Heart 's on Fire '' `` Living in America '' Rocky V Rocky Balboa : The Best of Rocky Rocky the Musical ( 2012 ) Creed Video games Rocky Super Action Boxing ( 1983 ) Rocky ( 1987 ) Rocky ( 2002 ) Rocky Legends ( 2004 ) Rocky Balboa ( 2007 ) Related Anderson v. Stallone Rocky Steps Rocky statue in Žitište Rocky VI ( 1986 ) Ricky 1 ( 1988 ) Grudge Match ( 2013 ) Works by Sylvester Stallone Filmography Awards and nominations Director Paradise Alley ( 1978 ) Rocky II ( 1979 ) Rocky III ( 1982 ) Staying Alive ( 1983 ) Rocky IV ( 1985 ) Rocky Balboa ( 2006 ) Rambo ( 2008 ) The Expendables ( 2010 ) Writer The Lords of Flatbush ( 1974 ) Rocky ( 1976 ) F.I.S.T. ( 1978 ) First Blood ( 1982 ) Rhinestone ( 1984 ) Rambo : First Blood Part II ( 1985 ) Cobra ( 1986 ) Over the Top ( 1987 ) Rambo III ( 1988 ) Rocky V ( 1990 ) Cliffhanger ( 1993 ) Driven ( 2001 ) Father Lefty ( 2002 ) The Expendables 2 ( 2012 ) Homefront ( 2013 ) The Expendables 3 ( 2014 ) Creed II ( 2018 ) Producer only Heart of a Champion : The Ray Mancini Story ( 1985 ) Creed ( 2015 ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rocky_II&oldid=852350993 '' Categories : 1979 films American films English - language films 1970s drama films 1970s sequel films 1970s sports films American sequel films American sports films Boxing films Films set in 1976 Films set in Philadelphia Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in Pennsylvania Films shot in Philadelphia Pregnancy films Rocky ( film series ) United Artists films Films scored by Bill Conti Films directed by Sylvester Stallone Films produced by Robert Chartoff Screenplays by Sylvester Stallone Sequel films Hidden categories : Articles with hAudio microformats Music infoboxes with deprecated parameters Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikiquote Català Čeština Deutsch Ελληνικά Español Euskara فارسی Français Galego 한국어 Հայերեն हिन्दी Hrvatski Italiano Latviešu Magyar Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Română Русский Slovenščina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska ไทย Türkçe Українська 23 more Edit links This page was last edited on 28 July 2018, at 10 : 33 ( UTC ). 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Question: who played apollo creed's wife in rocky 2
Answer: Sylvia Meals