Selected from the editor-in-chief of Yang Xiaolin: "Reading Movies · Best Film Tasting in a Century" (three volumes) published by Chongqing University Press in March 2012.
Background information
English name: Rocky
Screenwriter: Sylvester Stallone
Director: John G. Iverson
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Porter Young
Produced by: United American Film Company
honor
Best film, best editing, and best director at the 49th Academy Awards in 1976.
The success of "Rocky" is a typical Hollywood miracle. Stallone, living in poverty, suddenly had inspiration after watching a brutal boxing match, and completed the script in only three days. In order to win the opportunity to perform, Stallone rejected the high price temptation of hundreds of thousands of dollars, sold the script to United American Film Company at a low price, and starred in the protagonist Rocky with a very low weekly salary of 600 dollars.
The cost of the film only cost one million U.S. dollars, and the filming cycle took only 28 days, but it became popular all over the world as soon as it was released. The box office and word-of-mouth double harvest, and its input cost and profit ratio are unprecedented. Stallone became famous ever since, and his hardcore performance style was unique in the 1980s and is legendary. "Rocky" also became the endorsement of "Iron Hero" for a while. Hollywood strikes while the iron is hot and shoots 6 consecutive "Rocky" series, a three-year online game created by South Korean game company Nexon, also called "Rocky", which is represented by Century Tiancheng in China.
Introduction
The story takes place in a slum area in Philadelphia in the eastern United States. Thirty-year-old Rocky is a gang member and an amateur boxer. He likes Ai Delian, a saleswoman in a nearby store. She is the sister of his friend Paul. She is thin and shy, with an ordinary appearance and an introvert. Rocky pursued her desperately, and the eldest girl who had never received masculine comfort finally fell in love with him. The two often imagined that one day they would be able to change their current situation and live a good life.
The opponent of American heavyweight black boxing champion Apollo Cuidi withdrew from the competition due to injury. The organizers had an idea and selected Rocky as their opponent. This competition is a project to celebrate the bicentennial of the founding of the United States. The winner can get a huge sum of US$150,000. The impoverished third-rate boxer Rocky suddenly became the target of interviews by TV stations and newspaper reporters. Although Rocky knew in his heart that he could not beat his opponent, he believed that as long as he could play 15 rounds with the world champion without being knocked down, that would be his victory. With this belief, he seized the time to train hard. Under the careful guidance of coach Mickey, Rocky worked hard to train a new set of boxing skills. Encouraged by his ideals and love, he was full of spirit and fighting spirit, and he fought hard with Apollo. Although Apollo kept teasing him, he challenged with composure. He was beaten with a swollen nose, bloody head and blurred vision, but he has been struggling for 15 rounds, but in the end the referee still judged that Apollo won. But Rocky won the applause of countless audiences, and the film ended with him and his girlfriend Ai Deli hugging each other.
Analysis of the reasons for the award
The film's success is firstly because it successfully portrayed the image of a lowly character like Rocky. As an inspirational film, this film is about how a person with dreams can seize the opportunity to realize the value of life step by step. Rocky’s life is very representative in reality. Like countless lower-class people whose enthusiasm has been wiped out by the tasteless life and their dignity lost due to poverty, he is over 30 and lives alone in a dilapidated hut. Here, there is no love, so I have to pursue an autistic and introverted old girl. She has been repeatedly stunned by the proprietress in the pet shop. He was also discriminated against in the boxing ring. The storage room was also transferred to more potential newcomers by the boss. In order to make a living, he acted as a gangster for loan sharks and bullied the poor who couldn't pay their debts. He was lonely and impoverished and looked down upon. But Rocky was not the kind of completely depraved rogue. He looked fierce, but he was kind-hearted. When the debt collector couldn't pay the usury, he let him go under his pleading. He felt angry everywhere, but did not use extreme methods to retaliate against the society. The audience can imagine the pain of Rocky as much as they imagine themselves. Each of us is born with a dream, but reality does not give us the opportunity to realize this dream. Rocky must endure the loneliness that no one values his talent for six years. This is true sorrow and pain.
Although Rocky is very mediocre, he has always had dreams in his heart. He doesn't want to succeed, but has been waiting for an opportunity. By chance, he got the opportunity to challenge the champion. Boxing coach Mickey took the initiative to act as an agent for him to train him in boxing. Friends also took the opportunity to ask him to change his hate job. For Rocky, all of this became a proof of himself. chance.
