The Cinderella Film

Rating: 9/10 (15 May 2009)

Sylvester Stallone had a dream and it was to get this film made about an enduring character he created, one of the most enduring in the history of cinema. In true Cinderella Man style Rocky guaranteed him a career and screen immortality. A whole lot like the protagonist ROcky Balboa in the film.
There was an Irish equivalent of Rocky during the early Sixties in real life, a boxer named Tom McNeeley from South Boston, just as Rocky Balboa is from South Philadelphia. McNeeley was a barely ranked contender, ranked in fact at all just to give him some kind of credence as an opponent for Floyd Patterson. McNeeley fought Patterson in Boston for the local gate attraction. Needless to say his showing against Floyd wasn't quite as good as what Rocky did against Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed, showboating heavyweight champion in the style of Muhammed Ali.
And that's what happens to Rocky. Stallone is a local club fighter who also works as a part time enforcer for the loan sharks, but his heart isn't really into it. His heart is torn actually between boxing and his love for Talia Shire, the plain Jane sister of his friend Burt Young.
When opportunity comes you have to take it. For some reason a scheduled match between Weathers and another contender for the championship falls through. Several other name contenders aren't available, so it comes down to Rocky Balboa being given a once in lifetime chance in a bout to be held in his native Philadelphia like McNeeley's was in real life.
Rocky was the Cinderella story of the Oscars that year, it won for Best Picture, Best Director for John G. Avildsen, and Best Film Editing. Sly Stallone was nominated for Best Actor and Original Screenplay. He lost however to Peter Finch for Network. Burgess Meredith as Rocky's cornerman and gym owner and Carl Weathers were nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but both lost to Jason Robards, Jr. for All the President's Men.
My favorite in the film was Talia Shire, she is really touching as the Thirty something unmarried plain girl who grabs a last chance for love with Rocky. The role is so different from Connie Corleone in any of the three Godfather films. Sadly Talia lost to Beatrice Straight as William Holden's wife in Network.
John Avildsen winning for Best Director is great though I think the film is so much Stallone's own creation, he should have won for Original Screenplay. Avildsen never directed anything as good as Rocky before or since. In fact he directed seven years later one of my all time favorite trash films, A Night In Heaven.
Rocky is the great Cinderella movie of all time, the creation of its leading character who put enough of his heart into this film and gained a career for himself. None of the succeeding Rocky films came anywhere near this one for quality. And the story itself was pure Cinderella. How paradoxical and how great.