Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association

''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burgess Meredith. In the film, Rocky Balboa (Stallone), an uneducated, small-time club fighter and debt collector gets an unlikely shot at the world heavyweight championship held by Apollo Creed (Weathers).

''Rocky'' entered development in March 1975, after Stallone wrote the screenplay in three days. It entered a complicated production process after Stallone refused to allow the film to be made without him in the lead role; United Artists eventually agreed to cast Stallone after he rejected a six figure deal for the film rights. Principal photography began in January 1976, with filming primarily held in Philadelphia; several locations featured in the film, such as the Rocky Steps, are now considered cultural landmarks. With an estimated production budget of under $1 million, ''Rocky'' popularized the rags to riches and American Dream themes of sports dramas which preceded the film.

''Rocky'' was premiered in New York City on November 21, 1976, and was theatrically released in the United States by United Artists on December 3. Rocky became the highest-grossing film of 1976, earning approximately $225 million worldwide. The film received critical acclaim toward Stallone's writing, performance and the story; among other accolades, it received ten Academy Award nominations and won three, including Best Picture.

It has been ranked by numerous publications as one of the greatest films of all time, as well as one of the most iconic sports film ever made. ''Rocky'' and its theme song have become a pop-cultural phenomenon and an important part of 1970s American popular culture spawning a film series as well as a series of video games and merchandise.

In 2006, the Library of Congress selected ''Rocky'' for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

In 1975, the heavyweight boxing world champion, Apollo Creed, announces plans to hold a title bout in Philadelphia during the upcoming United States Bicentennial. However, he is informed five weeks from the fight date that his scheduled opponent Mac Lee Green is unable to compete due to an injured hand. With all other potential replacements booked up or otherwise unavailable, Creed decides to spice things up by giving a local contender a chance to challenge him.

Creed selects Rocky Balboa, an Italian American journeyman southpaw boxer who fights primarily in small gyms and works as a collector for a loan shark. Rocky meets with promoter George Jergens assuming that Creed is seeking local sparring partners. Reluctant at first, Rocky eventually agrees to the fight which will pay him $150,000. Rocky undergoes several weeks of unorthodox training, such as using sides of beef as punching bags.

Rocky is later approached by Mickey Goldmill, a former bantamweight fighter who turned trainer and whose gym Rocky frequents, about further training. Rocky is not willing initially, as Mickey has not shown much interest in helping him before and sees him as a wasted talent, but eventually Rocky accepts the offer.

Rocky begins to build a romantic relationship with Adrian Pennino, who is working part-time at the J&M Tropical Fish pet shop. Adrian's brother and Rocky's best friend, Paulie, helps Rocky get a date with his sister and offers to work as a corner man with him for the fight. Paulie becomes jealous of Rocky's success, but Rocky placates him by agreeing to advertise the meat packing business where Paulie works as part of the upcoming fight. The night before the fight, a sleepless Rocky visits the Philadelphia Spectrum and begins to lose confidence. He confesses to Adrian that he does not believe he can win, but strives to go the distance against Creed, which no other fighter has done, to prove himself to everyone.

On New Year's Day, the fight is held with Creed making a dramatic entrance dressed as George Washington and then Uncle Sam. Taking advantage of his overconfidence, Rocky knocks him down in the first round—the first time that Creed has ever been knocked down. Humbled and worried, Creed takes Rocky more seriously for the rest of the fight, though his ego never fully fades. The fight goes on for the full fifteen rounds, with both combatants sustaining various injuries. Rocky, with hits to the head and swollen eyes, requires his right eyelid to be cut to restore his vision. Apollo, with internal bleeding and a broken rib, struggles to breathe. As the fight concludes, Creed's superior skill is countered by Rocky's apparently unlimited ability to absorb punches and his dogged refusal to go down. As the final bell sounds, with both fighters embracing each other, they promise each other there will be no rematch.

After the fight, the sportscasters and the audience go wild. Jergens announces over the loudspeaker that the fight was "the greatest exhibition of guts and stamina in the history of the ring", and Rocky calls out repeatedly for Adrian, who runs down and comes into the ring. As Jergens declares Creed the winner by virtue of a split decision, Rocky and Adrian embrace and profess their love for each other, not caring about the outcome of the fight.

