22 Facts About Rocky

Rocky is a 1976 American drama film directed by John G Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone.

Rocky entered development in March 1975, after Stallone wrote the screenplay in three days.

Rocky meets with promoter George Jergens assuming that Creed is seeking local sparring partners.

Rocky undergoes several weeks of unorthodox training, such as using sides of beef as punching bags.

Rocky is later approached by Mickey Goldmill, a former bantamweight fighter who turned trainer and whose gym Rocky frequents, about further training.

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Rocky is not willing initially, as Mickey has not shown much interest in helping him before and sees him as a wasted talent, but eventually Rocky accepts the offer.

Jergens announces over the loudspeaker that the fight was "the greatest exhibition of guts and stamina in the history of the ring", and Rocky calls out repeatedly for Adrian, who runs down and comes into the ring.

Rocky knew that producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff's contract with the studio enabled them to "greenlight" a project if the budget was kept low enough.

Rocky is often erroneously cited as the first film to use the Steadicam, although it was actually the third, after Bound for Glory and Marathon Man.

The original script had a darker tone: Mickey was portrayed as racist, and the script ended with Rocky throwing the fight after realizing he did not want to be part of the professional boxing world after all.

Conversely, Stallone has said he was indeed supposed to wear red shorts with a white stripe as Rocky, but changed to the opposite colors "at the last moment".

Similarly, when Rocky's robe arrived far too baggy on the day it was needed for filming, Stallone wrote in dialogue where Rocky points this out.

David Shire was the first to be offered the chance to compose the music for Rocky but had to turn it down because of prior commitments.

Rocky received positive reviews at the time of its release.

Rocky found Meredith "oddly cast in the kind of part the late James Gleason used to pick his teeth".

Rocky was acknowledged as the second-best film in the sports genre, after Raging Bull.

In 2008, Rocky was chosen by British film magazine Empire as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.

In contrast, in a 2005 poll by Empire, Rocky was No 9 on their list of "The Top 10 Worst Pictures to Win Best Picture Oscar".

Rocky has appeared on several of the American Film Institute's 100 Years lists.

Famous scene of Rocky running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art has become a cultural icon, with the steps acquiring the vernacular title of "Rocky Steps".

Rocky is featured in the 2017 documentary John G Avildsen: King of the Underdogs about Academy Award-winning Rocky director John G Avildsen, directed and produced by Derek Wayne Johnson.

Stallone later hand-picked Johnson to direct and produce a documentary on the making of the original Rocky, entitled 40 Years of Rocky: The Birth of a Classic, which was released in 2020.