Line #15 YMMV/Rocky


1	!!Works in this franchise with their own pages:
2	* ''YMMV/RockyII''
3	* ''YMMV/RockyIII''
4	* ''YMMV/RockyIV''
5	* ''YMMV/RockyV''
6	* ''YMMV/RockyBalboa''
7	* ''YMMV/{{Creed\|2015}}''
8	* ''YMMV/CreedII''
9	* ''YMMV/CreedIII''
10	----
11	* AccidentalInnuendo: Rocky's special training routine in the first film consists of him "beating his meat."
12	** It's worse than that. He's actually [[{{Squick}} beating Paulie's meat]].
13	* {{Adorkable}}: Talks to his pets, awkwardly courts his best friend's sister, tells his coach about her like a lovesick teenager, and starts dancing and posing after running up a flight of stairs. And that's just the first movie! Not to mention his proposal to Adrian. That goes down in history as one of the sweetest and most awkward "Will you marry me"s in a movie.
14	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Rocky can come across as quite a pushy jerk towards Adrian in the movie's first half. First of all, his complaints to Paulie about getting no response to his bad jokes. Then she only goes on a date with him because Paulie bullies her into it, which Rocky only mildly objects to. Finally, she ''repeatedly'' tries to beg off going into his apartment, only for Rocky to refuse to take no for an answer and keep badgering her until she gives in (and also, failing her entering, was apparently planning to let her walk home alone in a rough neighborhood). This is supposedly all justified by her being shy, and Rocky just wanting to bring her out of her shell for what she ''really'' wants, which he somehow knows.
15	* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Creator/UnitedArtists executives were not keen on casting Creator/SylvesterStallone, but the producers insisted on it. The studio ultimately agreed to make the film with him (after reducing its budget), because they had Creator/MartinScorsese's ''Film/NewYorkNewYork'' in production, and they were so confident in that movie they assumed they could write off the losses from this risky undertaking easily. [[http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,203553,00.html Quoted]] one former vice president: "''Rocky'' wound up paying for whatever losses we had on ''New York, New York''."
16	* AwardSnub: The film received ten UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nominations and won three - Best Picture, Director and Editing. While "Gonna Fly Now" was nominated for Best Song, Music/BillConti's iconic score wasn't nominated.
17	* AwesomeEgo: Creed is one of the best boxers in the world and knows it, his fights are always given hype like you wouldn't believe (see BigLippedAlligatorMoment). His ego winds up biting him in the ass twice though; first when he plays around with Rocky at the start of the first movie instead of really preparing, and secondly in Rocky IV when he challenges Drago in spite of being much older and assuming Drago was less skilled than he turned out to be.
18	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btPJPFnesV4 THE EYE OF THE TIIIIIIIIIGERRRRRR!]]
19	** Don't forget ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioE_O7Lm0I4 Gonna Fly Now]]''. It was so awesome, it was used in various forms for years by Creator/{{Citytv}} in Toronto as the theme for their groundbreaking ''[=CityPulse=]'' newscast. When you heard those tones, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgatGQNPsOs it set the stage for a day in the life of Toronto.]]
20	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvQkl7qa6RQ Going the Distance]]
21	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MnzuYiX5Ng The Final Bell]]
22	** [[https://youtu.be/DLtZ5kwhU4k The end credits music from the first movie: "Rocky's Reward"]]
23	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHdpyvayAcw This fanmade musical: "Drago, Yo, You Killed Apollo"]]
24	** Everything from ''Rocky IV''.
25	** Regardless of what you thought of ''Rocky V'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiZpgALUDVs you cannot deny that this theme was the best thing to come out of that movie (edited to match exactly what the movie played, just for us)!]]
26	* CommonKnowledge: Rocky's signature colors are black and gold, ''not'' red, white, and blue. Apollo lent him the American flag trunks for his rematch with Clubber, and Rocky wore them against Drago because he was representing his country. Even in the first film, for the final fight, while Rocky wore American themed shorts, they were white with red stripes. This led to some people being confused when Rocky showed up at the fight in ''Balboa'' wearing black and gold instead of "his normal colors." As it happens, the American flag trunks weren't even Apollo's regular colors. While he wore them for the Bicentennial in the first film and the Drago fight in the fourth, his regular colors were red with white stripes, as shown in the fight in the second film.
