Rocky Balboa (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rocky Balboa
Promotional poster
Directed by	Sylvester Stallone
Produced by	Sylvester Stallone Robert Chartoff Irwin Winkler
Written by	Sylvester Stallone
Starring	Sylvester Stallone Burt Young Milo Ventimiglia Tony Burton Antonio Tarver Geraldine Hughes James Francis Kelly III Lou DiBella
Music by	Bill Conti
Distributed by	Theatrical: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (USA) 20th Century Fox (non-USA) Home Video: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (USA) 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (non-USA)
Release date(s)	December 20, 2006
Running time	102 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$24,000,000 USD
Preceded by	Rocky V
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Rocky Balboa is a 2006 film written, co-produced and directed by Sylvester Stallone who also stars 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 portrays Balboa in retirement, a widower living in Philadelphia, and the owner and operator of a local Italian restaurant called "Adrian's", named after his late wife.

Rocky Balboa was produced as the final sequel to the Academy Award-winning Rocky. According to Stallone, he was "negligent" in the production of Rocky V and it left him, and many of the fans, disappointed with the presumed end of the series. Stallone also mentioned that the storyline of Rocky Balboa parallels his own struggles and triumphs in recent times.^[1]

In addition to Stallone, the film stars Burt Young as Paulie, Rocky's brother-in-law, and real-life boxer Antonio Tarver as Mason Dixon, the heavyweight division champion in the film. It also features the return of two minor characters from the original movie into larger roles in this film: Marie, the young woman that Rocky attempts to steer away from trouble; and Spider Rico, the first opponent that Rocky is shown fighting in the original movie. The film also holds many references to people and objects from previous installments in the series, especially the first.

The film exceeded box office expectations and critical reaction was positive, with several critics also calling it the “best since the original.”^[2]

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Filming and production 3.1 Budget and timeline 3.2 Casting 3.3 References from previous films 3.4 Cinematography and fight choreography 3.5 Music 4 Distribution 5 Critical response 6 Box office 7 Soundtrack 8 Home release 9 Video game 10 Notes 11 References 12 External links

[edit] Plot

Rocky Balboa picks up in present-day Philadelphia, where Rocky, a local celebrity, is living in a row house in Kensington (a deleted scene reveals that his brother-in-law Paulie has been living with him). His wife Adrian has died (due to what Rocky describes as "woman cancer" in 2002), and Rocky has retired to become owner of a small but successful Italian restaurant, Adrian's. He charms his patrons with stories of his past.

Rocky visits his late wife's grave site regularly, and embarks on an annual tour of Philadelphia landmarks that held importance to him and Adrian, including his old apartment, the pet shop where Adrian worked, and the remains of the torn-down ice skating rink where Rocky took Adrian on their first date. 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.

Rocky's son, Robert (Milo Ventimiglia), is the total opposite of his fighter father -- 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 strained because Robert has always had to live under the champ's shadow; he even believes that the only reason he was hired for his latest job was because of his last name. But 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 chances to succeed.

During the tour of Rocky's life with Adrian, Rocky reunites with "Little" Marie, who was last seen in the original film (telling him "screw you, creepo"). Marie (Geraldine Hughes) works as a bartender. She has a son, Stephenson, nicknamed "Steps" (James Francis Kelly III). Rocky's friendship with Marie blossoms and gives him the confidence he needs to succeed in what is to come. He also develops a relationship with Steps, a youth growing up with no father figure in his life. Rocky takes the youth under his wing. He even takes Steps with him to the dog pound, where Rocky finds a new hound to replace his original "Butkus." Steps recommends the name "Punchy." It is not the most attractive dog in the world, but Rocky sees a reflection of himself: an aging creature who still has a little fight left in him.

ESPN broadcasts a show titled "Then and Now" hosted by Brian Kenny. It portrays a computer simulation of a fight between Rocky in his prime and the current heavyweight champion, Mason "The Line" Dixon. It is likened to a modern-day version of The Super Fight, a simulation between Muhammad Ali and Rocky Marciano that took place in 1970. In the Balboa-Dixon simulation, Balboa is predicted to have won with a 13th-round knockout, which riles the champ. Dixon's promoters L.C. Luco and Lou DiBella try to sell Dixon on the idea of a fight with Balboa as a way to endear him to the public. It would be a win-win charity fight, where Dixon could not only present himself as a humanitarian, but also please fight fans who would be able to see that Dixon would easily defeat the aging icon that is Rocky Balboa.

