Rocky was one of the most popular American motion pictures of the 1970’s. The film tells the “rags to riches” story of Rocky Balboa, a young, unknown Italian American boxer living in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, slums who nearly defeats the heavyweight boxing champion of the world. Rocky was released in 1976. In 1977, it won the Academy Award for best picture. The film made a star out of a little-known actor named Sylvester Stallone, who played the title character. He also wrote the screenplay.
Rocky Balboa works as a debt collector for a Philadelphia moneylender and dreams of becoming a champion fighter. Rocky boxes in local clubs. He gets an unexpected opportunity to fight for the heavyweight championship of the world after the champion’s next scheduled opponent is injured. The movie shows how Rocky triumphs over great odds. He lasts a full 15 rounds against the champion, who barely retains his title.
Rocky was directed by John Avildsen, who won an Academy Award as best director for the film. The other featured actors were Talia Shire as Rocky’s girlfriend, Adrian; Burt Young as Adrian’s brother, Paulie; Burgess Meredith as Rocky’s trainer; and Carl Weathers as heavyweight champion Apollo Creed. Bill Conti composed the main theme song, “Gonna Fly Now,” which became a number-one hit in 1977.
Rocky was made on a budget of about $1 million. It earned $225 million in global box office receipts, more than any other film of 1976. Rocky received ten Oscar nominations in nine categories and won three awards in 1977. In addition to winning the best picture and best director awards, the film earned Scott Conrad and Richard Halsey an award for best editing. The popularity of Rocky led to eight sequels: Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982), Rocky IV (1985), Rocky V (1990), Rocky Balboa (2006), Creed (2015), Creed II (2018), and Creed III (2023). Stallone played Rocky in the first seven sequels. He wrote the screenplays for the first five sequels and directed four of the films. Stallone also co-wrote the screenplay for Creed II.
