70's trashy fairytale story

Rating: 9/10 (9 October 2005)

Stallone is just perfect as Rocky, a "bum" who gets a shot at the Heavyweight title in Boxing.
What works perfectly here is the era in which this film was made. I seriously doubt that had this movie been made a decade later it would be half as charming. It's got that glorious 70's trashy style film-making and setting which made films like Midnight Cowboy or even Five Easy Pieces so appealing to begin with. The characters here feel real and authentic, and most of all, completely human. Nothing spectacular about them, more or less lowlifes who wouldn't arouse any interest in other people than social workers perhaps.
The script by Stallone is exceptionally good and completely deserved the Oscar. Rocky is a treasure of a character and Stallone plays him to perfection, really should have picked up an Oscar for that as well. This is basically a fairytale story in a different setting and almost feels very real.