Review of Rocky (1976) by Richard D — 07 Oct 2018

The plot of "Rocky" seems like it mirrors the circumstances surrounding it's making. Stallone, an actor struggling so badly to get by that he had had to sell his dog, writes this movie about a loser who gets his big break and sells the script for quite a bit of money, but only on the condition that he gets to star in the film.

(He bought his dog back too ... he's in the film.) The film is a massive success and Stallone is off to a huge career that, among other tings, includes him playing Rocky 7 more times on screen. It's reputation seems to have suffered a bit over the years partly because it lead to a series of increasingly inane sequels, but also because it managed to win a Best Picture Oscar against a field that included "Taxi Driver", "Network" and "All the President's Men".

Should any of this reflect badly on the film itself? Not really ... or rather, not entirely. The film is largely remembered as a fell-good story, but it's "feel-good" relative to the kinds of films made in the mid-70's.

While it builds to a rousing, triumphant climax, it's, at heart, a gritty, New York film of the period that just happens to be set in Philadelphia. Among movies of it's kind, it isn't top notch.

It has a fairly stereotypical story works extremely well, but isn't really anything you haven't seen a few dozen times before. The film made Stallone a star, but he isn't much of an actor here.

He's got charisma, and audiences like him, but his performance is just a bundle of tics repeated throughout the film. Did it deserve Best Picture? Hell no ... but the winner rarely does. Among sentimental, much beloved films, it's a class act.