— how Mr. Gazzo takes a gasp off of an inhaler before bitching Rocky out for not breaking the guy’s thumbs. What a detail. The inhaler. I LOVE actors, man. I have no idea why he gave the character asthma (it’s not in the script) but he did … and it’s just fascinating.
— Rocky’s glasses. He puts them on in the backseat of the car with the loan shark, as he writes down his assignments for the next day. You know that he swiped those from a drugstore. They are the goofiest most inappropriate looking glasses. GREAT character choice.
— How Adrian has pinned her watch to her sweater. Interesting detail.
— the terrifically awkward moment when Rocky asks Adrian out (the first time – in the pet store) – and she is so shy that she doesn’t even acknowledge that it has happened. He says, “Great game down at the Spectrum tonight …” (he’s not looking at her – pretending to look at the dogs, or whatever) – Adrian cleans the bird cage – nothing … Rocky then says, “Want to go to a basketball game?” Not looking at her. Then a quick glance at her. She does not even look at him. And then right after that – Rocky moves on – as though it never even happened. As though he didn’t just ask her out.
— I love how Rocky bitches out Paulie in the bathroom: “I need a Cadillac to connect with your sister, or what?” Paulie is hunched over, trying to comb his 4 strands of hair in the tiny shard of mirror that is left on the wall. Beautiful. Every element of that scene: the dialogue, the set, the relationship …
— how in the beginning of the movie Rocky is a thug. By the end of the movie he has become an athlete. Like – in the first jogging-at-dawn scene – you can just tell that Rocky never gets up and jogs. Jog? Are you crazy? He’s got the Converse on, it’s dawn, his sweat suit is filthy (and hysterical – he looks so ridiculous in it – kind of chunky and pudgy) – and he does a few desultory stretches against the building – and then off he goes. He looks creaky. Not used to running. It’s so eloquent – that shot.
— I love how when Rocky first takes Adrian into his apartment he says to her, “You hungry? I think I got some donuts. Maybe some soda.” She shakes her head. He says, “No? I got some cupcakes.” She shakes her head. “I think I got some chocolate in there.” She shakes her head. He says, “No? Okay.” Uhm – donuts, soda, cupcakes, and chocolate. Perfect.
— He sits on his couch, and tries to get her to join him. He says, “It’s a nice couch, I don’t know.” Rocky. It is NOT a nice couch. There are beer bottles stuck in between the couch and the wall, the necks of the bottles hovering along the back of the couch like organ pipes. You have placed newspapers over the holes in the couch. A crumpled dirty blanket lies on half of a cushion. Now – there’s no shame in being poor, Rocky. But that is NOT a nice couch.
— Wonderful change of scene: Rocky comes home after the fight in the first scene. Talks to Cuff and Link. You know, that famous scene. He wanders around his disgusting apartment. You get the sense of his isolation. He has a beat-up face, band-aids on his eyebrow – a black eye – he goes to the fridge, takes out an ice tray, cracks it on top of the fridge – so a couple of ice cubes pop out into his hand. Some cubes go on the floor, he doesn’t care. He takes the cubes and walks to his bed (you can so get the aches and pains in how he walks …) – lies on the bed – it’s a single bed – you can see a big wooden cross behind him – religious memorabilia on the shelf – and he lies on bed, his leg kind of curled up – and puts the ice cubes against his cut eye. And just lies there, with this … battered look on his face, man. This battered flat dead-eyed look. The pose, the look says it all. This man is ALONE. But then: NEXT SHOT: we’re inside the pet shop, it’s daylight, and we see Rocky walk up to the window, from the outside – and he starts to tap and wave at the puppies – and his face is totally different. He glances up – waves at Adrian – there’s still something a bit shy there, he’s maybe trying to play up how unthreatening he is?? – but I just love that cut. We go from the violent guy lying in his single bed, no expression on his face, aching and throbbing from injuries … to him trying to tell jokes to Adrian, trying to draw her out, make her laugh … And BOTH of these things are true. Neither side is a pose. He is violent. Or – he has capability of great violence when he is in the ring, or when he feels threatened or disrespected. But then – he’s sweet and … kind to Adrian … he takes just the right tone with her. There’s no condescension there. He is truly interested in her. He’s not just interested in her when she takes the glasses off later. He already thinks she is pretty. Anyway – I love that transition – that we go from one scene to another. Very effective.
— I love the moment when Rocky goes to his locker, takes the lock – does the combination – but it won’t open. He tries the combination again. No luck. So what does he do? He takes off his hat – takes a slip of paper out of the lining – which obviously has the combination on it for safekeeping – checks it, and tries the lock again. I just LOVE that detail. That was Stallone’s idea – nobody told him to do that. He knew that Rocky was enough of a realist, and enough of a … well, Rocky knew that the possibility of him forgetting his combination was pretty high … so he put the combination in a place where he could get to it, where it would always be on him if he needed it. It is tiny details like this – that make up a great character. A 3-dimensional character. It’s not just all the big things – his heart, his soul, his drive, his kindness, his struggle – The character itself is revealed in the fact that he is the kind of guy who keeps his locker combination on a slip of paper in the lining of his hat. Gorgeous.
