History Film / RockyBalboa

* GenerationXerox: When Rocky meets Little Marie for the first time since the first Rocky movie, a younger woman shows up trying to get Rocky to buy a round of beer for her friends. When Rocky tries to tell said woman that one of her "friends," a rude man a few years shy of being as old as Rocky; is taking advantage of her, she reacts with the same attitude Marie herself used to react. However when the fight between Rocky and Mason is being broadcasted in the bar they hang out in, the woman takes Rocky's warning to heart and tells off the man.

* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: In rewrites to the script, it's fairly clear that the writers didn't know what direction to take Mason Dixon's character. Throughout the movie, he pinballs back and forth between an egotistical athlete looking out for his legacy, to an honest boxer fed up with the chicanery and politics in the boxing promotion world, to a primadonna with no respect whatsoever for Rocky and his accomplishments.

** See BoringInvincibleHero.

-->'''Paulie:''' I like [[FrankSinatra Sinatra]].

* GenerationXerox: When Rocky meets Little Marie for the first time since the first Rocky movie, a younger woman shows up trying to get Rocky to buy a round of beer for her friends. When Rocky tries to tell said woman that one of her "friends", a rude man a few years shy of being as old as Rocky; is taking advantage of her, she reacts with the same attitude Marie herself used to react. However when the fight between Rocky and Mason is being broadcasted in the bar they hang out in, the woman takes Rocky's warning to heart and tells off the man.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: In rewrites to the script, it's fairly clear that the writers didn't know what direction to take Mason Dixon's character. Throughout the movie, he pinballs back and forth between a egotistical athlete looking out for his legacy, to an honest boxer fed up with the chicanery and politics in the boxing promotion world, to a primadonna with no respect whatsoever for Rocky and his accomplishments.

* OhCrap: After Rocky takes a particularly hard fall, he rises with the support of everyone who's backed him (including the memories of both Adrian ''and'' Mickey) ...when he gets up bearing a picture perfect "I'm not done yet" face, Dixon backs up a step with an equally perfect "how the ''hell'' did you get up" look.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot:
** The simulated match between Rocky and Dixon was based on the "Super Fight" between Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali. Rocky ends up owning a restaurant, like former heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey did.
** ''Rocky Balboa'' centers around a retired Rocky who still wants to fight but is simply laughed at by most people due to his age and is called "overrated" by an analyst. He has to fight to get his license, and when he actually gets in his last fight and starts to kick a little ass, his son says "Everyone thought this was a joke, including me. Now nobody's laughing." This could be seen to mirror Stallone's own troubles in his character, as he's grown old and become something of a joke for his cheesy movies to many people, who may have forgotten that he once made a great movie. Rocky's struggle to get his license mirrors Stallone's struggles to get the movie made, and his attempt at making another Rocky movie was seen as a joke by most people until they saw the movie and (mostly) realized it was a good movie.
** Stallone's son '''not''' playing Robert Jr. as he had in Rocky V was done to avert this trope. Robert Jr. makes a big deal about how he's only ever had a career because he's Rocky's son, and nobody looks at him as anything else. Stallone did not want audiences to think this of his son, and refused to let him reprise the role. Sage himself said he wouldn't have anything to do with it. "No more Rocky for me" is an exact quote when he spoke of turning the role down.

* RealityEnsues: Rocky is a former fighter who keeps himself in quite good shape for a man his age, and he goes through a formidable TrainingMontage to get ready to face Dixon.... and Dixon beats the crap out of him and makes Rocky look like someone who's stepping into a boxing ring for the first time because Dixon is just so much faster and so much younger, while age and injuries have slowed Rocky and taken away the things that made him a great fighter. Only after Dixon becomes injured himself by badly breaking his hand does the fight actually become a real contest.

''Rocky Balboa'' is the sixth installment in the ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' franchise that began with the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward-winning ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' thirty years earlier in 1976, written, directed by, and starring Creator/SylvesterStallone who reprises his role as the title character.

