Rocky Balboa (film)

Rocky Balboa
File:RB MoviePoster Lrg.jpg
Directed by	Sylvester Stallone
Written by	Sylvester Stallone
Produced by	Sylvester Stallone Robert Chartoff Irwin Winkler
Starring	Sylvester Stallone Burt Young Milo Ventimiglia Tony Burton Antonio Tarver Geraldine Hughes James Francis Kelly III
Music by	Bill Conti
Distributed by	USA Theatrical Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Columbia Pictures Non-USA Theatrical & Worldwide DVD/Video 20th Century Fox
Release dates	December 20, 2006
Running time	102 min
Language	English
Budget	$24,000,000 USD

Rocky Balboa is a 2006 film written by, directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone as underdog boxer Rocky Balboa. It is the sixth and final film in the Rocky series, which began with the Oscar-winning Rocky thirty years earlier in 1976. The film has received an MPAA rating of PG for boxing violence & some language.

Synopsis

Rocky Balboa picks up in present-day Philadelphia, where the protagonist Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) is living alone in an apartment in the city. Adrian has passed away, and Rocky has retired to the quiet life of a restaurateur, charming the patrons of his restaurant with stories of fights long past. Rocky visits his late wife's gravesite regularly, and embarks on a yearly tour of Philadelphia landmarks that held importance to him and Adrian. His brother-in-law Paulie (Burt Young) joins him on this tour, but does so at great personal pain because, in his opinion, he did not treat Adrian well during her life. Rocky counters this claim by reminding Paulie that Adrian loved him as well.

We are also introduced to Rocky's son, Robert (Milo Ventimiglia). Robert is the polar opposite of Rocky - a buttoned-down, corporate-minded businessman who is trying to carve out his own place in a very different world. Rocky's relationship with Robert is tumultuous, but it is through the course of the movie that we see the relationship mend itself through Rocky's admonishment to his son that his life is his own and he must be willing to take the chances necessary for an opportunity to succeed. During the tour of Rocky's life with Adrian, Rocky reunites with an acquaintance he met thirty years ago - a girl named Marie, whom he admonished to quit smoking and go to school. She retorted by saying "Screw you, creepo," and ran from Rocky. Now Marie is a bartender, and lives a life of relative poverty - she lives in an apartment in a run down portion of the city, but with Rocky's help, begins to get her life on track during the course of the story. Marie also has a son, Stephenson (nicknamed "Steps") with whom Rocky bonds and who will eventually be one of Rocky's cornermen. Rocky's relationship with Marie blossoms and gives him the strength and confidence he needs to succeed in what is to come.

In the film, the sports network ESPN broadcasts a show entitled "Then and Now," hosted by Brian Kenny. It portrays a computer simulation of a fight between Rocky Balboa (in his prime) and the current heavyweight boxing champion, Mason Dixon. It is likened to a modern-day version of a simulation between Muhammad Ali and Rocky Marciano that took place back in the '70s. In the Balboa-Dixon simulation, Balboa is predicted to have won KO13, a fact that riles the current champion. Dixon is much maligned - he is a "victim of his own success", and the boxing community is bored with him. His promoters try to convince Dixon that a fight with Balboa - coming on the heels of the much-talked about computer simulation - would give him much needed publicity, endear him to the boxing community at large, and perhaps open the door to higher-profile bouts down the line. He agrees, and Dixon's promoters begin to put the wheels in motion for such a fight.

Rocky, however, is battling his own demons, and he feels that if he got back into boxing on a small level, he might be able to exorcise those demons. His application for a boxing license is initially denied, however, until he pleads his case before the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission. His license is eventually granted, and soon after he meets with Dixon's promoters at his restaurant. While at first Rocky is hesitant, he eventually agrees to the bout. Both Paulie and Robert have grave doubts about this latest endeavor but Rocky is able to win both of their approvals. Rocky's trainer is Tony "Duke" Evers (Tony Burton). Duke was also Rocky's main trainer in the film Rocky IV, and was a side man in Rocky III. Prior to that, Evers was Apollo Creed's main trainer in the first two Rocky movies. In this latest incarnation, he understands that Rocky cannot train to build up speed, so he must train to build up power. He advises Rocky to start "buildin' some hurtin' bombs." By the time of the fight, Rocky is in phenomenal shape, and intends to give this bout his entire effort. The bout is shown initially as an actual broadcast on HBO pay-per-view, from the pre-fight commentary through Round 2. The remainder of the bout is shot in a much more cinematic style. The actual bout is a back-and-forth affair. Dixon dominates for the first round and the first half of the second round, but midway through the second round, he breaks his hand on a mis-timed punch to Rocky's left hip. This allows Rocky to move in and pummel Dixon for the remainder of the round, even knocking him down. The fight is shown in cut-scenes up until the tenth round. In the tenth (and final) round, it appears Dixon will outlast the tired Balboa. A hard hook sends Rocky to a knee, where he has a flashback to a moment he had with his son only a few weeks prior. In this, Rocky finds the strength to continue. He fights back against Dixon for the remainder of the round; the fighters end up trading punches in the center of the ring. Dixon wins by split decision.

