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(There is a sepaerate page on Rocky Balboa)
I've also made a page on Sylvester Stallone, just gander on the left side of the page.
Here are the actors/actresses that appear in the Rocky series:
_________________________________________________________
Rocky Balboa....Sylvester Stallone
Adrian Balboa(Pennino is her maiden name).....Talia Shire
Paulie Pennino.....Burt Young
Mick.....Burgess Merideth
Apollo Creed.....Carl Weathers
Tony Duke.....Tony Burton
Clubber Lang.....Mr.T
Thunderlips.....Hulk Hogan
Ivan Drago.....Dolph Lundgren
Tommy Gunn.....Tommy Morrison
__________________¿☻*!SPOILER WARNING!*☻¿ ___________________________
.....This film was made in 1976.....
Rocky Balboa is a dead-end, "bottom of the barrel" guy from Philadelphia who is going nowhere in life. He works days as an enforcer for a
loan shark and as a boxer at night. With the nation's bicentennial coming up, and scheduled contender Mac Lee Green injured, the undefeated
heavyweight champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) searches for a new opponent for the match on the nation's birthday. With all the deserving
competitors unavailable for one reason or another, Creed comes up with the perfect bout: he will fight the local underdog "Italian Stallion"
Rocky, and by doing so give him a chance at the world title.
Creed sees the whole thing as a big joke, a spectacle, rather than a fight. And at first, his attitude seems justified. In the time leading up
to the fight, Rocky trains with crusty, 1920s-era bantamweight fighter Mickey Goldmill, played by Burgess Meredith, but Rocky initially shows
little in the way of either ability or true desire.
However, soon Rocky falls in love with his best friend's sister, Adrian (Talia Shire), and a newfound focus and determination is sparked within
him. After rededicating himself to intense training, Rocky is truly ready to take his thousand-to-one shot at the title.
Nonetheless, the night before the match, Rocky admits to Adrian that he knows he cannot actually win. But the important thing is that he's going to
prove that he can make it through all 15 rounds of the bout, and not be knocked out. Rocky explains:
"(I)t 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, you see, and that bell rings and I'm still standin', I'm gonna know for
the first time in my life, see, that I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood." [1]
In the first round, at the Philadelphia Spectrum, Creed treats the match as a joke, until Rocky catches him with a left hook that throws Creed on
his back and nearly knocks him unconscious. In his entire professional boxing career, no one had ever knocked Creed down let alone in the first minute.
From that point on, Creed takes the match seriously, and the fighters beat each other bloody. Neither man will back down, even when Rocky's eyes have
swelled shut, he manages to break Creed's ribs going into the 15th round. Creed hits as hard as he can, knocking Rocky down more than once, but Rocky
refuses to stay down and ultimately does fight Creed for all fifteen rounds. As the fight ends, Creed, disbelieving but respectful of what Rocky has done,
embraces Rocky and says to him in exhaustion, "Ain't gonna be no rematch." Rocky, having accomplished his mission, answers back, "Don't want one."
At the conclusion of the fight, Rocky has proved himself to all those who had doubted him before, including both his trainer Mickey and himself.
True to his word about what his goal for the fight was, he shows no concern whatsoever over the judges' forthcoming decision. As reporters try to
interview Rocky, he seeks only to find and embrace Adrian. Adrian finally fights her way through the crowd and into the ring and, as Creed is being
announced the winner by split decision, Rocky takes her in his arms and the two celebrate their love for one another — Rocky having demonstrated
that one man can stand in the face of overwhelming odds, and in so doing, having shown himself to be a true champion.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
.....This film was made in 1979.....
In what would later become a trademark of the Rocky franchise, Rocky II starts where the previous movie left off. After their championship bout,
both boxers are taken by ambulance to a hospital, where they meet once again in the emergency room. Apollo Creed, the champion, is angry at Rocky,
the first man to go the distance with him, and starts clamoring for another chance to knock Rocky out. Rocky goes to Apollo's room that night and asks
"Did you give me your best?" to which Apollo answers "Ya". Rocky declines talk of a rematch and tells Apollo that he is retiring from boxing.
Having made more money than he had ever dreamed he could make, Rocky's decision to retire is strengthened when doctors tell him he needs surgery
for a detached retina. Rocky successfully undergoes the surgery.
He gets a job with Mickey, his original trainer, as a boxing trainer at Mickey's gym and later proposes to his girlfriend, Adrian.
