Rocky (1976)
 This Academy Award-winning gritty Cinderella story of a
luckless amateur Philadelphia boxer who gets a chance at the world
heavyweight championship is still uplifting to the human spirit.
Stallone, who wrote the script, plays Rocky Balboa, the
struggling boxer with feeling and power trying to make the big
time.
Nice work, too, from the rest of the cast, especially Talia
Shire as the boxer's shy girl friend, Adrian.
Working in a meat factory in Philadelphia for a pittance,
Balboa also earns extra cash as a debt collector.
When heavyweight
champion Apollo Creed visits Philadelphia, his managers want to
set up an exhibition match between Creed and a struggling boxer,
touting the fight as a chance for a "nobody" to become a
"somebody".
The match is supposed to be easily won by Creed, but someone
forgot to tell Rocky, who sees this as his only shot at the big
time.
The schmaltzy plot owes much to On The Waterfront, yet
the cliché takes on new life with energy and atmosphere.
Crisply directed by John G. Avildsen, who deservedly picked up
the Best Director Oscar for his work.
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