The details make it great

Rating: Null/10 (15 June 2000)

Cornball? Sure. Sugary and sentimental? Oh yeah. And unashamedly so. But this film has so many genuinely touching moments, so many little insights into the way human beings operate, that you end up not only being touched, but instructed by it. I think of Rocky's attempts to lure Adrian to him. He's an open book who shares everything. She shares nothing. But he keeps chipping away because he sees something in her that no one else does. Or the moment when he realizes he can't beat Apollo Creed, that he's been living in a dream world. So he chooses another goal. Or when Burgess Meredith's character offers his services as manager and Rocky spews all this pent up anger for so many slights over the years. But then, he relents. Not because he wants to, but because he has to. These are the moments that make this film wonderful, and there are a ton of them. Far more than most any film you're likely to see. But I also didn't find the plot that far-fetched. If Apollo Creed was modeled on Ali (and he was) then we have to think back to the Ali of that era. A larger-than-life, supremely arrogant individual who was thoroughly capable of the sort of bombast that Apollo Creed displays. He would have his fight on Independence Day. He would fight the Italian Stallion, showing his humanity by giving an unknown a chance at the title. Sure. It works. I've certainly suspended a lot more disbelief than that during the course of a movie.
So many little moments than ring true. That's what set this movie apart in 1976 despite it's sentimental nature. And those moments are why it's still a terrific movie today.