Producers: -Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff..

Director: -John Avildsen.

Actors / Actresses:

-Academy Awards, (nominations only):

• Actor, 1976: Sylvester Stallone.
• Actress, 1976: Talia Shire.
• Supporting Actor, 1976: Burt Young
• Supporting Actor, 1976: Burgress Meredith.
• Writing (Best screenplay written directly for the screen), 1976: Sylvester Stallone.
• Music (Best Song), 1976: Bill Conti – Music, Carol Connors – Lyrics, Ayn Robbins – Lyrics.
• Sound, 1976: Harry Warren Tetrick – sound, William McCaughey – sound, Lyle Burbridge – sound, Bud Alper – sound.

Academy Awards (Oscars Won)-

• Best Picture, 1976: Robert Chartoff – producer, Irwin Winkler – producer.
• Directing, 1976: John G. Avildsen.
• Film Editing, 1976: Richard Halsey, Scott Conrad.

Rocky is the story of a poor boxer from the slums of Philadelphia that is given a once in a lifetime chance to fight for the world title. This story has been told a million times before in one form or another, but Rocky does it perfectly. Rocky Balboa lives in the back streets of Philadelphia, and his main source of income is working as a collector for a loan shark. He also does fights as often as he can, but he can’t really succeed in boxing because he drinks, smokes, and doesn’t really train seriously. He lives in an incredibly messy, beat-up apartment with two turtles, Cuff and Link, and a goldfish named Moby Dick. Rocky is also in love with a very shy girl, Adrian, that works at the local pet shop. When world champion Apollo Creed finds out that his partner for his upcoming match can’t fight, he decides to give some local guy a chance at the world title. Apollo chooses Rocky because of his nickname, the "Italian Stallion." Here Rocky begins his training, getting up at four every morning and drinking six raw eggs. While he is training Adrian, who is now his girlfriend, decided to move in with him to get away from her abusive brother, Paulie, who is also Rocky’s friend. The rest of the movie leads up to the big fight at the end, which is somewhat predictable. The night before the match Rocky is talking to Adrian and he realizes that he can’t win, so he says that all he wants to do is to "go the distance."

The plot of Rocky seems like one big cliché. The nobody fighter from the slums of Philadelphia is offered a chance to fight for the championship. Somehow, though, Sylvester Stallone makes it work. When I watched Rocky there was something about the movie that really sucked me in. You don’t think about how corny or stupid the plot may seem, you feel like it’s really happening. Even the training of Rocky by Mickey, the short gym manager, which in any other circumstance would make me laugh, seemed incredibly plausible. Rocky tells us about a hero. It takes the viewer for an emotional ride that leaves you hanging on until the last scene. When Rocky runs up the steps of the Philadelphia art museum you feel like jumping up and waving your fists in the air with him. When he says that all he wants to do is to go the distance with Apollo Creed, you know he can do it.

For all it’s great points, Rocky does have it’s slow parts. I thought that Rocky’s relationship with Adrian, although interesting, was a little too corny even for this movie. From the beginning of the movie Rocky is in love with Adrian, even though she has hardly said a word to him ever. Somehow he just knows that she is the one for him, and he is right. There is a little tension on their first date until they start kissing, and they are a perfect pair from that moment forward. I think that this is just a little too idealistic. For some reason it just doesn’t work like the rest of the unbelievable plot. Maybe it’s me, but I thought that this went just a little overboard. Another part of the movie I thought was a little unbelievable was the loan shark that employed Rocky. He was nice, at least to Rocky. He gave him money throughout the movie and acted like a pal. He had morals. I think this is just a little wrong.

One character I thought was especially good was Paulie. He seemed to add just the right extra touch to keep the movie interesting. Whether it was his constant requests to get a job as a collector or his complaining about his current job at the meat packer, he was always there to add that extra something. His constant drinking and abusive behavior also added extra conflict to the story. One of the major purposes of Paulie, though, seemed to be to unite Rocky and Adrian. He got Rocky a date, even if it wasn’t exactly in the most pleasant way, and he even provided an excuse for Adrian to move in with Rocky, though not through conscious effort.

When I was watching Rocky I noticed something that I thought was interesting. There were very few extra people. There were no people just walking down the street or anything. In fact, Philadelphia seemed like a pretty deserted place in Rocky. I think added to the effect of the movie, though. We only needed to focus on the main characters, and anything else would detract form our experience. The absence of extra people allows the viewer to connect with the main characters more. It’s really like a way to have the story take place in Philadelphia, but not really involve Philadelphia, and I think it adds significantly to the movie.

Rocky is really just a hero story. It’s the kind of story that makes us feel good inside, almost like we could go out and do the same thing. In fact, I have heard of many people actually being inspired by this movie. I enjoyed watching Rocky and I think anyone else would also.