It’s a scientific fact that all men love the Rocky movies. Three separate studies performed by the Rand Corporation, CATO, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory prove that 99.3% of the world’s male population think that the Italian Stallion is one of cinema’s greatest characters. If there was a Nobel Prize for Awesomeness, Rocky would win hands-down.
And why shouldn’t it? Apollo Creed had it right, Rocky Balboa is the American character. He’s the underdog, the scrapper who’s just waiting for his chance to prove himself. Watching the movies make you feel ten feet tall and bulletproof, that if you worked hard enough and had just that little bit of luck that you could succeed in this world. Even the worst of the series (cough Rocky V cough) managed to keep a spark of that feeling.
That’s why I’m ecstatic that MGM has released the Rocky collection on Blu-Ray. This collection includes every Rocky movie including the relatively recent Rocky Balboa, and the best way to review this collection is by looking at each individual movie.
Rocky
Rocky: “I was nobody. But that don’t matter either, you know? ‘Cause I was thinkin’, it really don’t matter if I lose this fight. It really don’t matter if this guy opens my head, either. ‘Cause all I wanna do is go the distance. Nobody’s ever gone the distance with Creed, and if I can go that distance, you see, and that bell rings and I’m still standin’, I’m gonna know for the first time in my life, see, that I weren’t just another bum from the neighborhood.”
This is the first and best of series. It won three Academy Awards including Best Picture and rocketed Sylvester Stallone to stardom. One thing that will surprise people who are more familiar with the later movies is how well written this is. The story is excellently plotted, the characters well-rounded and believable, and the dialogue is wonderful. There’s a poetry to Rocky’s speech, the kind of urban poetry that Charles Bukowski writes, and it’s great. The best kind of dialogue is the kind that elevates human speech beyond the normal while at the same time sounding completely natural: that’s the dialogue of Rocky.
The writing is equally matched by the performances. Sly is the star, of course, but the movie wouldn’t have been half as good if he hadn’t been supported by Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith, Talia Shire, and Burt Young. They give incredible, heartfelt performances that feel completely natural. You never catch them acting, and that’s the best compliment I can give to any actor.
The thing about Rocky is that, like its hero, it has a lot of heart. The movie is a fairy tale set in Philadelphia. It’s about the glory of going the distance, of never giving up on your dreams no matter how difficult the obstacles that stand in your way.
Rocky II
Duke: “He’s all wrong for us, baby. I saw you beat that man like I never saw no man get beat before, and the man kept coming after you. Now we don’t need no man like that in our lives.”
Flush with money and success from his fight with Apollo Creed, Rocky marries Adrian and settles down for the good life. Unfortunately, the money runs out, Rocky finds he can’t make money doing commercials because he can’t remember his lines or read the cue cards, and to top it all off Adrian falls into some kind of pregnancy coma.
In comes Apollo. Even though he won by decision, Rocky came away from the fight with all the glory, and Apollo is chomping at the bit for a rematch. Rocky resists at first, but ultimately agrees because of his money problems.
This movie heralds the birth of the unsupportive Adrian. Worried about the damage a rematch could do to Rocky’s eyes, she refuses to support Rocky’s decision and spends most of the movie chopping him down. It’s only until after she wakes up from her coma that she begins to have a change of heart.
I hate to say it, but this movie is pretty lopsided to me. The first half drags a bit too much setting up the situation so that Rocky has no choice to accept Apollo’s offer, and Adrian really gets annoying. The second half really picks up, though, and makes up for the first.
Rocky III
Clubber Lang: “No, I don’t hate Balboa. I pity the fool, and I will destroy any man who tries to take what I got!”
Now the heavyweight champion of the world, Rocky has it all. He and Apollo are now friends, his life with Adrian is fantastic, and his city loves him. But there’s a new fighter in town, a young, angry man who’s hungry in a way Rocky never was, and he devastates him in a humiliating match. Now it’s up to Apollo to pull Rocky back together and help him regain the eye of the tiger.