Rocky is battling his own demons. He feels that if he could get back into boxing on a small level, he might be able to exorcise them. His application for a license is initially denied until he pleads his case before the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission. Dixon's promoters approach Rocky at his restaurant to pitch the fight -- a charity exhibition match to be held in Las Vegas. Rocky returns to his old trainer, "Duke" Evers (Tony Burton). Duke concludes that since Rocky's body is old and arthritic, he cannot train for speed. Instead, Rocky must train to increase power ("buildin' some hurtin' bombs") and use "blunt force trauma" as his main weapon against Dixon.

Robert makes an effort to discourage Rocky from fighting, claiming that it's hard enough to live under his father's shadow, this recent publicity will make it even worse. His son goes so far as to ask whether his father cares about him. A saddened Rocky says he remembers when Robert could fit in the palm of his hand. He says that at some point his son lost his way and started blaming other things and people for his own misfortune. Telling him:

“

"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't 'bout how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that!"

”

The actual bout is a back-and-forth affair. Dixon dominates for the first round and the first half of the second round. Ringside commentator Larry Merchant says it looks like "a speed bag against a punching bag." Throughout the first round, the power of Rocky's punches is evident. The few that he landed resulted in Dixon saying to his trainers at the end of the round, "The guy's got bricks in his gloves!" But midway through the second round, Dixon injures his hand on a mis-timed punch. This allows Rocky to move in and pummel the champ, even knocking him down.

The remainder of the fight is shown in quickly cut scenes, with Rocky out-performing Dixon due to his injured hand for the next three rounds. In the 10th -- or, as Paulie says to Rocky, "the last round of your life!" -- it appears Dixon has gained a measure of respect for Rocky, stating, "You're one crazy old man" just prior to the start of the round. To which Rocky replies, "You'll get there."

At first it appears that Dixon will outlast the exhausted 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. He remembers the words and lesson of perseverance that he gave to Robert along with memories of Adrian, and in this, Rocky finds the strength to continue. The fighters trade blows in the center of the ring, with Balboa landing the last few.

Rocky loses in a split decision. However, he exits the arena as the decision is read - the outcome does not matter to him. It is the mere fact that he tried and "went the distance" with a much younger and more agile fighter that matters to him. Dixon says it was an honor to fight with him. The movie ends with Rocky speaking at Adrian's gravesite. He repeats to her a famous line from Rocky II which he first said when winning the heavyweight championship from Apollo Creed in their rematch and learning she was pregnant, "Yo, Adrian, we did it." He leaves a bouquet of roses on her headstone, kisses it, and walks away.

As the film (and series) concludes, the final image shows Rocky in the distance, waving to Adrian's grave (and, in effect, to the audience) before finally fading out himself. The credits roll next to real-life footage of individuals running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, ending with Rocky himself ascending them one last time.

[edit] Cast

• Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa, retired boxer and former (2-time) heavyweight champion.
• Burt Young as Paulie Pennino, Rocky's brother-in-law and best friend.
• Milo Ventimiglia as Robert Balboa, Rocky's only son.
• Geraldine Hughes as Marie, a woman whom Rocky originally met over thirty years ago (as seen in the first installment of the movie series).
• James Francis Kelly III as Stephenson a.k.a. Steps, Marie's son whom Rocky befriends.
• Tony Burton as Tony "Duke" Evers, Rocky's trainer who has been his head cornerman since Balboa's fight with Ivan Drago in Rocky IV. Duke previously trained Apollo Creed, who was Rocky's nemesis in the first two films of the series and his head trainer in the third film.
• Antonio Tarver as Mason "The Line" Dixon, Rocky's opponent in this film. Dixon is shown as the current heavyweight champion of the world, but a fighter who is not shown the same respect as Rocky was when he was the world champion.

