"Ain't gonna be no rematch..."

"...Don't want one."

Inspiring entry in the AFI Top 100 (10th Anniversary Edition).

Film 53

53.  "Rocky" (AFI Rank #57)

When I show people "The Godfather" for the first time, at the conclusion of the wedding sequence, I stop the film and ask "How long do you think that took?"  The answer usually comes back with somewhere between 10-15 minutes.  From the moment that film opens until the ending of Connie's wedding is 25 minutes.  People are always amazed how long it took, as it seems to fly by.

Now.  I have a similar question about the Best Picture winner for 1976.

How long do you think it is, from opening bell to closing bell, for the fight sequence that ends "Rocky?"

It's 8 minutes and 30 seconds.

I point this out, because it feels like that portion of the film is so very much longer.  Not because it drags, but because it's the thing we remember.

It's hard to watch this film "in a vacuum," as there are now 5 sequels to it (with a 6th being delivered in a couple of weeks), but I tried.  "Rocky III" was on a LOT when we first got cable as kids.  I haven't watched this one in its entirety since the first time it was aired on network television, back in 1979.  I've seen pieces here and there, but this hasn't been the type of film that usually appeals to me in a "I'm flipping through stations...what's that?  Guess I know what my immediate future holds" kinda way.  Except now that I've watched it as an adult...maybe.  Maybe.

It is hard to imagine how this film was able to win the Best Picture Oscar, as its competition that year included 3 other entries from the AFI Top 100.  They are, and tell me if you've heard of any of them, "All The President's Men," "Network," and a little film that no one ever remembers, ever, "Taxi Driver."  These are powerhouse films, and a little film, starring nobody, written by a nobody, about a palooka boxer from Philadelphia won Best Picture.  Researching the film a bit, it is amazing that it even got made.  Written by Sylvester Stallone, who insisted he had to star in the film if a studio wanted it, the script was shopped about quite a bit, eventually finding a home at United Artists.  Made for a modest $1.1 million ($100,000 of which was put up personally by the producers), this film was an underdog, in every aspect.  It had no chance, but went the distance, even bettering its competition.

Wait.

That sounds familiar.

Enough preamble.  What are my thoughts on this film, released in an incredibly important time in Hollywood history?  My thoughts are that this film belongs in that era.  It's a gritty, dirty film.  It's full of litter, It's full of clutter, and it's decidedly concerned with human relationships, first and foremost, and puts its "spectacle" aside, in favor of story. Directed by John G. Avildsen, who won the Best Director Oscar, "Rocky" isn't so much about a boxing match as it is about opportunity.  It's about the moment when fortune smiles on us, and we have the chance to be scared or to take bold action.  Though we don't know what will happen with Rocky Balboa when THIS film ends, we know that he achieved what he set out to accomplish.  It's a stirring film.  It truly is.

So, what makes this film so great?  I see a few things.  First, the big action that this film leads to is confined to the last act of the film.  Don't remember that boxing wasn't that big a deal in this?  How about the fact that a great deal of the film is spent on Rocky just going out with Adrian on a date.  Hell, the ice skating scene...is nearly as long as the fight with Apollo Creed.  Yup.  It is.  That whole first date sequence, including the time at Paulie's/Adrian's IS longer than the fight.  Remember that scene?  Why not?  It's really, really good.  The ice skating scene is a lesson in making the best of a bad situation.  Expecting to find many, many extras when they showed up to film the scene, they found...one guy.  So, Stallone quickly re-wrote the scene into what is seen in the film.  That's...well....it's hard to say this about Sly Stallone...but that's freaking genius.  Stallone became a cliche, VERY quickly, but his work on the film is...well...it's about opportunity.  Gosh.  This seems so...familiar.

Second, acting, for the most part, is good to very good.  Even Stallone.  The 70s patter is alive, as the rhythm established in speech patterns is quick, it's believable, it features characters talking over each other. It feels like a conversation happening for the first time.  That's what acting is supposed to be.  Burt Young perhaps goes a little over the top at times, and Burgess Meredith is little more than a caricature, but Mickey...isn't in the film that much.  Really?   Watch it again.  See, the main focus of this film is Adrian and Rocky.  And the film really takes great pains to leave us with them.  Mostly.  And Talia Shire is wonderful.  She really is.  And really, if you had to put Ali on film, in a fictional character, can you imagine it any different than Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed?  I can't.

Third.  The city of Philadelphia, and its dirty underbelly is a major character that is exploited to a "T" in this.  The neighborhood feels like a place you don't even want to think about living in, but you know people do.  I've been down Broad Street in Philly, driven through the Italian Street Market to the East of it.  This film captures the feel of that town.  I didn't feel unsafe in Philadelphia, but I didn't feel like I'd have been particularly surprised if the entire place went up in a riot at any moment.  It felt like the kind of place people were tired of living in, and this film shows that.

Then, of course, we have the fight.  Bloody, brutal, and at times...unfair, we get caught up in the final boxing match, whether we admire/understand boxing or not.  Why's that?  Because we care about the participants.  Even Apollo, who seems such a distant character, has a lot on the line, and as the fight goes on, we realize that he might lose all that he thought was his.  By the end of the film, he has.  The final "rematch" line quoted above lets us into Apollo, and makes us like him, despite the fact that he's just beaten our hero.  Well.  He won the match.  Rocky won his pride.  We see all of us in both characters.  Try that on for size.  That's sophisticated filmmaking, and this, despite everything that seems so crude and primitive about it, is a sophisticated film.

Watch this one again.  Watch it as a film, rather than as a story.  The story is cool, but watch the craft.  It's a lot better than you remember it being.  At least it was better than I remembered it being.

Should it have won Best Picture?  It's hard to imagine how either "Network" or "Taxi Driver" aren't better.  I can live with this one winning, though.  I can.

Ebert's original review is here.