They get married at a simple wedding ceremony attended only by Mickey and Rocky's loanshark friend Gazzo, Rocky buys a two-story house in a far better
neighborhood than the one in which they first met. Meanwhile, against the advice of his manager, who says, "I saw you beat that man like I've never
seen no man get beat before, and the man kept coming after you," Creed goes to the press giving his opinion that he thinks Rocky is a coward for not
wanting to fight a second time. The pressure Apollo put on Rocky, which comes as a consequence of all the hate mail Apollo was getting at his mansion,
started affecting Rocky who had second thoughts about fighting Apollo. He discusses the matter with his new wife, but she doesn't want him to box
again because of the possibility of Rocky permanently losing his sight. Rocky later buys his first car, a new, black Pontiac Firebird Trans Am,
and Adrian learns she's pregnant.
Rocky decides to accept the challenge and begins training, such as chasing a chicken to gain speed. However, Adrian's opposition saps
his resolve and his training suffers. When Paulie confronts Adrian about her opinion, her angry reaction creates a serious medical
condition that breaks her water prematurely.
During the birth of their son, Adrian falls into a coma and Rocky spends every waking moment at her side, not even seeing his newborn
son until she recovers. When Adrian emerges from the coma, she tells Rocky to "win" and he restarts training in earnest with Mickey
for the rematch with Apollo. His condition improves dramatically with increased strength and speed that finally allows him to catch
that chicken to Mickey's satisfaction. The training climaxes with another run through the city and up the stairs of the Philadelphia
Museum of Art to the song, "Gonna Fly Now." However, instead of solitary exercise, he is now thronged by hundreds of fans, especially
children, who run with him all the way to the same destination at the steps as before.
Rocky and Apollo once again fight an intense battle in front of a standing-room-only crowd. Apollo gets off to a fast start, flooring
Rocky twice in the first round and building a huge lead on the scorecards as the fight goes on. Rocky seems to be hopelessly behind
on points at the start of the fifteenth and final round. Rocky hits Apollo with a final punch that knocks him down, but from sheer
exhaustion, Rocky also goes down to the canvas. The referee starts the final ten-count as the fighters struggle to their feet.
As a beaten and exhausted Apollo slumps to a corner, Rocky grabs the rope with his last ounce of strength, picks himself up and
is declared the new World Heavyweight Champion.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
.....This film was made in 1982.....
Rocky III begins where Rocky II left off, with Rocky winning the title from Apollo Creed (played by Weathers). Creed retires,
and Rocky becomes an accomplished champion, making ten defenses of his belt over three years. Meanwhile, he buys a mansion,
appears on several magazine covers and makes several TV show appearances (The Muppet Show), and becomes a household name
as he appears on everything from T-shirts to chocolate bars. While this is all happening, Clubber Lang (played by Mr. T)
is coming up in the ranks, beating everybody put in front of him. He becomes the number one challenger, while Rocky gets
reconstructive nose surgery and starts to learn how to speak in public.
While Rocky lives comfortably as the heavyweight champion of the world, his brother in law Paulie (played by Burt Young)
still lives in the slums of Philadelphia, and is jealous of his wealthy and successful brother in law. Paulie walks into a
video arcade off the streets of Philadelphia, and he spots a Rocky pinball machine. Enraged, Paulie hurls a bottle at the
machine, smashing it. He is later arrested and Rocky bails Paulie out of the drunk tank. After Paulie is out he swings at
Rocky a few times and shows his jealousy toward Rocky's achievements. He is also mad at him because Rocky never asked for
him to live with him or support him with some kind of job. Finally, Paulie asks for a ringside job and Rocky agrees,
taking Paulie home to his mansion.
Rocky attends a charity boxing-wrestling match with Thunderlips (Terry "Hulk Hogan" Bollea), with Lang watching at ringside.
Early in the match, Thunderlips grabs Rocky and attacks him with a variety of wrestling moves such as the backbreaker and suplex.
After being thrown out of the ring, Rocky decides to remove his gloves and fight back finally hurting the wrestler. In a stunning
display of strength, Rocky carries Thunderlips and dropped him out of the ring. Ultimately, Rocky and Thunderlips are forced to draw the match.
Rocky has a statue unveiled in Philadelphia, but Lang shows up there too, and taunts Rocky that his fights had been fixed after the Creed rematch.
