Rocky

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Movie
German title Rocky
Original title Rocky
Rocky Logo.svg
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1976
length 119 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director John G. Avildsen
script Sylvester Stallone
production Irwin Winkler ,
Robert Chartoff
music Bill Conti
camera James Crabe
cut Scott Conrad , Richard Halsey
occupation
synchronization
chronology

Successor  →
Rocky II

Rocky ( aka Rocky ) is an American boxer film directed by John G. Avildsen and starring Sylvester Stallone in the title role of boxer Rocky Balboa . Stallone also wrote the script. The film was a surprising box office success in 1976 and won three Academy Awards the following year . He founded a film series with a total of eight Rocky films so far.

action

The current and undefeated black heavyweight boxing world champion Apollo Creed cannot fight his challenger because he sustained a hand injury during training. All other possible fighters refuse because of the time pressure, but Apollo has already advertised a lot for the fight, which is why an opponent is urgently sought. For this reason, on New Year's Day in 1976, the 200th anniversary of the United States of America, he grants an amateur from Philadelphia the one-time chance to fight against him for the world championship belt.

Rocky Balboa is selected from an extensive list of boxers because of his Italian ancestors and his fight title The Italian Stallion ("the Italian stallion"). Rocky, uneducated and from the simplest of backgrounds, earns some money as a boxer fighting in shabby stalls and collecting money for loan shark Tony Gazzo. His entire life took place in the poor district of Philadelphia.

Rocky recognizes the opportunity and invests all his strength to seize the chance of his life. He does not expect a win, but is proud to be able to stand in a ring with the world champion and to gain recognition through this. He can also make good use of the $ 150,000 award for the fight.

The original exhibition fight in a sold out boxing arena surprisingly turns into an embarrassing argument for Apollo, in which Rocky is not the harmless "sacrificial lamb" that the world champion can demonstrate - on the contrary. Rocky fights like an obsessive man, in the first round, after a hard hook from Rocky - for the first time in his boxing career - Apollo goes to the ground briefly. Rocky holds up over the entire lap distance and even brings the world champion into distress; however, he sustains a serious injury to his right eye, while Apollo is severely injured in his ribs by Rocky. Apollo Creed wins on points, but viewers celebrate Rocky Balboa like a winner. The completely exhausted Apollo Creed leaves the battlefield visibly confused and impressed.

In his private life, Rocky achieves his greatest success by winning the love of shy Adrian, sister of his friend Paulie and a saleswoman in the pet store where he is a regular customer.

production

History of origin

The then impoverished 28-year-old screenwriter and actor Sylvester Stallone was the boxing match of heavyweight champions Muhammad Ali against the 36-year-old relative unknown white world title challenger Chuck Wepner , called the "Bayonne Bleeder" (dt .: "bleeders of Bayonne"), inspired . The fight took place on March 24, 1975 at Cleveland, Ohio Stadium. Contrary to the assumption of all boxing experts, the outsider Wepner was not knocked out early; he survived several rounds until he surprisingly met the legendary favorite in the ninth round, so that this had to be counted. But in the 15th and last round, Wepner lost by breaking off the fight (KO): although he was still able to pull himself up on the ring ropes after a rainfall, the referee present stopped the fight 19 seconds before the end of the regular distance.

Stallone, who watched the fight live in Los Angeles, where he had lived with his pregnant wife Sasha Czack since moving from New York in 1974, was fascinated by the will of the outsider and loser who briefly became a celebrated hero, despite him ultimately lost. At this point, Stallone, who previously had several small film roles and received favorable reviews for his leading role in Brooklyn Blues, directed by Martin Davidson and Stephen Verona , tried to pursue a career as a screenwriter due to a lack of engagement as an actor, albeit with a modest one Success. A few months after the fight, in June 1975, Stallone said he wrote the first version of the scenario within just three and a half days and subsequently offered it to some film producers.

Pre-production

Stallone arrived with the help of an agent and a. to independent film producers Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler , who urged him to shift away from the harsh, hopeless character to the sentimental and heroic tradition of old Hollywood. The revised script was completed in July 1975. The US film production company United Artists then offered him $ 75,000 for his script, but there was no agreement: Ryan O'Neal or James Caan should play the title role, but Stallone insisted on starring in the film. The film studio then increased the offer several times up to a sum of 300,000 US dollars until an agreement was finally reached. The contract stipulated that, in addition to a modest fee of $ 20,000 and a low fee of $ 620 per week, Stallone would also receive a share of the gross profit (10%) of the flick, which turned out to be a stroke of luck for Stallone.

The film borrows heavily from the careers and circumstances of real boxers. Mainly it is based on the boxer Chuck Wepner , partly also on George Chuvalo , both ex-challengers of Muhammad Ali . The original for the character "Apollo Creed", the background of the protagonist as a Mafia debt collector, comes from Rocky Marciano . The half-beef training method is reportedly based on Joe Frazier , who spent his youth in Philadelphia and worked in the slaughterhouse. The name of the trainer Mickey Goldmill is based on that of the trainer of Rocky Marciano, Charley Goldman.

As a boxing champion, Stallone had to physically prepare for his role. He was trained for five months by ex-boxing professional Jimmy Gambina , who supervised and supported him. During these training sessions, director John Avildsen made the first test recordings in order to rehearse combat choreographies and to develop them inexpensively.

production

The film was estimated to take seven weeks to shoot and a budget of just under $ 1,100,000, but could be completed in just 28 days for the small sum of about one million dollars. Filming lasted a week and a half in Philadelphia from February 1976, where the exterior shots were filmed before the film was completed in Hollywood. Due to the enormous cost pressure, the staging was carried out in real apartments with almost no studio backdrops. Furthermore, enough extras were hired for just one day to film the scenes in the arena, so that the background appears dark during various fights. The inexpensive and partly conventional character of the film is partly based on the use of the Steadicam invented by Garrett Brown , which was used in a forward-looking manner in terms of film technology and, among other things, recorded scenes from the final battle.