The conclusion of the fight is a nod to the original Rocky in two ways - Rocky gets in the final punch of the fight, a left handed cross. Rocky also loses the fight in a split decision. He exits the arena as the decision is read - the outcome does not matter to him. Instead, it is the mere fact that he lasted ten rounds with a much younger and faster opponent.The movie ends with Rocky speaking at Adrian's graveside, saying "Yo, Adrian, we did it." He leaves a bouquet of roses on her headstone, the final image of the movie. The credits roll with a tribute to Rocky's many training runs that end at the top of the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Template:Endspoiler

Filming

Filming began in December of 2005 in Las Vegas, Nevada. It then moved to Los Angeles, California and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as 2006 progressed. The production budget on the 38-day shoot was projected to be $24 million. The film was scheduled for release during the President's Day holiday in 2007, but was moved up to right before Christmas, 2006. In late March 2006, the first movie teaser was released on the Internet. The full-length trailer accompanied the theatrical release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest on July 7th in select theaters and was also released on Yahoo! on July 10th, where it was one of the most watched trailers ever on Yahoo.

Distribution

Rocky Balboa represents a partnership between Revolution Studios, Columbia Pictures, and MGM. Since the Rocky series was originally distributed by United Artists, MGM's subsidiary studio, the partners jointly decided that the film could and should take advantage of MGM's newly reinvigorated domestic distribution apparatus. 20th Century Fox will handle distribution outside of the United States and its worldwide DVD release.

Critical response

The film has been well received, with most reviews being positive. On Ebert & Roeper, both Richard Roeper and guest reviewer Aisha Tyler gave the movie an enthusiastic thumbs up. Other positive reviews have come from Variety, David Eldstien of New York Magazine, Ethan Alter of Premier Magazine, Victoria Alexander of Filmsinreview.com, Michelle Alexandria of ECLIPSE Magazine, Palo Alto Weekly, Brett Buckalew of Filmstew.com, Robert W. Butler of Kansas City Star, JR Jones of Chicago Reader, Riche Cline of Shadows on the Wall, Jack Garner of Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Hollywood Reporter, David Edelstein of New Yorker, Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly, and StarBlabber.com, who called the fight sequence "by far the best".

Some criticism came from Associated Press columnist Christy Lemire describes the movie as self-parody.

The film has received a certified "Fresh" rating of 76% on the movie site Rotten Tomatoes (as of 12/30/06), a Must Go! on Fandango, a 5 star rating on Netflix, and (as of 12/28/06) with 11,549 votes it has a rating of 7.8 out of 10 rating on IMDb (Which is the highest of all the Rocky movies, including the original).

Box office

Statistics based on figures obtained from boxofficemojo.com

Week #	Start Date	End Date	Week Total	Cumulative Total	Weekend Rank
1	December 20, 2006	December 26, 2006	$31,197,000	$31,197,000	# 3
2	December 27, 2006	January 2, 2007	n/a	n/a	n/a

According to a statement Stallone made on the website Ain't It Cool News, the original expectation for Rocky Balboa's opening night, factoring in a harsh spell of winter weather, was at best $2,000,000. Instead, the film did just over $6,000,000. In its opening box office weekend, the movie grossed $12,540,000 in third place below The Pursuit of Happyness, and Night at the Museum which was the top film of the Christmas weekend at $30,800,000.

The total box office gross for Rocky Balboa as of December 31, 2006 is $48,822,000.

