#4: Rocky, starring Sylvester Stallone (as Rocky Balboa) and Talia Shire (as Adrian). Released in 1976.Plot synopsis from amazon.com: “Rocky Balboa is a struggling boxer trying to make the big time. Working in a meat factory in Philadelphia for a pittance, he also earns extra cash as a debt collector. When heavyweight champion Apollo Creed visits Philadelphia, his managers want to set up an exhibition match between Creed and a 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 forgot to tell Rocky, who sees this as his only shot at the big time.”
I was ten years old when Rocky hit the big screen. My mom took my sister and me to see the movie and boy was I ever hooked. I think most teenage boys at the time were. Rocky was an average guy. He lived in a little shack of an apartment. He didn’t like his job (as a debt collector). He had a hard time winning the girl of his dreams. He was nearing the end his boxing career without ever getting a shot at the big time. But somehow, he seemed content. That didn’t stop him from trying to get out of his job, or from continuing to try to win Adrian’s heart, or from boxing in barroom fights just to keep his dream alive though.
Who didn’t cheer when Apollo Creed announced that he was going to give Rocky Balboa, the local guy, his shot at the title after the guy who was supposed to fight Creed was unable to fight? I love the scene in which Rocky is being filmed by a television crew while he works out in a slaughter house by digging left uppercuts into the sides of unsuspecting slabs of meat. Apollo Creed’s manager sees it and his brow furrows with concern. He doesn’t like the fact that this guy appears to be a little crazy and not only that—he’s a southpaw who is a little crazy. Apollo pushes all concerns aside and promises a quick knockout.
En route to realizing his dream in the ring, his persistence with Adrian pays off and soon Rocky has everything going his way. As a ten year old boy, I just knew that Rocky was going to win the fight. Apollo got off to a great start, but Rocky eventually found his way inside and began pounding Creed’s ribcage. Both fighters were broken and bloodied and on the verge of exhaustion when the final bell sounded. And even though Rocky had been knocked down about 19 times, I still thought he was going to win. But, of course, that didn’t happen. Something better happened. He fought Creed to a draw and gained the respect of not only Creed, but of everybody else.
The movie inspired me to ask my mom if she would buy me a pair of boxing gloves. She did and I rigged up a brown paper sack with a pillow (or sometimes a blanket) inside and I’d hang it on a hook out on our back porch. I’d start with a few jabs and it would swing back and forth. I created an entire game out of it—if the sack hit me, I lost. If I knocked the contents all the way out of the sack without being hit by any of it, I won. I kept my record and let me tell you, it was quite impressive. I was undefeated and I was certain that Apollo Creed would also give me a shot at the title. But he never did.
I drank raw eggs—just like Rocky did in the movie. I started jogging—which ended promptly early one Saturday morning when I slipped on the ice and severally sprained an ankle. I had to crawl home and wake my Mom up so we could go to the hospital. I was sure it was broken. It wasn’t, but one of the nurses said she thought it might be. Hey, that was enough. I’d been wounded in pursuit of…well, I’m not sure what. But I was wounded in pursuit of something.
Seriously though, I haven’t seen this movie in over ten years, but I can still remember it (which is quite a feat for me anymore). It’s a classic and it’s the oldest movie in my top ten.
Oh, and if you are interested, check out the Rocky Balboa Blog in which you can see action shots and a video clip from the upcoming Rocky VI movie. Stallone will be 60 next week, but you’d never know it by looking at the pictures.
Previous posts in this series:
#5, Elizabethtown
#6, Luther
#7, Serendipity
#8, Message in a Bottle
#9, A Walk to Remember
#10, In Love and War
