Rocky, Definitely the American Dream!

Rating: 8/10 (5 February 2017)

Rocky is a film telling the story of an amateur boxer Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) who worked as a debt collector for a loan shark in 1970s Philadelphia. This is a good depiction of the typical American rags to riches story. Rocky develops feelings and pursues a pet shop worker by the name of Adrian (Talia Shire) and we watch their relationship grow as the movie progresses. Rocky is given a shot at the title of world heavyweight champion when the reigning heavyweight champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) challenges him to a fight. The purpose of the fight was to give an unknown boxer a shot against the champion. Rocky accepts the challenge and begins his famous training regime leading up to the legendary running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The much anticipated boxing match takes place on New Year's Day in an arena full of spectators. The fight is long and very intense lasting the entire 15 rounds, and both boxers are pretty badly beaten up. Once the fight ends, everyone pretty much goes wild as this was one of the most entertaining fights in history. The winner is finally announced with Creed named the winner by virtue of a split decision.
As stated earlier, the theme for Rocky is the typical American Dream story of rags to riches or maybe even just a well told success story. Rocky also can be seen as a love story in a way. We get to watch the relationship between Rocky and Adrian blossom and grow throughout the movie. Rocky set the benchmark for similar movies later on that used the same theme and even plot. A good movie that comes to mind with a similar theme to Rocky is Cinderella Man (2005). Russell Crowe's character in that movie (James Braddock) is struggling to make ends meet and is eventually given a shot at the title in fight against Max Baer.
There are several film techniques that are used throughout Rocky that truly make the movie unforgettable. I was use the last few scenes of the boxing match against Apollo Creed as an example. The angles are very close to show the intensity of strength of the punches thrown between the two fighters. There are also very quick transitions between frames to capture the action of the fight and emotion. The sound effects were amazing as well. There is the visible sounds of the punches being thrown and the grunts and moans of the fighters. While at the same time, we also hear the invisible sounds of the crowd cheering and the bell ringing in the background. The great use of sound effects really made it seem as if you were actually at the boxing match.
Overall I think this was a very good movie and was definitely worthy the Academy Award it received. This movie truly had me rooting for the main character (and also Adrian). I was disappointed when he didn't win the fight.