The 25TH Round: ROCKY at the quarter-century mark.

Rating: 10/10 (8 December 2001)

It's hard to believe that it's been twenty-five years since the original ROCKY played in movie theatres! By now, most people know about the behind-the-scenes story that was just as interesting as what happened on the screen: Sylvester Stallone was a character actor who was having a hard time finding roles. Till then, his biggest part has been as one of THE LORDS OF FLATBUSH. With a pregnant wife and little money in the bank, Stallone wrote a screenplay about a down-on-his-luck heavyweight boxer who gets a million-to-one shot at the championship of the world. When he pitched his story to United Artists, such names as Robert DeNiro, Ryan O'Neal and Burt Reynolds were brought up to play the lead. But Stallone was adamant about one thing: Either he played Rocky Balboa or he would destroy the script. The studio relented and a classic was made.
In fact, when the cameras began rolling on the movie, only two of its cast were well-known: Burgess Meredith (Mickey) and Talia Shire (Adrian). Stallone and the others were seen as something of a risk, one that eventually paid off BIG.
ROCKY opens shortly before Thanksgiving, 1975. Rocky Balboa (Stallone) is a boxer so hard-scrabble that he has to bum a cigarette from an audience member right after one of his fights. In addition to boxing, Rocky also works as the enforcer for a low-level loan shark (Joe Spinell), a profession that doesn't sit well with Mickey Goldmill (Meredith). Goldmill runs the gym where Rocky trains and he feels that what Rocky is doing is "a waste of life". So much so that he kicks Rocky out of his gym locker for a boxer that he feels is a true contender. At the same time, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), the heavyweight boxing champion of the world, is up a creek: the opponent for his New Year's fight has to pull out due to injury. No other ranked contender is available. What to do? Creed hits on an idea: give a local fighter a title shot. Creed picks Rocky because he feels heat from Balboa's nickname: "The Italian Stallion". "Who discovered America?" Creed asks, "An Italian, right? What could be better than to get it on with one of his descendents?"
While all of this is going on, Rocky is trying to capture the attention of Adrian (Shire), the woman at the local pet shop and the sister of his best friend, Paulie (Burt Young). Adrian is so shy that some people think that she's retarded. Looking at Rocky trying to break down her defenses during their courtship is almost like watching him in the ring. You have to admire his tenacity. While he pursues a romantic relationship with Adrian, Paulie is constantly hitting Rocky up for a job with the loan shark or trying to make money off of Rocky's name after he gets the title shot. This also gets the attention of Mickey, who now feels that Rocky has a chance to make something of his life.
Meanwhile, the champ is portrayed as so pushy that he makes Muhammad Ali (the real champ at the time of the movie's release) look humble. Not only that, he's something of a racist as well ("[Rocky's] Italian, ain't he?" he says of his opponent, "Which means if he can't fight, I'll bet he can cook."). The perfect counterbalance to the truly mild-mannered (by comparison) Rocky. The courtship between Rocky and Adrian is shown in a very sweet way. The fight itself is one of the best ever committed to film. To say who wins would be redundant to those of us who have already seen it and spoiling of the excitement to those of you who haven't. Just watch it for yourself and enjoy it.
As it turned out, the movie as a whole became a "contender": It received ten Oscar nominations, winning three (Best Director, Film Editing and Picture). ROCKY beat out such cinematic "heavyweights" as NETWORK, ALL OF THE PRESIDENT'S MEN and TAXI DRIVER. Enhancing the movie is Bill Conti's great musical score which includes the song which became as much of a character as the human actors: "Gonna Fly Now". In fact, after watching ROCKY, I wonder if, like me, others often find the music "Going the Distance" playing in the back of their minds whenever they watch a real boxing match. Especially a good match.