Rocky Balboa Documentary

Since this is a site about movies and baseball, I thought I would re-post an entry I did in 2006 about my favorite sports movie of all-time although it's not a baseball one. Enjoy.

The movie Rocky was released in theaters on November 21, 1976. This movie not only grabbed the attention of so many fans, but it changed many lives as well. This movie was a classic one in a million shot for a little known boxer to fight the Heavyweight Champion of the World.

The original idea for this movie came on March 24, 1975 in Cleveland, Ohio. It was on that night that World Heavyweight Champion, Muhammad Ali, took on a virtual unknown in boxing, Chuck Wepner. In attendance at this fight was a guy trying to make a name for himself in Hollywood: actor Sylvester Stallone. In the fight, Wepner was able to last into the 15th and final round against all odds, and even knocked Ali down at one point in the match. Ali was able to win by TKO in that final round to successfully defend the title for the first time since regaining it from George Foreman in Zaire. Although Stallone appeared in a few films, he had struggled financially in trying to establish a name for himself. The idea he had was to write a story of an underdog fighter getting a shot to fight for the World Heavyweight Title after what he had witnessed in the Ali/Wepner fight.

Stallone then began writing the script about this underdog fighter. It took him three full days to write the original script after he painted all the windows black so he could focus completely on writing it. Stallone then was offered thousands for the script with someone else to play the lead role for his film. Stallone wanted to play the lead role for this film though. Finally, Stallone was in attendance at a casting call for Irwan Winkler and Robert Chartoff. Stallone told them about the script for Rocky, and Winkler was impressed. Winkler then was going to have well-established actors like James Caan, Burt Reynolds, and Ryan McNeal being the leading candidates to take on the lead role. Stallone auditioned for the part of Rocky, and Winkler then gave in and let the then-little known actor play the lead role as long as the cost of the film was $1 million or less. The original script that Stallone wrote was a darker tone.....

In the original script, Mickey Goldmill(Rocky's trainer), was portrayed as a racist. Also, Rocky was to throw the fight against Apollo Creed because he had decided that he didn't want any part of being in that business as the fight went on. The script was changed during production as they feared this would not make it as compelling of a story to viewers. However, another problem came up.....

The production team had a tough time finding cast members to fill key characters in the story. The first character that they were able to get was for the part of Paulie, played by actor Burt Young. Then the part of Rocky's trainer, Mickey Goldmill, was filled by established actor, Burgess Meredith. They then were trying to fill the role of the wife of Rocky, Adrian. Originally, actress Carrie Snodgress was to play the role, but a contract dispute between her and the producers forced them to look elsewhere. They offered the part to Bette Midler, but she turned it down. Then they had another audition for the part. Actress Susan Sarandon was one of those who auditioned for the role. Talia Shire, who garnered fame from The Godfather and its sequels, also auditioned for the part. Stallone and the producers were very impressed with Shire, and Stallone had often said that her voice fit the character perfectly. So Shire was given the role of Adrian.

Then the production team had offered the part of Apollo Creed, the World Boxing Champion, to real-life fighter, Ken Norton. Ken Norton then pulled out of the part, so it left producers looking to fill that void, too. They held an audition for the part as well. Carl Weathers, who had retired from the NFL in 1974 to pursue an acting career, auditioned for the part. Stallone liked Weathers' attitude, voice, and that he had the boxing body to play the role of a Heavyweight Champion. Stallone insisted that the production team have Weathers play the part, and they agreed with him. Both the parts of Adrian and Apollo Creed were finally filled on the same day, but was very late in normal production standards. So the film was set to be released in theaters on November 21, 1976, and producers were hoping it was going to be a sleeper hit. I will have more facts and numbers later in the show.

The Plot

Rocky Balboa was a dim-witted, but good hearted loan shark for a guy named Gazzo. He boxed in his spare time to keep his boxing skills sharp as he was out to beat up the deadbeats in town. However, Gazzo thought that Rocky was too soft for the business. Rocky had boxed under the training of Mickey Goldmill, but that evaporated as Mickey told him he could have been great had he worked harder for it.