[edit] Filming and production

[edit] Budget and timeline

Filming began in December 2005 in Las Vegas, Nevada. It then moved to Los Angeles, California and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as 2006 progressed.^[3] 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.^[4] 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 7 in select theaters and was also released on Yahoo! on July 10, where it was one of the most watched trailers on Yahoo.^[5]

[edit] Casting

Rocky Balboa gives nods to previous installments via the casting. The most obvious is the return of Stallone, Young, and Burton - the only actors to portray the same characters in all six installments. Tarver's appearance in the movie marks the fifth time an active professional boxer has appeared in the series. Previously, Joe Frazier (Rocky), Pedro Lovell (Rocky), Roberto Duran (Rocky II), and Tommy Morrison (Rocky V) have appeared in the series. Stallone initially wanted Roy Jones, Jr. to portray Dixon, but after Jones did not return Stallone's phone calls, he tapped Antonio Tarver to fill the role.^[6] Notably, Tarver accidentally knocked out Stallone during the filming of one of the segments of the fight.^[7]

The character of Marie appeared in the original Rocky; she was portrayed by Jody Letizia. For the final movie, Marie is portrayed by Geraldine Hughes. (Although Letizia did reprise the role for Rocky V, the sole scene in which she appeared was deleted. In it, Marie was homeless on the streets of Philadelphia.) Another recognizable character who appeared in the previous five movies, sportscaster Stu Nahan, provided the commentary for the computer-generated fight between Dixon and Balboa. Nahan was part of the ringside commentary team during all the bouts in the first three movies. He was diagnosed with lymphoma during the Rocky Balboa filming, though, and died on Dec. 26, 2007. Finally, Pedro Lovell, who portrayed Spider Rico in the original movie, returns to the role in Rocky Balboa as a customer and later employee at Rocky's restaurant.

A number of sports personalities portray themselves. Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant, and Max Kellerman comprise the ringside broadcast team (all three are commentators for HBO Boxing). Sportswriters such as Bert Sugar, Bernard Fernandez and Steve Springer also appear. As for actual boxers, Mike Tyson (who had retired by the film's release) makes a cameo appearance, taunting Dixon as the fighter enters the ring. Lou DiBella, a real-life boxing promoter, portrays himself as Dixon's promoter. Several of ESPN's personalities also portray themselves. SportsCenter anchor Brian Kenny is the host of the fictional Then and Now series, while Cold Pizza and 1st and 10 hosts Jay Crawford, Dana Jacobson, Skip Bayless, and Woody Paige also appear. Ring announcer Michael Buffer appeared as himself, as did referee Joe Cortez.

Contrary to circulating rumors, Dolph Lundgren was not asked to reprise his role of Ivan Drago, he would have accepted it otherwise.^{[citation needed]} Stallone asked Carl Weathers, Mr. T, and Lundgren for permission to use footage from their appearances in the earlier Rocky movies. Mr. T and Lundgren agreed, but Weathers wanted an actual part in the movie, even though his character died in Rocky IV as stated by Stallone on Jimmy Kimmel Live on December 21, 2006. Stallone refused so Weathers decided not to allow Stallone to use his image for Rocky's flashbacks from the previous movies.^{[citation needed]}. They instead decided to use new footage of a fighter who looks similar to Weathers.

[edit] References from previous films

In the opening sequence, before leaving home, Rocky feeds two turtles in a tank. These are assumed to be Cuff and Link, two small turtles that Rocky purchased from Adrian at her pet shop in the first film. They have grown considerably.

The Ring Magazine belt that Balboa was awarded for winning the championship is displayed in his restaurant, along with the actual WBC, WBA, and IBF Heavyweight Championship belts, which were not mentioned in previous films. The WBC's belt shows a logo of 1990s vintage. Also in the restaurant is the Leroy Neiman painting of Rocky and Apollo Creed shown during the end credits of Rocky III. Various still photographs from Balboa fights adorn the walls.

There is a reference to the statue of Rocky being removed from the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art -- it was relocated to a sports complex in South Philadelphia, but later reinstalled at the Museum of Art, albeit not at the top of the steps where it appeared in Rocky III.

Unlike the other sequels, Rocky Balboa does not begin with a scene from the previous film's climactic fight. In fact, one of the few references to Rocky V comes in a throwaway line between Rocky and his son when Rocky mentions the "home team." This was their code phrase in Rocky V for father-son bonding. James Binns, who in Rocky V was Rocky's lawyer, is seen in Rocky Balboa in the same building where Rocky met him in in part 5 when Rocky is told he's not eligible for a boxing License.

