"Hate It or Love It the Underdog's on Top" by Tia Stevens

Dir. John G. Avildsen

Feat. Sylvester Stallone (Rocky), Burgess Meredith (Micky), Carl Weathers (Apollo Creed), Talia shire (Adrian), and Burt Young (Paulie)

MGM, 1976

The 1976 film, Rocky, is the perfect embodiment of the American Dream; where even an underdog can strive for glory regardless of the circumstances. Rocky is a meticulous [word choice?] romance, wrapped into a boxing drama, topped off with a story of self-discovery. The film showcases added exhilaration after rocketing Sylvester Stallone (Rocky) into momentary super-stardom, even after all the odds were set against him. Overall, Rocky depicts the American Dream coming true in real life through a rich work of fiction.

In the opening of the film, we meet Rocky Balboa (Stallone), a mediocre boxer based in Philadelphia. He can be seen fighting a man by the name of "Spider Rico" in an underground match, in which Rocky wins.  Having never dedicated himself to the sport, Rocky is not quite giving up on his dream, but gradually realizing that at 30 years old, he may be getting too old to succeed. He makes ends meet by accepting "muscleman" assignments from loan shark Tony Gazzo (Joe Spinnell), but even that doesn't seem to work for Rocky's "nice guy" persona. As the film progresses we can see that although Rocky has companionship with a few people, like Paulie (Burt Young), he is lonely. This leads to the eventual finesse (?) of Paulie's sister, the one and only, painfully shy, Adrian (Talia Shire).

In rejoice of America's bicentennial and as a result of the top-ranked contender suffering an injury just weeks before the scheduled bout, world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) and promoter George Jergens (Thayer David) decide to give an unknown "lucky" fighter a shot at the title  -  and as you may have already have assumed, Rocky Balboa, the "Italian Stallion" is chosen. With only a few short weeks to train [good], Rocky dedicates himself to get in shape and embarks on a debilitating (?) fitness regime with the help of his old manager Mickey (Burgess Meredith). As the fight approaches, romance blossoms between Rocky and Adrian, and strains develop in the friendship with Paulie. Nevertheless though, the show must go on.

Fifteen rounds and countless brutal blows later, Creed and Balboa's fight comes to a close. Both men had sustained some pretty serious injuries, including a broken nose for Rocky and internal bleeding on Apollo's end. Everyone was in a frenzy, including broadcasters, fans, and friends. The film ends with Apollo seeming to be the "victor", but if you ask me, I think Rocky won just as much as Creed did. Not only did he go the entire distance, but he discovered himself and realized that love is answer. So despite not winning the match, Rocky is still a champion in the eyes of the viewers, and that's all that matters.

In conclusion, even 40 years after its release, Rocky is an American classic. Personally, I enjoyed watching the movie and watching Rocky grow throughout the film. It was visually appealing. I feel as if everyone has to watch this movie at least once. It tells the story of life through dedication, and it's among the rarity of films that get their priorities straight and shares a positive message: the determination needed to love is much more important than the grit required to fight. Rocky is more than just an old film. It captivates the viewer and teaches a very necessary life lesson at the same time. Incredible.

Tia,

This is a competent first draft; however,  it is a little heavy on recall/retell  -  recounting plot details. I would like to see you revise this to include more analysis esp. in terms of film terms and techniques, and more opinion earlier on (you do a nice job expressing your opinions in your conclusion).  Looking forward to reading more from you.

Best, 
Monahan

"Rocky Review" by Aysia Starr

Rocky. Dir. John G. Advilsen
          Feat. Sylvester Stallone (Rocky Balboa), Brugess Meredith (Mickey), Carl Weathers (Apollo               Creed), Talia Shire (Adrian), and Burt Young (Paulie)
          MGM, 1976.