It’s that first kiss in the doorway – it is so awkward and not what I was used to in a movie kiss – It’s raw and scary and ugly and I think it’s my favorite movie kiss.
I really enjoy reading posts like this. Thanks.
Speaking of the hat, I love the hat. It really helps make the character. Like Serpico’s jacket, there’s Rocky’s hat.
You know, I’ve never seen any of the Rocky movies. Obviously I’ll need to remedy that. You have made my Book and Movies Yet to be Consumed list grow exponentially, not that I’m complaining!
Bets – totally. It’s one of my favorite love scenes ever.
Cullen – I love the hat too! The studio didn’t want him to wear the hat – but he persisted. He said he wanted Rocky to be like one of the turtles he owns – armored. With a soft little interior. The hat was part of the armor.
Also – it’s great – in one of the scenes where he asks Adrian out – he asks if he can walk her home. She shakes her head. He says, “You gotta watch out for creeps. Eveyr other block there’s a creep around here. You can always tell the creeps.” And there he is – with his black eye – the fingerless gloves – the hat … he SO looks like a creep himself – it’s just a great moment, because you know he’s NOT a creep. But he is judged (as we all are) by what he looks like. He looks a little bit scary.
DAW – thank you!! They’re so fun to do. I have more to post about Rocky – I’ll put it up when I have some free time today or tomorrow.
Your post forced me to pull out a very dusty VHS of ROCKY. Think I’ll spring for the new DVD. Interested to hear if you saw the latest “Rocky.” I liked it but not as much as the original. Closer in tone and texture to the first one than any of the other sequels. I wonder what Avildsen brought to the film vs the Writer/Actor? We will probably never know…
Regards,
B
The commentary track goes into Avildsen quite a bit, westside. Stallone, being the writer and actor, had a lot to do with how that film looked – keepin’ it real, so to speak, but Avildsen made it all happen, got the team together, and everyone worked to the height of their abilities.
Rocky was the first film to use a steadicam as well (the guy who invented the thing was the operator of it – and you can see him circling the ring at times in the fight sections – Avildsen forgot to tell him to get out of the way.)
That shot up the museum steps could not have been done without a steadicam. Any moving shot before the invention of the steadicam had to be done with dolly tracks, or a crane that moves up. But the steadicam floats … in and around the action … Totally different. We can follow Rocky up the steps, and then circle around behind him to see the skyline. Never could have happened before.
Or the shot where Rocky and Paulie walk thru the meat locker and Rocky ends up punching the side of beef. The camera floats along ahead of the two characters – and you can see the floor – no dolly tracks – that’s another type of shot that could never have been done without the steadicam.
Avildsen was enough of an innovator to take a chance on this “steadicam contraption” … and it made history.
And yeah, I saw Rocky Balboa. Loved it!
Oh – and Avildsen was not a boxing fan. But he loved the story. So Stallone had control over those fights – he choreographed them.
… does anyone remember any scenes where Rocky talks about his parents? or are they unknown?
…one of the things about Paulie, if I remember correctly, is that he gets drunk and takes a baseball bat to his own house, (kind of silly really). In comparision, Rocky, the violent thug we know he could be, never uses his force or might ‘domestically’ so to speak. It’s like he’s a raw little child a good deal of the time.
Rocky has a photo of his parents up beside his mirror. So yes, they existed – but then later – in Rocky V, I think – Rocky says, about his son – “It’s better to have your old man stick around …” so I am assuming that Rocky’s father took off – and then his mom died, leaving Rocky to fend for himself.
That baseball bat scene is fantastic. Paulie is so afraid of being left behind, being alone. Rocky and his sister are now together all the time … so what is to become of Paulie? He’s also kind of obsessed (in a shameful way) that his sister isn’t a virgin anymore. He shouts that at her – “YOU LET A GUY TAKE DOWN YOUR PANTS” – and she runs off to her room. Great scene.
Yup – and THAT’S what gets Rocky ready to finally sock him, but he sees that Paulie is crying, thoroughly miserable and hating himself… and he can’t do it. MUCH better than the similar (hamhanded) scene in Rocky III where Paulie smashes the pinball machine.
Or rather, “similar (BUT hamhanded).” Bad conjunction! Stay!
Nightfly – Yes, yes – you’re so right … that’s a great moment – when Rocky DOESN’T hit him. Paulie deserves to be slugged at that moment – but Rocky sees the pain and fear beneath. So he refrains. Kind of amazing. And then naturally comes the next moment, that I love:
“You want a roommate?”
“Absolutely.”
Whoa, weird! I just watched Rocky for the first time in years the other day. Jinx! What a freakin fantastic movie.
Rocky is still my favorite movie of all time. I saw for the first time on HBO. I love the training and running sequences while Gonna Fly Now is playing. It gave me goose bumps the first time I saw it and it still does.