The UnPopular Opinion: Rocky

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

THE UNPOPULAR OPINION is an ongoing column featuring different takes on films that either the writer HATED, but that the majority of film fans LOVED, or that the writer LOVED, but that most others LOATHED. We're hoping this column will promote constructive and geek fueled discussion. Enjoy!
****SOME SPOILERS ENSUE****

Not going to beat around the bush on this one: ROCKY is woefully overrated (Editor's note – what?????????). Not a great sports movie nor a great drama, ROCKY barely qualifies as the best entry in the franchise (it was easily usurped by ROCKY BALBOA and CREED). I am going to catch some shit for this week's column and I don't care because sometimes you have to tell it like it is. As much of a fan of Sylvester Stallone's as I am, I simply cannot get on the bandwagon for this movie. Rocky Balboa as a character is an American institution and the franchise as a whole has an enduring spot forever etched in the pop culture pantheon, but the movie itself is just not good. Aping countless films that came before it, ROCKY was released too late to be considered great and too early to be nostalgic.

ROCKY is a story of a man who achieves glory against all odds. In the case of Sylvester Stallone as an actor and writer, that was especially true as ROCKY represented his first and second Oscar nominations. As scribe and star, Stallone was given the chance to fully inhabit and realize his character from page to screen. But, it was not until the pulpier sequels, especially the 1980s defining ROCKY IV, that the character became something more. The 1976 original film is a slow slog of a film that feels twice as long as it's two-hour run-time may lead you to believe. Whether it be the iconic "Gonna Fly Now" by composer Bill Conti or the instantly recognizable stair-climbing scene, ROCKY has moments that last but much of the rest of the movie is generic and forgettable. 

Selected for preservation by the Library of Congress, ROCKY often finds itself amongst lists of the 100 greatest films of all time and the best sports movies ever. But, is it anywhere close? ROCKY plays it incredibly safe by replicating similar underdog tales like MARTY starring Ernest Borgnine or ON THE WATERFRONT starring Marlon Brando. Stallone clearly idolizes Brando and his performance echoes what THE GODFATHER star did over his entire career. Sylvester Stallone's mumbling Balboa is a tough galoot who cares bout his turtles and struggles to woo the bookish Adrian, the sister of Rocky's pal Paulie. Both Stallone and Talia Shire have a believable romance over the movie but none of it has any energy. The few scenes that get your heart racing, including training sequences and the final fight with Apollo Creed, are the limited sections of the film that reach a temperature higher than lukewarm. Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and the always-excellent Burgess Meredith do wonders with their roles, a credit to Stallone as a writer, but Stallone himself gets pushed out of the limelight for most of the movie.

ROCKY is a movie that takes itself far too seriously which is why ROCKY III and ROCKY IV are the most fun movies in the franchise. The original ROCKY, which earned John G. Avildsen an Academy Award for directing, tries to keep the gritty look of early Martin Scorsese films while telling a hopeful and inspirational tale. The two never quite work. Avildsen would later go on to achieve the right balance with THE KARATE KID while still failing with Stallone's franchise when he returned for ROCKY V. When Stallone returned to direct ROCKY BALBOA after the awful fifth film in the series, he almost recaptured the magic of the late 80s sequels. It was not until Ryan Coogler rebooted the series with 2015's CREED that the series came full circle and balanced the sports side with the character development. CREED did more to tell the tale of Adonis Creed's rise to glory than we got in the first four ROCKY films combined. ROCKY even ends anticlimactically. 

When Rocky finally shows down opposite Apollo Creed, it is a moment that the entire film should have been building towards. But, with ROCKY ending with Stallone's character losing and still being happy that he and Adrian have found each other, the film undermines almost two hours of build-up. Conversely, the fight between Creed and Balboa in ROCKY II is heads and tails better executed than the first movie. The choreography was tighter and the direction more entertaining. Is it any surprise that Stallone himself directed the sequels? Avildsen never quite knows what to do with ROCKY with countless scenes either out of focus suffering from poor editing. Cinematographer James Crabe, a frequent Avildsen collaborator, doesn't do a very good job with the fight scenes and when you do take the time to analyze the most famous shots in the movie, they pale compared to the countless imitators and copycats that they spawned.

As a kid, I remember loving ROCKY and finding it to be so moving and powerful and memorable (Editor's note – you were right then! What happened???). Revisiting it decades later, the movie does not hold up in the least. It is shocking how acclaimed it was at the time and now over forty years later. In no way deserving of any Oscars, ROCKY is just plain weak in every way. From terrible pacing to mediocre editing, ROCKY is one of the few films that somehow started a franchise of movies that are themselves nowhere near Oscar caliber nor are they trying to be. ROCKY was not filmed in order to win trophies but it struck a chord with audiences. There is no accounting for taste nor should you underestimate the movie-going public's desire for uncomplicated movies that tug at all of the right emotional strings. 

ROCKY is a movie that hinges on Sylvester Stallone and he doesn't earn his status as an actor from this movie. Stallone's return as Rocky in CREED and CREED II brings him full circle and serves as a wonderful coda to the character's journey, but ROCKY never comes close to giving the character that development. ROCKY works when viewed with ROCKY II or any of the other sequels, but it does not work as a standalone film. Rocky as a character is one kids will always know as the story is passed down through the generations, but when you realize that you associate ROCKY with "Eye of the Tiger", you will smack yourself in the head when you realize that is ROCKY III. Everything that makes ROCKY what it is comes from the sequels. For that alone, I consider ROCKY to be one of the most overrated movies of all time.

But hey, that's just my UnPopular Opinion. Tell us your take on ROCKY in the comments below. (Editor's note:Please try to be nice. Oh boy. We love you Sly AND we love ROCKY!)