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Remembering: Rocky Balboa

Remembering: Rocky Balboa
American drama directed by Sylvester Stallone
Starring Sylvester Stallone and Burt Young
Released December 20, 2006
by Lisa McDonald
Live Music Head

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“It’s not about how hard you can hit.
It’s about how hard you can get hit,
and keep moving forward.” ~ Rocky Balboa

And it’s not over till it’s over.

I’ve said it a million times, and I’ll say it again: If more men (and women for that matter), had half the character traits of Rocky Balboa, my faith in humanity would be restored. Kudos to Sylvester Stallone for creating such an inspirational and enduring character. From the very first installment, the Academy Award-winning Best Picture of 1976, Rocky’s been everyone’s hero; the underdog we all cheer for. Yo Rocky! And through the five films that followed, where success saw him stray a little, there was never any doubt he’d come back to what’s real. And true to form, that’s exactly what happens in the sixth and final installment: Rocky gets back to what’s real. Not that fame saw him stray very far.

The relationship Rocky had with his wife Adrian (Talia Shire) confirms what true love is, for me anyway. Sadly it got broken; broken for reasons beyond anyone’s control. As Ernest Hemingway once said, “If two people love each other, there can be no happy end to it." And so the opening scene shows Balboa sitting in a chair that he retrieves from its storage place in a nearby tree, talking to her headstone. He misses her. Having returned to his old neighbourhood in Philadelphia, Rocky opened a restaurant after retiring as a fighter, and he named it after her. Table-side, Rocky regales customers with stories of his glory days as a heavy-weight boxing champion, which seems the perfect way for him to spend his retirement. But his loneliness is obvious.

The story is also about the relationship Rocky has with his son Robert (Milo Ventimiglia), now all grown up and resentful for having to live under his father’s enormous shadow. With Rocky’s love, it’s very moving to watch Robert come around. Even more moving is watching Paulie (Burt Young), Adrian’s alcoholic brother, the last living character in the Rocky story. Paulie reluctantly accompanies Balboa on visits to his sister’s grave, and the pet store where Rocky first met Adrian, and the ice rink where he took her skating on their first date. It tortures Paulie to do this. He suffers enormous guilt knowing he treated his sister bad, despite Rocky’s reassurance that Adrian loved her brother.

What I really liked most about the dvd bonus features was listening to Sylvester Stallone talk about the impact the film(s) have had on the world, particularly the impact they have, and still have on the people of Philadelphia. When they were shooting on location, they could get away with maybe twenty minutes before the crowds became uncontrollable. And this was in 2006, three decades after the first movie was released. Rocky is the “The People’s Champion” and Sylvester Stallone accepted long ago that for many people there is no separation between the character and the real person who plays him. Stallone will respond whether addressed as Sly, or Rocky.

Eventually Balboa meets a bartender in the old neighbourhood who, as it turns out, is supposed to be Little Marie, the street kid shown in the first film who tells Rocky off when he offers a little friendly advice. Marie (Geraldine Hughes) is now a full-grown woman offering him advice. When it becomes apparent that a great deal of emotional stuff is still living in the basement, Rocky decides to deal with it the only way he knows how. And just before he goes back in the ring, Marie delivers the best line... “You’ll prove the last thing that ages is the heart.”

The trailer for Rocky Balboa...

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Last modified on Sunday, 07 June 2015 15:43

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