Rocky, confused, asks Mickey, his trainer, to explain, and Mickey admits that his fights after winning the championship were against opponents
that were hand-picked to make sure they were not of championship caliber, in order to protect him from another dangerous fight like his two
fights with Creed. To that end, he strongly advises Rocky against fighting Lang since the challenger is not only brutal, but also has a superior
fighting spirit while Rocky has become too comfortable as champion.
Rocky, feeling he needs to prove to himself that he is worthy of his title of Heavyweight Champion of the World, signs to fight Lang,
the number one contender. Unfortunately, Rocky fails to take his training seriously as he made his pre-fight training public by renting
a hotel's multi-purpose, allowing people to interrupt him for pictures or kissing, selling memorabilia, hiring musicians and specialists to
decorate his training into a public party, etc. While Rocky relaxed and enjoyed a stylized training, Lang pushes himself very hard as
trains himself with total dedication in isolation. Mickey fears disaster as a result.
Lang and Rocky meet at Philadelphia's Spectrum. During a melee before the fight, Mickey is accidentally pushed, hits a tube, and
suffers a heart attack. Rocky and Lang fight, but Rocky's mind is on Mickey, and he loses the fight and the championship belt,
by a knockout in the second round. When he returns to his locker room, he and Mickey have their last conversation, and
Mickey passes away as Rocky is talking to him for the last time.
Rocky is deep in self-doubt, but Apollo comes in to help, and takes him and Adrian to Los Angeles, where Apollo talks to
him about "recovering the eye of the tiger," his critical fighting spirit. Apollo starts teaching Rocky how to box with
rhythm. Rocky attempts to learn from Apollo, but his regrets and fears sap his resolve and Apollo is frustrated. A heart
to heart with Adrian occurs, in which Rocky admits his fears and she reassures him that she will be with him no matter what.
Thus inspired, Rocky returns to the training with renewed vigor.
In a rematch versus Lang, and with the world watching, Rocky fights with a level of skill and fighting spirit that no one, including
Clubber Lang, expects. Defying Creed, Rocky intentionally takes a beating, gambling that Clubber Lang will tire before Rocky is knocked
down. Defeating Lang with a knockout in three while he manages to stay standing this time, he recovers his world heavyweight championship
and his self-respect at the Madison Square Garden in New York. Rocky and Apollo then are shown entering Mick's gym, where Apollo
wants Rocky to do him a favor: Apollo wants a third fight with Rocky, even though this one will only be a practice bout. The movie
finishes with Apollo and Rocky swinging crosses at each other.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
.....This film was made in 1985.....
Rocky IV is a 1985 movie that is part of the Rocky franchise. In this one, the main character, Rocky Balboa (played
again by Sylvester Stallone), has said he plans to retire from boxing after recovering his title from
Clubber Lang in Rocky III. A new sensation from the Soviet Union, Ivan Drago (played by Dolph Lundgren),
however, begins to emerge as a top contender.
Although Drago has never had a professional boxing fight and all his achievements came as an amateur,
he comes to the United States with an entourage of Soviet government officials and his wife
(played by Brigitte Nielsen), convinced that he can beat any American world boxing champion.
At the same time, Apollo Creed (played by Carl Weathers) is throwing balls at his dogs in the
pool, and sees about a boxer coming from the Soviet Union under the name Ivan Drago. While
watching his portable T.V., he is furious and calls Rocky to tell him about an idea he made up.
Apollo visits Rocky's mansion and the two reminisce while watching their second bout against each
other, and the former champion, upon being asked by Balboa why he wanted to step back into the ring,
Creed explains that as a fighter, his instincts to fight cannot be suppressed, and that Balboa wouldn't
understand because he was still the champion.
Rocky reluctantly agrees to train his friend Apollo for a fight with the Russian, and the fight
scheduled to take place in Las Vegas. In the press conference preceding the fight, comments
about Apollo's ability to fight the Russian, made by Drago's camp, incite a small shoving match,
with Drago's power being shown for the first time as he shoves Apollo back into Rocky's
arms, who too is nearly taken off of his feet by the momentum. Apollo vows to finish it in the ring.
The fight arrives. Drago's entrance is simple; he is raised to the ring via a lift. Apollo
comes in wearing a variant of the Uncle Sam regalia he wore in his first fight with Balboa
while dancing to James Brown's 'Livin in America'. The bout was apparently supposed to be
an exhibition. Apollo fights smoothly in the first half of the first round, though he's
obviously slowed since his retirement and two bouts with Balboa. But Drago is barely
hurt by Creed's punches, and hammers Apollo mercilessly.