In order to realize the dream, prove yourself. In the end, Lodge accepted the coach's guidance and carried out serious and hard training: six raw eggs instead of beer; rejected Yadrianne's affection; and went to the cold storage where Polly worked to play "beef sandbags". In the boxing ring, he was knocked down again and again, and stood up again and again. The once-fighting boxing champion could not fight back. A frustrated person who has no past and no future (never rematch), regards standing here as the only opportunity in his life to prove that he is not a squat (rather than defeating the boxing champion). Rocky was so swollen that he could barely hold his fists, and his eyes were so swollen that he could only be seen with a knife. However, he shouted at the coach, "If you dare to stop, I will kill you!" Only Rocky was dead. The game may end early. Although Rocky persisted to the end, it was glorious to be defeated, and he stood in front of the camera with flesh and blood, just like the chrysalis of a butterfly who had experienced the test of flesh and blood. Although in the end the referee pronounced the champion of boxing victory, Rocky's unyielding and tenacious fighting spirit moved the audience. He is the victor and the spiritual victor. For Rocky, the result of the game is not important, what is important is that he has recovered himself and realized his value.
Secondly, the film has strong realism characteristics. The characters in the film are all face to face, almost all of them are non-professional actors performing in their true colors, and their images are not so brilliant. Rocky was disheveled and talked wordy Rory. He was beaten to a bruised face for more than a dozen dollars, and woke up the next day to endure the severe pain in his whole body alone. He is very lonely. Two turtles and a goldfish are the only "relatives" in the family. The younger sister who wanted to educate her friends not to mess with the streets, she was scolded as "perverted." When collecting debts for the boss, he let go of those who couldn't pay the debts, and ended up being scolded by the boss. Girlfriend Ai Delian is shy and uneasy, and she is not a pretty girl. She also longs for love, she also longs for free association with others, but others think she is an incompetent, even her brother thinks she is a "loser" in life. His friend Pori is also fat and unattractive. He works in a pork factory, but always wants to change a job like Rocky to help people collect debts. For this reason, he begged Rocky several times, but Rocky He didn't agree to it, which made him very angry. He always complained that his sister was running away from life, in fact, he himself was too. The coach Mickey crouched and looked old, without a trace of the style of the boxing champion of the past. On the surface, he is a "profit-only" guy, but in his heart, he despises Rocky's debt collection work before sweeping him out. Later, he took the initiative to come back and asked to be Rocky’s agent to train Rocky to overcome his mental and physical weaknesses. These characters are all from the bottom, with the kindness, misfortune, selfishness, and power of the low-level people. They instinctively hope to seize some opportunities and make some changes in their lives.
Third, the film's narrative techniques and shots are calm and objective. There are many large panoramas and medium shots, and there is no sensational quick editing. The long shots and still shots allow the audience to experience Rocky's compromise with reality, the desire for dreams, and the straightforwardness of love. The film also has the documentary color of "street realism". Dilapidated rooms, messy streets, dark bars, idle street gangsters... The film has the texture of life, so that the audience can fully experience the Rocky on the scene. Sadness and loneliness. There is no lyrical slow motion or exciting music in the last climax of the film. Only two strong men are seen: the white Rocky is beaten into a dog, the black boxing champion is exhausted into a dog, and both dogs are both. Terrible. When it's over, the movie is over. And the power of the film lies in this: reflecting reality, criticizing reality, praising the glory of human nature, and unyielding power to fight fate.
All in all, this film is incompatible with the classic Hollywood movies. There are no invincible heroes in traditional commercial films, no clichés of heroic beauties, inconsistent plot arrangements, and unintentionally arranged scenes. Everything maintains the normality of life, and even has the nature of objective records. It is a very pure author movie. . Rocky has no rhetoric, and his image is not tall and perfect. In the face of difficulties, he never bows his head, fights to the end, and finally wins the respect of others. He is a symbol of the "American Dream". The film wants to tell people that in the United States, you can succeed by seizing any opportunity, but without your own efforts, even if the opportunity comes, it is useless. The film's popularity is because countless viewers have seen themselves from him, and they have gained the confidence and courage to survive and run towards success.
(Yang Xiaolin)
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