Rocky: How does it look?
Mickey: Ah, it's an improvement.
Rocky Balboa: Because I can't sing or dance.
- Followed by four sequels: Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982), Rocky IV (1985) and Rocky V (1990).
-- Box Office Online
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ROCKY (1976) | |||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
| MORGAN'S RATING | |||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
| Rocky Balboa is a stuggling boxer trying to make the big time. Working for a meat factory in Philadelphia for a pittance, he also earns cash as a debt collector. When heavyweight champion Apollo Creed visits Philadelphia, hsi manages want to set up an exhibition match between Creed and the struggling boxer, touting the fight as a chance for a 'nobody' to become a 'somebody'. The match is supposed to be easily won by Creed, but someone forget to tell Rocky, who sees this as his only shot at the big time. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Sylvester Stallone (Rocky Balboa), Talia Shire (Adrian), Burt Young (Paulie), Carl Weathers (Apollo Creed), Burgess Meredith (Mickey), Thayer David (Jergens), Jimmy Gambina (Mike), Bill Baldwin Sr. (Fight Announcer), Al Salvani (Cut Man), George Memmoli (Ice Rink Attendant), Jodi Letizia (Marie), Diana Lewis (TV Commentator), George O'Hanlon (TV Commentator), Larry Carroll (TV Interviewer), Stan Shaw (Dipper), Don Sherman (Bartender), Billy Sands (Club Fight Announcer), Pedro Lovell (Club Fighter), DeForest Covan (Apollo's Corner), Simmy Bow (Club Corner Man), Frank Stallone (Streetcorner Singer), Joe Frazier (Himself). | |||||||||||||||||||
| HIS WHOLE LIFE WAS A MILLION-TO-ONE SHOT! | |||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
| FACTS | PRODUCTION INFORMATION | ||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
| RELEASE DATE: November 21st, 1976 (USA) | DIRECTOR: John G. Avildsen (Rocky V). | ||||||||||||||||||
| BOX OFFICE RESULT: $117.2 (USA) | |||||||||||||||||||
| WRITER: Sylvester Stallone. | |||||||||||||||||||
| BUDGET: $1.1 million (USA) | |||||||||||||||||||
| PRODUCERS: Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler. | |||||||||||||||||||
| - Sylvester Stallone wrote the script in three days after he saw a boxing match between the unknown Chuck Wepner and Muhammad Ali in which Wepner went the distance. | |||||||||||||||||||
| EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Gene Kirkwood. | |||||||||||||||||||
| ORIGINAL MUSIC: Bill Conti. | |||||||||||||||||||
| DISTRIBUTOR: MGM/UA | |||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
| - The studio agreed to cast Stallone as Rocky as long as the cost of the picture remained under one million dollars. The producers even mortgaged their homes. The overall production cost was $1.1 million dollars. | |||||||||||||||||||
| QUOTES | |||||||||||||||||||
| Rocky: I can't beat him. But that don't bother me. The only thing I want to do is to go the distance, that's all. Because if that bell rings and I'm still standing, then I'm gonna know for the first time in my life, see, that I wasn't just another bum from the neighborhood. | |||||||||||||||||||
| - Originally featured a downbeat ending where Rocky enters an empty boxing arena, is consoled by a fellow fighter, and then takes Adrian's hand and walks off with her. Test screenings convinced director John G. Avildsen that a more upbeat ending was required and so he shot the scene where Rocky and Adrian push their way through the crowded boxing arena to reach one another, and then embrace. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Mickey: You're gonna eat lightin' and you're gonna crap thunder! | |||||||||||||||||||
| Rocky: Well, ya see, sir I understand you're lookin' for sparrin' partners for Apollo, and I jus' want ta let ya know that I am very available. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Apollo: Sports make you grunt and smell. Stay in school, use your brains. Be a thinker, not a stinker. | |||||||||||||||||||
| - Sylvester Stallone insisted that the scene where he admits his fears and doubts to Adrian the night before the fight be filmed, even though production was running far behind and producers wanted to skip it. He had one take ofr that scene, and was so nervous about ruining the only scene he thought was important that he got himself drunk to do it. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Mickey: Your nose is broken. Rocky: How does it look? Mickey: Ah, it's an improvement. |
|||||||||||||||||||
| Adrian: Why do you wanna fight? Rocky Balboa: Because I can't sing or dance. |
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
| CRITICAL COMMENTS | |||||||||||||||||||
| - Stallone sold the rights to make this film with the condition that he be cast in the title role. Producers offered him $150,000 to let Ryan O'Neal play the part. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Impossible to dislike, even though it's just an old B-movie brought up to date...Stallone added to its good vibes." -- Leonard Maltin. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "What makes Rocky special is that it concentrates on characters, not sports...Rocky is not a flawless motion picture, but it is a feel-good classic, and well worth another look." -- James Berardinelli | |||||||||||||||||||
| - Nominated for six Academy Awards for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Musical Song ("Gonna Fly Now"), Best Sound, Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay. The film won three Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Film Editing and Best Director. - Followed by four sequels: Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982), Rocky IV (1985) and Rocky V (1990). |
|||||||||||||||||||
| "Fight pictures being rare, Rocky succeeds as an offbeat entry by combining a Cinderella story with a rich character study of a man who boxes becauseh e doesn't know much else...the acting is generally fine...John G. Avildsen's direction is sharp and plays the satiric ingredients, as well as the more poignant qualities, to maximum effect." -- Box Office Online |
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||