Cast

* Sylvester Stallone as Robert "Rocky" Balboa
* Talia Shire as Adriana "Adrian" Pennino
* Burt Young as Paulie Pennino
* Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed
* Burgess Meredith as Michael "Mickey" Goldmill
* Thayer David as George "Miles" Jergens
* Joe Spinell as Tony Gazzo
* Tony Burton as Tony "Duke" Evers
* Pedro Lovell as Spider Rico
* Stan Shaw as "Big Dipper" Brown
* Joe Frazier as Himself

Production

Development and writing

Sylvester Stallone wrote the screenplay for ''Rocky'' in three and a half days, shortly after watching the championship match between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner that took place at Richfield Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio, on March 24, 1975. Wepner was TKO'd in the 15th round of the match by Ali, with few expecting him to last as long as he did. Despite the match motivating Stallone to begin work on ''Rocky'', he has denied Wepner provided any inspiration for the script. Other inspiration for the film may have included characteristics of real-life boxers Rocky Marciano and Joe Frazier, as well as Rocky Graziano's autobiography ''Somebody Up There Likes Me'' and the movie of the same name. Wepner sued Stallone, and eventually settled for an undisclosed amount.

Henry Winkler, Stallone's co-star in ''The Lords of Flatbush'' who then broke out as Arthur Fonzarelli on ABC's ''Happy Days'', said he had taken the script to executives at the network. They expressed interest in turning it into a made-for-television movie and actually bought the script but insisted that someone else re-write it. Upon hearing the news, Stallone begged Winkler not to let ABC change writers, so Winkler went back to the executives and offered to return the money in exchange for the rights. While ABC refused at first, Winkler said he was able to use his status as one of its biggest stars at the time to convince them to sell the rights back.

At the time, Film Artists Management Enterprises (FAME), a joint venture between Hollywood talent agents Craig T. Rumar and Larry Kubik, represented Stallone. He submitted his script to Rumar and Kubik, who immediately saw the potential for it to be made into a motion picture. They shopped the script to various producers and studios in Hollywood but were repeatedly rejected because Stallone insisted that he be cast in the lead role. Eventually, they secured a meeting with Winkler-Chartoff productions. After repeated negotiations with Rumar and Kubik, Winkler-Chartoff agreed to a contract for Stallone to be the writer and also star in the lead role for Rocky.

United Artists liked Stallone's script and viewed it as a vehicle for a well-established star like Robert Redford, Ryan O'Neal, Burt Reynolds, or James Caan. Stallone's agents insisted that Stallone portray the title character, to the point of issuing an ultimatum. Stallone later said that he would never have forgiven himself had the film become a success with somebody else in the lead. He also knew that producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff's contract with the studio enabled them to "greenlight" a project if the budget was kept low enough. The producers also collateralized any possible losses with their big-budget entry, ''New York, New York'' (whose eventual losses were covered by ''Rocky'' success). The film's production budget ended up being $1,075,000, with a further $100,000 spent on producers' fees and $4.2 million on advertising costs.

Pre-production

Although Chartoff and Winkler were enthusiastic about the script and the idea of Stallone playing the lead character, they were hesitant about having an unknown headline the film. The producers also had trouble casting other major characters in the story, with Apollo Creed and Adrian cast unusually late by production standards. Real-life boxer Ken Norton was initially sought for the role of Apollo Creed, but he pulled out and the role was ultimately given to Carl Weathers. Norton, upon whom Creed was loosely based, fought Muhammad Ali three times. According to ''The Rocky Scrapbook'', Carrie Snodgress was originally chosen to play Adrian, but a money dispute forced the producers to look elsewhere. Susan Sarandon auditioned for the role but was deemed too pretty for the character. After Talia Shire's ensuing audition, Chartoff and Winkler, and director John Avildsen, insisted that she play the part.

