Rocky is the first movie I ever saw inside of a theater. That movie had an impact on my entire life and remains one of my favorites of all time.
I remember vividly it was a rainy day. For some reason my dad was home rather than at work. Maybe it was a holiday or he took the day off from teaching. I would’ve been 4 years old, so details like that escape me.
I do remember being blown away by going inside to see a movie. At that point in my life, going to the movies was going to the Crest Drive In. A walk-in theater, as I called it then, amazed me. Especially since you could see a movie during the day and not have to wait until the sun went down.
Rocky as we all know went down in history as one of the biggest hits of all times. It launched the career of its lead actor and writer, Sylvester Stallone, into the stratosphere. It gave us Bill Conti’s incredibly inspirational theme song “Gonna Fly Now.” And the movie spawned six sequels over the last 40 years, with Rocky III introducing both Hulk Hogan and Mr. T. to our pop culture consciousness.
All of that started with Rocky. A movie shot for around $1 million in only 28 days. A movie where the producers wanted Ryan O’Neil to have the lead role, but Stallone held out knowing that this was his one in a million shot. He was right and this simple yet amazing movie went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
None of that mattered to me back then. It was just about the movie to me. I wish I could tell you I remember much about the movie from that first viewing. I don’t. I recall Rocky not winning the fight with Apollo, Rocky beating up on the meat hanging in the freezer, and of course the scene where he cracks six raw eggs into a glass then drinks them down like they were chocolate milk.
The egg drinking scene is one that stuck with me the most. I couldn’t imagine anyone doing that, and still can’t. As a teenager trying to get into working out (I’m still trying by the way) I attempted to drink a single egg. It made it as far as my tonsils, but I couldn’t force the slimy sucker down and quickly spit it into the kitchen sink.
As I grew older and saw Rocky again on TV and later owned the DVD, I came to understand what an incredible movie Rocky is. I understand why it impacted people so much when it was released, because it still impacts me.
At its core, Rocky is a story about a naturally talented person who never got the right breaks and made some bad decisions, so that talent never fully developed and never took him out of the neighborhood. We all know someone like that. Sometimes it’s even us.
I can definitely identify with not getting the breaks I thought I needed in my writing. I can also admit that I’ve made some bad decisions that cost me opportunities, like not dedicating the time to write, instead choosing to go out and have fun rather than practice and refine my craft.
Rocky is someone who knows he could have and should have been more than the muscle for the loan shark Mr. Gazzo. Mickey Goldmill, before he takes on managing Rocky in the fight against Apollo Creed, even calls the Italian Stallion out on this.
Rocky is someone who is not living the life he believes he should be living. This is a theme that is consistent in all of the Rocky movies. It’s a very prideful thought in many ways, but we don’t hold it against Rocky because he’s a kind soul. He picks up the drunk on the street and brings him into Andy’s bar. He refuses to break the dock worker’s thumb who’s light on his payment to Mr. Gazzo. He befriends the irascible and unfriendly Paulie. He’s even enamored with Adrian who until he removes her hat and glasses would never get a swipe right on any dating app.
Rocky Balboa is a good guy. We want him to succeed in both life and love. And when he gets the chance of a lifetime to fight Apollo Creed for the Heavyweight title we’re excited. But Rocky surprises again by initially refusing the offer. Why? Because Rocky knows that even with his raw ability he’s not in the same league as Apollo. It’s a reasonable reaction. One I think we can all relate to.
Fortunately for him and we the audience, the fight promoter does convince Rocky to accept the match. Otherwise that would have been a very short or a very boring movie. Rocky gets his chance and he takes it. But winning for Rocky isn’t about beating Apollo. It’s about going the distance.
No one has ever lasted 15 rounds against Apollo Creed. For Rocky, to survive a 45 minute fight with the Heavyweight Champion without getting knocked out is a victory. It’s a victory to him to prove he is much more than what his shabby South Philly apartment and upbringing say he is.
Being able to use ones God given talents and abilities, especially after they haven’t been used to their full potential, is something I believe we all want. It’s something that Rocky encourages us to do. And it’s one of the reasons I’ve always found myself in Rocky’s corner. Once it was quite literal.
Ten years ago when they were filming Rocky Balboa they needed unpaid extras for the fight scene. Mike Prisco, my neighbor from growing up and fellow Rocky fan, and I drove to Las Vegas to be a part of Rocky history. The next morning my buddy Dusty Garza flew into town. We met up at the Mandalay Bay in suits. If you wore a suit you could be used in the ringside crowd.
There the three of us stood three rows back from the ring and literally cheered on Rocky as he fought Antonio Tarver. Burt Young and Tony Burton were in the corner with the latest Rocky Junior played by Milo Vintamiglia. Frank Stallone and Carrot Top even stopped by the set. It was an incredible day and an experience I’m glad I had.
Rocky truly has been a large part of my life.
Last year I even had the opportunity to see Rocky in a movie theater again (thank you Arclight!), something I hadn’t done since that first trip to the a walk-in theater with my mom and dad on that rainy day where I first saw Rocky Balboa pound raw meat and drink a glass full of raw eggs. Both the movie and that first are amongst my most cherished memories in my lifelong relationship with storytelling in cinema.