:: ROCKY ::

Technical Specification
Rocky (1976)
119 minutes, made in USA

Cast
Sylvester Stallone .... Rocky Balboa
Talia Shire .... Adrian
Burt Young .... Paulie
Carl Weathers .... Apollo Creed
Burgess Meredith .... Mickey Goldmill
Thayer David .... Jergens
Joe Spinell .... Gazzo
Jimmy Gambina .... Mike

Plot Outline
Rocky Balboa is a small-time boxer who lives in an apartment in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and his career has so far not gotten off the canvas. Rocky earns a living by collecting debts for a loan shark named Gazzo, but Gazzo doesn't think Rocky has the viciousness it takes to beat up deadbeats. Rocky still boxes every once in a while to keep his boxing skills sharp, and his ex-trainer, Mickey, believes he could've made it to the top if he was willing to work for it. Rocky, who has a dog, goes to a pet store that sells pet supplies, and this is where he meets a young woman named Adrian, who is extremely shy, with no ability to talk to men. Rocky befriends her. Adrian's brother Paulie, who works for a meat packing company, is thrilled that someone has become interested in Adrian, and Adrian spends Thanksgiving with Rocky. Later, they go to Rocky's apartment, where Adrian explains that she has never been in a man's apartment before. Rocky sets her mind at ease, and they become lovers. Current world heavyweight boxing champion Apollo Creed comes up with the idea of giving an unknown a shot at the title. Apollo checks out the Philadelphia boxing scene, and chooses Rocky. Fight promoter Jergens gets things in gear, and Rocky starts training with Mickey. After a lot of training, Rocky is ready for the match, and he wants to prove that he can go the distance with Apollo.

Interesting Facts
Sylvester Stallone sold the rights to make this film with the condition that he be cast in the title role. Producers offered him $150,000 to let Ryan O'Neal play the part.

Sylvester Stallone wrote the script in three days after he saw a boxing match between the unknown Chuck Wepner and Muhammad Ali in which Wepner went the distance.

The film was shot in 28 days.

Sylvester Stallone insisted that the scene where he admits his fears and doubts to Adrian the night before the fight be filmed, even though production was running far behind and producers wanted to skip it. He had one take for that scene, and was so nervous about screwing up the only scene he thought was important that he got himself drunk to do it.

The fight scene was filmed in reverse order starting with the fifteenth round and Stallone and Weathers in heavy make-up. As filming continued, the make-up was slowly removed until they were at round one. Because of this technique, the movie won an Oscar for Best Film Editing.

The studio agreed to cast Stallone as Rocky as long as the cost of the picture remained under one million dollars. The producers even mortgaged their homes. The overall production cost was 1.1 million dollars.

Originally featured a downbeat ending where Rocky enters an empty boxing arena, is consoled by a fellow fighter, and then takes Adrian's hand and walks off with her. Test screenings convinced director John G. Avildsen that a more upbeat ending was required and so he shot the scene where Rocky and Adrian push their way through the crowded boxing arena to reach each other, and then embrace.

The sides of beef were so hard that after repeatedly punching them, Sylvester Stallone's knuckles are now permanently flattened out.

The puppies Rocky sees before he goes into the pet store where Adrian works are boxers. Also, Butkus (Rocky's dog) is an overweight boxer mix.

The climactic boxing scene took only one day to film, partly because the filmmakers were under pressure to get the film released during the Oscar season.

Another ending for the film was for Creed's fans to carry him out of the ring and then Rocky's fans do the same. However, since there were too few extras, plus some of them began to punch Stallone and Weathers, the scene was scrapped.