In the movie, "Rocky," directed by John G. Advildsen, we explore the themes of living the "American Dream" and the idea of underdogs in certain situations. Rocky, who was a low-life boxer, hasn't won many big-time victories. He's a relatively older man boxing these younger athletes that won't give him a chance. He lives with his pet turtles and goldfish, with no other human companion, categorizing him as lonely. However, Rocky gets a chance to prove himself on a national level. He's given the opportunity to fight the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, Apollo Creed. Here is where Advildsen shows the theme of the American Dream and being an underdog. Apollo is an African-American male boxer who is popular in a part of American culture. He is making a lot of money pursuing a career  of choice, proving that the American Dream is very possible. Apollo can also be viewed as an underdog, in a way, considering that during this time period, blacks weren't the "superior race." However, in this case, Rocky is seen as our obvious underdog. He’s never fought professionally with a higher status and he’s also challenging an undefeated champion. From an outside point of view, it may seem that all odds are against him. He fought through a life of mediocrity and this is easily overlooked by his opponent. Apollo’s original contender had encountered a last minute injury, forcing him to back out of the fight. This made Apollo find another challenger. Him, being an undefeated champion, knew no one had a chance to take the title away from him. He suggested that his manager finds a local, unpopular fighter to “get the people going.” He said “Look. It's the name man...The Italian Stallion. The media will eat it up. Now, who discovered America? An Italian, right. What would be better than to get it on with one of its descendents?” Apollo chooses an underdog to gain the popularity of his followers and viewers of the fight. \

This movie does not only display clear themes of such a topic like the American Dream and the idea of underdogs, but it also thoroughly goes into depth and great heights to explain these themes. Throughout the movie, we, as viewers, see how Advilsen explores these themes, and the depiction is almost uncanny. The film itself has come off to me (and many others) as a "classic and timeless" movie. However, the themes of the American Dream and being/ challenging an underdog can be explained in different ways. Therefore, I believe the film should be recommended to  those of a more "mature" mentality. The scenes aren't particularly graphic (compared to some 21st century films) but it does showcase stage fights and bodily  wounds (i.e. blood, bruises, cuts, and sweat)  making this film not-so appropriate for those with sensitivity to explicit content. The movie was published in 1976, categorizing it as an "older film." If these types of films do not usually capture your attention, then this movie might not either. Although the action in this film may not engage a specific audience, if you enjoy the aesthetics and screenwriting of a classic film just as I do, then Rocky should be added onto your list of must-see movies.

Rocky Balboa #edwingarcia

Rocky Balboa
 


A few days before Thanksgiving in 1975, Rocky Balboa fights a man in a tiny gym's boxing ring. At first it's not looking good for Balboa, but when his opponent headbutts him, Rocky beats him down to the mat. Here's a tip if you find yourself in the ring with Rocky: don't mess with his face. He's very proud of that nose. Rocky wins a cheap amount of forty bucks. Boxing doesn't pay the bills (even forty dollars wasn't much in 1975) so Rocky works as a, um, "collection agent" for a local mob boss/loan shark. When he isn't collecting debts or bruising faces, Rocky is trying to charm Adrian, the clerk at the local pet store.

She's the sister of Rocky's best friend, Paulie, who works at the local slaughterhouse. After multiple failed attempts, Rocky finally succeeds on getting a date with Adrian on Thanksgiving night. The two are the only ones at the local skating rink after Rocky bribes the owner with ten bucks. Adrian wants to know why Rocky boxes. He says it's because he's a "bum" and a "moron." But she doesn't care that he's a bum, and he doesn't care that she's shy, so these two are a perfect couple. They're best couple in movie history. Rocky soon has an opportunity to prove to himself that he isn't a bum, after all. Heavyweight champion of the world, Apollo Creed, needs a new challenger. 

Creed has flair, and he wants the fight to be a spectacle. So he chooses Rocky Balboa, the Italian Stallion, knowing what good publicity it will be when he gives a local Philly boy a shot at the title.At first, Rocky doesn't think he's good enough to fight Creed. But he realizes that he doesn't have to win to prove to himself that he isn't a bum. He simply has to "go the distance," which means fifteen rounds with the champ without getting knocked out. No one has ever done that before, and Rocky is determined to be the first.He trains. He jogs up the steps of Philadelphia's Museum of Art. He punches slabs of meat in the slaughterhouse. Mickey, the owner of a local gym, becomes Rocky's trainer and manager.

