Rocky Balboa is a struggling boxer trying to make the big time, working as a debt collector for a pittance. When heavyweight champion Apollo Creed visits Philadelphia, his managers want to set up an exhibition match between Creed and a struggling boxer, touting the fight as a chance for a "nobody" to become a "somebody". The match is supposed to be easily won by Creed, but someone forgot to tell Rocky, who sees this as his only shot at the big time.Written by
Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>
Most of the scenes of Rocky jogging through Philadelphia were shot guerrilla-style, with no permits, no equipment, and no extras. The shot where he runs past the moored boat for example, the crew were simply driving by the docks, and John G. Avildsen saw the boat, and thought it would make a good visual, so he had Sylvester Stallone simply get out of the van and run along the quays, while Avildsen himself filmed from the side door. A similar story concerns the famous shot of Rocky jogging through the food market. As he runs, the stall keepers and the people on the sidewalks can clearly be seen looking at him in bemusement. While this works in the context of the film to suggest they're looking at Rocky, in reality, they had no idea why this man was running up and down the road being filmed from a van. During this scene, the famous shot where the stall owner throws Rocky an orange was completely improvised by the stall owner, who had no idea that a movie was being filmed and that he would be in it. See more »
Goofs
When Rocky is shown hitting the beef for the news camera crew, it's all supposed to be happening in one continuous shot. However, there is only one camera and there are clips from different angles which do not flow naturally from shot to shot. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Club fight attendee:
Come on, Spider!
See more »
Crazy Credits
The film opens with the title of the film scrolling from right to left underscored by music. However, instead of just doing the opening credits for the cast, Rocky is shown boxing. The rest of the credits appear later as Rocky is shown walking down a street, and this time there is nothing underscoring the credits. See more »
Alternate Versions
A different ending was originally filmed for this movie. In the original ending, Rocky walked out of the ring and met Adrian in the tunnel to the stadium. They walked down the tunnel, hand in hand, and the last shot was from behind of Rocky and Adrian walking down the tunnel. Test audiences said the end was too depressing and it was reshot with Adrian's now classic run to the ring while Rocky screams her name. See more »
Excellent movie The movie story was not great. I experienced moments of boredom in the first half of the movie. Sylvester Stallon's performance in the film was excellent. The last fight in the film was great. I was very excited as I watched the last fight. The film affected all the sports films after it had a positive effect.
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Excellent movie The movie story was not great. I experienced moments of boredom in the first half of the movie. Sylvester Stallon's performance in the film was excellent. The last fight in the film was great. I was very excited as I watched the last fight. The film affected all the sports films after it had a positive effect.