Much like Stallone's inspiration for the first movie (a fight between Chuck Wepner and Muhammad Ali in which Wepner nearly went the distance with Ali), the inspiration for this final movie came from the story of George Foreman's final comeback.^[8]

A plot element from the fifth movie is never resolved. Rocky was diagnosed to have brain damage and advised never to fight again. Stallone clarified this apparent inconsistency in an interview, remarking:

"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."^[9]

During a training sequence, Rocky runs with his dog Punchy up the steps and picks him up when he reaches the top. This may be a reference to a dropped idea from the first film where Rocky was going to carry his dog Butkus up the steps. This idea was dropped when Stallone was physically unable to carry the large dog while running uphill. In Rocky III, Adrian was told that other boxers' nickname for Rocky was "Punchy".

During the scene where Rocky admonishes his son for living under his father's shadow, Rocky is seen wearing a shirt under his blazer that reads "Dempsey." This refers to the "You Need a Manager" scene from the original film, in which Mickey's character reveals that his own career was overshadowed by Jack Dempsey because, in Mickey's words, "he had a manager".

"Take You Back," a song in the beginning of the film, first was performed by the star's brother Frank Stallone and others on a street corner in the original Rocky.

The end of the fight is much like the end of the Rocky-Apollo match of the first film. Having accomplished his goals just by lasting through the fight, Rocky does not even need to hear the final results of the judge's voting. In Rocky, he searches for and embraces Adrian while the ring announcer declares the winner, Creed. In Rocky Balboa he makes a quick exit from the ring with his friends and family and is nearly into the arena tunnel when the announcement of the decision is made.

[edit] Cinematography and fight choreography

While the dramatic portions of the movie are shot in an obviously cinematic style, the bout between Balboa and Dixon is shot in a number of different ways. The lead-in to the bout, as well as the first two rounds, are shot in a style similar to a major pay-per-view broadcast. Clips from fights in previous Rocky movies are used during the introductory teaser to introduce Balboa, while stock footage from actual Tarver fights, as well as footage from Dixon's previous fight (shown at the beginning of the film) are used as clips for Dixon's part of the teaser. The fight itself was shot in High Definition to further enhance the TV-style look of the fight.^[10]

After the first two rounds, the bout is shot in a more "cinematic" style, reminiscent of the way the fights in the other Rocky films were shot. However, unlike the other films in the series, the fight is less choreographed and more improvised than previous installments and is closer to an actual boxing match than a choreographed fight.^[11] This is a departure from the previous films, where every punch, feint, and step was carefully scripted and practiced.^[12]

The film's DVD, during the making of sequences, state that there were slight continuity problems during the filming of the fight. This was said to have been due to the fact that real punches were thrown by both Stallone and Tarver, resulting in some swelling and nosebleeds earlier than scripted.

[edit] Music

Composed by Academy Award winner Bill Conti, the Rocky Balboa film score is both an updated composition of Rocky music and a tribute to the music that has been featured in previous Rocky films. Conti, who has acted as composer on every Rocky film except Rocky IV, chose to compose the score almost entirely from musical themes used in the previous movies. Only one original theme was written specifically for Rocky Balboa and that is the theme written to represent the character of Marie.

The roughly 40 minute score was recorded in the summer of 2006 at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, California. Conti chose to pre-record the string, brass and piano tracks and then have those tracks mixed with the work of a 44 piece orchestra which he conducted. He also performed all of the piano work himself which is something he has done with each movie for which he has composed the score. Stallone also was involved in every part of the process and attended several of the recording sessions.^[13]

In addition to the score the film features original tracks performed by Natasha Bedingfield, Three 6 Mafia and Frank Stallone as well as classic tracks such as Frank Sinatra's High Hopes and Smokey Robinson's Ooh Baby Baby.^[14] Of the original tracks the most significant is the Diane Warren song “Still Here”, performed by Bedingfield, which was reported to be the film’s theme in early articles.^[15] Though it is still listed in the credits the song now appears to have been dropped from the film.

[edit] Distribution

Rocky Balboa represents a partnership between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Revolution Studios, and Columbia Pictures (Columbia's corporate parent Sony holds a 20% stake in MGM). Since the Rocky series was originally produced and distributed by United Artists (now MGM's subsidiary studio), the partners jointly decided that the film could and should take advantage of MGM's newly reinvigorated domestic distribution apparatus.^[16] 20th Century Fox handles its theatrical and DVD distributions outside of the United States and Canada, while Sony Pictures Home Entertainment handled its American and Canadian video distributions. Warner Bros. handles its theatrical distributions in Philippines and Switzerland (under the Fox-Warner label).

