Rocky (1976)
The inspiration for Rocky came on March 24, 1975. Struggling actor and writer Sylvester Stallone attended a closed-circuit Los Angeles movie theater presentation of Chuck Wepner fighting Muhammad Ali. Wepner was a 40-to-1 underdog not expected to last three rounds but shockingly lasted to the 15th and final round before losing on a TKO. Stallone observed how the crowd in the theater initially cheering for Ali began cheering for Wepner, especially after Wepner appeared to knock Ali down in the 9th round. Stallone mused that Wepner technically lost but seemed a winner for going the distance.
During this period, Stallone’s acting offers had dwindled, so he concentrated on writing, something he’d done since screening 1969’s Easy Rider, a low-budget, socially conscious film he felt he had the talent to make. After purchasing the Easy Rider screenplay and a book on writing, he wrote story ideas in longhand form in a notebook for his girlfriend (later wife) Sasha to type out. Inspired by Ernest Hemingway, Stallone’s stories were about simple men encountering hard truths who die in the end.
Stallone’s early screenplay attempts fell far short of Easy Rider, mostly because they were pretentious and wordy. Determined to improve, Stallone disconnected his phone and spray-painted his windows black to maintain total concentration. Over the next few years, Stallone wrote feature screenplays and teleplays, hoping he’d be cast as an actor in the deal. The features didn’t sell, but a couple of teleplays did to barely keep them afloat financially. Stallone surmised that studios passed because his stories followed current trends rather than offering freshness. They were also pessimistic, with nihiistic themes portraying humankind as inherently bad.
Late in 1974, Stallone relocated to Hollywood, acting and performing dialogue revisions for The Lords of Flatbush. However, no other acting opportunities developed beyond bit hoodlum parts. Getting back to writing, Stallone avoided trendiness and concentrated on writing movies he personally wanted to see. He loved classic Hollywood movies featuring heroic figures possessing dignity and courage, while overcoming overwhelming obstacles. Though these movies were considered corny by modern-day critics, they spoke to him more than the anti-heroism and anti-idealism permeating current cinema. Finally, success – Hell’s Kitchen, about three brothers struggling to rise out of the slums of New York during the 1940s, sold to a fledgling production company called Force 10.
Stallone’s talents landed interest from his agent’s producer friend, project developer Gene Kirkwood, hoping to land his first studio work. Kirkwood brought Stallone to the successful producing team of Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler, encouraging them to observe his performance in The Lords of Flatbush. They met with Stallone and saw a young Brando. However, they currently had no parts for this type.
Upon departure, Stallone mentioned his writing. They invited him to bring them something he’d completed. He broughtd them the screenplay for Hell’s Kitchen. They liked the story enough to make an offer but Stallone said he’d already sold it, so they’d have to negotiate with Force 10 productions. Chartoff and Winkler talked to them but deemed them too inexperienced to collaborate with and passed.
Given that they liked Hell’s Kitchen, Stallone decided to write something new to attract them with similar elements of personal redemption, gritty urban streets, and gangster unperpinnings. He thought of someone struggling to make it out of the slums to achieve success in their occupation. An actor like himself would be easy to write, but would anyone care? One of the brothers in Hell’s Kitchen was a club boxer, which connected Stallone’s thoughts to the Ali/Wepner fight. A new story idea percolated in Stallone’s mind about an aging boxer and two-bit hoodlum plucked from obscurity as a promotional gimmick to challenge a flamboyant world champion. His named his street-tough protagonist Rocky Balboa, persevering in a world of sleaze no matter how life knocked him down. Rocky’s “Italian Stallion” nickname came from an alternate title to a low-budget film Stallone appeared in called Party at Kiddy and Studd‘s.
Stallone worked at breakneck speed hoping to sell the script quickly. Sasha regularly slapped her face to stay focused typing 18 hours a day over three days. This 89-page first draft resembled an urban melodrama like 1961’s The Hustler, borrowing story elements from Stallone’s years living in Philadelphia. Like Rocky, Stallone’s father told him that he wasn’t born with a brain so he should develop his body for physical labor. Rocky gets his once-in-a-lifetime chance to fight an aging heavyweight champion, beats the champ to a pulp as his racist manager Mickey and the bloodthirsty crowd cheer him on to kill him and become the new champ. Rocky feels sorry for the guy who gave him a shot, and feeling like he proved he could win, he decides that self-respect is better than the title, taking a dive rather than give in to the depravity of the boxing profession. Rocky uses the loser’s share of the money to buy a pet shop for himself and his newfound love, Adrian, a shy, sheltered Jewish woman living with an oppressive, overprotective mother.
