Not just another bum from the neighbourhood.

Rating: 10/10 (17 January 2017)

I'm not sure what brought me to review this so many years after the fact but...well...it's Rocky!
I don't know why you haven't seen it, maybe you're too young, don't like boxing or don't like Stallone. What I know is you must see it.
Forget the sequels, entertaining though they are, they never recaptured the honesty of the first, they never inspired like the original and they will never be loved like the first.
Rocky is the story of a boxer but boxing isn't what this movie is about. This is depressing and uplifting in equal measure. Rocky Balboa is a bum in every sense of the word. No money, no intellect, no real friends, no love interest, no talent for his beloved boxing (and even then he'll lose if it makes more money) and he has no joy in his job as a loan-sharks's muscle. He has almost nothing.
Almost....but not quite. He has a dream, he has hope and (in addition to all the other things his poorly educated mind doesn't know) he doesn't know what giving up is.
Meanwhile, on the reverse side of the coin is Apollo Creed, the undefeated Heavyweight Champion of the world. He's rich, he's slick, he's blessed with talent and speed, he is surrounded by an admiring entourage and a loving family. Hell, he's never even been take the distance. Apollo Creed has everything, literally everything Rocky dreams of.
Fortune smiles on our eponymous hero and he gets an unlikely shot at the Champ.
Now we see it...Rocky has no head movement to speak of, no jab, no foot movement and he blocks with his face. He's not very good, really and the world can see it. Creed is the antithesis of Balboa...short night's work and an easy payday surely. Balboa, just wants one thing no else has had from Creed. A judges' decision. The final bell, to be standing at the end. To show he isn't just another bum from the neighbourhood.
What we are treated to is a fight not even Micky Ward and Arturo Gatti could have given us.
If you haven't seen it I shall leave you to find out how it goes for yourself.
This movie is an all time classic. The ultimate underdog story. Stallone both wrote and starred in the movie he didn't sell until somebody was willing to give him his shot (sound familiar).
Talia Shire is brilliantly timid as Adrian, Burt Young is excellent as Adrian's ne'er do well brother, Paulie and Stallone is superb as Rocky. However, my favourite performances are those of Burgess Meredith & Carl Weathers.
Weathers as Creed is convincingly confident, boorishly braggadocious and looks every inch the pro-boxer. Weathers provides us with an easily a champ who is easily disliked yet grudgingly admired.
Meredith as Mickey is the star of the show for me though. An ageing terrier of a man, rough of voice and harsh of word but kind of meaning. As knowledgeable about boxing as he is old school in his methods. He provides inspiration, perspiration and frustration in equal measure and is a marvel in this role.
This is a fantastic movie with the message that it if brains and education, natural talent and quick wits have failed to bless you you have two choices. Fight or Succumb.
What Rocky teaches us is that while you are alive, you can fight, if you can fight you can land punches and if you land the right one incredible things can happen. If you are prepared to take the hits and keep coming then anything is possible.
Failing? That's OK, it means you're trying.