27	* EnsembleDarkHorse: Apollo Creed's nameless trainer in the first film gets an expanded role in all the subsequent ones, including getting a name (Duke). He ends up being the only character/actor other than Stallone and Creator/BurtYoung to appear in all six films.
28	* FirstInstallmentWins: While quite good in their own rights ([[SoBadItsGood IV]] and [[FanonDiscontinuity V]] generally excepted), none of the seven sequels are anywhere near as iconic or critically adored as the original ''Rocky''. It's the only film in the series to be preserved by the Library of Congress, for instance.
29	* HeartwarmingInHindsight: Watching the growing relationship between Rocky and Apollo takes on a whole new dimension knowing Rocky will end up mentoring Apollo's son.
30	* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: A lot of younger viewers who only know Stallone from action movies, where he (competently) plays very similar archetypes, are rather surprised at his brilliant performance in ''Rocky''.
31	* HilariousInHindsight:
32	** In the first movie, Rocky walks lil' Marie home. What was one thing he asks her? ''"Do you have a boyfriend?"'' Granted, it was in the context of him encouraging her to stick with only good people, but it's funny when you see how Marie and Rocky interact in ''Rocky Balboa'', including her pecking a kiss on the lips.
33	** During Apollo’s showboating before the fight, Rocky says "Is he talking to me?", sounding quite similar to Robert De Niro’s rather more famous delivery of "Are you talking to me?" in the film’s Best Picture opponent ''Film/TaxiDriver''.
34	** Rocky explaining why he became a boxer with "Because I can't sing or dance" became pretty ironic when the story was made into a Broadway musical. And yes, that line was included. Additionally, Stallone would later star in ''Film/{{Rhinestone}}'', where he demonstrated that he really, ''really'' can't sing.
35	** The plot of the first movie concerns a club fighter who no one expected to put up a fight being matched against a champion way above his level, and managing to both hurt the champ (despite a near thirty-pound weight disadvantage) and go the distance, partly due to said champ being a bit past his prime in his mid 30s, and partly due to the champ also not taking his opponent seriously and thus showing up somewhat out of shape. The underdog loses, but it's in a split decision much closer than anyone thought it was going to be. Two years later, Muhammad Ali (one of the main inspirations for Apollo Creed) would match himself against club fighter Leon Spinks, expecting an easy victory since the guy had only six professional fights to his name at that point. Instead, the past-his-prime Ali showed up somewhat out of shape while Spinks (like Rocky) trained like a demon for his big shot, and the result was that he not only hurt Ali (despite a near thirty-pound weight disadvantage) and went the distance, but ''won'' the bout in a split decision.[[note]]The parallels aren't 100% exact. For one, Spinks had nowhere near Rocky's listed professional experience or pro knockout record, and had fought much of his amateur career at light heavyweight, while Rocky never fought below heavyweight. Spinks was also much younger than Rocky, had nowhere near as many losses, and had a great amateur career of 178-7 with 133 knockouts (he won a gold medal at light heavyweight at the Olympics), when there's no indication Rocky had such a distinguished career. Still, the number of similarities are amusing to note.[[/note]]
36	** At the end of the fight, an exhausted Apollo Creed and Rocky tell each other, "Ain't gonna be no rematch." "Don't want one." ''Rocky'' had a sequel building up to just that, and went on to be a ''notorious'' case of a franchise that seemingly had no end.
37	** Gazzo chastises Rocky for not breaking a debtor's thumbs, and Rocky tries to justify it with the excuse that if he's got broken thumbs he can't work to pay off his debt. Research indicates that loan sharks of the time very rarely made good on their threats of physical violence for this exact reason.
38	* HoYay: Apollo and Rocky. The third film's training montage includes them hugging while splashing through the ocean, and Apollo lends Rocky his old shorts.
