Works in this franchise with their pages:
- The real life inspiration behind Rocky: Chuck Wepner. He was an ex-Marine and liquor salesman from New Jersey. No one thought he had a hope in hell of fighting Muhammad Ali. He almost made it all the way to the last bell. Everyone thought he'd go down in the second round but he stayed up and fought to the end, even knocking Ali down in the 9th round
, even if it wasn't exactly a clean knockdown according to boxing rules and could have been ruled a slip. He wasn't a very skilled fighter, but certainly is a true badass, being able to go toe-to-toe with a titan like Ali.
Rocky
The true rise of an underdog.
- The first movie's Training Montage. Just the training montage.
- The final shot of the montage, with Rocky leaping up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art that he previously couldn't run, and raising his arms towards the city in triumph. It's one of the most memorable shots in film history.
- Mick calling out Rocky for his mob connections and lack of ambition. Rough, but it's definitely something Rocky needed to hear.Rocky: You know I've been coming in here for six years, and for six years you've been sticking it to me, I wanna know how come.
Mick: You don't wanna know.
Rocky: Yeah, I wanna know how come.
Mick: You wanna know?
Rocky: I WANNA KNOW HOW!
Mick: Okay, I'll tell ya. You had the talent to become a good fighter! And instead of that, you became a leg-breaker, for some cheap loan shark!
Rocky: (sheepishly) It's a living...
Mick: IT'S A WASTE OF LIFE!- Mick receives it right back later on. Spending six years in gym of being nothing but contemptuous and giving him cold shoulders, has the gall to visit Rocky's apartment the moment he hears the opportunity of him facing the champion. Demanding to be his manager. Naturally, Rock recalls all of Mick's (not so justified) treatment and calls him out on it among other things.note But it goes to show no matter what or who the person is, he's still a human being with thoughts and feelings. To mention never knowing who will rise in ranks in life and when, including the very person that got treated badly.
- It's understated, but the first real training sequence in the film applies; the one most often known as the Philadelphia Morning scene. No intense heart driving music, no shouting, just Rocky getting up before the sunrise for a long run towards the Philadelphia Museum of Art in his current physical condition. The awesome is in the execution, for perfectly illustrating what it really means to want to drive oneself to improvement: sure, having trainers and friends all there to help is great, but before any of that you've got to have it in you to do it by yourself with no other motivation than your own. The somber music used further drives home how much Rocky will need to do and commit himself to see his goal through. This scene also helps to further set up the more famous training montage to hit even harder later, as he is able to practically fly up the steps as opposed to originally just barely making the run in one piece.
- Adrian's Shut Up, Hannibal! speech against Paulie's It's All About Me speech.Paulie: YOU OWE ME!!!
Adrian: WHAT DO I OWE YOU!!?
Paulie: You're supposed to be good to me!!
Adrian: WHAT DO I OWE YOU, PAULIE!? WHAT DO I OWE YOU!? I COOK FOR YOU, I CLEAN FOR YOU, I PICK UP YOUR DIRTY CLOTHES! I TAKE CARE OF YOU GOOD PAULIE, I OWE YOU NOTHING! AND YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A LOSER! I'M! NOT! A LOSER! - Rocky's resolve. Instead of swearing he'd win like a typical hero, he instead confesses to Adrian in self-aware, Classical Anti-Hero fashion that he wants to go the distance with the living embodiment of Muhammad Ali in the Rocky Universe, even though he knows he's not in his league.Rocky: I can't beat him... [But] it really don't matter if I lose this fight. It really don't matter if this guy opens my head either. 'Cause all I wanna do is go the distance. Nobody's ever gone the distance with Creed, and if I can go that distance, and see, when that bell rings and I'm still standing - I'm gonna know for the first time in my life, see? That I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood.
- And of course the fight at the end of the first film, where Rocky achieves his real goal of going a full fifteen rounds against Apollo, even though Apollo did win since the title holder pretty much successfully defends if they avoid being KO'd, which is also known as the champion's advantage. Rocky would have had to utterly dominate the fight to win without Creed being KOed and that would have detracted from the awesome.
- It was so awesome, in Rocky II, a handful of people, including Mickey, are convinced that Rocky was the real winner of the fight.
- Rocky knocks the champ down. It's early in the first round, the pomp and circumstance of Apollo's entrance has died out, and now the crowd is buzzing and waiting for Apollo to put this guy away. At first, that's exactly what's happening: Apollo isn't taking Rocky seriously, and he's tagging Rocky with jabs to the face. But then he comes in too close, Rocky ducks the punch, and throws a hellacious uppercut that knocks Apollo right to the canvas. The crowd goes crazy (with Rocky's local tavern crowd going nuts), and Apollo staggers to his feet with a clear "THAT wasn't supposed to happen" Oh, Crap! look on his face. At that moment, everyone in the building realized what Apollo's trainer would tell him at the end of the round:Duke: He doesn't think it's a damn show! He thinks it's a damn fight!
- The 14th Round. The crescendo of the music, Bill Conti's Going the Distance, swells not when Rocky knocked down Apollo but when he himself got knocked down in the 14th round. Rocky's defining moment wasn't taking Apollo down but being able to take the hits and still keep moving forward. He literally went the distance. Mickey was telling him to stay down, but he wouldn't.
- Many emotions were swirling at that point that serves as the perfect lead up to the final round. Rocky's desperation to get up. Adrian coming to the back of the arena to watch the fight with a look of despair. Apollo's disbelief in seeing Balboa beat the count. Practically everyone present, even Rocky's own corner, expected him to stay down but he refused to. The absolute peak of the music comes when Creed goes after Rocky before the Italian Stallion slips the jab and hook in order to unload several devastating left hook body blows to the champ. He just won't give up. The whole sequence perfectly captures the essence of the unbreakable will of man.
