Rocky

Director: John G. Avildsen (1976)

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Burgess Meredith, Talia Shire, Carl Weathers

Plot: Unranked, uneducated and the epitome of an underdog, local Philadelphia hero Rocky Balboa (Stallone) is no more than a club fighter when world champion Apollo Creed (Weathers) offers him a shot at what Rocky believes to be an undeserved shot at the heavyweight boxing championship of the world.

Parallel the primary plot is the development of the relationship between Rocky and Adrian, an incredibly shy woman he pulls out of her shell and eventually lures into love.

Balboa eventually concedes to Adrian that he can’t beat Creed, insisting his only goal is to go the full 15 rounds with the champ, which nobody has ever done. The final 15 minutes of the movie, at least, put you into the ring for that fight.

Opinion/Review: Talia Shire’s performance is one of the more underrated in sports cinema history, but when you consider the film was named Best Picture at the 1976 Oscars, perhaps it wasn’t. Stallone is better than for which he’s typically been credited as well, and the gritty reality of 1970’s Philadelphia is particularly well-depicted. The ending is less than fully satisfying, but that’s part of what makes the movie so authentic.

Fun Facts: The film was made on a budget of less than $1 million; it grossed more than $225 million worldwide. … The “Rocky“ franchise went on to spawn four sequels — six if you count the offshoots “Creed” and “Creed II” (with “Creed III” on the way). … The National Library of Congress in 2006 selected “Rocky” for preservation in the United States national film registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”