A funny thing about me and the Rocky movies is that I tend to watch the lesser movies more. Starting with III, Rocky strays into B-movie territory. The acting is still good, as is the directing, but the writing is nowhere near as brilliant. The movies stray into some silly territory, such as the Rocky’s charity wrestling match with Hulk Hogan—although he’s called Thunder Lips in the movie. But it’s still fun. Mr. T steals the show as Clubber Lang. He practically sweats intensity and is downright scary.
Adrian is her typical unsupportive self, but luckily Rocky has his burgeoning bromance with Apollo to fall back on. The sad part of this movie, though, is the death of Mickey. In the tribute to Burgess Meredith, Sylvester Stallone says that the death of Mickey is the death of the heart of Rocky, and I think he’s right. Luckily we have a fight with a huge Soviet combine by the name of Ivan Drago to look forward to.
Rocky IV
Duke: “Apollo was like my son. I raised him. And when he died a part of me died. But now you’re the one. You’re the one that’s gonna keep his spirit alive. You’re the one that’s gonna make sure that he didn’t die for nothing. Now you’re gonna have to go through hell. Worse than any nightmare you ever dreamed. But in the end, I know you’ll be the one standing.”
I love, love, love, love, love this movie. It’s silly, it’s formulaic, and Rocky basically ends the Cold War, but it’s so much fun.
Rocky IV continues the intellectual slide started with III. This is lightyears away from the first movie, which was quiet, poetic, and quite beautiful in its urban Romantic way. And yet is sucks me in every time. I love the hamfisted Cold War propaganda, I love Apollo’s death scene, I love Rocky’s training montage where he outruns a car driven by the KGB then climbs to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro and screams “Drago!”, and I love the final fight where Rocky wins over the Soviet people by being a human punching bag.
This movie is ’80s-tastic. There are times when I feel like I should hate it considering how bad it is compared to the first, but I have a soft spot for the ’80s, and IV presses all the right buttons.
Rocky V
Mickey: “Get up you son of a bitch! ‘Cause Mickey loves you!”
Take all the love I have for Rocky IV and that’s the amount of hate I have for Rocky V. This was an attempt to get back to Rocky‘s roots, but in the end it’s just depressing.
After beating Ivan Drago, Rocky comes home to find out that his entire fortune has been cleaned out by a crooked accountant. In bad with the IRS, and suffering from brain damage from his fight with Drago, Rocky, Adrian, and Rocky Jr. (played by Stallone’s son, Sage), move back to the slums of Philadelphia. Adrian is her typical negative self, and their son is having trouble adjusting to their new life. Hope comes in the form of a young up-and-coming boxer named Tommy Gunn (real life boxer Tommy Morrison) who begs Rocky to train him. But Tommy eventually leaves Balboa for the Don Kingesque promoter George Washington Duke. It all ends in a streetfight between the palsy Rocky and arrogant Gunn and nothing really changes.
This installment of the series deservedly gets a lot of flak from fans, and I think that’s because it forgets what makes the Rocky movies so great: heart. On top of that it’s just sad to see one of your heroes so utterly destroyed. It feels almost nihilistic in its portrayal of Rocky, and there’s very little of the heart and nobility that makes the other movies so good. Thank God this is no longer the last movie of the series.
Rocky Balboa
Rocky: “Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now if you know what you’re worth then go out and get what you’re worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you!”
If Stallone never makes another Rocky I won’t be sad, because I’ve got Rocky Balboa.
Rocky Balboa is everything Rocky V isn’t: it goes back to the roots of the character and his story without having to deconstruct him to do so. Rocky is the sweet, good-hearted person he once was, and this time he’s not fighting to prove anything to himself—just the world.
The idea that Rocky can stand toe to toe with Mason “The Line” Dixon (I love the names of boxers in these movies) is ridiculous, and yet I believe every second of the movie. It’s a great fairy tale in the spirit of the first movie, and in some ways it’s almost a love letter to the character. Rocky revisits many of the places of his past and even runs into Marie, the girl he tried to give advice to in the first film. Yet it somehow manages to keep from falling into the trap of excessive nostalgia. The fight with Dixon is treated as Rocky’s last hurrah, and reflection is a natural reaction for that situation. It’s not as good as the first, but it’s the one that is most in keeping with its spirit, and that’s probably why it’s quickly becoming my second favorite film in the series.