On New Year's Day, 1976, it's time for the fight of the century—maybe even the biggest fight in American history since the Revolutionary War. Apollo Creed enters the ring dressed as George Washington. He has the skills to back up the showmanship, and he almost knocks Rocky out immediately.But Rocky holds on. Mickey advises him to go for Apollo's ribs, and Rocky hits him so hard, he breaks a few. Rocky also gets his precious nose broken, but he keeps his cool and doesn't let that stop him. He goes the distance with the champ. He doesn't win the fight, but he doesn't care, because he has proven his own self-worth. (Aw, shucks.) And he has Adrian. She rushes from the locker room, through the crowd, and onto the ring to embrace Rocky, swollen face and all. The two soulmates say "I love you" for the first time, and the movie ends with this romantic knockout.

Rocky Orlando Rodriguez

Rocky Balboa, a small-time boxer, gets a supremely rare chance to fight heavy-weight champion Apollo Creed in a bout in which he strives to go the distance for his self-respect.

Director:

 John G. Avildsen

Writer:

 Sylvester Stallone

Stars:

 Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young |

  I think the movie “Rocky” starting Sylvester Stallone is a great motivational film that I highly recommend. Even though Rocky loses the fight against Apollo Creed, he celebrates with his wife Adrian because he went the distance. The whole movie is inspirational because people doubted him throughout the entire movie and they said he was going to lose and that he shouldn’t be in the ring with a great boxer like Creed. Rocky takes the criticism as motivation and starts training harder and harder every day with the help of his trainer and long time friend Mickey. Even though Micky and Rocky had differences they still managed to overcome it and work together to be successful.

         The training scenes were my favorite part about the movie, no matter what challenges he had to deal with he kept going and got stronger and faster.

Apollo Creed was an interesting character to me. I couldn’t really get a feel for him, he was excited to fight Rocky because he thought it’d be an easy win, but when he noticed Rocky was getting more and more prepared for the fight and people started liking him, Creed starting getting upset by it. Overall I think Creed was a great character but at times his ego got the best of him.

           When it was time to fight I was anxious for it, mostly because I didn’t know who was gonna win, I didn’t know if it was going to be a cliche type movie where the underdog wins. They went back and forth throughout the whole fight, Creed had the upper hand through most of the fight. Mickey wanted to stop the fight because Rocky’s eye was starting to swell up and close. Rocky said if they stop the fight he’ll kill them and to cut open his eye.

        Creed wins by decision and tells Rocky he doesn’t want a rematch, Rocky is filled with emotion because he went the distance with a great fighter in Creed. I really enjoyed this movie and highly recommend it.

"Rocky" by Angel Ramos

Angel Ramos 

Period B3

September 20, 2017 

Director: John G. Avildeen
Writer: Sylvester Stallone
Stars: Carl Weathers, Talia Shire, Burnt Young

Publisher: MGM, 1976

The Blog

Rocky Balboa, a small-time boxer, gets an extremely rare chance to fight  the heavy-weight champion Apollo Creed in which he strives to go the distance for his self-respect. This amazing heavy-weight champion doesn't really pay any mind to this "loser", Rocky Balboa. In the movie when Creed's manager was trying to gain Creed's attention about Rocky. He didn't seem so interested and was continuing to worry about getting a haircut from his barber. Creed was underestimating Rocky because he was considered a low life but little did he know Rocky was on the becoming of something big. His manager/trainer Mickey, wants to help Rocky in the exhibition match with the champion Creed. Rocky then becomes interested in this shy lady named Adrian. They slowly start to fall in love with each other and she stays by his side throughout the huge fight. Rocky has a weird way of training. He practices his jabs and combat skills on raw meat at a meat packing company. Fight promoter Jergens gets things in gear, and Rocky continues his unique way of training and Mickey helps him aw well. After a lot of training, Rocky is ready for the match, and he wants to prove that he can go the distance with Apollo Creed.

Rocky is a lower ranked person compared to Creed. This fight is something big for Rocky. The underdog gets a chance to beat the champ and give himself a name. But Creed doesn't pay any mind to Rocky. He is uninterested in what Rocky has to say since the fact that he is the champ and not Rocky. He focuses on himself more than other people since in the movie , his haircut is more important than being informed about Rocky. As all this happens,  Rocky gains attention onto this lady called Adrian. She seems to be very shy and Rocky was trying to get her to change and open up. The first night Rocky was able to open her up, literally. They fell in love and she was there for him throughout his fight. Rocky changed from the beginning to the end of the movie. He was nobody collecting taxes and working for the mafia. Now he transitioned into a different person who focuses on boxing , beating Creed, and his girlfriend Adrian. 