In Japan, the motion picture has been promoted by Fox as "Rocky The Final". It opened across Japan April 20, 2007.^[17]

[edit] Critical response

The film was well received. On the television show Ebert & Roeper, both Richard Roeper and guest reviewer Aisha Tyler gave the movie an enthusiastic "thumbs up" rating. ^[18] Among other positive reviews were from Variety,^[19] David Edelstien of New York Magazine,^[20] Ethan Alter of Premier Magazine,^[21] Victoria Alexander of Filmsinreview.com,^[22] Michelle Alexandria of Eclipse Magazine,^[23] Palo Alto Weekly,^[24] Brett Buckalew of Filmstew.com,^[25] Robert W. Butler of Kansas City Star^[26] , JR Jones of Chicago Reader,^[27] Jack Garner of Rochester Democrat and Chronicle,^[28] Hollywood Reporter,^[29] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly,^[30] Samrat Sharma of fullhyd.com,^[31] and StarBlabber.com, which called the fight sequence "by far the best".^[32] Some criticism came from Christy Lemire, who describes the movie as self-parody.^[33] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times also criticized the implausibility and derivative nature of the film's premise, as well as the cursory development of its plot.

The film has received a certified "Fresh" rating of 76% on the movie site Rotten Tomatoes (with a 79% Cream of the Crop Rating from major news outlets), a Must Go! on Fandango, and a 7.5 out of 10 on IMDB.

The movie was greeted warmly by the majority of the boxing community, with many experts believing the Rocky character is still a key symbol of the sport and that the boxing scenes were the most realistic of any movie. On the DVD, Stallone attributes this to the fact that he used realistic sound-effects (the previous installments had become notorious for their unrealistic and loud sounds of punches landing) and the fact that both Stallone and Tarver threw real punches at each other.^[34]

[edit] 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	$21,444,449	$52,641,449	# 5
3	January 3, 2007	January 9, 2007	$8,835,985	$61,477,434	# 9
4	January 10, 2007	January 16, 2007	$4,309,801	$65,787,235	# 13
5	January 17, 2007	January 23, 2007	$2,156,162	$67,943,397	# 18
6	January 24, 2007	January 30, 2007	$839,753	$68,783,150	# 30
7	January 31, 2007	February 6, 2007	$579,110	$69,362,260	# 27
8	February 7, 2007	February 13, 2007	$387,233	$69,749,493	# 31
9	February 14, 2007	February 20, 2007	$257,101	$70,006,594	# 40
10	February 21, 2007	February 27, 2007	$23,315	$70,029,909	# 66
11	February 28, 2007	March 6, 2007	$139,167	$70,169,076	# 41
12	March 7, 2007	March 13, 2007	$69,851	$70,238,927	# 55
13	March 14, 2007	March 20, 2007	$25,237	$70,264,164	# 73
14	March 21, 2007	March 27, 2007	$5,390	$70,269,554	# 92
15 *	March 28, 2007	March 29, 2007	$345	$70,269,899	N/A

* Movie was no longer in theaters as of March 29, 2007

According to Stallone the movie has exceeded studio expectations grossing over three times the opening night estimates of (at best) $2,000,000 and doing so despite a harsh spell of winter weather.^[35] The film not only finished third in its opening weekend, grossing $12,540,000,^[36] but eventually became Stallone's most successful starring role since 1993's Cliffhanger^[37] and the sixth highest grossing boxing movie of all time, topped only by the first Rocky through IV and Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby.^[38]

The total U.S. box office gross for Rocky Balboa as of March 29, 2007 stands at $70,269,899 while the international gross stands at $85,093,432 making for a total worldwide gross of $155,363,331.^[39]

[edit] Soundtrack

Main article: Rocky Balboa: The Best of Rocky

Whether the film Rocky Balboa has a soundtrack is subject to some debate. On December 26, 2006, Capitol Records released a CD titled “Rocky Balboa: The Best of Rocky” which had a logo and cover art that was identical to the film’s theatrical poster.