The producers liked Rocky conceptually, and were especially impressed that Rocky loses the fight, but the script had substantial issues. Audiences enjoyed stories about human dignity, like Marty and Somebody Up There Likes Me, but Rocky wasn’t likeable enough to root for, and his wooing of Adrian wasn’t propeling the story. Stallone concluded that this hastily slapped together story stunk and considered scrapping it but Sasha urged him to just fix what wasn’t working.
The next draft reduced Rocky’s intellectual slickness and callousness to a simple but good man dealt a bad hand in life. Rocky became a boy in tough man’s body – naive, gentle, sentimental, and vulnerable, governed by emotions and sense of duty to persevere through all obstacles. Instead of a gangster, Rocky was now a reluctant collector for a local loan shark. Rocky had the talent to be more but never applied himself – until he gets a shot against the world champ. Stallone removed the overbearing racist aspects of Mickey and Apollo was now in his prime, someone Rocky wouldn’t realistically beat.
Six weeks later, the revised script got him hired. Over the next six months, the producers worked with Stallone to refine it,emphasizing Rocky’s relationship with Adrian, now Italian. The domineering mother was written out and her stifling traits injected into Adrian’s older brother, Paulie. Adrian’s love and support bolsters Rocky’s resolve to go the distance. Viewed by society as losers, audiences should sympathize and identify with these characters to root them on.
The finished script follows Rocky Balboa, a washed-up Philadelphia club boxer supplementing his income as a debt collector. He lacks ambition until setting his sights on mousy pet store clerk Adrian, his friend Paulie’s sister. Opportunity knocks when heavyweight champ Apollo Creed, whose slated opponent on the Fourth of July drops out due to injury and no other ranked boxers are available, decides to fight a “snow white” nobody in Philadelphia for the nation’s bicentennial. Rocky agrees, but has five weeks to find the strength, agility, and heart to challenge Creed without embarrassing himself.
Winkler and Chartoff took their polished script to United Artists. UA was hoping these newly contracted producers would bring them substantial pictures, but this one seemed small and they’d never heard of Sylvester Stallone. UA did have some quibbles about the script. One was that Apollo Creed too closely resembled Muhammad Ali. They didn’t want to annoy Ali fans, or worse, get sued. Stallone did some minor edits, making Creed from Jamaica, though they ditched all references in later revisions.
Negotiations for the script as UA courted major stars like Burt Reynolds, Steve McQueen, James Caan, Ryan O’Neal, Jon Voight, Al Pacino, and Robert Redford Caan, Reynolds, and O’Neal expressed interest, as did John Boorman to direct. Disappointingly, Stallone declined, stating that Rocky was a starring vehicle for himself. Offers escalated to $100,000 and 10% of the profits, then $200,000, $250,000, and $265,000. With Stallone having only $106 in the bank, a pregnant wife, and a looming eviction, his confidence wavered. Sasha wanted the money, but supported Sly’s desire not to cave. Once the money was spent, Stallone would hate himself for the rest of his life seeing anyone else as Rocky.
Winkler and Chartoff asked Stallone if there was any price he’d accept for the script alone. He’d turn down a million dollars, but would sell it for nothing if he starred. Stallone reasoned that because he’d never had that kind of money, he wouldn’t miss it. Brainstorming, the producers found a solution. They had a put-picture contract with UA that allowed them to make any movie budgeted under $1.5 million. Rocky would be made this way.
UA had severe doubts about whether any film with as many characters, locales, and a title fight couldn’t be made for so little. Even Stallone felt $2 million was the lowest possible, but there was no other choice: it would be made cheaply or not at all. UA wanted a look at Stallone’s acting talent set up a screening of The Lords of Flatbush. As the brass at UA watched, they wrongly surmised that blonde hunky actor Perry King was Stallone and the producers said nothing to dissuade them. It wasn’t until production began and UA execs screened the dailies that they realized Stallone was a different actor.