The stairs Rocky climbs during training and the place where the iconic statue with arms outstretched in jubilation was created are part of the Philadelphia Museum of Art .

Contrary to the original version, there is a satisfying ending for the heroic but failed Rocky, which was not actually intended. The final sequence was re-recorded on a single day after the shoot, in which the defeated Rocky Balboa leaves the arena as the moral winner and embraces the shy Adrian, the love of his life. At that moment the image is frozen.

reception

Rocky premiered in New York on November 21, 1976. The film received mostly benevolent reviews and developed into a surprise hit at the box office. With grossing over US $ 56 million, the production in the United States became the most commercially successful film of 1976. In the US, gross revenues even rose to US $ 117.2 million. Worldwide earnings were $ 225 million.

“A boxer story shot on a small budget that became one of the most successful films of all time. […] Skilful mixture of action, realism and romance about the old American dream that one who is nothing that can become. "

- Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz in the lexicon 'Films on TV'

“A typical American story of the ' underdog ' who turns the social hierarchy upside down through tenacity, courage and naivety. After the phenomenal success of the film, there was no lack of sequels, which, however, never achieved the coherent character psychology and the authentic milieu drawing of this first film. "

- Lexicon of international film

Awards

Rocky was nominated for ten Academy Awards in 1977 and won three of them. Sylvester Stallone was only the third filmmaker to be nominated as both a leading actor and a screenwriter at the time.

Academy Awards 1977

Golden Globe Award 1977

Japanese Academy Award 1978

American Film Institutes

  • 1998: 78th place of the 100 best American films of all time (2007: improved to 57th place).
  • # 52 of the 100 best thrillers of all time.
  • The role of Rocky Balboa , played by Sylvester Stallone , reached number 7 in the Top 50 Movie Heroes of All Time.
  • The song Gonna fly now reached number 58 of the 100 best movie songs of all time.
  • The quote from Stallone: Yo, Adrian! made it to rank 80 of the 100 best quotes of all time.
  • The film reached fourth place in the list of the 100 most inspiring films of all time.
  • 2008: The film is voted # 2 in the top 10 sports films of all time.

In 2006, Rocky was inducted into the National Film Registry . That same year, Sylvester Stallone's screenplay for Rocky was voted 78th “Best Screenplay Of All Time” by the Writers Guild of America Awards .

synchronization

The dialogue director led Friedbert Cierpka .

role actor speaker
Robert "Rocky" Balboa Sylvester Stallone Jürgen Prochnow
Adrianna "Adrian" Pennino Talia Shire Hinzelmann rehab
Paulie Pennino Burt Young Klaus Sunshine
Mickey Goldmill Burgess Meredith Hans Hessling
Apollo Creed Carl Weathers Michael Chevalier
Buddy Joe Sorbello Peter Schlesinger
Gazzo Joe Spinel Harry Wüstenhagen
Jergens Thayer David Klaus Miedel
Tony 'Duke' Evers Tony Burton Manfred Grote
Joe Frazier Joe Frazier Edgar Ott
Al Salvani Al Salvani Otto Czarski
Mike Jimmy Gambina Uwe Paulsen
news reporter Larry Carroll Martin Hirthe
Diana Lewis Diane Lewis Almut Eggert
Ice rink owner George Memmoli Peter Schiff
Shirley Shirley O'Hara Inge Estate
Spider Rico Pedro Lovell Joachim Pukass
Bartender Don Sherman Friedrich Georg Beckhaus

Sequels and adaptations

The boxing drama has been continued seven times so far. The immediate successor Rocky II follows on from the end of Rocky .

On December 18, 2012, Rocky - The Musical , which is based on the first Rocky film, celebrated its world premiere at the TUI Operettenhaus in Hamburg. It has also been performed on New York's Broadway since March 2014.

The name "Rocky" in the boxing world

"Rocky" was also the name of the popular Italian boxers Rocky Marciano (1923-1969) and Rocky Graziano (1919-1990). The German boxing brothers, both born in 1963, Ralf Rocchigiani (active as a professional 1983–1999) and Graciano Rocchigiani (1963–2018; active boxing professional 1983–2003) each received the nickname "Rocky" from the press and audience.

Soundtrack

  • Bill Conti : Rocky. Original motion picture score . Liberty / MGM-UA Records slsn, sound carrier no. CDP 7 46081 2 / DIDX 300 - Original recording of the film music under the direction of the composer

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rocky Balboa (Character). In: imdb.com. Retrieved January 22, 2019 .
  2. ^ Adrian (Character). In: imdb.com. Retrieved January 22, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b c d cf. Rocky (1976) - Box office / business. In: imdb.com. Retrieved February 26, 2015 .
  4. ↑ cf. Rocky (1976) - Release Info - IMDb. In: imdb.com. Retrieved February 26, 2015 .
  5. ^ Encyclopedia 'Films on TV' - Extended new edition. Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 684 (Rating: 2½ stars = above average.)
  6. ↑ Rocky. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  7. ↑ Librarian Adds 25 Titles to Film Preservation List: National Film Registry 2006 . Library of Congress.gov. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  8. ^ Writers Guild of America, West : The 101 Best Screenplays . Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  9. ↑ Rocky in the German dubbing index
  10. ↑ Rocky in the German dubbing index