Rocky

Rating

Director

John G. Avildsen

Screenplay

Sylvester Stallone

Length

119 min.

Starring

Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith, Thayer David, Joe Spinell, Jimmy Gambina, Bill Baldwin

MPAA Rating

PG

Review

What began as a boxing drama about an underdog looking to make a place for himself in the world became a box office success, spawned a series of sequels and won an undeserved Oscar for Best Picture.

Rocky stars boxer Sylvester Stallone as the titular Rocky Balboa, a down on his luck prizefighter struggling to make something of himself. Setbacks plague him as he tries to build up the courage he lacks outside of the ring to ask out the self-conscious girl at the pet store.

When the chance of a lifetime, to fight the world boxing champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), he goes out of his way to build up his own confidence and fight his way back into shape so that he can “go the distance” with Creed. He doesn’t want to beat him, he just wants to make it through the requisite fifteen rounds with him.

Rocky isn’t another story about a smart kid trapped in a difficult situation who finds redemption through training and success as a professional boxer. Rocky is about a dumb boxer trapped in life as a fighter who believes his only way to redemption is through boxing.

Talia Shire gives a performance that is a 180-degree departure from her work in the Godfather films. Shire plays the nerdy pet store clerk Adrian Pennino with whom Rocky falls in love. Also starring is Burgess Meredith in an all-too brief performance as the owner of the boxing training facility who sees in Rocky a chance to do everything he never could as a boxer before becoming a trainer.

Together, Shire, Meredith and Stallone prop up an otherwise lackluster cast of characters. Burt Young is hardly interesting as Adrian’s self-promoting, opportunist brother. And Carl Weathers barely makes a dent in a rather one-dimensional role as the boxer Creed.

The fight scenes leave a great deal to be desired. Early in the film, slow cuts and poor angles reveal numerous poorly choreographed punches that stretch the reality of imagination. This is corrected later in the film with more fluid and quick cuts in the final match but is only a small reprieve from an otherwise poor edit.

There is also a rather unfortunate use of color symbolism in the film. Creed, dressed in the red white and blue of the American flag stands in the ring dressed as the fictional military recruiter Uncle Sam. Standing opposite him in a robe paid for through sponsorship is Rocky. His colors: yellow and red. Today, the color choices are immaterial. The Cold War has long been ended. However, at the time, Communism was still feared and considered an enemy. Using the colors yellow and red, characteristic of all Communist states (Russia, China and Cuba among others) only serves to diminish the film’s impact as we’re supposed to believe and care for this many Balboa yet equating him to a supposed enemy only dampens the impression.

Though Rocky features three good performance, it also possesses and worthwhile story. No matter who or what Rocky turns out to be. Whether he wins the match or not, he proved something to himself and the people around him. He proved that he could do anything he desired as long as he wanted it and worked for it hard enough. These are the film’s only saving graces. If not for the unfortunate use of color symbolism and the terrible editing, Rocky could have been a great film. Instead it’s merely your typical tale of success in the face of adversity.

Review Written

December 8, 2006