Rocky

A closer look at the story

Rocky Balboa is a poor, unknown boxer who fights in small club bouts in Philadelphia; he makes his living collecting debts for a local loan shark, and his life seems to be going nowhere. When the scheduled challenger for world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed's title fight in Philadelphia is injured five weeks before the bout, Creed picks a nobody to replace him: Rocky, "the Italian Stallion". It is an opportunity that will never come Rocky's way again, and his aim is simply to still be standing at the final bell. Through the punishing preparation he has his trainer Mickey and the love of his life, Adrian, at his side. Directed by John G. Avildsen and written by Sylvester Stallone, the 120-minute 1976 film stars Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young and Carl Weathers in a classic sports drama.