In the movie rocky, the under dog comes out on top. He started from the bottom and worked his way to the top with blood sweat and tears. My experience with the film was that I was originally taken back, at first I never thought that he would go so far and make his own life become such an impact and an influence to other people’s lives. But everyone can prove you wrong that’s why you can never judge a book by its cover. I would consider this film a great film, because people still to this day look up to Rocky as an idol as a character and also Sylvester Stallone as a human being in general for playing that role that so many refer to when thinking of toughness and heart. This movie is also a classic because it is the epitome of the underdog story that everybody wants to tell or be a part of in history. Rocky is now an American sign for never giving up and fighting through adversity. The name Rocky alone resonates with almost every middle to lower class home in America. Everybody at the bottom wants to make it to the top some day. Rocky did that. So the American people look to figures such as him to pull themselves through tough times and hard times by adopting their mentalities and key attributes to be more so like them.
One key moment in the movie Rocky is when Rocky loses the fight at the end to creed by a split decision. This moment is so crucial and so vital to the story in the meaning behind the story because Rocky doesn’t win the final bow yet it’s still a happy ending because of the fight that it took to make it to the top in the grind that he went through to get to where he played it. Rocky doesn’t win the fight but he wins the heart of every consumer of this movie. Not many movies can have their main character lose or die without the fans of that character being disappointed. The creators of Rocky took the chance on building suspense and letting down those watching the movie. But it paid off because centuries later and people still see him as a hero even through the loss he took to Creed in the very first movie.
Another key moment in the film has to be when the fight is initially set up. The fight is set up for a “nobody” to become a “somebody”. The world heavyweight champions’ opponent gets injured and can’t fight anymore so his manager sets up a fight with a struggling boxer who is on the come up. The fight is supposed to be easily won by Apollo Creed in a landslide fight with no fighting chance for Rocky in the ring (pun intended). Rocky never got the memo that this fight was supposed to be a cake walk for the champ. He took this as his only opportunity to make it big time in the boxing game. He may have lost the fight but he went from a “nobody” in the boxing world to a “somebody” just by going the distance with the reigning champion. Rocky showed that his heart was much bigger than his skill set and that’s what carried him through the fight all the way through the final round. That and his unfailing will to win and make a name for himself.
A third key moment is when Rocky is training for the fight with the champion Apollo Creed. The moment in particular is when Rocky runs up the famous steps in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that now stands as a US monument and keeps the legend of rocky alive even in today’s day and age. Kids growing up today even know about this scene from a movie that was shot before some of their parents were even born. They may not know anything whatsoever about Rocky, but they know the run up the steps and the hands in the air declaring victory and one of our national signs of pure confidence and bliss. The kind of confidence and bliss that you get from putting in the work to get to where you want to be in your life or to get something that you love and cherish so much in life. That one scene alone has left its own legacy apart from the movie itself over the past 50 years and still lives on today.
resources:
https://www.thewrap.com/all-7-rocky-movies-ranked-from-the-original-to-creed-photos/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rocky-film-by-Avildsen
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/rocky