Rocky: Apollo Creed chooses a Philadelphia underdog
Rocky opens with its name filling the frame and a title card setting the action in Philadelphia on November 25, 1975. Carl Weathers plays Apollo Creed, the heavyweight champion who selects an unknown Philadelphia boxer for a New Year's Day bout. Released in 1976, the film was directed by John G. Avildsen, with Sylvester Stallone writing the screenplay and playing the fighter. Stallone drew inspiration for the screenplay from the championship fight between Chuck Wepner and Muhammad Ali in 1975.
Rocky's path begins in South Philadelphia in late November, 1975. He wins a local bout but returns to a dingy apartment where his turtles are his companions. At a neighborhood pet store, he tries to win the attention of the shy clerk, Adrian Pennino. His day job involves collecting debts for loan shark Tony Gazzo, though his reluctance to hurt a debtor puts him at odds with his employer. The gym offers little comfort either: manager Mickey Goldmill has given Rocky's locker to another contender. Mickey sees heart in him but is frustrated by the promise he has failed to fulfill.
Meanwhile, Apollo Creed needs an opponent. The fighter scheduled to face him has been injured, and no suitable replacement can be arranged for the bout five weeks away. Creed wants the publicity surrounding a New Year's Day appearance at the start of the country's bicentennial. He decides to give an unknown Philadelphia boxer a championship opportunity, presenting the event as an underdog's chance. Browsing local names, he settles on Rocky and his nickname, "The Italian Stallion." For the champion, the matchup is a promotional idea. For the neighborhood fighter, it is an unexpected opening into a world far beyond his usual contests.
Rocky's relationship with Adrian develops while that opportunity takes shape. Her brother Paulie invites him to Thanksgiving dinner without preparing her for the visit. After an angry confrontation at home, Rocky persuades Adrian to come out and takes her to an ice rink that he convinces the manager to open briefly. She skates while he trots alongside, and they share painful things their parents said about them. Later, Rocky learns that Creed's promoter, Miles Jergens, wants to meet him. Expecting a request for a sparring partner, he instead receives an offer to fight for the heavyweight championship and initially turns it down.
Jergens persuades him to accept. A television announcement then brings attention that Rocky finds painful. Mickey visits and asks to manage him, but Rocky's frustration spills over: he wanted help years earlier, when a fighting future seemed more possible. After Mickey leaves, Rocky follows him outside and hires him. Training begins with early-morning runs through the city. His first climb up the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps leaves him exhausted. At Paulie's meat-packing workplace, he starts punching a frozen carcass, eventually making those sessions part of his daily preparation for Apollo Creed. Before principal photography, Stallone and Weathers rehearsed the final fight for four weeks. Avildsen filmed their rehearsals on Super 8 so they could identify weak points.
The training scenes brought a new camera technology into Rocky's movement through Philadelphia. Garrett Brown had developed a stabilizing system that separated the camera's motion from the operator's steps. His demonstration footage included his future wife, Ellen Shire, on the museum stairs, and Avildsen saw the reel. Brown later operated the Steadicam while filming Stallone's runs and training. Brown also operated it on Bound for Glory and Marathon Man, placing Rocky among its earliest feature-film uses. The Steadicam was also hand-carried during the climactic boxing sequence at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.
As the training progresses, Mickey works enthusiastically with Rocky, while the fighter spends increasing time with Adrian. Paulie arranges a television interview in the meat locker; Apollo Creed ignores the broadcast, but his trainer notices the challenger's tenacity. Paulie's drunken anger brings another turning point. Adrian tells him she owes him nothing and no longer wants to feel like a loser. She and Rocky agree that she will move in with him. Neighbors offer encouragement during his runs, and after weeks of exertion he reaches the top of the museum steps with ease, raising his arms in triumph.
The original ending had Rocky leave an empty arena, receive consolation from another fighter and walk down a hallway holding Adrian's hand. After filming, that ending was judged too downbeat. The revised finale has Rocky yelling for Adrian to join him in the ring, filmed in close shots with only a few extras to save money. The film entered the country's preservation efforts decades later. Rocky was selected for the 2006 National Film Registry, which recognizes works of cultural, historical, or aesthetic significance. Preservation of each selected title proceeds through the Library of Congress's own program or collaborations with archives, studios, and independent filmmakers.
- Rocky (1976): American Film Institute Catalog — catalog.afi.com
- Steadicam: Wikipedia — en.wikipedia.org
- National Film Registry 2006: Library of Congress — www.loc.gov