The film was intended to be the true ending to the franchise, serving as a coda to the series -- it even ended with a tribute to the longtime fans of the series by showing them running up the famous steps themselves. Eventually a SpinOff film called ''Film/{{Creed}}'' with Stallone reprising the Rocky character began filming in January 2015. The film will focus on the son of Apollo Creed (named Adonis), becoming a boxer.

[[TheOneWith The one]] where [[HesBack Rocky returns]].

Despite [[SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome losing Adrian to cancer some years prior]] and having a strained relationship (at best) with his son, Rocky has something of a good life -- he has become a living landmark in Philadelphia, [[BrickJoke running his]] [[Music/WeirdAlYankovic own restaurant]] and telling boxing stories to his customers. Over in the boxing world, current reigning heavyweight champion [[PunnyName Mason "The Line" Dixon]] is disliked by pundits and fans alike for his [[BoringInvincibleHero easy fights finished in the first round]]. When a realistic computer simulation pits Dixon against an in-his-prime Balboa -- with Dixon ''losing'' -- publicists see a goldmine of an opportunity in an exhibition match between Rocky and Dixon to improve their client's image. Rocky is unsure of accepting the challenge because of his age and his relationship with his son, but he eventually accepts out of a desire to have one last great fight and rid himself of all of his inner demons.

The film was intended to be the true ending to the franchise, serving as a coda to the series -- it even ended with a tribute to the longtime fans of the series by showing them running up the famous steps themselves. Eventually a SpinOff film called ''Creed'' with Stallone reprising the Rocky character began filming in January 2015. The film will focus on the son of Apollo Creed (named Adonis), becoming a boxer.

'''''Rocky Balboa''''' is the sixth installment in the ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' franchise that began with the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward-winning ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' thirty years earlier in 1976, written, directed by, and starring Creator/SylvesterStallone who reprises his role as the title character.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Mason Dixon shows this, particularly towards the end. He's a jerk who only fights weaklings and has a large ego, but during (and especially after) the fight, he shows the utmost respect for Rocky.

The film was intended to be the true ending to the franchise, serving as a coda to the series -- it even ended with a tribute to the longtime fans of the series by showing them running up the famous steps themselves.

-->''"You know all there is to know about fighting, so there's no sense us going down that same old road again. To beat this guy, you need speed - you don't have it. And your knees can't take the pounding, so hard running is out. And you got arthritis in your neck, and you've got calcium deposits on most of your joints, so sparring is out. So, what we'll be calling on is good ol' fashion blunt force trauma. Horsepower. Heavy-duty, cast-iron, piledriving punches that will have to hurt so much they'll rattle his ancestors. Every time you hit him with a shot, it's gotta feel like he tried kissing the express train. Yeah! Let's start building some hurtin' bombs!"''

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: [[spoiler: Both Rocky and Paulie feel this way about Adrian. A deleted scene even has Paulie breaking down and saying it should have been him who died.]]
-->[[spoiler: '''Paulie''': (sobbing) Why didn't I die instead of my sister? I miss my sister, Rocky, I miss her! She never hurt nobody, Rocky!]]
-->[[spoiler: '''Rocky''': I know.]]

Despite [[SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome losing Adrian to cancer some years prior]] and having a strained relationship (at best) with his son, Rocky has something of a good life -- he has become a living landmark in Philadelphia, [[BrickJoke running his]] [[Music/WeirdAlYankovic own restaurant]] and telling boxing stories to his customers. Over in the boxing world, current reigning heavyweight champion [[PunnyName Mason]] "[[IncrediblyLamePun The Line]]" [[StealthPun Dixon]] is disliked by pundits and fans alike for his [[BoringInvincibleHero easy fights finished in the first round]]. When a realistic computer simulation pits Dixon against an in-his-prime Balboa -- with Dixon ''losing'' -- publicists see a goldmine of an opportunity in an exhibition match between Rocky and Dixon to improve their client's image. Rocky is unsure of accepting the challenge because of his age and his relationship with his son, but he eventually accepts out of a desire to have one last great fight and rid himself of all of his inner demons.