Still the champion

Rating: Null/10 (6 April 2003)

In 1976, a minor actor took a shot at creating something for himself and scored a knockout. It's hard to remember; but, at this stage of his career, Sylvester Stallone was a relative unknown. He had a small part in a Woody Allen film, and minor success in the movie The Lords of Flatbush. The studio took a chance on a script from this minor actor and sat stunned as it became a huge success. Gee, kind of sounds like the plot of the movie!
Rocky was not only the quintessential boxing movie, it was also the story of a man reaching for his dreams; and a surprisingly tender love story. Stallone was tailor-made for this part and he brings many layers to it. People often underestimate Stallone's intelligence and talent because of his voice and some of his career choices. Rocky showed a Stallone with tremendous skills and promise. Unfortunately, Stallone seemed to be more like Rocky at the beginning of the third film: living it up and taking the easy fights. When Stallone is challenged, like in Cop Land, he can surprise you.
The film is filled with great character performances, including Burgess Meredith as the cranky trainer Mick, and Burt Young as the course, but caring Pauley. Carl Weathers' Apollo is a cinematic Ali and makes a great contrast to Stallone's Rocky.
This movie is as much about emotion as it is about achieving your dreams. It takes you on a rollercoaster ride of highs and lows, of happiness andÂ pain. The soundtrack was everything that a movie score should be: if there were no dialogue or pictures, it could tell the story. it ebbs and flows in time with the story. It starts out slowly and builds and builds; and then swells to the emotional climax. Your heart starts pumping along with it.
The movie gave us it's famous and often copied training montages. They've become cliched, but they work so well in these movies. We see Rocky struggle to build himself into the challenger. With each step, he grows stronger and more confident. In the end, he is standing tall.
Unfortunately, Stallone went to the well one too many times. He did the same with the Rambo films. The first three Rocky's make a fine trilogy: The challenger who goes for the title and misses it by a hair, the rematch and the struggle to find the one element needed to capture the gold, and the downfall of the new champion and the rediscovery of what it took to rise to the top. After that, the series is reduced to jingoism and caricature. The same is true for Rambo. In First Blood, he is a weary and lost veteran who is pushed to the breaking point. In the subsequent films, he is just a cartoon supersoldier, blowing up tanks and helicopters with arrows and fighting armies alone.
There is talk of yet another Rocky and Rambo. Hopefully, Stallone will let them stay retired and look for something more challenging. You can never recapture lightning in a bottle. You have to be satisfied with your accomplishment and move on to the next challenge. This movie cannot be topped.