I would rate this a good movie because of the story line and how Rocky changed as a person. It is a good message because it shows that anyone can change their life and never to back down from challenges. Like the challenge he had to face of fighting Creed. 

Italian Stallion Takes On Creed

Rocky. Dir. John G. Avidsen
            Feat. Sylvester Stallone (Rocky Balboa), Burgress Meredith (Mickey), Carl Weathers (Apollo    
              Creed), Talia Shire (Adrian), and Burt Young (Paulie) 
            MGM, 1976

          The film Rocky projects the idea of not letting negativity get the best of you. Throughout the film the main character Rocky Balboa is constantly getting comments that try to bring him down or make him second guess himself. It wasn't just people in the movie telling him that he's a "bum" or that he can't do it, he also had his moments where he would doubt himself and start to believe that he wasn't going to be able to win. The film starts off with Rocky being an unknown fighter, he makes money from winning these small fights he's able to pick up and from doing "jobs" like picking up money. Since he wasn't making much from those little fights he found other ways to keep his wallet from going empty. Rocky wasn't a bad hearted person nor was he into violence unless of course he was in the ring. He had a mutual attitude with everyone expect with one person-- he goes into a local pet store to flirt with one of the workers who happened to be the sister of his best friend. After sometime of flirting and getting to know Adrian they become a couple. At this point in the film a champion boxer, Apollo Creed, comes in search of someone to fight. Creed wants someone who is like an unknown fighter. Rocky "The Italian Stallion" is picked out of a number of fighters to be in the ring with Apollo Creed. He starts to take his training seriously to prepare him self for this big fight. The night before his big day is when he goes to Adrian telling her how he won't win, but he isn't focused on winning as much as being able to last in the fight. Before a big moment everyone always has that thought of doubt in their mind and it from all the nervousness  excitement, and a bunch of other emotions mixing together. During the beginning of the fight Creed has had some good hits on Rocky, but throughout some of the middle Rocky starts to get his punches in. It wasn't until the last parts of the fight when Rocky began to heat up and get creed down and continue to get his good hits. At the end of the fight Rocky was proud that he made it through all fifteen rounds with Creed and prove that he wasn't what everyone labeled him as.

           Rocky Balboa was someone who was challenged by a champion; a professional fighter. He changed his lifestyle around to help with his preparation just for this fight. He was able to learn to have some faith in himself and he had Adrian as part of his motivation. Rocky was use to fighting other people who weren't really known like himself. He accepted the fight even though he didn't want to at first because it wasn't much of a fair fight. I feel like the respect that Rocky received at the end for lasting all fifteen round was deserved because Apollo had a bunch of other fights that he has won and Rocky never really competed in a fight that big.

          I personally like action movies like this because they almost always have a backstory to them. I like seeing Rocky improve himself throughout the film. If you're the type of person that likes having a feeling of adrenaline going through you then I would recommend it, but if you're someone who doesn't care for seeing people throw their hardest punches at each other then this isn't the movie for you.

"Underdog" by Victoria Romprey

Rocky. Dir. John G. Avidsen
           Feat. Sylvester Stallone (Rocky Balboa), Burgess Meredith (Mickey), Carl Weathers (Apollo              Creed), Talia Shire (Adrian), and Burt Young (Paulie)
           MGM, 1976