Trivia

• Sylvester Stallone, Burt Young, Stu Nahan and Tony Burton are the only actors to have appeared in all six Rocky films.
• With Antonio Tarver's performance as Mason Dixon, Rocky Balboa becomes the fourth Rocky film to feature an appearance by a well-known, active professional boxer. Former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier made a cameo appearance as himself in the original film, while Roberto Duran portrayed one of Rocky's sparring partners in Rocky II, and Tommy Morrison portrayed Tommy Gunn in Rocky V (Although Mike Tyson has a cameo appearance in Rocky Balboa, he had already retired in the wake of his loss to Kevin McBride in June 2005).
• The championship belt from the previous movies, is shown alongside the WBC, WBA, and IBF championship belts.
• Gonna Fly Now returns as Rocky's training music, for the training scenes and the movie end credits.
• Sylvester Stallone was actually knocked-out and rushed to the hospital during filming.[1]
• Sylvester Stallone originally wanted Roy Jones Jr. to play Mason "The Line" Dixon.[2]
• Sylvester Stallone was inspired by the story of George Foreman's boxing comeback to write the Rocky Balboa script.[3]
• Philadelphia Daily News sportswriter Bernard Fernandez was offered a role in Rocky Balboa after Stallone read his column on the boxing site 15Rounds.com. The article was titled "Sly, You Owe Me".
• Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant, both announcers for HBO pay-per-view in real life, appear in the film as commentators for the fight. Instead of their regular third partner, Emanuel Steward, however, Max Kellerman is their third commentator for the bout.
• Stu Nahan, ringside announcer for all of the bouts in the first three movies, appears in this movie as the announcer of the computer simulation fight.
• The pre-fight scenes were filmed on the weekend of the second Bernard Hopkins-Jermaine Taylor bout, which is the reason for the Lou DiBella and Golden Boy Promotions banners and logos in the background. DiBella, who played himself in the movie, promotes Taylor while Oscar De La Hoya promotes Hopkins.
• Also, the ring entrances were filmed that same weekend. As clearly seen the fighters enter to a ring promoted by "Rockstar" energy drink. Later when the fight starts, they are standing in a "GoldenPalace.com" ring. The actual fight was filmed separate to the ring entrances, creating a continuity error.
• The neurological disorder brought on by Rocky's fight with Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, which was chiefly responsible for Rocky's retirement from boxing in Rocky V, isn't mentioned by the athletic commission, who give Rocky a clean bill of health. Sylvester Stallone clarified this in an interview, saying:

"When Rocky was diagnosed with brain damage, it must be noted that many athletes have a form of brain damage including football players, soccer players, and other individuals in contact sports such as rugby, etc. Rocky never went for a second opinion and yielded to his wife's wishes to stop. So with the advent of new research techniques into brain damage, Rocky was found to be normal among fighters, and he was suffering the results of a severe concussion. By today's standards Rocky Balboa would be given a clean bill of health for fighters."

• The giant multicolor painting in Rocky's restaurant is the painting of Rocky and Apollo Creed shown during the end credits of Rocky III. Other artifacts from the Rocky movies are also displayed in the restaurant.
• Paulie mentions the removal of Rocky's statue from the Philadelphia art museum steps, a reference to real-life issues regarding the statue being considered a movie prop by the museum, as opposed to real art.
• When talking to his son about old times, Rocky mentions "home team," the father-son bonding mantra from Rocky V.

Video game

On December 13, 2006, it was officially announced by Ubisoft and MGM that a new Rocky video game, titled Rocky Balboa, will be released, as of December 21, 2006, exclusively for the PlayStation Portable handheld console on January 16, 2007. Gathered from the limited amount of information and screenshots, every movie in the Rocky series will play a role in the game, much like the previous two Rocky games released by Ubisoft.

External links

• Official site
• Rocky Balboa at IMDb
• ‹The template AllMovie title is being considered for deletion.› Rocky Balboa at AllMovie
• Rocky Balboa at Rotten Tomatoes
• Rocky Balboa script in Sly Magazine
• Trailers one and two
• Production Blog
• Rocky Balboa Reviews at Metacritic
• Rocky Balboa at Sports Movie Database
• Rocky Balboa Trailer and information from MovieSeek
• Coverage from Bill Conti's scoring session
• A Review by Michael T. Bannon