Boxer Joe Frazier has a cameo appearance in the film. Outspoken boxer Muhammad Ali, who fought Frazier three times, influenced the character of Apollo Creed. During the 49th Academy Awards ceremony in 1977, Ali and Stallone staged a brief comic confrontation to show the film did not offend Ali. Some of the plot's most memorable moments—Rocky's carcass-punching scenes and Rocky running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art as part of his training regimen—are taken from the real-life exploits of Joe Frazier, for which he received no credit.

Because of the film's comparatively low budget, members of Stallone's family played minor roles. His father rings the bell to signal the start and end of a round; his brother Frank plays a street corner singer, and his first wife, Sasha, was stills photographer. Other cameos include former Philadelphia and then Los Angeles television sportscaster Stu Nahan playing himself, alongside radio and TV broadcaster Bill Baldwin; and Lloyd Kaufman, founder of the independent film company Troma, appearing as a drunk. Diana Lewis, then a news anchor in Los Angeles and later in Detroit, has a minor scene as a TV news reporter. Tony Burton appears as Apollo Creed's trainer, Tony "Duke" Evers, a role he would reprise throughout the entire ''Rocky'' series, though the character is not named until ''Rocky II''. Michael Dorn, who would later gain fame as the Klingon Worf in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', made his acting debut, albeit uncredited, as Creed's bodyguard.

Filming

Principal photography for ''Rocky'' began on January 9, 1976. Filming took place primarily throughout Philadelphia, with a few scenes being shot in Los Angeles. Inventor Garrett Brown's new Steadicam was used to accomplish smooth photography while running alongside Rocky during the film's Philadelphia street training sequences and the run up the Art Museum's flight of stairs, now colloquially known as the Rocky Steps. It was also used for some shots in the fight scenes and can be seen at the ringside during some wide shots of the final fight. ''Rocky'' is often erroneously cited as the first film to use the Steadicam, although it was actually the third, after '' Bound for Glory'' and '' Marathon Man''.

Certain elements of the story were altered during filming. The original script had a darker tone: Mickey was portrayed as racist, and the script ended with Rocky throwing the fight after realizing he did not want to be part of the professional boxing world after all.

Both Stallone and Weathers suffered injuries during the shooting of the final fight; Stallone suffered bruised ribs and Weathers suffered a damaged nose, the opposite injuries of what their characters had.

The first date between Rocky and Adrian, in which Rocky bribes a janitor to allow them to skate after closing hours on a deserted ice skating rink, was shot that way only because of budgetary pressures. This scene was originally scheduled to be shot in a skating rink during regular business hours. However, the producers decided they could not afford to hire the hundreds of extras that would have been necessary for that scene.

The poster seen above the ring before Rocky fights Apollo Creed shows Rocky wearing red shorts with a white stripe when he actually wears white shorts with a red stripe. When Rocky points this out, he is told that "it doesn't really matter, does it?" According to director Avildsen's DVD commentary, this was an actual mistake made by the props department that they could not afford to rectify, so Stallone wrote the brief scene to ensure the audience did not see it as a goof. Conversely, Stallone has said he was indeed supposed to wear red shorts with a white stripe as Rocky, but changed to the opposite colors "at the last moment". Similarly, when Rocky's robe arrived far too baggy on the day it was needed for filming, Stallone wrote in dialogue where Rocky points this out.

Music

Soundtrack

Bill Conti composed the musical score for ''Rocky''. He had composed a score for director John G. Avildsen's ''W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings'' (1975) that the studio ultimately rejected. David Shire (then-husband of Talia Shire) was the first to be offered the chance to compose the music for ''Rocky'' but had to turn it down because of prior commitments. Avildsen reached out to Conti without any studio help because of the film's relatively low budget. Avildsen said, "The budget for the music was 25 grand. And that was for everything: The composer's fee, that was to pay the musicians, that was to rent the studio, that was to buy the tape that it was going to be recorded on."

The main theme song, "Gonna Fly Now", made it to number one on ''Billboard'' magazine's Hot 100 list for one week (from July 2 to July 8, 1977) and the American Film Institute placed it 58th on its AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs. United Artists Records released the soundtrack album on November 12, 1976. EMI re-released the album on CD and cassette.

Frank Stallone's song "Take It Back" is also on the soundtrack, and he also sings the song in the movie with other friends around a trash can fire.

