Beautiful, inspiring, awesome!

Rating: 10/10 (2 February 2007)

The first installment in the Rocky series was the beginning of the inspiring era of Rocky movies. A low budget movie about a low rated boxer who gets one shot chance to prove what he is made of. You name the aspect of a movie and Rocky has done a wonderful job. Script, acting, music...almost everything.
Bill Conti has done an amazing job with the music. The music has become symbolic of inspiration and iron will. So much so that I see so many people exercising and gym-goers working out with the Rocky theme in the background. Gonna Fly Now played during the training sessions of Rocky is one favorite track of mine.
About Stallone. Stallone has proved himself as a good actor and a great script writer. For those who do not know, the script was written in a matter of three days after Stallone got inspired by a boxing match. Three days is too fast for an amazing movie like this one. Stallone plays the role of Rocky wonderfully and it is extremely difficult a task for me to imagine absolutely anyone else who could have stepped in his shoes and done a better job.
The rest of the cast also does a wonderful job. Burgess Meredith, the cold yet caring trainer, Talia Shire, the immensely shy girlfriend of Rocky, Apollo Creed, the loud mouthed, slightly over-confident champion, everyone has done a decent job.
The boxing match was one amazing sequence. The brutality of the match and the punishment both inflict on each other and no matter how much Apollo tries Rocky keeps coming back up. So much so that Apollo occasionally gives a frustrated look of disbelief. That was one encouraging fight.
And of course, let us not forget the training session. As such the training sequence's major part is the music again. For a person with sufficient heart, this movie can be a life changer giving one tremendous inspiration and strength. After all, one of the purposes of the medium of movies is not only to entertain or educate but also inspire. This movie does just that.
Rocky Rocky Rocky!!!