It’s always a gift for Franchise Fred when an entire series comes out. The Rocky movies mean a lot to me for several reasons. A big reason is they were a family event, as I watched them with my parents growing up. They are a singular vision of Sylvester Stallone, who wrote every screenplay and directed all but two of the films, which is unique for any franchise. Even Star Wars had different screenwriters and directors and techniques between the hitherto two trilogies. As much as I remember each Rocky movie, I had a different reaction to all of them when I rewatched them this week.
This is actually the fourth time I’m reviewing the series. My DVD reviews of the first two Rocky collections are long lost to the annal of tenuous websites, and I got rid of the Undisputed collection because the transfers were so bad. Heavyweight actually sounds like a demotion from Undisputed, but by the fourth release they’re running out of adjectives. If you still have the Undisputed Collection, I can’t say I’d really recommend upgrading, but at least this one has a remastered version of the original Rocky. Spoilers follow:
Rocky
Man, I know everyone’s bitter about it beating Taxi Driver for the 1976 Oscar, but I really don’t have any problems with Rocky winning Best Picture. This is a really good movie. It is a classic underdog story, neither the first nor the last, but with a sincere heart and raw passion that’s still palpable nearly 40 years later.
Sylvester Stallone stars as his most famous character, Rocky Balboa, in a screenplay he wrote. He insisted he play the lead when the studios wanted someone then more famous. Rocky is a small time local boxer in Philly but when a heavyweight challenger drops out, champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) decides to give a small timer a heavyweight bout.
The underdog theme has certainly been watered down in the decades since Rocky, but this one has an edge. Rocky is actually muscle for a loan shark, and even if he doesn’t always break the thumbs like he’s supposed to, he’s still a small time criminal. We all remember this as Rocky’s victory, but it’s really a publicity stunt. Apollo isn’t really trying to help promote an underdog fighter. He wants the attention himself.
I know this should be the bare minimum for a quality drama, but these days it’s especially noticeable how well drawn the characters are, and how much time Rocky spends developing them. This isn’t like today’s Hollywood machine where characters are given superficial traits just to make sure everyone has a thing, whether it’s Sam Witwicky (Shia Labeouf) needing a job in Transformers: Dark of the Moon or Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) having a dead kid in Gravity (yeah, I said it).
In addition to his limited prospects, Rocky is a lovable guy with the same needs for companionship as everyone else. His courtship of Adrian (Talia Shire) is sincere and romantic, and becomes the heart of the entire franchise. Her shy, meek attitude is as endearing as his meathead naivety. Adrian’s brother Paulie (Burt Young) is a complication in their relationship and would continue to be for the rest of their lives. Gym owner Mickey (Burgess Meredith) doesn’t agree to train Rocky right away. Rocky needs to prove himself because Mickey thinks he’s a bum. Mickey has been established well enough that we can tell he knows what he’s talking about, so Rocky has to convince us too.
It’s amazing how established the format of the franchise already is, right down to opening with the previous fight. Of course, with each sequel the previous fight would be the climactic fight from the previous movie. The name Rocky scrolling across the screen, the training montages with new unorthodox methods each time, the climactic bout, the format was already there.
Rocky’s attitude about winning is poignant as ever. Sometimes the victory is just making it to the final round. I know the point of the movie is that Rocky can take a beating and still go the distance, but he doesn’t seem to know he’s still allowed to block. The “Simpsons” episode where Homer boxes the Mike Tyson stand-in Drederick Tatum isn’t even a spoof of Rocky. It’s Rocky’s actual strategy to just stand there getting hit in the face. Stallone deals more in emotion than logic, so he shows Rocky getting pummeled, literally and metaphorically, but weathering the beating. It would become a trend for the entire series.
Since this is the only remastered movie, it looks much better than the rest. It’s still a gritty ‘70s film about the streets of Philadelphia, so you see the grain, but it holds together much sharper. Rocky II through V are all the old transfers which are unacceptable. They’re rough and soft and in the case of II, they didn’t even find a clean print, so no more needs to be said about the transfers in this review.
The Rocky I Blu-ray is also where all the extras are, which are mostly ported over from previous Rocky special editions. My research may not be complete, but I think the only new extra is newly recovered 8mm behind the scenes footage, narrated by director John G. Avildsen and Production Manager Lloyd Kaufman, later of Troma. It’s good stuff, nice to see, only eight minutes.
The rest of the extras have appeared before, including three audio commentaries, Stallone’s “Dinah” appearance, Stallone’s original video commentary (really just a 30 minute interview), several behind the scenes spots and even what was apparently previously an easter egg, a split-screen skit where Stallone meets Rocky himself. It seems the only bonus feature they didn’t include was a trivia game called “Feeling Strong Now!” and I can’t say I miss it. I don’t need a set top game.