UA insisted that the producers obtain a completion bond, insurance that covered overages to the budget or schedule. UA also wanted the right to replace Stallone within the first 10 days if his acting or attitude weren’t to their liking. The producers put their homes up as collateral against the completion bond. Stallone’s agreed to work for scale for acting and a 10% profit share for the script.
When Boorman dropped out because he didn’t want to direct an unknown actor in a cheap production, the producers searched for a street-savvy, energetic director experienced with making films with tight budgets and schedules. Gene Kirkwood sent the script to his friend, John Avildsen. Avildsen had made high-quality, low-budget efforts like Joe and Save the Tiger, and even lobbied to cut the budget of WW and the Dixie Dance Kings, a film Stallone was turned down for, claiming he didn’t need so much. Avildsen felt boxing was dumb and didn’t want to celebrate it, but read the script as a favor to Kirkwood. He was surprisingly charmed by its uplifting humanistic story that was more about love, honor, and respect than winning a fight. Avildsen agreed to take it on for $50,000 and a profit percentage.
The role of Paulie required someone who embodied a hot-tempered, disenfranchised, blue-collar guy and United Artists’ Arthur Krim suggested Burt Young, who performed well in their picture The Killer Elite. Chartoff and Winkler had worked with Young in their film, The Gambler, and wholeheartedly agreed.
Stallone wrote the Mickey Goldmill part with Lee J. Cobb in mind. Cobb met with them but he refused to audition and Avildsen wouldn’t make an exception. United Artists wanted Lee Strasberg, hot off of an Oscar-nominated performance in The Godfather Part II. Strasberg auditioned well, but asked for $100,000. They sent the script to others, including Lew Ayres, Broderick Crawford, and Victor Jory, but it was Burgess Meredit who auditioned best. He observed that the Mickey-Rocky relationship was the reverse of George and Lennie in “Of Mice and Men”. Meredith channeled boxing manager Howie Steindler in his portrayal.
Stallone began an all-protein diet and a regimen of weights, running, jumprope, and shadow-boxing. Stallone hung a full-sized punching bag in his living room, which Sasha detested. Stallone felt like a professional boxer until Joe Frazier, who was under consideration for Apollo Creed, couldn’t pull a punch and hit Stallone during a sparring session he collapsed. Stallone retaliated but he was quickly overpowered by a pummeling that left him bedridden for days. They concluded that Frazier was too much boxer and not enough actor to portray Creed.
Hundreds of professional boxers auditioned. Many had brain damage, poor memory and slurred speech. Others had stage fright. They opted for professional actor Roger Mosley, who later known for playing T.C. on “Magnum PI”. However, Mosely began quibbling about the script and they decided he wouldn’t work out. A couple of others came and went before they opted for top-ranked boxer Ken Norton. Unfortunately, days before production, Norton left to appear on the sports competition TV show, “The Superstars”.
Former NFL linebacker Carl Weathers came recommended by his talent agency. Weathers lied by claiming he had boxing experience in Canada. He came in with ample exuberance, energy, and confidence. Stallone was introduced to Weathers as the writer before reading lines together. When Weathers heard chuckles during the reads, he defensively remarked that he’d perform better if they gave him a real actor to read with. After Weathers was told Stallone was the star, he retorted, “Well, maybe he’ll get better.” Stallone then asked to see him box. Weathers removed his shirt, revealing an incredible physique, then danced around jabbing Stallone on the forehead. Stallone didn’t reciprocate, fearing escalation, but he concluded Weathers had everything, including overwhelming arrogance, to be the perfect Creed.
Many actresses auditioned for Adrian, but Stallone felt most were missing qualities he had in mind. Stallone envisioned someone reserved, with a thin, birdlike frame under long brown hair. Carrie Snodgress was selected but her agent wanted more money. Bette Midler, Cher, and Susan Sarandon also auditioned. Sarandon was considered too attractive while Midler and Cher declined the role when offered. Stallone suggested Talia Shire, Oscar nominee for The Godfather. When Shire walked in, Stallone saw Adrian before she uttered a word. Shire masterfully commanded the character through the reads as well as improvisation. Stallone was so exuberant about Shire that the producers relented without argument. Shire accepted a meager $7500 salary, determined to prove she belonged in movies for her acting, not for being Francis Ford Coppola’s sister.
