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Rocky
Rocky Balboa is a Philadelphia club fighter who seems to be going nowhere. But when a stroke of fate puts him in the ring with a world heavyweight champion, Rocky knows that it's his one shot at the big time — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go the distance and come out a winner!
1976 · Directed by John G. Avildsen · 120 min · Drama · Screenplay in the scene database · 17 frames
Tagline
His whole life was a million-to-one shot.
Plot
To mark the upcoming United States Bicentennial, heavyweight boxing world champion Apollo Creed plans to hold a title bout in Philadelphia. 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. All other potential replacements are either booked or unable to get into shape in time. Having invested heavily into the fight, Apollo decides to give a local contender a chance to challenge him.
He selects Rocky Balboa, an Italian-American journeyman southpaw boxer living in poverty, who primarily fights in small gyms and works as a collector for a Mafia loan shark. Rocky is chosen on the basis of his nickname, "The Italian Stallion", because Apollo feels that the name is most suitable for marketing purposes. Rocky meets with promoter George Jergens and agrees to the fight, which will pay him $150,000. Rocky puts himself through several weeks of unorthodox and improvised training, such as using sides of beef as punching bags.
He is later approached by Mickey Goldmill, a former bantamweight fighter-turned-trainer whose gym Rocky frequents, about further training. Rocky is not willing initially, as Mickey has not shown much interest in helping him before and saw him as a wasted talent, but eventually he accepts the offer.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Written by: Sylvester Stallone
- Cinematography: James Crabe
- Edited by: Scott Conrad, Richard Halsey
- Music: Bill Conti
- Production design: William J. Cassidy
- Produced by: Robert Chartoff, Irwin Winkler
Cast
- Sylvester Stallone as Robert 'Rocky' Balboa
- Talia Shire as Adrianna 'Adrian' Pennino
- Burt Young as Paulie Pennino
- Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed
- Burgess Meredith as Mickey Goldmill
- Thayer David as George 'Miles' Jergens
- Joe Spinell as Tony Gazzo
- Jimmy Gambina as Mike
- Bill Baldwin as Fight Announcer
- Al Silvani as Cut Man
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English, Italian, Spanish
- Studios: Winkler Films
- Budget: $1,000,000
- Box office: $117,253,345
- Themes: underdog, philadelphia, pennsylvania, transporter, love of one's life, italian american, sports, fight, independence, publicity, boxer
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