            The movie "Rocky" starts with a gruesome fight between Rocky-the Italian Stallion- and the challenger "Spider Reko" (Played by Pedro Lovell). Although Rocky struggles with the local small town fight, he ends up getting an extra wave of energy and takes the win. This is almost foreshadowing into the future, as the world weight champ Apollo searches for a new partner to fight against for one of the biggest fights in the country, the Bicentennial fight. Apollo decides to pick someone from the hometown of Philly rather than finding a "suitable" match for his level of boxing. He looks for an underdog that will put up an entertaining and inspiring fight. While looking for a fighter, he specifically looked for a white male. In this time of America there was still a lot of stress behind the races of modern day activities, and America still considered African Americans the lower race so Apollo being of a darker skin color and being the world champion is living a literal definition of the American Dream at the time.
            Rocky is looked down upon by million across the nation in the coming weeks of this fight, which is something I believe many if not all people can relate to. We've all had a pivotal moment where we along with what seemed like everyone else was rooting for your own opponent. The movie then goes to show one of the most famous montages in filmography history with Rocky running up the stairs of Independence Hall, and intense clips of sparring matches he has at the gym we see the preparation he has put into this fight, yet, another thing the human population can understand. Going the extra mile, taking the next step and going one further, stepping up your game, if you want to succeed, this is the only way and Rocky shows this with great triumph continuously bettering himself. Although Rocky goes on to lose the fight against Apollo, he ended up going the distance and shocking everyone around him. Even though he did not take home the win, he lost the title of underdog and was quick to regain the spark that had dissapeared from within him.
           I personally dislike action movies more than I ever do enjoy them, I often become quite bored with the existence of the characters and feel my attention slipping from the grasp of the directors and actors. Although, I have to say I was more interested in Rocky than I ever have been in a Marvel or Fast and Furious movie. Even if you are like me and lack large desires for the thrill in movies, I believe you should still give this one a chance. Rocky not only shows the story of an underrated and underestimated fighter, Rocky shows a new and interesting input on the classic story of the everyday "Underdog" who goes from being nothing, to everything in a short matter of time.

"Rocky" By: Anthony Ruggiero

*Spoiler Warning*

Rocky is a 1976 drama/sports film about a boxer named Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) who gets the opportunity of a lifetime when he is offered to fight the world heavyweight champion of the boxing industry, Apollo Creed (Carl weathers). 

                    Throughout the movie Rocky is portrayed as being a bum because he only does underground boxing matches. Also he lives in an apartment that is all dirty and messy and very small almost like a tenement. Rocky is also a debt collector so he can make some extra money on top of the $40.55. In one scene Rocky is told to break a mans fingers if he doesn't pay the full amount of $200 but he chooses to take the mans money sum of $132 and not break his fingers. In this scene it seems like Rocky is kind and doesn't like to have a lot of violence even though he is a boxer.
                    Later on in the movie he starts to date Adrian (Talia Shire) the girl from the pet store he goes to all the time to get food for his turtles, Cuff and Link. Adrian eventually moves in with Rocky after her brother Paulie (Burt Young) comes home drunk and throws a big fit. In one scene Rocky is almost kind of disrespected when the promoters got his shorts colors wrong on a banner, instead of the shorts being white with a red stripe they are red with a white stripe.
                     When the fight starts Apollo Creed is fooling around and toying with Rocky until Rocky knocks Creed to the ground and shows him how much power he really has. Come round 15 both fighters are still standing but in the end Creed edges out Balboa to take the win. In the final scene Rocky is surrounded by a ton of people and instead of attending to the people he screams "Adrian", and the movie ends.
                     
                       In my opinion the movie was great, it thought it had a very well done story and great character development. The only part I did not agree with was Rocky losing the fight but at the same time its kind of a surprise to the viewers who thought Rocky was gonna win. Other than that the movie was everything you'd ever want in a movie. Rocky has now become one of my favorite movies and I am glad it is a cult classic in the film business.

Rocky By Shanelle Lester

Rocky made in (1976). An Academy award-winning film based on [the life of fictional boxer] Rocky "The Italian Stallion" Balboa (Sylvester Stallone). Who is a small time boxer that is apart [apart as one word means separate from] of the working class, living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is chosen to take on the heavyweight champion Apollo Creed played by Carl Weathers in getting a second chance to shine.

Rocky who is down on his luck in boxing, struggles to make money, leaving him to work as the muscle for a loan shark named Tony Gazzo played by Joe Spinell . Rocky is a merciful guy, who loves animals, gives people advice, let them walk all over him saying anything they want to say and spares people life even when his boss the loan shark tells him to hurt someone just so they will pay up. Rocky is a boxer yet he takes all the disrespect that people give him. Rocky has a reputation as being an underdog, he is called a loser, creepy and etc. Although rocky boxes and works for a loan shark he take interest in his best friend Paulie (Burt Young) younger sister Adrian played by (Talia Shire) who at first denied her interest in liking rocky but later on in the movie she starts to fall in love with him.