Stallone trained with actor and boxing enthusiast Jimmy Gambina, who plays Mickey’s righthand man, and watched boxing films. Avildsen didn’t like Stallone improvising boxing against stuntmen so Weathers flew in from Oakland daily to work out the final fight moves. Sensing the actors had little game plan, Avildsen encouraged them to plan out every movement. Stallone commentated the entire fight into a tape recorder for a production assistant to type out, and the 30-page transcript became their blueprint.
Avildsen screened other boxing movies and was appalled by their horribly fake-looking boxing action. He decided to begin filming Stallone and Weathers’s boxing rehearsals to plot camera angles, as well as their speed and movements around the ring that would produce the most realistic results. Avildsen worked with co-editor Richard Halsey to cut rehearsal footage into lengthy montages set to music. Avildsen originally envisioned a rock soundtrack and used Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” as temp music to edit their montages. However, Stallone profusely disagreed, thinking a traditional orchestral score was better. Avildsen cycled through classical pieces for the right fit and settled on Beethoven’s Pastral Symphony. Avildsen showed composer Bill Conti the montages and asked Conti for an orchestral score that merged classical instruments with modern rhythms.
On the first day of production, Stallone got “imposter syndrome” jitters. Rocky was more likely to end his career than kickstart it. He was in 90% of the scenes, so if he failed, the movie would fail and he’d never get another break. Stallone convinced himself that he wasn’t there, Rocky was, and this was his world. He also recorded “positive thinking” tapes to maintain self-esteem regarding his acting, showing imagination, and taking control. The Philadelphia shoot was expensive so the producers hired a non-union crew from New York to work at a breakneck pace over the first six days, driving around to find picturesque spots for Stallone jump out of the van to run. Stallone ran 30 miles over two days, leaving him in agony from shin splints. Avildsen filmed Stallone’s pain, proclaiming it brought authenticity.
A number of mishaps befell the production, but every mistake seemed to turn into a miracle that only made the film better:
The loan shark, Mr. Gazzo, was written as Rocky’s older brother but Avildsen and the producers felt it borrowed too much from On the Waterfront and removed it. When the actor hired to play Gazzo was no longer available, Stallone brought in his friend Joe Spinell, who he’d worked with on Farewell My Lovely. When Spinell experienced bad asthma attacks on the docks, Stallone suggested use his inhaler if necessary. Avildsen liked how Spinell’s inhaler use brought a wonderfully humanistic character touch to Gazzo and kept it in.
Rocky’s first date with Adrian was scripted as a traditional restaurant dinner. Avildsen deemed this too boring, suggesting bowling or ice skating. When they discovered that Philadelphia had an outdoor skating rink, Stallone scripted an ice skating date crowded at Christmas. An obnoxious skate instructor grows upset with their terrible skating and they converse off ice. The producers decided to delay the scene until they were in Los Angeles beecause a prolonged shoot at a popular venue would draw unwanted attention and they’d be busted and fined heavily for employing a non-union crew. However, once they were in Los Angeles, they had no budget for the union extras to fill a skating rink. Rather than return to the original restaurant idea, Avildsen suggested an indoor rink could be empty if it were closed early for Thanksgiving, as Stallone rewrote the scene as Rocky paying the rink manager to let them in for a few minutes. Because Stallone couldn’t ice skate, they contemplated using a roller skating rink, but Avildsen perfered an ice rink so Rocky jogs alongside Adrian for their conversation.
For their first kiss, Adrian avoids kissing Rocky directly. Stallone thought Shire was providing a credible character touch but she revealed she had the flu and didn’t want to spread it. A scene of Rocky receiving hate mail before the big fight was removed. Stallone fumed when his boxing robe was too large but advantageously used it to further show Rocky out of his element. Stallone’s original intent when running up the museum steps was to carry Butkus in his arms to show his strength, but when he ran out of steam after fifteen steps he nixed the idea.
The producers thought a scene of Rocky lecturing a teenage street hood girl for her language could be removed, but Avildsen fought for it because it showed Rocky had noble, heroic qualities and he wanted others to not repeat his mistakes that lead to a dead end. Plus, he’s nice to kids, animals, and ladies in distress. Frank Capra called this Rocky‘s best scene because audiences begin falling in love with Rocky, allowing them to cheer for his success henceforth.
