Rocky (1976) United Artists 📢 Director: John G. Avildsen 💰 Producer: Irwin Winkler, Robert Chartoff 👫 Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith. 🏆 Awards ceremony: -49th Academy Awards: March 28, 1977. Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles, California. 🎭 Other films nominated for Best Picture this year: -All The President's Men. -Bound For Glory. -Network. -Taxi Driver. 📕 Plot summary: Rocky Balboa (SYLVESTER STALLONE) is a debt collector who does a bit of amateur boxing on the side to make ends meet when he is noticed by the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Apollo Creed (CARL WEATHERS). Apollo has the idea of giving Rocky a shot at his title in an exhibition match for the United States Bicentennial. Rocky accepts the challenge and the two men face off in the Philadelphia Spectrum for the showdown. Knowing he cannot possibly win the fight, Rocky vows to at least go the distance. As the match gets under way it quickly becomes apparent that possibly Creed may have underestimated his opponent. During the course of the film Rocky falls in love with his best friend Paulie's sister, pet store clerk Adrian (TALIA SHIRE). 💥 Standout scene(s): Stallone's workouts, including him swallowing a glass of raw eggs (try not to gag when watching it) and the bit where he runs along the docks and up those steps for the sunrise. Iconic. Memorable. 🔑 Facts: -The 49th Academy Awards. -Nominated for 10 Academy Awards, it won 3: Best Picture, Director, Editing. -Sylvester Stallone wrote the screenplay and was nominated for an Academy Award. -Third Best Picture appearance for Talia Shire (The Godfather, The Godfather Part II). 🙂 Personal opinion: A decent film which was put together by an unknown actor struggling to make a name for himself at the time - SYLVESTER STALLONE. The real charm of the story are the characters who really add some heart to the whole thing. The ugly-as-f*ck 'Italian Stallion' looks awkward throughout the entire film, which is a credit to his screenplay and the character he wrote and portrayed. Visually the film is good. The grubby streets of Philadelphia, and the interiors of the gym and of Stallone's apartment. TALIA SHIRE gets her third Best Picture screen appearance in four years and looks completely different from her roles in the first two GODFATHER films. It seemed that the first three-quarters of the film was dialogue-heavy until we reach the so-so boxing match (which has a surprise cameo from boxing legend Joe Frazier). An aging Burgess Meredith, rising star Carl Weathers, Talia Shire and Burt Young round off the cast. Plenty of sequels followed with varying degrees of repetitiveness. Did it deserve the Oscar? ✅QUESTIONABLE. To be fair it's a decent film and a great story about an underdog, which we all love to see. Was it the best film of 1976? Questionable. ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN was the superior film, and it could be argued that TAXI DRIVER has become the more famous film. But you have to go back to 1976 and consider its time. It would be unfair to dismiss the importance of ROCKY and it is with reluctance I have to concede that it probably did deserve the win. Just. ⭐️7/10

Review date: 24 March 2025