39	* IronWoobie: The titular character, Rocky Balboa. He starts the first movie as a nobody with no apparent future until he gets a shot at the title, with no one believing he'll get past the first round, and each movie in the franchise has him taking a worse beating than the last, both literally and metaphorically. And yet, he always makes an effort to take care of the people that he loves, faces adversity with determination every time, and keeps moving forward; because that's how winning is done.
40	* JerkassWoobie: Paulie, Paulie, Paulie. Best summarized by Rocky in ''Creed.''
41	--> '''Rocky:''' "Paulie was my best friend even though he wasn't so friendly."
42	* MemeticMutation:
43	** Any big, strong, Russian character with a mean streak (or just a flat-out desire to win) will have Ivan Drago's famous line "I must break you" tied to them at one point or another.
44	** [[Creator/MrT I PITY THE FOOL!]]
45	*** [[{{Catchphrase}} SHUT UP, FOOL!]]
46	** "ADRIAAAAAAAAAN!" (And let's not forget the smaller meme: '''YO ADRIAN, I DID IT!!!''')
47	** Yer a BUM, Rakkko.
48	** IF I CAN CHANGE, THEN YOU CAN CHANGE... THAT MEANS EVERYBODY CAN CHANGE!!!
49	** The steps. Just...just the steps.
50	** He'll kill ya Rock! He's a wwwrrrrecking machine!
51	** You're gonna eat lightning and crap thunder!
52	** Rocky's TrainingMontage, especially the [[FirstInstallmentWins one from the first film]], is often copied in format by other serious SportsStories and parodied by more comedic works.
53	** The concept of the movie itself. Calling anything a Rocky moment, a Rocky story, or what have you, is pretty much synonymous with an underdog story. ''Rocky'' is a TropeCodifier for the underdog.
54	** A heartwarming example. Rocky's [[PatrickStewartSpeech speech to his son]] in the sixth film. People have been known to send it to a friend or family member that's feeling down, anxiety, or going through some kind of depression. The scene's been reputed to be a good motivation starter.
55	* NauseaFuel: Three words: "Cut me, Mick." For context, in the original film, between the 14th and 15th rounds, Rocky has taken so many punches to the face that he can't open his right eye. Desperate to keep fighting, Rocky asks Mickey to "cut him," which involves one of the ring attendants using a razor to cut Rocky's brow open just above the eye to reduce the swelling. The resulting bloody spurt can be a bit shocking for those who have never seen the film before, and this moment really drives home how brutal a sport like boxing can be.
56	* OnceOriginalNowOverdone: Back when the films were new, when Rocky trained to "Gonna Fly Now" and "Eye of the Tiger" it was electric and inspiring. A million parodies later, the music has become a cliche. Ditto for the oft-parodied stairs scene.
57	* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: There are a variety of different Rocky games. Some mediocre, and some that just scream this trope.
58	** The Sega Master System version, developed and published by Creator/{{Sega}}, falls squarely into this trope. For one, the game is way too difficult, way too short, where you fight only three boxers[[note]]Apollo Creed, Clubber Lang and Ivan Drago[[/note]] and the pre-match training requires a lot of practice beforehand. If you over-qualify, you get hidden moves that make the fights tolerable. However, some of them requires constant button mashing to over-qualify and that boils down to luck.
59	** SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames: Although many would agree that Rocky on [=PS2=] and X-Box is a worthy attempt, and Rocky Legends is a SurprisinglyImprovedSequel. It helps that it offers a story mode where you follow Rocky and three other main characters, with at least one unique training game for each.
60	* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/MichaelDorn, Worf from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', can be glimpsed in a few shots as Creeds' bodyguard.
61	* {{Sequelitis}}: The franchise was widely accused of this, becoming a frequent source of mockery as the series progressed.
62	* SignatureScene: Rocky's run through the streets of Philadelphia, with "Gonna Fly Now" playing in the background and ending with running up the Philadelphia Art Museum steps, is the film's most famous scene.
63	* {{Squick}}: The eggs.
64
65

Context YMMV / Rocky