The prize fight took place in the Los Angeles Sports Arena with 4000 extras as spectators paid offered free meals from KFC for attendance. Many who showed up were unruly, fighting with each other and the crew. For day two, they abandoned free meals, opting for elderly residents, students off from school, and walk-ins. Drawings for prizes were held to keep them seated. After this, they had no more budget so Avildsen filmed with empty seats keeping the seating darkened and Steadicam moving to center on the boxing participants. Stock footage from Madison Square Garden provided the illusion of thousands in the crowd. Six cameras were used for the main event with 84,000 feet of footage to edit.
The original ending was to have Creed carried out on his fans shoulders, then Rocky gets carried out himself toward Adrian at the end of the aisle. However, they had few extras for the carrying and the crowd was unruly, throwing things into the ring causing chaor. Avildsen also didn’t’ want to use the same extras for Rocky as for Creed. Stallone suggested that Rocky would exit alone to find Adrian waiting near the locker room then they walk out together holding hands back into their smaller lives as a folk song plays on the soundtrack. However, the extras grew too hostile toward Weathers, so opted to keep his celebration in the ring.
During editing, Conrad felt that Rocky’s solitary walk away from the ring seemed too anticlimactic and downbeat after he’d been through. Rocky should immediately connect with Adrian who rushes to the ring. Avildsen liked it but said they had no more time or money. Conrad brought it up to the producers who loved it. To avoid overages, they took taking equipment from their movie, Martin Scorsese’s New York, New York, to the Olympic Auditorium to reshoot ending with a quarter-ring with themselves and friends as extras. Adrian enters the arena to watch the final rounds, then fights through the crowd to unite with Rocky in the ring.
Rocky was released in December, 1976 to qualify for Academy Awards consideration, following a nation-wide release in February 1977.
Keeping the film under budget required sneakily shooting exterior scenes in Philadelphia without a permit. There wasn’t a suitable boxing gym in Philadelphia, but they found a converted church gym in East Los Angeles which contained a stained glass portrait of Jesus that became the opening shot of the movie.
Test screenings of its rough cut elicited enthusiastic reactions, so UA ballooned the publicity budget, spotlighting both Rocky and Stallone as uplifting cinderella stories. Stallone became a media darling, relishing interview opportunities. Rocky merchandising was lucrative as audiences embraced Rocky-mania worldwide.
Excised scenes included one where Dipper gets paid off when Apollo comes to the gym with a camera crew to harass Rocky into fighting. Rocky socks Dipper and lays him out, alerting Creed that he might have challenged the wrong fighter.
Though heralded as the quintessential sports underdog movie, Rocky is as much a romance as it is a film about boxing. When most people think back to this film, they probably only remember the final half hour, where the fight with Creed takes center stage, introducing the famous Oscar-nominated song, “Gonna Fly Now”, and the most enduring ending to any sports film. However, these scenes would lumber without excellent character development and believable performances by the impeccable cast, delivering a monumental payoff.
Few movies that choke me up every time like Rocky. It’s an inspirational story about a throwaway life thrust into potential salvation on the grandest of stages. It’s impossible to not be rooting for Rocky during the exciting championship match. Shrewdly edited, but gentle and compassionate to its characters, Avildsen’s direction envelops you into Rocky’s world, including the seedier aspects, with all characters flawed yet not despicable. There are no villains, with even Apollo Creed coming off likable.
It’s astonishing how much they did with so little budget, including a convincing heavyweight bout. The “little guy that could” story of Rocky closely paralleled the real-life story of how Stallone went from unknown to superstar overnight. It made over $100 million worldwide on it’s meager $1 million. Stallon claims that, at 111-to-1, it had the record at the time for the biggest profit ratio in history.
Nominated for 10 Academy Awards, winner of 3 (Best Editing, Best Director, and Best Picture), this little film was an unlikely candidate for accolades, but like Rocky, overcame all obstacles with heart, determination, and abiding spirit. Stallone’s finest hour.
(Hell’s Kitchen would be made in 1978 under the title Paradise Alley and the club boxer was changed to a wrestler).
Qwipster’s rating A+
MPAA Rated: PG for some violence and language
Running Time: 119 min.
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burgess Meredith, Burt Young, Carl Weathers
Director: John G. Avildsen
Screenplay: Sylvester Stallone