1976 Rocky

1976 Rocky


"Yo, Adrian!"

Rocky is your quintessential underdog story.  Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) is a tough guy with a heart of gold (similar to Marlon Brando's character in On the Waterfront) -not especially bright, but very likeable.  He's a downtrodden, 30 year old boxer who works as a low level enforcer for a loan shark (something he's not great at, it seems, because he doesn't want to hurt anybody).  He is still winning in the ring, but in shoddy matches against nobodies, and his locker at the training gym has just been given away (the trainer, Mickey, thinks Rocky's boxing career is over): "You put my stuff on skid row?  I been in that locker six years; you put my stuff in a bag on skid row?"  Rocky demands to know why Mickey treats him so badly:

Mickey: You wanna know?
Rocky: I wanna know!
Mickey: Because you had the talent to become a good fighter, and instead of that you became a leg-breaker for some cheap, second-rate loan shark.
Rocky: It's a living.
Mickey: It's a waste of life!

Rocky is very attracted to his friend Paulie's sister, Adrien, but she doesn't give him the time of day -not because she isn't interested, but because she is painfully shy, and can barely say a word to him, no matter how hard he tries.

Watching him in the beginning makes you think, "Gosh, this guy really needs a break."

Well, he certainly gets one.  Heavyweight champion Apollo Creed is looking for a nobody from Philadelphia to fight for a PR story -giving the little guy a chance to win big.  He picks Rocky out of a book based solely on his nickname: "This is what I'm looking for.  'The Italian Stallion.'...Look, it's the name, man.  'The Italian Stallion.'  The media'll eat it up.  Now who discovered America?  An Italian, right?  What would be better than to get it on with one of his descendants...Southpaw, nuthin'.  I'll drop him in three.  APOLLO CREED MEETS THE ITALIAN STALLION.  Sounds like a damn monster movie."  A total fluke, based on nothing more than a nickname Rocky picked at at dinner one night:

Jergens (Representative for Apollo): Tell me Rocky, you've got any representation of a manager?
Rocky: No just me.
Jergens: Rocky I've got a proposition I'd like to make to you.
Rocky: Sparring?
Jergens: I beg your pardon?
Rocky: Well I'm interested.  I know you're looking for sparring partners and I just want to say I'm very available you know.
Jergens: I'm sure you are.
Rocky: Absolutely.  Sparring with the champ would be an honor and you know what, Mr. Jergens?
Jergens: What?
Rocky: I wouldn't take no cheap shots either.  I'd be a really good sparring partner.
Jergens: You don't understand me, Rocky.  My proposition is this.  Would you be interested in fighting Apollo Creed for the World Heavyweight Championship?
Rocky: No.
Jergens: Listen Rocky, Apollo's seen you fight.  He likes you and he wants to fight you.
Rocky: It's just that you see I fight in clubs you know.  I'm really a ham and egger and this guy's the best.  It wouldn't be such a good fight.  Thank you very much though, I appreciate it.
Jergens: Rocky, do you believe that America is the land of opportunity?
Rocky: Yes.
Jergens: Apollo Creed does.  He's going to prove it to the whole world by giving an unknown a shot at the title and that unknown is you.  He picked you Rocky.  Rocky it's the chance of a lifetime.  You can't pass it by.  What do you say?


Mickey shows up at his house to try to convince him that he should let him act as his manager, and at first Rocky turns down his appeals, losing his temper because of the way he feels Mickey's treated him in the past: "I needed your help about ten years ago, right?  Ten years ago, ya never helped me none.  You didn't care...I asked, but you never heard nothin'...What about my prime, Mick?  At least you had a prime!  I had no prime, I've had nothin'....And you wanna be ringside and see it, do ya?  Ya wanna help me out?...Go on, fight the champ.  Yeah, I'll fight 'im - I'll get my face kicked in."  It almost made me cry when Mickey tries to interject how old he is, and you know he really wants one more chance to train a great fighter, knowing he probably doesn't have much time left, or too many more chances.  Deflated, Mickey slowly trudges down the stairs as Rocky continues to rant, but Rocky eventually stops and runs down the street after him to stop him.  Having gotten the pent up anger out of his system -clearly it had been building up for a long time -he gladly accepts Mickey as his manager, and they begin training.  Cue Rocky theme song and training montage.




