John Bramley, MGM
Sly Takes One for the Old Guys in New ‘Rocky’
By Bob Tourtellotte
Reuters
LOS ANGELES (Dec. 14) – At 60, Sylvester Stallone thinks it’s time to show people that the careers of “guys like me,” can last long after most people retire, and he sets out to prove it in his new movie, “Rocky Balboa.”
“This is uncharted waters. People are living longer. They are healthier. They have more ambition, more energy, yet society is telling them to move aside,” Stallone told Reuters. “It’s different now, and I thought, ‘Boy, if I could just come up with a dramatic premise to use as a platform.”‘
“Balboa,” which debuts in U.S. theaters on Dec. 20, is the sixth movie in a series that began with 1976’s “Rocky.” Stallone famously raised about $1 million to make that low-budget film based on a screenplay he wrote and would not sell to Hollywood’s studios unless he was the star.
The original movie tells of a hapless boxer, Rocky “The Italian Stallion” Balboa, who overcomes huge odds to better his life. It became a surprise smash hit, earning over $117 million at U.S. box offices ($362 million in today’s dollars), winning the Oscar for best film, and making Stallone a worldwide star.
The full article is here.
According to the AOL survey, most people like the movie series Rocky.
When asked: “Are you a fan of the ‘Rocky’ films?”
Yes, of course 82%
I gave up after #3 12%
Yawn 6%
And when asked: ‘Rocky VI’ is …’
gonna be awesome! 78%
a total embarrassment 22%
Did you ever watch any of the Rocky movies? Are you a fan of Rocky? What do you think of the idea of a 60 year old boxer?
Of course! Rocky IV American vs Russian Very similiar to chess no? there is even a chess scene in that movie where Apollo Creed’s trainer, turned Rocky’s trainer after Apollo died in first fight checkmates some Soviet player with the infamous kf8 kh8 pawn on h7 g6-g7 mate i believe that was it…something like that 🙂 its been years since i saw them but ive probably watched it half a dozen times. All of the Rocky movies are inspiring….and Sylvester Stallone is a great actor! one of my favorites
I LOVE THEM and will see this one too!
the series was awesome up to part IV, after that it’s just an embarrasement and a clear sign that Stallone needs some money.
I think a 60 year old boxer is just unrealistic.
I don’t think in real life anyone even in their 40’s would succeed at boxing. See what happened to Ali.
I like the Rocky series upto 4 but this is just taking it too far.
Regards.
How could he possibly need money. He must have made several hundred million on the previous movies.
I never really got into the cult. I did see the first one and got bored. Too mindless.
I do not see any sense in hurting another human being. Boxing needs to be outlawed. It is barbaric like bull fights.
Why people pay money to watch this is beyond me.
I saw part of the movie on TV. Although was not able to watch the entire movie. Got too bored.
I would never go pay money at a movie theater to see this kind of movie.
60 years old as a boxer. fantasy.
I do not think we need to teach that it is an accomplishment to hit punch and hurt someone in a boxing ring. It leads to a mindset where we think we can win a stupid war costing $500 billion in Iraq. It is really all the same thing. Teaching that violence is the answer to our problems.
To understand Rocky is to understand America.
Yes, watched them all – great moral to their story. SS had a great personal story to tell. He created the Rocky character and wrote the script of the first movie.
Too bad about his marriages, though. Don’t understand these movie stars – they have great wives, yet as soon as they become famous they dump them and “trade up”. Lost track of which wife he is on now, but have never been able to have the same respect for him as when the first Rocky movie came out.
“I do not see any sense in hurting another human being. Boxing needs to be outlawed…”
–Why can’t stupidity be outlawed??? If you want the government to legislate so much, move to North Korea. I’d say their “enlightened” government would legislate all aspects of life.
>>Of course! Rocky IV American vs Russian Very similiar to chess no? >>
Not really. Only similar to Fischer-Spassky. But not very similar to even that, since in Rocky 4, the Russian is the challenger.
I wonder if the series will last long enough to use Weird Al Yankovic’s “Theme from Rocky XIII”.
“I do not think we need to teach that it is an accomplishment to hit punch and hurt someone in a boxing ring. It leads to a mindset where we think we can win a stupid war costing $500 billion in Iraq.”
So if we outlaw boxing, we’ll feel more kindly towards genocidal dictators who violate treaties? Hmmm, that almost sounds like an argument FOR boxing.
The first one is the only movie I have seen three times in a movie theater.
Haven’t seen the last one.
If I can get a baby-sitter I will see this one.
Loved Rocky IV
Quoting from http://www.crfcbasketball.com/wtblog.php?newsid=32
Rocky’s trainer Duke talking to Rocky the night before the fight after a friendly game of CHESS:
“You’re gonna have to go through hell, worse than any nightmare you’ve ever dreamed. But when it’s over, I know you’ll be the one standing. You know what you have to do. Do it.”
