In 1976, action superstar Sylvester Stallone was still a nobody, getting acquainted with some lesser characters. After accidentally seeing a match of boxing champion Ali, he suddenly wondered, why not make a boxing-related movie, combined with his own situation, a low-level frustrated person and a great boxing champion come to a match, intentions The unexpected ending completes the double life turning of the character and himself, and makes himself a phoenix on the screen and in reality. He took the script "Rocky" that he wrote in three days with great interest, and found a number of companies. He was rejected again and again, and fled in dismay.
Finally, a small company saw his script and gave him $300,000 to make the film. Sylvester Stallone bit the bullet and started his "dream work". But the sadness during the shooting far exceeded his expectations, and Stallone even mortgaged his property to make up the budget. When filming the first date of the male and female protagonists, the crew wanted to film the scene during the opening hours of the ice rink, but the filming budget was limited, and the producer was unable to pay hundreds or even dozens of extras. In desperation, the crew imitated the male lead What the protagonist Rocky did in the film, he bought the gatekeeper and filmed after the store was closed, so there was a clip of the male and female protagonists talking alone on the ice rink, and the gatekeeper kept reminding them that there was not much time left. It's embarrassing, but in the camera, in the whole film, this scene is surprisingly appropriate and wonderful. The film "Rocky" is like this scene. It was originally a last resort, but in the end, it was unintentional. The low-budget movie "Rocky", which cost $1 million to make, finally won more than $100 million at the box office , setting off a wave of Rocky trends.
What is even more unexpected is that the Oscar judges also affirmed the film, sending out two important awards for Best Picture and Best Director , and Stallone was nominated for Best Actor. A low-budget film that was not well-received at all, because the funds were stretched and the script was constantly revised, and finally won a super high box office and a big return. This is simply a realistic portrayal of the American dream.
Stallone relied on the film to successfully turn his life around and let himself rise rapidly in Hollywood. A total of 6 "Rocky" films were filmed. In the second film, Stallone not only wrote the script, but also became the director himself, becoming an all-around Hollywood superstar. Although it has been more than 40 years since the first "Rocky", after watching the entire film, you can still feel an unyielding spirit penetrate the screen and pour into your body, warming your soul.
Why is "Rocky" so good? First of all, it created a bottom-level hero on the screen for the first time , allowing ordinary people to succeed through hard work. In the film, Rocky, 30 years old, has achieved nothing, living in a dilapidated hut, and earning a living by helping the hooligans collect the bills.
He loves boxing, but he has never made up his mind. He usually earns a little playing fee by participating in low-end escort fights. Not to mention being beaten, he can only earn a subsidy of less than 50 US dollars after one night. Later, he couldn't even afford to rent a locker in the boxing room. One day, he fell in love with Ed, a female pet shop saleswoman who was also at the bottom. This timid and reserved girl touched Rocky's heart, but both of them were trapped in their own lives and dared not take brave steps towards love.
The first and second scenes of the film, which Stallone handled wisely, kept bottoming out the protagonist's life, accumulating emotions for the rebound of the third act. The first and second acts repeatedly describe the dilemma of Rocky's life , and shape the characters in a constantly falling plot and anti-hero mode. From the middle of the second act, the main contradiction was detonated by the Inciting Incident, which opened the story gap, and the charm and arc of the characters gradually took shape. The accomplished black boxing champion Creed took a fancy to Rocky, and wanted to hype it up and use a "performance" match to get back the attention and make profits. But this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, coupled with the love entanglement between Rocky and Ed, made Rocky face up to his life for the first time, and made boxing his own struggle to "change his fate".
In this sports-themed film, Stallone boldly added a new style of realism . In the film, you will see the dilapidated blocks where Rocky lives, various pedestrians, midnight bars, and small restaurants with a strong atmosphere of life. From Rocky's subjective perspective, a block culture with immigrant characteristics was displayed in the story, which greatly surprised film critics.
At the same time, the neighborhood where Rocky lives, the friends around him, their colloquial language system, including the social environment, can negatively enhance the personality of "Rocky" and give boxing more "off-topic meaning". So, when Rocky decides to play and train hard, run down the street, through chaotic neighborhood after block, to that emblematic square, the mood of the film gradually reaches a boiling point.
The two sets of training scenes with strong contrast are quite classic and can be described as teaching-level scenes. It was a bleak cold night at first, Rocky barely finished the entire run, and when he came to the square, he was exhausted; life was full of hardships, and boxing training was no different. After constant persistence, the next set of training scenes became more beautiful. The dilapidated streets contrasted with Rocky's positivity. His vitality infected everyone around him, and everyone paid tribute to him in the way of treating heroes. He continued to accelerate, and ran wildly in the morning sun. He couldn't restrain his inner frenzy. He quickly climbed the stairs and came to the center of the square. He raised his arms, as if the entire United States was under his feet.
For the first time, this Italian immigrant from the bottom class felt the so-called "American Dream". The narrative mode of Italian neo-realism style in the 1950s, focusing on characters and taking society as a mirror , is the most important methodology for the success of "Rocky". Realism narrows the psychological distance between the characters and the audience, and at the same time satisfies the audience's sense of curiosity, and the shaping of the anti-type hero allows the audience to see this charming character at ordinary times. Rocky looks dull, but in fact has a sense of humor, at the bottom, but very gentleman,
His positivity slowly helped the heroine get out of her inner predicament, and also helped his friend get out of the trough. The man in the boxing suit with the butcher shop advertisement was all the jokes when he walked into the ring, he relied on a few hundred dollars from his boss for nourishment, he practiced strength by hitting cold-stored pork as a punching bag, and kept insulting his boxing gym The coach, by training him, found dignity in the boxing ring.
Rocky influenced the people around him little by little through his own behavior, and these people repaid Rocky little by little. This two-way change with a social nature made the relationship between the characters in the film quite solid, and the regulations were clear, in order to highlight Rocky. The protagonist has given a wealth of background support. Realism is rooted in the Rocky series. Even in the recent extended version of Rocky's "Creed" series, it also attaches great importance to the attention to the real society and the characterization of the characters' lives. Structurally, the lows at the beginning contrast strongly with the moments of highs, setting the stage for emotional resonance. Therefore, the narrative structure, the story line, the delicate characters, and the realistic style all work together to achieve the greatness of "Rocky". There is no doubt that Rocky is an iconic totem in American popular culture. It cleverly opened up the metaphorical channel of boxing and life,
Just like the classic line in the film said: No one can hit as hard as life gives us, but it's not about how many punches you can throw back, it's about how much you can hit in After enduring thousands of hardships, he can still stand firm and move forward bravely.
At the end of the film, although Rocky lost the game, he won his life.
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