In between the two rounds that the fight lasted, Rocky thinks briefly of stopping
the fight, and urges Apollo to give up during the break between the first two rounds.
Apollo makes Rocky promise not to stop the fight for any reason. During the second
round, Apollo lands a single jab out of about 6 punches, and Drago hammers him again.
Rocky is about to stop the fight, but decides not to because of the promise he made.
Later in the round, Apollo collapses face-first after being hammered by more of Drago's
blows; he dies while in the ring, and in Rocky's arms.
After Apollo's death, Rocky starts thinking about fighting Drago, in honor of
Apollo, and has a talk with his wife Adrian about it. Adrian (played by Talia Shire)
tries to convince her husband not to fight. But Rocky takes a drive and starts
thinking about his whole career as a boxer, his fights with Apollo, his friendships
with the boxer and the trainer who helped shape his career as a boxer and the way they
left this world; when he returns from the drive, he is convinced he wants to go to
Russia to challenge Drago and try to avenge his friend Creed. In the process, since
the fight isn't sanctioned, he has to give up his heavyweight title.
Rocky and Drago then sign up to meet in Moscow on a special bout to be held on
Christmas Day. Rocky flies to Russia with Creed's former trainer and his
brother in law Paulie and the three begin severe training for the fight
in total isolation in a remote area. (A location close to Jackson Hole,
Wyoming was used as the shooting location for the outdoors USSR scenes.)
They are constantly spied on by members of the Soviet government and
spend their whole days training in the severe Russian winter. Drago,
meanwhile, is in a high-tech sports center using every type of
machinery imaginable for his training. He is tested daily for
all kinds of body reactions and extended to the limits by his
trainers, while periodically being administered some form of
injection, implied to be anabolic steroids.
After months of intense training for both fighters, the
final scene of the fight takes place, and Rocky is pummeled
hard in the first round. However, realizing he must take
matters into his own hands if he doesn't want to lose or die,
he fights back aggressively in round 2, and surprisingly
cuts Drago in the middle of the round. This staggers Drago, and
the momentum shifts toward Rocky's favor for the first time.
The two fighters continue to take turns beating each other up
throughout the remaining rounds, but eventually Rocky begins
to win over the previously hostile crowd. By round 15, they
are both extremely tired, but Rocky has a little more left
and is able to drop Drago for the count, avenging Apollo's final defeat.
After the fight, Rocky goes on to deliver an anti-Cold War message
where he talks about union and friendship between both countries.
The Cold War ended three years later. Coincidence? I think not.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________-
Released on November 16, 1990, Rocky V stars Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Stallone's real
life son Sage Stallone and real life boxer Tommy Morrison (who, in 1993 beat George
Foreman for the vacant WBO world Heavyweight championship) as boxer Tommy Gunn,
an ingrate character who only uses Rocky for his connections and to try to win
the world Heavyweight title. Sage Stallone played Rocky Jr, whose attempt to
learn how to box also turned out to be an attempt to try to get his father's
attention. The film earned a disappointing $16 million on its opening weekend
and $40 million in total US box-office profits, about one-third of it's
predesser's intake
In the movie, Rocky returns home from Russia (following his battle with Ivan
Drago in Rocky IV) to find out that an unscrupulous accountant has attempted
to make money off Balboa's fortune and has lost nearly all of it.
To make matters worse, the fights have taken a toll on Rocky and
have given him a condition that forces him to retire and miss title bouts
that may have saved him from bankruptcy. With nowhere else to go, the
family moves back to their old neighborhood and learns to live with
little to nothing again. A fighter named Union Cane is given the title.
Things briefly look up when a young fighter from small-town Oklahoma
seeks out Rocky to help him win the title. Taking on Tommy without
any experience promoting eventually causes stress on their relationship,
as well as splits Rocky's bond with his family.
At the climax of the movie, Rocky and Tommy Gunn get in a street
fight because Tommy wants to get out of Balboa's shadow.
In which ends with Rocky knocking Tommy into an idled bus. The movie
ends with Rocky and his son running up stairs and Rocky Sr. giving Jr.
his cuff link. Then the two walk in to the art museme. (Rocky notes that
after all the years of running up and down the steps, that
he never once actually went into the museme.)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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