"Rocky: The Peoples Champion" By Juwan Sims

In the [if you add "Academy" then award becomes a proper noun and requires capitalization] Award-winning film Rocky by director John G. Avildsen and screenwriter/actor Sylvester Stallone, they have put a recurring theme [ of the main character Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) being an underdog. They did this by first showing Rocky boxing in an underground ring against Spider Rico (Pedro Lovell) and even though he [Rocky?] won his match he still had to “bum” a cigarette off of someone.

As well when he got paid from the match it wasn’t a lot of money and even his opponents aren’t much and are referenced as “bums” as well and after his match was over he keeps asking when was his next match eager to fight again but they keep telling him they will let him know the next match was. Rocky even has a side job as muscle to a loan shark named Tony Gazzo (Joe Spinell) which he isn’t that good at either since he was supposed to get Gazzo’s money from a dock worker but he left him off easy since he was supposed to break the man finger but instead he took what was in his wallet and left. Of course, he was yell at by Gazzo but other than that there were no repercussions. Later on that week Rocky decided to go to his local boxing gym that he went to for over Ten years that was owned by Mickey (Burgess Meredith) to found out all his stuff was put on “skid row” and his locker was taken by another boxer that Mickey think has more potential. When Rocky started to walk home he decided to try to help a young girl and was telling her that reputations are what everyone remembers by but after telling her all that she still called him a creep. Rocky would later get his come up after being challenged to a fight by Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) which he was reluctant to do it and even after training non-stop, the night of the fight he was feeling like he couldn’t beat Apollo. In his match with Apollo, he manages to knock him down which was a first in a while for Apollo and survive 15 rounds with him

Rocky "The American Dream" by Henry Seyue

Rocky Dir. John G. Avildsen
Feat. Sylvester Stallone (Rocky), Burgess Meredith (Micky), Carl Weathers (Apollo Creed), Talia shire (Adrian), and Burt Young (Paulie)
MGM, 1976 
  


Rocky is truly a coming of age tale that sets the criteria for what is considered a classic in every sense of the word, it's long but doesn't overstay its welcome; it's relatable (even if you aren't a lower class Italian-American); it has undeniable substance; it has the cameraplay that is essential in any revered piece of cinematography; it has a recognizable musical score, and most importantly it has what I would call unprecedented replay value [nice turn of phrase]. I personally have watched it what is now five times and I must say, it hasn't yet begun to depreciate. I believe the reason for this is because the concept of the film is something that never loses it's worthーthe American Dream. The logic is fairly simple, you create a film with a priceless topic and you get a priceless film. This must be something that both filmmakers Avildsen and Stallone understood well as they brought their minds together to create a script and scenery that coincides perfectly with the concept of the film. I don't say this too often, but I believe that Rocky is a rare five out of five star action film that is yet to be duplicated.

The film begins inside a church of all places, where we actually see Christ looking over Rocky as he fights a battle, both metaphorically and literally [Yass!]. This is some of the clever mise en scène of Avildsen I spoke of earlier. After Rocky gathers his meager compensation of forty bucks (or  $176 in today's money) he is out on the streets where his metaphorical battle continues. We hardly hear Rocky talk until he is back at his apartment engaging in conversation with his animals, implying he has a poor mental state. This aspect of Rocky is beautifully captured by Stallone as Rocky lacks any intelligent lines in the film as well as Stallone's performance in various scenes that seem too genuine to have been scripted [Go Henry!]. We later meet Rocky's love interest, Adrian (Talia Shire  -  real life sister of director Francis Ford Coppola). This makes his character that much more relatable to viewers who have had that "special someone" in their lives that never seemed to reciprocate their energy. Besides the aspect of unrequited love [finger snaps], there is more to relate to as the film progresses. 

Rocky would later become an underdog when challenged by Apollo Creed. As If having the odds stacked against him in life wasn't enough, the odds are now against him in the ring. As rocky prepares to fight this provides us with one of the most epic training montages in film history. As he climbs the steps of independence hall we witness an iconic and relatable moment, the ascension of an underdog. The cameraplay that made this scene possible also marks a pivotal moment in film history.When the fight finally happens it takes place on a star spangled banner, which is symbolic of many things. As it relates to the American dream this is Rocky's dream come true. Rocky would go on to lose the fight but I think he already succeeded at receiving the American dream. The American dream is simply one of participation, it isn't a game, thus there are no winners or losers. With this logic in mind,  I think Rocky "won" the moment Apollo challenge him, he earned a chance to prove himself which is all the American dream is.

