Rocky

"His whole life was a million-to-one shot."

1976 2h 0m EN

🙌

7.8

BANGER

🔥

93%

CERTIFIED FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

8.1

IMDB

★7.8TMDB · 8,963🍅93%Rotten Tomatoes●70Metacritic★8.1IMDB · 683,546

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Rocky Balboa is a Philadelphia club fighter who seems to be going nowhere. But when a stroke of fate puts him in the ring with a world heavyweight champion, Rocky knows that it's his one shot at the big time — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go the distance and come out a winner!

“His whole life was a million-to-one shot.”

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Cast

Sylvester Stallone
Robert 'Rocky' Balboa
Talia Shire
Adrianna 'Adrian' Pennino
Burt Young
Paulie Pennino
Carl Weathers
Apollo Creed
Burgess Meredith
Mickey Goldmill
Thayer David
George 'Miles' Jergens
Joe Spinell
Tony Gazzo
Jimmy Gambina
Mike

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: John G. Avildsen
Writers: Sylvester Stallone
Languages: English, Italian, Spanish
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $1.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $117M — a 117.3× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

50 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Italian, Spanish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Rocky Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by John G. Avildsen, shot by James Crabe. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Bill Conti. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Scott Conrad shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John G. Avildsen directs. James Crabe behind the camera. Bill Conti scores. Scott Conrad cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Italian, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $1.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $117M — a 117.3× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
350 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Italian, Spanish.
5Part of the "Rocky Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6Directed by John G. Avildsen, shot by James Crabe. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Bill Conti. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Scott Conrad shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Sylvester Stallone and Talia Shire and Burt Young carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "His whole life was a million-to-one shot.".
11IMDB entry: tt0075148 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 19 themes, including "underdog", "philadelphia, pennsylvania", "transporter", "love of one's life".

The technical file

Cinematography: James Crabe
Original score: Bill Conti
Editing: Scott Conrad
Production design: William J. Cassidy
Makeup / hair: Michael Westmore
Sound: Harry W. Tetrick
Stunt coordinator: Jimmy Nickerson
Runtime: 120 min · 2h 0m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $1,000,000
Box office: $117,253,345
Return: 11725% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Rocky (1976)
Rotten Tomatoes: 93% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 70/100
IMDB rating: 8.1/10 · 683,546 votes
MPAA: PG

Awards

Won 3 Oscars. 23 wins & 23 nominations total

Academy Award for Best Film Editing
Academy Award for Best Director
National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
Academy Award for Best Picture

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

Rocky Collection

These sport drama films begin by telling the rags to riches American Dream story of Rocky Balboa, an uneducated but kind-hearted working class Italian-American boxer working as a debt collector for a loan shark in the slums of Philadelphia.

Also by

John G. Avildsen

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

GenerationofSwine2023-01-12
★ 10/10
This was the ultimate Rocky story wasn't it? It was inspiring with the training, it was inspiring with the fight, and it was about the characters and the characters are what makes a great story. The down side was Creed, he was a little under-developed in this wasn't he? They make up for it in Rocky II, III, and IV, but in Rocky he felt like a faceless nemesis didn't he? He was Mohamed Ali without real depth in this and the story could have used to develop him a little more in the first one. But... we got it in the sequels. The biggest selling point was the love story... I know mushy, right? ... but they did a great job of making it awkward and at times intimidating as well as absolutely sweet and charming and it was completely realistic and believable. You could sit down and watch it and understand how they fell for one another. You got a sense of who they were and that carried over into Rocky II... but kind of ended in III and we only caught a glimpse of it here and there until Balboa. Still, it was the low budget movie that stole out hearts. And it was the inspiring story about the underdog, and Rocky movies are best when they inspire.
Nathan2023-03-03
★ 10/10
Rocky is an inspiring story about an ordinary man who takes advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I do have to say, the movie has a rocky beginning, as the dialogue is pretty clunky and awkward at times. But after about twenty minutes, the movie really gets into its groove and had me locked in till the end. My favorite aspect of this film is the humanity it has; it takes a look at a big and intimidating fighter in Rocky and explores his emotions and insecurities. My favorite scene is when he lays in bed next to Adrian with the sudden realization that he cannot win this fight. It was an incredibly vulnerable moment for him and worked really well. As I said before, the dialogue is very inconsistent, especially in the scene at Rocky's house with Adrian. It was very unsettling to watch because she is written as if she does not want to be there, but then the next second she is in love with him. It was very weird and creepy. On the other hand, in some scenes, the dialogue is written very well, which lends itself to boosting the actors' performances. But when it is off, the acting on display is negatively affected. Despite that, this movie gets a lot more right than it does wrong in the script department. Technically, this film excels. The score is fantastic, with one of the most iconic songs in cinematic history. The cinematography is top-notch, with some incredible shots in the city and very creative angles used during the training sequences. Overall, this film lived up to every ounce of hype it had behind it, and I thoroughly enjoyed every second spent with these characters. Score: 98% | Verdict: Masterpiece
CinemaSerf2023-06-03
★ 7/10
Sylvester Stallone is "Rocky", an enforcer for a small-time Philadelphia mobster who works out in Burgess Meredith's gym ("Mickey's") and is keen on the sister of his friend "Paulie" (Burt Young), the shy and retiring "Adrian" (Talia Shire). Meantime, World Heavyweight Champion "Apollo Creed" (Carl Weathers) finds his impeding tilte defence kybsoshed by an injured challenger. At this point serendipity takes a hand and "Creed" decides to pluck a challenger from obscurity - and he chooses the "Italian Stallion". What follows is a solid, engaging tale of grit and determination as the champion assumes it's all in the bag and together with his tight-knit team, the challenger is focussed and determined to, at least, go the distance. Sure, Stallone isn't an actor in any traditional sense - he is more of a character, he oozes the part rather then portrays it - and that is what makes this work. You are subsumed into his life, his love, his training and his ambition - almost as the then aspiring Stallone would have been whilst writing and making the film. The action scenes are first class, and the charisma offered by the star, and by trainer Meredith help this stand the test of time well. There are holes in the plot - but they are fairly easy to overlook if you allow the sentiment and strong performances to take and keep hold of your imagination. Great stuff.