At the same time, things with Adrian quickly start to improve.  I must say, Rocky contains one of the most interesting and bizarre courtships I've ever witnessed.  Firstly, I don't really understand Adrian's appeal.  Setting aside the fact that she's obviously not a bombshell (that just makes Rocky sweet, and shows he's not shallow), she completely blows him off constantly, showing zero interest in him.  He is adorable, stopping by her pet shop twice a day to talk to her and tell her jokes (even practicing what he's going to say in advance), and she barely acknowledges his existence.  On their first date, she has no idea that he is even coming over, and basically gets screamed at by her terrible brother, Paulie, until she finally leaves with Rocky, after he coaxes her out of her bedroom: "Yo, Adrian, it's me, Rocky... I don't know what to say, 'cause I ain't never talked to no door before, ya know...[Walks away to talk to Paulie and then returns to her door].  Yo, Adrian, you know, it's Rocky again, you know.  Listen, uh, I know you ain't too happy at this moment, ya know.  But could ya do me a favor, ya know, I ain't got nobody to spend Thanksgiving with, ya know? S o, uh, how about maybe you and I, I mean, we'll go out together and get somethin' to eat, I don't know, maybe laugh a little bit, who knows, ya know?"  Do you really want to go on a date with a girl that is being forced to go out with you?

Well, Rocky must have seen something in her, because once he wins her over, which he does pretty quickly, she is totally into him.  He takes her ice-skating (Paulie had told him that she likes to skate), bribing the man at the rink to let them in after hours, and running along side her because he doesn't want to wear skates.  Afterwards, he convinces her to go up to his apartment, in spite of her extreme reluctance.  She is visibly nervous:

Rocky: What's the matter?  Ya don't like the room, do ya?
Adrian: It's fine.
Rocky: It's only temporary.
Adrian: It's not that -
Rocky: What's the problem?  You don't like me -Don't like the turtles -What's the problem?
Adrian: I don't think I belong here.
Rocky: It's okay.
Adrian: I don't belong here.
Rocky: Well, you know, it's okay, 'cause you're my guest.
Adrian: I don't know you well enough.  I've never been in a man's apartment alone.
Rocky: Well, they're all the same, you know?
Adrian: I'm not sure I know you well enough -I don't feel comfortable.
Rocky: Yo, Adrian, you know I ain't so comfortable either.
Adrian: I should go.
Rocky: Don't go, please.  Don't go.  Don't go.  Do me a favor?
Adrian: What?
Rocky: Take off these glasses.  You have nice eyes, you know? Do me another favor?  Why don't you take off that hat?  I always knew you was pretty. 
Adrian: Don't tease me.
Rocky: I'm not teasing ya.  I ain't teasing you.  I just wanna...I wanna kiss you.  Ya don't have to kiss me back if you don't want, but I wanna kiss you.

When Rocky kisses her, Adrian is instantly swept off her feet.  From that moment on, they are a couple, and Adrian's confidence gradually begins to build.  It seems that she's been told she's ugly and a loser for so long that she pretty much has zero self-confidence, and probably initially took Rocky's overtures as some form of him mocking her.  They are actually a really cute, though unlikely, couple.  As Rocky says, "She's got gaps, I got gaps.  Together, we fill gaps. I dunno."



One of Rocky's dominant characteristics is his extreme perseverance against all odds when something matters to him.  This is true both in his personal life (with Adrian), and in the ring.  It is a forgone conclusion that Rocky will be clobbered by Apollo.  Apollo is a champion, and Rocky is a nobody with five weeks to train.  But Rocky is determined to make a stand: "Who am I kiddin'?  I ain't even in the guy's league...It don't matter, 'cause I was nobody before...I was nobody.  That don't matter either, ya know...It really don't matter if I lose this fight.  It really don't matter if this guy opens my head, either.  'Cause all I wanna do is go the distance.  Nobody's ever gone the distance with Creed.  And if I can go that distance, ya see, and that bell rings, ya know, and I'm still standin', I'm gonna know for the first time in my life, ya see, that I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood."