Then one day while going to a local pet store, Rocky runs into a very shy woman named Adrian Panina. Adrian could not talk to men, but Rocky befriended her anyway. Adrian later surprised Rocky by giving him a dog named Butkus, that he had befriended earlier. Adrian's brother, Paulie, a cold storage worker, is excited for Adrian. Adrian then goes to Rocky's place for Thanksgiving, where they became lovers, and later married afterwards in the next sequel.

In the meantime, Apollo Creed, who's character was heavily influenced by Muhammad Ali, was set to defend his World Heavyweight Title against the top challenger, Mac Lee Green, in the Bicentennial Fight on January 1, 1976. However, Green broke his hand during a sparring session, and had to withdraw from the fight. This left Creed to find a replacement for Green in the Bicentennial Fight. He wanted to give a virtual unknown a one in a million shot at the title. After looking at a book of available fighters, one name stood out for him: "The Italian Stallion" Rocky Balboa. So after all that, the promoter gets the fight going.

Rocky then asks Mickey Goldmill to train him for the biggest fight of his life. Mickey refuses at first, but then gives in after he liked how Balboa attacks the body of a boxer to wear them down. Paulie then lets Rocky train at the cold storage by punching carcasses. After the intense training of Goldmill, Rocky says that he wants to go the distance with the champion. Apollo finally meets Rocky at a press conference, and takes him for a joke. Although he respects his capabilities. The trainer for Creed named Duke noticed the intensity of Balboa's training when he was interviewed on TV by a reporter. Also, Duke noticed that Balboa was left-handed, which according to the storyline, Creed had never fought a southpaw boxer. Creed is at the peak of his career, and has not had one fight go longer than 12 rounds as the champion. So the odds were literally one in a million for Balboa to go the distance with the champion when no one else has.

The fight approaches, and Creed is not taking it so seriously. Before the fight, former boxing champion Joe Frazier shakes the hand of Creed. Creed responds to Frazier by saying he is next. Creed in the opening round, taunts Balboa by dancing around the ring. He lands jabs to the face of Balboa, but his taunting backfires when Rocky sends him down to the canvas with a left hook. Creed had never been knocked down in any fight before this either. Creed gets up very quickly, and is furious by what just happened! Apollo takes the fight seriously from this point on as he begins to control things. Creed won the next several rounds by hitting numerous punches to the head of Balboa. However, Balboa keeps coming at Creed, as he could not put him away. Creed knocks down Balboa in the 14th Round, and most thought the fight was over. Balboa managed to make it to his feet, and urged the champion to come at him. Balboa then nails Creed with a vicious body shot that breaks his rib! Creed begins to cough up blood as the 14th Round comes to an end. Balboa was able to fight off Creed in the final round, and the underdog survived 15 Rounds with the Heavyweight Champion as no one had ever done that before. Creed said at the conclusion of the final round that he wasn't going to give him a rematch, and that Balboa did not want one anyway. The underdog survived against all odds.

Creed later changed his mind about fighting Balboa after receving numerous death threats about him being a disgrace to African-Americans, and that he fixed the fight. So the rematch for the two was on in the sequel.

Facts and numbers:

-The total cost for the making of the original Rocky was $1.1 million. The film grossed $117 million in the U.S.!
-The original film only took 28 days to shoot.
-The fight scene is shot in reverse order than it was shown in the theaters. The 15th Round was shot first with both Stallone and Weathers in heavy makeup. The makeup began to wear off as the fight progressed all the way to the 1st Round. This technique earned the movie an Oscar for Best Film Editting.
-The original ending of the film was to have fans of Creed, and fans of Balboa to carry them out of the ring at the end of the fight. The production team only had a few extras, and both Stallone and Weathers were getting punched by fans so the scene was scrapped.
-The scene in which Rocky kissed Adrian in the kitchen was not scripted that way. Talia Shire had contracted the flu, and was worried about getting Stallone sick, which made her hesitant to kiss him. That scene was an improvement from the scripted one, so they kept it.
-The original movie saw the Steadcam that was invented by Garrett Brown, being used for the first time during a major motion picture. It was used during the scene with Rocky running up the steps of the museum.
-The photos of Balboa that are seen on the mirror before his fight were actual photos of Stallone as a young boy.
-Stallone actually did punch the frozen meat during his training scenes. This caused him to get flat knuckles, which he still has to this day.
-The musician on the street in the original movie that said, "Get a job, you bum!", was played by Frank Stallone, the brother of Sylvester Stallone. Stallone's father, Frank Sr, was the one who rang the bell before the fight.
-The scene in which Gazzo uses an asthma inhaler was not planned when talking to Rocky. Joe Spinell, who played Gazzo, suffered from a real-life asthma attack during this scene. Since the scene looked so natural, they kept it.
-The original film earned 10 total Oscar nominations. Among them included Best Actor(Stallone), Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editting.
-The soundtrack with the hit theme song, Gonna Fly Now, was rated as the best soundtrack of all-time by VH1 in 1999 beating out the Grease soundtrack.
-A bronze statue of Rocky was commissioned by Stallone for Rocky III. Three statues were created with the third one being placed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. After furious debating, the statue was placed at the Wachovia Center in South Philadelphia. It was later moved back for the filming of Rocky V. It was returned back in front of the Wachovia Center until September of this year. The statues weigh two tons and are ten feet tall. One of the statues was listed on EBay to raise funds last year.
-Rocky IV, where he fights the powerful Russian Ivan Drago, is still the highest grossing sports movie in movie history as it grossed $300 million worldwide.

Here is what happened to some of the careers of those associated with the Rocky original, and its sequels. This is sort of like a where are they now since this movie:

-Sylvester Stallone: Unless you were imprisoned the last thirty years, it is impossible to not know who he is. But believe it or not, producers had no clue who he was when the film came out. Stallone then sent the producers a copy of his previous movie, Lords of the Flatbush. Producers mistakened him for Perry King, who co-starred in that same movie. When the producers saw who Stallone really was, they almost passed on producing the movie. This movie put Stallone on the map. Not only was the character of Rocky Balboa an underdog, so was Stallone, who was struggling badly as an actor before this film came about. He made successful sequels that drew big at the box office. Yes, he has had bad films(some really bad), but he was a highly sought after actor when this movie became a hit. This movie forever changed America, and Stallone.

-Carl Weathers: For those who did not know, Weathers played for the Oakland Raiders as a linebacker in 1970-71 under head coach John Madden. He later played for the B.C. Lions in the Canadian Football League before retiring in 1974 from the game. He wore #55 and John Madden was quoted as saying that he was notorious for hitting the punter during special teams play on the field. He wanted to become an actor, and he was struggling to make it as well. After Ken Norton left the set when being given the role of Apollo Creed, Weathers seized the opportunity to win the role. He played the role of the arrogant and trash-talking champion, Creed, to near perfection. He was brought back to the next three sequels, eventually getting killed off in the fourth movie. His acting career has seen its ups and downs, but he has had alot better life since this movie came out. He was able to land better roles as a result of this movie, and is now a member of the Big Brothers Association and U.S. Olympic Committee as he handles the careers of gymnasts, wrestlers, and swimmers. He also currently assists the U.S. military with Iraqi villages in California. This movie changed his life as you can see.

-Hulk Hogan: Hogan played the role of Thunderlips in Rocky III. Hogan was a wrestler in the WWWF at the time, and he was personally approached by Stallone for the role. Vince J. McMahon, father of Vince K and owner of WWWF, fired Hogan after he took the role fearing it would hurt his business. Hogan then signed with the rival AWA. Hogan took the role, and it made him a household name. How so? He was the leader in the Rock 'N Wrestling era that put wrestling back on the map in the mid-80's. He is easily the most popular wrestler in history, and this movie made that possible for him as he forever changed the wrestling business after the film was released. Yes, this movie changed his life, too. It was Stallone who later inducted Hulk Hogan in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005 as a result of the mainstream success he received for this film.