Each movie is presented in widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio with audio tracks in English 5.1 DTS-HD master audio, French 5.1 Dolby digital, Spanish mono, and English SDH. Rocky has Spanish subtitles, while the rest of the movies have Spanish and French subtitles. Each film looks and sounds great. Those in charge of remastering the prints did an excellent job. Rocky fans will not be disappointed.
Feeling Strong Now Interactive Game – This is probably my least favorite of the extra features. The game is divided into three parts: basic Rocky trivia, punch selection, and a question based on a quick video clip from the featurettes. I grew bored with it after the first round.
Three Rounds with Legendary Trainer Lou Duva (4:44) – Great featurette. Duva has some fun stories about his time as a boxing trainer.
Interview with a Legend – Bert Sugar: Author/Commentator and Historian (6:55) – Another great one. Even somebody as sports ignorant as me knows who Sugar is, and his comments on boxing and its place in movies are fascinating.
“The Opponents” (16:23) – Good profiles of Rocky’s opponents. My favorite part is the interview with Carl Weathers, who really understands his character and has good insight into who Apollo Creed is and what makes him tick.
In the Ring: Three-Part Making-Of Documentary (1:15:50) – This is definitely my favorite extra feature on this set. Unlike some documentaries I’ve seen, the people involved in these movies are all intelligent and articulate. They also have the benefit of time and perspective, which many making-of documentaries these days lack, and lets them to make some really insightful comments on the films and characters. If you don’t watch any of the other extra features, take the time to watch this one. You’ll be glad you did.
Steadicam: Then and Now with Garrett Brown (17:25) – This one went on just a little too long for me, but again, this is miles above most of the extra features that I’ve watched on other movies. Those interested in cameras and the more technical aspects of moviemaking should find this interesting as Brown is the man who invented the Steadicam.
Make Up! The Art and Form with Michael Westmore (15:08) – This one was surprisingly interesting, but maybe that’s because I know next to nothing about makeup. Like the Steadicam featurette, this one will probably appeal more to those interested in the technical aspects of movies.
Staccato: A Composer’s Notebook with Bill Conti (11:26) – Hands down my second favorite feature. Conti’s music for Rocky is iconic, and for good reason. Thankfully he’s also a good talker and the way he describes composing is very interesting.
The Ring of Truth (9:48) – Art Director James Spencer talks about the composition of certain scenes in the movie. Good, but technical.
Behind the Scenes with John Avildsen (12:36) – This is a real treat: the director’s 8mm footage he took of Sylvester Stallone and Carl Weathers sparring.
Tribute to Burgess Meredith (7:56) – This one made me a bit sad, but I have to say that Carl Weathers great Burgess Meredith impression helped lighten the mood.
Tribute to James Crabe (3:46) – A tribute to Rocky‘s cinematographer.
Video Commentary with Sylvester Stallone (28:56) – Another great feature.
Sylvester Stallone on Dinah! (1976) (17:16) – This is worth watching just to see the godawful Leisure Suit Sly wears. Keep an eye out for the strange bundle of fabric on the back of his suit jacket. I think Stallone stored his lunch there or something.
Rocky Anthology Trailers
Rocky TV Spots
I’m not one of those people who has to have every movie on Blu-Ray, but the Rocky series is one of the few exceptions. These movies look and sound great and it’s a joy seeing them in this format. The only reason this collection is earning four-and-a-half stars instead of the full five is because it includes Rocky V. Highly recommended.
MGM Home Entertainment presents Rocky: The Undisputed Collection. Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Mr. T, Dolph Lundgren, Brigitte Nielsen, Tommy Morrison, and Antonio Tarver. Written by: Sylvester Stallone. Running time: 634. Rating: PG and PG-13. Released on DVD: November 3, 2009. Available at Amazon.com
