Rocky - Special Edition

Starring: Bill Baldwin, Sylvester Stallone Director: John G Avildsen Original UK Premiere: 1976 Dvd Release: 11th July, 2001 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: PAL, Special Edition, Widescreen, Region 2 Encoding Subtitled In: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish

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Rocky was a motion picture from 1976 starring Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa & Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed. It tells a rags-to-riches tale about a Philadelphia loan shark s slightly dull-witted but good-hearted collection agent, one with a penchant for boxing who gets a shot at the world heavyweight title in the Philadelphia Spectrum. It was written by Stallone & directed by John G Avildsen. In it, Balboa is given the opportunity to fight Apollo Creed, the world heavyweight champion, on January 1st, 1976. In the time leading up to the fight, Rocky trains with crusty, 1920s -era bantamweight fighter Mickey Goldmill, played by Burgess Meredith. He also falls in love with his best friends sister, Adrian. Periods of self-doubt follow, leading up to the breakup of his relationship with Goldmill. The two reconcile & Rockys training begins anew. Focused & determined, Rocky takes his thousand-to-one shot at the title, deciding that even though he probably cant win he will go the distance with Creed. Posters Of Rocky

DVD Extras: 1.85:1 16x9 print, which represents the sometimes-slick, sometimes rough look of the cinematography; feature commentary with supporting cast & crew , video interview with Stallone, a retrospective featurette , 8mm test fight footage with a flabbier Stallone, tributes to Burgess Meredith & cameraman James Crabe, trailers for Rocky & all the sequels.

All this & a special hidden feature .--

The 1976 Best Picture Award-winner Rocky has the look of a contemporary on-the-streets movie like Taxi Driver, but the heart of a fairytale. For the Bicentennial Year, world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed , a Muhammad Ali-like stars-and-stripes blowhard, cynically offers a title shot to an unknown over-the-hill Philadelphia club fighter, Rocky Balboa . Unlike the sequels, Rocky is a rare American sports movie to realise theres more drama & emotional resonance in losing than winning. The unique finale suggests that going the distance against the odds is more of a triumph than a conventional victory. Stallone, then an unknown as actor & writer, crafts the script to his own strengths, mumbling, Brando-like sincerity combined with explosive physicality expressed in his use of a side of beef as a punch-bag or wintery jogs around Philly. Surprisingly little of the film is taken up with ring action, as we follow Rockys awkward courtship of pet-store minion Adrian & uneasy relationship with her slobbish brother , while Burgess Meredith provides the old pro licks as the curmudgeonly trainer. Though it led to a slick, steroid-fuelled franchise, it has a pleasing roughness, exemplified by the memorable funk/brass band score & the array of fidgety, credible method acting tics.

Michael Sylvester Enzio Stallone, usually known as simply Sylvester Stallone, is an American film actor, director, producer & screenwriter. He achieved his greatest successes in a number of action films, notably the Rambo & Rocky series, in both of which he played a largely monosyllabic hero. Stallone was born in New York City & attended high school in Silver Spring, Maryland, at Montgomery Blair High School. He studied drama at the University of Miami, after which he returned to New York & appeared in a few small Off-Broadway plays. His first film roles were very small, including a pornographic film & he did not break through until he starred in Rocky, a film that he wrote & sold with the rider that he would be the lead. Stallone had two Academy Award nominations for Rocky. However, his attempts to expand his range floundered & he was forced to return to the Rocky franchise a number of times to pay for the flops. He tried his hand at directing as well as writing with Rocky II, III & IV & directed & co-wrote the sequel to Saturday Night Fever, Staying Alive. Posters Of Sylvester Stallone

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