This quote served as the inspiration to Nike’s Just Do It campaign.
It’s a battle of wills, in the heat of attack, it’s the passion that kills…
Rocky’s trainer Duke referring to Drago in the middle of the fight:
“He’s worried! You cut him! You hurt him! You see? You see? He’s not a machine, he’s a man!”
And then Drago referring to Rocky at the same time:
“He is not human, he is a piece of iron.”
The world was upside down at this point of the movie as the Russian starts to see the American as a machine and the American starts to see the Russian as a human. What a transformation! Not quite as much of a transformation as Rocky sporting a fantastic tan in the fight despite training in the Russian winter for the prior 2 months, but he did spend a lot of time by that fire.
After some of the Russian fans begin to cheer for Rocky in the middle of the fight and after Koloff yells at him for allowing this to happen, Drago rips off his most emotional and deepest line of the movie, directly aimed at the Russian premier:
“I fight for me (nashtravia). FOR ME (NASTHRAVIA)!!!!!!!”
This quote actually served as an inspiration for Mikhail Gorbachev during the Russian capitalist movement of the early 1990’s. I saw Gorbachev speak at a convention in Vegas once and asked him this question and he confirmed it – true story.
…the victory is yours alone!
Rocky addressing the Russian crowd after winning the fight:
“In here, there were two guys killing each other, but I guess that’s better than 20 million.”
I mean, can you get more Cold War than that? And then Rocky’s final lines of the movie, summarizing, as only he could, the hope for the future during this tenuous time in America…
“During the fight, I’ve seen a lot of changing (basshkara bashkara da bashkra)in the way I feels about youz (basshkara bashkara da bashkra), and the way youz feels about me (basshkara bashkara da bashkra). I guess what I’m trying to say is (basshkara bashkara da bashkara) that if I can change (basshkara bashkara da bashkara), and you can change (basshkara bashkara da bashkara), EVERYONE CAN CHANGE! (BASSHKARA BASHKARA DA BASHKARA!)”
I do believe if a photo of a turnip was posted, someone would bring up politics! There must be many fledgling politicians browsing this blog. An interesting psychological study…
“I think a 60 year old boxer is just unrealistic.
I don’t think in real life anyone even in their 40’s would succeed at boxing. See what happened to Ali.”
Too late. George Forman became the oldest heavyweight champion at the age of 45 in 1994. It was his second time holding the title, the first coming 21 years earlier in 1973. As for 60. We won’t know until somebody does it…
Everyone knows that turnips are radical liberal plants.
No way!
Turnips are radical conservative plants.
Now I admit Rutabagas are liberal.
Of course it is well known that the Gilfeather Turnip is really a rutabaga. Maybe this causes the confusion.
You can read about the Gilfeather Turnip scandal on page 40 of the Fedco Seed company catalog.
http://www.fedcoseeds.com/forms/sds29_cat.pdf
Rocky is one of the worst and slimmiest USA propaganda I have ever seen. You will think the way we want it and you will even like it. The problem is, we in ex-communist countries laugh when watching old propaganda movies, but American´s still like Rocky.
America likes to ‘solve’ problems around the world but the price is:
They have to say they are Canadians when they travel somewhere.
first 3 parts were ok as an entertainment, but now 6th is ridiculous…I think SS finished his millions money in drugs/women and wants to earn again…
I love the Rocky movies!
1 and 2 are definitely the best of the series. 3, 4 AND 5 are allright.
I’m definitely checking out Rocky Balboa in theatres!
I hope the soundtrack will be as good as in the first two movies
it’s a movie and it’s fantasy, nothing more. but it does speak to the notion that everyone, as they age, can still be strong and competitive.
in chess, i don’t think you ‘lose a step’ with age. i think you just get bored with studying all the time to stay on top of opening theory. you’ve made enough money to enjoy chess for what it is, a pasttime.
i get annoyed with all these comments that chess players get too old and can’t play as well as they use to. chess is an arena where you can get better with age if you want to.
I just watched Rocky Balboa movie…if you are a Rocky fan, then you will enjoy it…If you are not a Rocky fan, then you can probably do without it. Here’s a link to earlier Rocky IV chess from 1985.
60 years old heavyweight champ?
Hey people out there, it is the actor who is 60. How is that saying? “I am not a doctor, I just play one TV”.
Rocky was a fantasy, imagination thing, not real life. Even when the actor was twenty some years old, or whatever.
Rocky was popular for a good reason. It embraced millions of people’s daydreams. It still does and I bet that this last episode will be popular. Perhaps not as popular as the first one, but the movie won’t lose money.
Gabor
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
They can put the Rock down but they can never count him out!
Rocky! Rocky! Rocky!