Now, clearly I am very passionate about this film. I really feel as though it is a gem in the filmography of Stallone and everyone involved in it, but nothing is made for everyone. If you aren't into older, grainy films I wouldn't recommend Rocky. If you aren't into action films that play with multiple other genres then I certainly wouldn't suggest it, but if you're like me and enjoy the mere aesthetic of a classic film then I'd say Rocky is a must see.

"Rocky" by Damyia Jackson

Film Studies

I honestly didn't really enjoy the movie. Maybe it's because I didn't watch it from the beginning because everyone else says that they love it, but I wasn’t really that interested. From my understanding the movie was basically about a guy that didn’t really have experience in boxing but was challenged to fight an undefeated boxer,the undisputed heavy-weight champion Apollo Creed.

The inexperienced guy was Rocky; there were parts of the movie where he was just training and it was a video montage. (Montage is a technique in film editing in which a series of short shots are edited into a sequence to condense space, time, and information). I automatically thought of foreshadowing (foreshadow a warning or indication of a future event) since he was the underdog I thought it was going to at least be a happy ending for him, and he would come out on top. What made me think that was when the montage kept going and he was getting better and better. When the fight finally came and they started he was so confident and he was doing very well compared to before. Of course automatically I thought he was gonna win, like most people and in the end it was a turn around and didn’t expect Rocky to lose. The fight was a little interesting to me because I thought it was funny so I made that part into my own little comedy so I could at least get into one part of the movie. If I was to watch it again I would watch it from the beginning so that I could see what everyone else saw and was so interested in but right now if I had a choice I wouldn’t watch the movie again.

Jonah Nazier Galan- Rocky

Rocky Dir. John G. Avildsen
Feat. Sylvester Stallone (Rocky), Burgess Meredith (Micky), Carl Weathers (Apollo Creed), Talia shire (Adrian), and Burt Young (Paulie)
MGM, 1976

On November 21, 1976, the debut of Rocky occurred. directed by John G. Avildsen and both written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. The film centers around the "rags to riches" American Dream story of Rocky Balboa, an uneducated “bum” yet soft-hearted working-class Italian-American boxer who works as a debt collector/intimidator for a loan shark in the slums of Philadelphia. He is also known for being a small time club boxer.

Rocky Balboa is viewed upon as a "bum" throughout the movie, beginning with the opening scenes as he wins his underground boxing fight; he is seen asking for a bogie and only receives $40 for his win, equivalent to $176 today [nice touch]. It is as if he is simply beating his life away, just another working class man with no purpose in life. Living in the slums of Philadelphia, rundown buildings, trash, and debris alongside the sidewalks and buildings; the neighborhood represents Rocky, hopeless and beatdown [good analysis/observation]. Rocky begins to reflect upon his self-worth and through his stagnant facial expression, he expresses shame, lack of self-respect and regrets his decisions that led him up to this point thus far.

Although Rocky is sought upon [word choice] as a "bum" or "loser," he still obtains principles. The biggest principle is respect. Yes, granted he doesn't have self-respect for himself [redundant, for whom else might one have self-respect?] in the beginning of the movie, he still advocates respect for others. As he approaches one of the men who owe the loan shark money, he doesn't break his thumb instead he preaches to break his mindset, giving him the advice to get his life together and not be a loser and waste his life away [good]. As he walks little Marie home he preaches to her to not be someone she isn't because she'll carry a bad "rep" hanging with "the coconuts in the corner." Although he cannot fully comprehend how to take care of himself he still obtains the soft-heartedness to take care of everyone before he takes care of himself.

The film constantly reminded me of  the saying, "Are you an actor or an extra?" The saying is meant to represent two types of people, the ones who star throughout their lives and be somebody or the ones who obtain it for a moment having no recognition [very nice  -  strong finish]. Rocky began as an extra, having no self-worth nor purpose for life, only obtaining gratitude through his close to no name fights. It wasn't until he was willing to make a change, to acknowledge the fact he was a nobody, had no set purpose in life, no meaning. He became an actor once he finished his fight against Apollo Creed; he didn't do the fight for everyone else  -  he did for himself. He embodied the American spirit of not giving up regardless of the forces against you [shift in perspective] because those are the moments that create your true perception.

Rocky By Nijae Gaither