There are a couple of moments in the movie that came about by accident, because of errors made by the prop department, that Stallone worked into the script, and these scenes work really well.  They work as subtle reminders that nobody really takes Rocky seriously..  In one, Rocky checks out a poster of himself, and observes, "Mr. Jergens, the poster's wrong."  "What do ya mean?" Jergens asks.  "Well, I'm wearin' white pants with a red stripe."  In the poster, he has red pants with white stripes.  Jergens answers, "It doesn't really matter, does it?  I'm sure you're gonna give us a great show."  In another, before the match, he points out his robe being too big to Adrien.  It helps paint the picture of how nobody really cared that much about him -he was just a ticket for Apollo to get some good publicity, and nobody thought he had a chance.




Rocky doesn't win the fight -he narrowly loses by a split decision (I know what this means now -I have watched enough boxing movies to understand some lingo!) -but he does what he came to do: he goes the distance.  He is still standing at the end, amazing everybody.  Nobody had ever come that close to defeating Apollo before.  As stunned reporters try to interview him, he famously ignores all around him and calls out for Adrien, declaring his love for her when she finally makes her way through the crowd to him.

A great movie -one of the best sports movies of all time, and a sweet romantic movie to boot.  Why are boxing movies always the best?

I also wanted to mention that, as someone with young kids, I appreciate that this movie managed to be gritty without being overly violent or containing any swear words.  It's an adult movie that I can actually watch with the kids around, much like On the Waterfront.


Words of Wisdom from Rocky Balboa:

Ya gotta be a moron to wanna be a fighter, ya know.  I mean, it's a racket where you're almost guaranteed to end up a bum. -Rocky

You wanna dance, you gotta pay the band, you understand?  If you wanna borrow, you gotta pay the man. -Rocky

Lockers are bad anyway.  After a while, people get the combination.  I must have had twenty bucks taken out of there in the past six years, ya know.  Don't sound like much, but it adds up, ya know.  Doesn't matter, who cares? -Rocky

If you can make money off my name, make it, OK? -Rocky

That's the way guys are.  They laugh when ya talk dirty.  They think you're cute.  But after awhile, you get a reputation and that's it.  You get no respect. Ya understand? Ya get no respect. I gotta use a bad word - WHORE...You don't really have to be one, you just act like one and that's it. They don't remember you, they remember the rep...You hang out with nice people, you get nice friends, ya understand? You hang out with smart people, you get smart friends. You hang out with yo-yo's, you get yo-yo friends. You see, simple mathematics. -Rocky

You don't talk dirty about your sister! -Rocky

Don't smoke that. It makes your breath like garbage. -Rocky

Do you like having a good time? Then you need a good watch! -Rocky II

Y'know, sometimes charity really hurts. -Rocky III

Nothing is real if you don't believe in who you are!  -Rocky III

Friends don't owe! They do because they wanna do. -Rocky III

During this fight, I've seen a lot of changing, in the way you feel about me, and in the way I feel about you. In here, there were two guys killing each other, but I guess that's better than twenty million. I guess what I'm trying to say, is that if I'ze can change, and youze can change, everybody can change!   -Rocky IV

Going in one more round when you don't think you can - that's what makes all the difference in your life.  -Rocky IV

Nature's smarter than people think... -Rocky V

It's your right to listen to your gut, it ain't nobody's right to say no after you earned the right to be where you want to be and do what you want to do!... You know, the older I get the more things I gotta leave behind, that's life. The only thing I'm asking you guys to leave on the table... is what's right. -Rocky Balboa

You know, I think you try harder when you're scared... That's when it's worked best for me. -Rocky Balboa

The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you! -Rocky Balboa

You gotta think like you think. -Rocky Balboa

Don't forget to visit your mother.  -Rocky Balboa

I think every guy should at one time try to name an animal or something. -Rocky Balboa