Rocky (1976) Movie Review

Rocky (1976) Movie Review

This is a great movie. I can see why it is considered a “classic.” It has the properties of an amazing feature film. United Artists did a good job with it. I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.

Rocky was my favorite character. He definitely fit in the “street guy” mold. Rocky was funny, but he didn’t really mean to be most of the time. He has a really deep voice, so it was a little hard to tell if he was in a good mood or not, plus he kept his face like iron. He seemed like he was a professional boxer already, because at the very beginning fight a sign in the background said “pro boxing,” but Apollo Creed was a pro, too, and Rocky acted as if he was a minor league team battling a major league team.

There honestly wasn’t a ton wrong with this movie. A lot of it was realistic, and made sense. Rocky himself was very realistic. He was in a very tight spot, and had a lot of friends, but even they didn’t seem that nice to him. His boss, who he worked for as kind of a hired muscle type, seemed like he could fit into a real-life situation like that also.

Rocky’s apartment was my favorite place in the whole movie, maybe besides the place where Rocky trained in the freezer. The turtles were a nice touch. They added spice to the storyline. One thing that was confusing to me was the dog Adrian gave him. After he got the dog, it seemed like he only had it around once. Was it a dog that lived with him, or did it still dwell in the pet store and only go on runs with him?

Adrian was a good character, even if she only really liked Rocky about a third through the movie. After a while, it seemed like Adrian liked Rocky more than he liked her, even though that’s probably not the case.

I couldn’t tell if everyone on the street liked Rocky or not. When he walked that kid home, she seemed grumpy at first, then she seemed like she felt that Rocky was saying the right thing, and then she said, “Screw you, creepo!” I couldn’t tell if everyone despised him or liked him, because he seemed like he knew almost everyone that just hung around. One of the best scenes of the whole entire movie was when Rocky found that guy who was asleep, or knocked out, or something, and brought him inside the restaurant. Rocky set him down with some other man inside a booth, and the guy was still asleep. That made me laugh. Rocky seems like one of those guys who is trying to figure out what he is good at. He is not very lucky, has little money, no real job that earns him enough to live like a real person, and few people in his world that want to help him.

Paulie. Paulie, Paulie… Paulie. Paulie was interesting. He was grumpy, destructive, and still kind of a good guy. He yelled, and was selfish, but some part of us still liked him, never mind how unlikeable he was. Nobody except for Rocky really gave him much of anything in this movie, because he didn’t need much. He already had a home, a job, and a life figured out. But he definitely wasn’t a very jolly dude. He obviously had a lot to think about, with his sister, and Rocky, and his house. Unlike other characters, he had a good enough house. Paulie seems to represent the inner dark side, Grinch, and evil twin inside us all. He has the characteristics of a Santa who hates Christmas: he is overweight, likes to yell, and smashes stuff on Christmas. Now that I think of it, Paulie is a total holiday pooper. He ruined Thanksgiving, and made Christmas a madhouse.

Rocky said something interesting on Thanksgiving: “It’s Thanksgiving for you. For me, it’s Thursday.” This says that Rocky has not enjoyed many holidays in his life, and special days for everyone else are just gloom and doom days for him. Rocky has a lot of pictures of his old life, like him when he was a kid on his mirror, and I wonder if this makes him feel kind of ashamed of what he has become: somebody who works as a tough guy and earns very little from what he does.

I feel like Rocky could have boxed a little more in this movie. It is a boxing movie, but he boxes twice -- in the beginning and the end. I feel like another fight would have been good. Something I noticed was that the story started sometime in either August, September, or October, and ended on January 1st. Why do I say this? Because at the end of the first boxing match at the start of the movie, Rocky asks when he will fight again, and a man replies, “maybe in two weeks.” Well, in two weeks, he didn’t fight. In fact, he didn’t fight for months after that, so I’m thinking I missed something there.

Mickey was OK, but it was crystal clear he wasn’t in it for Rocky to become famous and have a good life. He did the whole dang thing for the money! He didn’t care about anything Rocky did as long as he got money. If Rocky sang songs about teddy bears and did cartwheels on zebras, Mickey would be fine if it just brought him cash. Mickey was greedy just like Paulie. I was surprised Rocky screamed his head off at Mickey for basically betraying him and then coming back, and then once Mickey was gone, Rocky ran out of his apartment to talk to him. Wasn’t Rocky just suspicious and angry at Mickey for saying these things? And then Rocky goes back and accepts Mickey’s offer? This confused me.

I really liked the fact that Rocky trained inside of a meat freezer. It was unique, and funny when he said, “No, I think I invented it.” I know it was for protein and he was trying to build up his stamina, but drinking five eggs at 4:00 in the morning about two months before the real boxing match with Apollo was gross, and he probably didn’t need to do it that long before the match.

It seemed really unfair that Apollo won in the end, because Rocky trained his life out, and then fought really hard against Apollo, only for his opponent to win. It even seemed like Rocky beat Apollo up more, even though Rocky had a bloody mouth, a twisted cheek, and an eye that closed up, and globs of snot falling out of his nose, and was practically more dead than alive. It was a dangerous game doing the “come at me” with Apollo at that round, because both of them could barely stand upright. I know that it was still a good end because Rocky won respect, and Adrian, and proved he was a worthy fighter.

A common background object in this movie I noticed fairly often was trash cans lit on fire. Were these just for warmth, like we picture them being for? Or were they lit for fun as a trick? This is a question I have, but it is probably not necessary for the movie to answer this one since it is so irrelevant.

Another thing I noticed was that Apollo’s trainer that supported him on the sideline of the ring said something like, “He doesn’t know it’s not a show, he thinks it’s a fight.” What did that mean? It made it seem like Apollo and his trainers didn’t take any of it very seriously, and thought it was just a “show” that you just had to impress people in. Then it seems like Apollo isn’t really worthy of the heavyweight champion honor, if he will just keep treating it like it isn’t really something you have to work at. This almost makes me/you want to root for Rocky even more, because he needs to prove that it’s more than just a game, a show, something that can’t be taken seriously. I think everyone is surprised Rocky is doing that well, but even more surprised when Apollo won. Wasn’t Rocky supposed to win, and teach Apollo a lesson, and have a good life after that? Not quite. It proves that Rocky can still be an amazing boxer, even if he can’t beat the champion of the world, which nobody can.

Rocky being left-handed is interesting. He brings this up several times, and he even says nobody wants to fight a southpaw. He seems to know a lot about southpaw-ness. He explains it all to Adrian when they are ice-skating, and kind of starts to ramble about it, so maybe he likes it after all. It’s hard to tell. Anyway, there isn’t a lot wrong with this movie. I can see why it got such good reviews. It’s exciting to watch, and a lot of food for thought. I would give it a 95% and an A+. If you haven’t seen it, you’ve missed out. It is very original and just fun.