Review of Rocky (1976) by Ken S — 30 Nov 2015

Everyone loves a good underdog story. When someone who is at the bottom, rises up and becomes what they are meant to be and proves everyone who doubted them wrong in the process. Rocky is not just a great movie, but for someone like myself who has lived in Philadelphia his entire life, as silly as it sounds, it is more than a movie.

Rocky defines my city and embodies everything about the city of Philadelphia. Sure, Philly is a major city but is it kind of stuck in the shadow of New York and Boston. Maybe you have to be from my town, but seeing Rocky Balboa run through the city and the Italian market during his training scenes makes the hair on my arms stand straight up.

Although it is a fictional character, it gives me a sense of pride that Rocky takes place in my city. Which is an underdog city to begin with. Ok, I know they probably have made too many sequels in the Rocky franchise and it got really silly with Rocky 5, but this is one of the best movies of all time.

Not just the best sports movie of all time, but of any genre. A small low budget project that was shot in a few weeks in Philadelphia, and it won Best Picture at the Oscars. Talk about a true underdog right there.

Sometimes music it good in a movie and sometimes it literally defines a movie. The latter is the case here. Everyone and I mean everyone knows the Rocky theme. There is no way when you hear that music that you don't automatically think of Rocky Balboa running up the Philadelphia Art Museum steps.