Beautiful Film

Rating: 9/10 (20 June 2005)

When I was a young gun, I was the only one in my group of friends who loved and always watched the original Rocky.
My god, what a great film. Sylvester Stallone wrote the original draft in three days after seeing a palooka named Chuck Webner almost go the distance with Muhammad Ali.
But he must of had it in his mind before because you can't write characters like that in three days.
Paulie with his tough love. Mickey with his father-figure type. The egotistical but deep down respectful Apollo. Not to mention the painfully shy Adrian. These are characters that you love for the rest of your life.
We all know the plot. A down and out slugger from Philadelphia gets a shot at the World Heavyweight Champion. It's something that could only happen on a movie screen. But this is not about the somewhat unbelievable premise, it's about characters and Rocky not wanting to be just "another bum from the neighbourhood".
John G. Avildsen and his cinematographer James Crabe created an empty, cold and dark Philadelphia that draws you in even more. You really want Rocky to do something great.
There are so many great moments in this film. Consider the scene where the script forgets the plot for a minute while Rocky tries to set a neighbourhood girl on the right track. My favourite is when Mickey comes to see Rocky. But Rocky yells Mickey out of his apartment. "Where were you ten years ago?". The conclusion of this scene is beautiful and all done in one still long shot.
For the new generation that say this film is cli'ched and tired and so on. You need to remember that this was the first ultimate feel-good movie of it's kind. It started a whole new genre. But the ending's are always different.
So does Rocky achieve greatness? that's for you to decide. He definitely got his wish.
There is a bittersweet moment at the end where Rocky and Apollo agree that no rematch will occur.
Now years after all the mediocre sequels that lacked everything the original had, I wish Stallone had made that agreement as well.
The Boss.