The CD itself contains short dialogue clips and musical tracks, some of which are remixes, from all the Rocky films. Notable though is that only 3 of its 19 total tracks are from the Rocky Balboa film, 2 dialogue tracks and the Three 6 Mafia song “It’s a Fight” (The UK version contains the additional track "Still Here" by Natasha Bedingfield). This has led some to categorize the CD as a compilation while others suggest that it is a soundtrack and that the use of past material simply reflects the film's extensive use of flashbacks.

Relevant to this debate is the complete absence of any compositions by Rocky IV composer Vince DiCola. DiCola is the only person, other than Bill Conti, to act as composer on a Rocky film and his work was used extensively on the 1991 compilation CD “The Rocky Story: Songs From The Rocky Movies”. The missing DiCola tracks are the only tracks on the 1991 CD that are not present on the new CD which indicates an effort to use only Rocky Balboa composer Conti's tracks.^[40][41][42]

[edit] Home release

Rocky Balboa is available in three formats: DVD, Blu-Ray Disc and UMD. Features on the DVD include:

• Deleted Scenes including an alternate ending
• Boxing Bloopers
• Skill vs. Will: The Making of Rocky Balboa
• Reality in the Ring: Filming Rocky’s Final Fight
• Audio Commentary with Sylvester Stallone
• Virtual Champion: Creating the Computer Fight

In addition, the Blu-Ray version features all of the DVD's content in 1080p High Definition Video^[43].

It was released in Region 1 on March 20 and Region 2 on May 21 2007.

[edit] Video game

On December 13, 2006, it was officially announced by Ubisoft and MGM that a new Rocky video game, titled Rocky Balboa, was to be made exclusively for the PlayStation Portable handheld console. It was released on March 20, 2007, to coincide with the DVD release.^[44]

[edit] Notes

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• Extras in Philadelphia were used for the end credits, where fans run up the Rocky Steps and do their Rocky imitations.
• The Philadelphia Phillies' mascot, the Phillie Phanatic, is listed in the end credits.
• The DVD release features an alternate ending where Rocky wins the fight. The ending seen in the film was written so audiences would not merely get another triumphant Rocky film.
• The only film in the Rocky series that plays "Gonna Fly Now" under the closing credits.
• According to Stallone, the final shot of Rocky standing alone on the museum steps before the second set of end credits was actually filmed without him even knowing.
• Milo Ventimiglia said he wanted to turn down the role, but his agent convinced him the movie would do well.
• Stallone's real son, Sage Stallone, who played Rocky Jr. in Rocky V, turned down the role due to commitments with his own film company.
• Mr. T was set to reprise his role as James "Clubber" Lang as a ringside observer, but due to scheduling issues, Mike Tyson took his place.
• Early drafts had Adrian still alive with Rocky running a youth center in Philadelphia, and he starts fighting again only to raise money for the center. Stallone dropped this idea because he said it was "a lot of plot and not a lot of character."
• Deleted scenes reveal that Paulie was originally supposed to have a girlfriend and to be roommates with Rocky.
• By the film's release, Stallone had recently celebrated his 60th birthday, a date he shares with President George W. Bush. Stallone is said to be Bush's favorite actor.
• The numerous veins seen on the right side of Stallone's chest during the film are a result of an accident in a bench-pressing competition with bodybuilding champion Franco Columbu.
• Spider Rico's first line in the original film is: "You got lucky tonight." He paraphrases this line in Rocky Balboa by saying, 30 years later: "You got lucky last time."
• During the special simulated fight you can hear The Killers song "Somebody Told Me"

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Rocky Balboa at the Internet Movie Database
• Rocky Balboa at Allmovie
• Rocky Balboa at Rotten Tomatoes
• Rocky Balboa script in Sly Magazine
• Trailers one and two
• Production Blog
• Rocky Balboa Review at The Biomatix
• Rocky Balboa Reviews at Metacritic
• Coverage from Bill Conti's scoring session
• Rocky Balboa on Blu-ray Disc Review

v • d • e Rocky series Films Rocky · II · III · IV · V · Balboa Characters Rocky Balboa · Mickey Goldmill · Apollo Creed · Clubber Lang · Ivan Drago · Tommy Gunn · Mason Dixon Video games Rocky Super Action Boxing · Rocky (1987 video game) · Rocky · Rocky Legends · Rocky Balboa Related articles Rocky music  · Rocky Steps  · Sylvester Stallone  · VI Related articles (Boxing) The distance · Chuck Wepner · Southpaw · World Heavyweight Championship