An triumphant movie

Rating: 10/10 (29 May 2014)

Rocky Balboa's life was a one in a million shot. He is willing to "go the distance" with another heavyweight boxer. His entire life is filled with interesting people that means a lot to him. Yet, when it comes to hard times, Rocky is the only person who can see it all. And right now, he is given a chance to fight at the 200th anniversary of the nation.
In the beginning of the movie, Rocky Balboa, (Sylvester Stallone), is a down and out boxer who is just finishing up his last fight. He's poor and his only other occupation that he has other than a boxer is a collector for a loan shark. Rocky also has friends that seem to challenge him in his everyday life. His friend, Paulie, (Burt Young), work for a meat processing place and even he has to deal with his problems. One of those problems is Adrian, (Talia Shire), a shy woman who can't stand living with him because of his drunkenness. Meanwhile, Apollo Creed, (Carl Weathers), is looking for a competitor to fight for the nation's biggest birthday. His ultimate choice is, of course, Rocky. Creed thinks that Balboa is the perfect fighter. In order for Rocky to fight against Creed, he seeks the help of his gym manager, Mickey, (Burgess Meredith), an angry and tough man who is willing to train Rocky for the big fight.
The movie is filled with a lot of great screen performances. The one aspect that strike me the most was Sylvester Stallone. This is a great performance from him and the first of many. One thing that I like about Stallone is the way that he writes Rocky and all of the other characters' dialogue. He tries to create a likable person out of himself and with that writing, we can actually see ourselves being with these people. Rocky Balboa is a wonderful character. He has a heart of gold. In addition, there is a very nice and sweet love story between Rocky and Adrian that adds flavor to the movie. Burt Young and Burgess Meredith also make the movie work because their characters to me, were one of the reasons why Rocky's world is so upset and angry. It's not the characters' fault. It's the way their world is affected by America's problems. These characters are not happy living in this competitive world of fighting over what they want or what they can get. Rocky isn't about the central character. It is more about people rather than the main character.
The famous scene in which Rocky runs up the stairs while "Gonna Fly Now" plays in the background is perhaps the most powerful and most inspirational scenes in movie history. In my opinion, whenever I see a sports movie, I think of them as being inspirational. I always find that the main character is always pushing his way through tough times. The final fight scene in the movie between Rocky and Apollo is the second best scene in the movie because by the end, you feel as though your emotions are drained. By that time, the audience who seen this movie in the movie theater were probably cheering with joy and crying with emotion. Inside, I was cheering and devastated with joy.
It's a shame that Rocky is the only great movie that Stallone has written and starred in. Because of that, Stallone fell into a losing streak with very bad films and sometimes embarrassing. This movie proves that Stallone is perfect for the role. He knows what comes out of Rocky Balboa. He knows that people will like this character and always stick to him because he is friendly and also, lonely. But above all, this is the movie that made Stallone a star in the first place. It's great to see him land a juicy role in a major motion picture. ★★★★ 4 stars.