Release

Theatrical

The movie was released on Sunday, November 21, 1976, by United Artists at Cinema II in New York City.

Home media

* 1980 UK video release by Intervision Betamax, VHS (Rental Only)
* 1982 – CED Videodisc, Betamax and VHS; VHS release is rental only; 20th Century Fox Video release, Warner Home Video has rest of the World rights
* October 27, 1990 ( VHS and LaserDisc)
* April 16, 1996 (VHS and LaserDisc)
* March 24, 1997 (DVD)
* April 24, 2001 (DVD, also packed with the Five-Disc Boxed Set)
* 2001 (VHS, 25th anniversary edition)
* December 14, 2004 (DVD, also packed with the Rocky Anthology box set)
* February 8, 2005 (DVD, also packed with the Rocky Anthology box set)
* December 5, 2006 (DVD and Blu-ray Disc – 2-Disc Collector's Edition, the DVD was the first version released by Fox and was also packed with the ''Rocky'' Anthology box set and the Blu-ray was the first version released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment)
* December 4, 2007 (DVD box set – ''Rocky'' The Complete Saga. This new set contains the new ''Rocky Balboa'', but does not include the recent 2 disc ''Rocky''. There are still no special features for ''Rocky II'' through ''Rocky V'', although ''Rocky Balboa''s DVD special features are all intact.)
* November 3, 2009 (Blu-ray box set – ''Rocky'' The Undisputed Collection. This release included six films in a box set. Previously, only the first film and ''Rocky Balboa'' were available on the format. Those two discs are identical to their individual releases, and the set also contains a disc of bonus material, new and old alike.)
*May 6, 2014 - Blu-ray re-release with an all new 4K remaster and the previous special features of the old release.
* October 13, 2015 – Blu-ray box set, ''Rocky'' Heavyweight Collection 40th Anniversary Edition. All six films plus over three hours of bonus material, including the 4K remaster of the first film.

Reception

Box office

''Rocky'' grossed $5,488 on its opening day at Cinema II, a house record. When it was released nationally, it grossed $5 million during its first wide weekend and consistently performed well for eight months and eventually reached $117 million at the North American box office. Adjusted for inflation in 2018, the film earned over $500 million in North America alone. Overseas, ''Rocky'' grossed $107 million, for a worldwide box office total of $225 million. With its production budget of just under $1 million, ''Rocky'' is notable for its worldwide percentage return of over 11,000 percent. It was the highest-grossing film released in 1976 in the United States and Canada and the second highest-grossing film of 1977, behind ''Star Wars''.

Critical response

''Rocky'' received positive reviews at the time of its release. Roger Ebert of the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' gave it 4 out of 4 stars and said that Stallone reminded him of "the young Marlon Brando." ''Box Office Magazine'' claimed audiences would be "touting Sylvester 'Sly' Stallone as a new star". Frank Rich liked the film, calling it "almost 100 per cent schmaltz", but favoring it over the cynicism that was prevalent in movies at that time, although he referred to the plot as "gimmicky" and the script "heavy-handed". Several reviews, including Richard Eder's (as well as Canby's negative review), compared the work to that of Frank Capra.

The film, however, did not escape criticism. Vincent Canby, of ''The New York Times'', called it "pure '30s make believe" and dismissed both Stallone's acting and Avildsen's directing, calling the latter "none too decisive". Andrew Sarris found the Capra comparisons disingenuous: "Capra's movies projected more despair deep down than a movie like ''Rocky'' could envisage, and most previous ring movies have been much more cynical about the fight scene"; commenting on Rocky's work for a loan shark, Sarris says the film "teeters on the edge of sentimentalizing gangsters". He found Meredith "oddly cast in the kind of part the late James Gleason used to pick his teeth".

In modern times, the film enjoys a reputation as a classic and still receives nearly universal praise; ''Rocky'' holds a 91% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 69 reviews, with an average rating of 8.30/10. The site's consensus states: "This story of a down-on-his-luck boxer is thoroughly predictable, but Sylvester Stallone's script and stunning performance in the title role brush aside complaints." One of the positive online reviews came from the BBC
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