-Laurence Tauread(aka Mr. T): Believe it or not, the famous mohawking Mr. T was not supposed to play the role of Clubber Lang in Rocky III. The part went to former boxer Earnie Shavers, but he broke two ribs on Stallone during a sparring session in production for the film so they searched for someone else. He was spotted at a club by Stallone in 1982(the year the movie was released), and was asked to audition for the tough guy role. He was only supposed to have a few lines, but Stallone felt that he needed more to help the character and movie. His famous catch phrase, "I pity the fool!" was first used in this film. He said, "I don't hate Balboa, but I pity the fool!" before their rematch. Mr. T was actually a successful body guard for some famous celebrities before getting the role that changed his life. This helped him land a role for the successful A-Team sitcom as he played the character of B.A. Baracus. This also propelled him to make several appearances for the WWF as he was part of the first WrestleMania event teaming with co-star Hulk Hogan in 1985. He was diagnosed with cancer in 1995, and has donated his famous jewelry to help in the relief of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. His celebrity status has inspired cancer patients and victims of Hurricane Katrina as well. He has also made inspirational speeches in recent years since being a born-again Christian. This film is a big reason why his celebrity status helps bring hope to so many as this is where he became known.

-Dolph Lundgren: Okay, he has not had the most stellar acting career. In fact, far from it. However, I think most would agree that anyone who knows who Lundgren is will always associate him with the character he played in Rocky IV - the powerful Russian, Ivan Drago. He beat out 5,000 other hopefuls to win the role of the Russian. This Swedish actor can speak four different languages, and this helped him land the role as well. He was an established full contact Karate champion in various areas before he landed a small part in the James Bond movie, A View To Kill. At first, they declined to offer him the role of Drago because he towered over Stallone(Lundgren is 6' 5" while Stallone is 5' 8") as they were looking for someone shorter than 6' 3". However, his background as a karate fighter helped him along with speaking many languages. Yes, Lundgren experimented with anabolic steroids to improve his physique for the film, and that was heavily rumored when some scenes were shot with him injecting himself with a needle. He was able to land roles later on after winning the part of Drago, even though his career never got going afterwards. Still, he has a name for himself with his appearance as the Russian fighter in this movie. I am sure he still gets hardcore fans of the movie that still say, "Hey, there's Ivan Drago!"

Other real-life boxers who have appeared in the Rocky movies:
-Tommy Morrison appears in Rocky V as Tommy "The Machine" Gunn. He uses Rocky's fame, and then later lands a deal with the hated promoter, George Washington Duke. He and Rocky have a street fight at the end of the movie which sees Rocky beat him in the end. Morrison was 46-3-1 as a pro boxer. He tested HIV-Positive in 1996, which forced his early retirement. His troubled out-of-ring lifestyle is more documented. He spent time in prison for weapons and drug possessions as well as admitting to taking steroids throughout his life. He gained mainstream popularity with this role despite the movie performing terribly at the box office, and being panned by critics.
-Boxer Antonio Tarver stars in Rocky Balboa film. He plays the role of Mason "The Line" Dixon, who is the Heavyweight Champion at the time.

My take: Rocky Balboa is the classic, persistent, and determined underdog fighter who makes the most of the one in a million opportunity to take on the World Champion, and become a household name. Balboa is the symbol of an American figher who inspires us all to go after our dreams. Rocky Balboa is exactly what Sylvester Stallone was - an underdog looking for one big break. Stallone got it, and he ran with it in the same manner that Balboa did. I was just turning two years old when the original came out, but I did go to the theaters to see the third, fourth, and unfortunately the fifth movie. The Rocky movies changed the lives of many, and those guys will always be associated with these films. This is my favorite sports movie of all-time because of how great it is to witness the underdog achieving what many thought could or never would happen. A dream can be achieved if you have enough of Rocky Balboa in you to fight for it.