While it’s true we could have done Rocky for any holiday (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year) we decided that the perfect time for this classic pugilist film was for a New Year’s Day special due to the epic fight with Apollo Creed. We talk about the character study, the romance with Adrian, and of course the finale’s 15-round bout.
We’re also drinking Samuel Smith’s Taddy Porter!
Approximate timeline
0:00-8:00 Intro
8:00-16:00 Beer talk
16:00-end Rocky
Hit that play button above to listen in.
Transcript – Rocky (auto-generated)
Click to expand full transcript
0:00
Yeah, there was some guy here from Miles Jurgens looking for you.
They need sparring quadrants for Apollo Creed.
Put me on.
What was it here about an hour ago.
They’ll probably look for spa bars for Creed.
You know I said that.
Before you dumb Jago.
You know, I’ve been coming in for six years.
0:17
For six years you’ve been sticking it to me.
I want to know alcohol.
You don’t want to know.
Yeah, I want to know.
Alcohol.
You want to know?
I want to know.
OK, I’m going to tell you, ’cause you had the talent to become a good fighter and instead of that you became a leg breaker, some cheap second rate Lone Star.
0:37
It’s a living.
It’s a waste of life.
1:17
Hey guys, welcome back to the Blood and Black Run podcast.
I’m Ryan from closesplotation.com and I’m joined with my Co host Martin.
How’s it going?
Well, we’re doing pretty well.
We’re in that post Christmas void.
And I just have one thing to say as we get out of our our holiday episodes, I gotta say this podcast.
1:37
It stinks in here.
Stinks in here.
Yeah, we finished up our episodes of Festivus, but we decided that we weren’t quite done with the holidays just yet.
We had an additional week and we wanted to do a new little New Year’s episode for it.
1:54
Well, we usually do.
We tried to remember that one year when we did Ghost Keeper.
I just I the only like New Year’s one that I can think of that was really good was New Year’s evil, I think.
Was like New year, of course.
2:10
It was the one that was, you know, OK and I was going to say trade in places, but we did that for.
Christmas, yeah, we did.
And like I said, yeah, we did.
We did Ghost Keeper one year and it’s now getting a new I think it’s a 4K release from Vinegar Syndrome that is coming up very soon.
2:27
I think their January releases as that one slated, which I thought was interesting because when we did it, I don’t think we really we didn’t have like great things to say about that movie.
It’s a kind of a middling slasher.
Film Listen, I’m I’m scrolling through our library now to see if I can even remember it.
2:46
Was about like the they were at like this abandoned hotel or like abandoned ski resort or something that they stay at.
Is that the Canadian one?
That’s oh God, now I I see it now you.
Didn’t you?
Really didn’t like that one.
Yeah, well, because it was fucking terrible.
Well, it’s getting a new release so people can spend $40 on the 4K.
3:07
And you know, especially after following up strong fest of the series where we did Trading places On Our Majesty’s Secret Service, Home Alone 2 and the Santa Clauses are like second TV review.
It was like disappointed.
3:25
Just a big turd in my stocking, you know, like oh see the left a little extra.
Hopefully we don’t have that this.
Year as I say all I remember, like I remember being Canadian bad and a very bad shining.
3:42
Yeah, a little bit like that, too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, this year we got something a little bit different.
Honestly, we could have done this movie within the entire frame of the holidays from Thanksgiving through Christmas, but we decided that it was most appropriate to do it for New Year’s because that’s the main crux of the the whole proceedings of the movie leading up to the conclusion is New Year’s Day.
4:07
So it just made sense.
But like I said it, the movie, you know, has Thanksgiving in it, has Christmas in it could have been any number.
But our New Year’s episode this year is the illustrious Rocky, which which again, we’ve never touched, never touched anything in the a series.
4:32
We’ve never, you know, not really done anything similar either with like boxing movies.
And honestly, I’d never seen it myself.
There’s one, you know, glaring omission in my filmography watching is I’ve never seen Rocky before.
4:50
So.
Well known fun fact if you’re a regular listener.
Yeah, I and it’s funny because, you know, is a cultural film.
It’s, you know, obviously important.
It’s probably one of those movies that people recommend of like the 1000 movies you see before you die, something like that, I’m guessing.
5:13
And yeah, for whatever reason, just never really ventured out to see it.
Now, I will be honest with you, I’m not like a huge fan of these types of like sports creation stories that they would do, you know, like and we did the Iron claw on here too, which is I guess kind of similar in in some respects to something like Rocky.
5:36
But I’m not a huge fan of the those types of like, you know, setting the, you know, or I guess they would be more like now, especially with the Iron Claw being more like biopics kind of.
Well, this is not biopic.
You’re right.
No, I know.
But I guess I’m saying like I’m not really.
5:56
I don’t know.
Never really been a huge, huge fan of that stuff.
So I think.
I mean it, you know, it is like a sports movie, but I would say it’s.
It’s more of a character study really.
6:12
Yeah, no, yeah, it’s, it’s definitely like more like it’s that’s the a part of the story.
It’s not like the crux, it’s not like, remember the Titans where the whole thing is, you know, football, it’s early 70s down the South.
6:28
White kids got to integrate with the black kids on the football field.
They have mixed feelings.
But at the end of the day, learn friendship and how to win.
Mixed feelings around mixed races.
That should have been the slogan for that movie.
That’s what he actually what hidden pants in the pants in the air was saying it like 10 years old when she was in the movie.
6:49
Like on the on the red carpet.
Disney told me to say this.
Well, you’ve seen Rocky though, right?
Billion times, yeah.
This is not.
I’m a big Rocky fan.
You’re big, big franchise fan or big Rocky fan?
7:05
Both.
So here’s the thing, Especially now that we were dipping into it, we’re going to have to do all the films.
It’s just traditionally, yeah, no.
No, we’re not going to Yeah, no, we’re not doing like a rock, rock, rock, rock Rocky a thon, you know, but like I am a big fan of the Rocky movies, you know, especially the 1st 2 Rocky one and two are great, like actual great films.
7:32
The rest of them I I haven’t even seen any of the creeds just because it’s like him fatigued out from franchises being revived from the dead, you know, and Rocky Balboa is like the same thing to Rocky 6 because that came out like O8 or O9 and it was when Sly was on his like I got to do every classic film that I’ve ever done.
7:58
I got to do like a sequel to it.
Like Rambo came out at the same time too, you know, but like 3 through 5 or you know, fun enough.
You know, a lot of people like Rocky 4A lot, but they’re just schmalt.
8:16
Like it’s like Rambo, it’s like first blood.
You have this deep character story and then the sequels just go right off the fucking rails into nonsense land.
Like if when we do get to Rocky 4 eventually, like the the biggest sin of that movie is fun and stupid as it is.
8:37
Like, you know, Rocky versus Ivan Drago, the Soviet, you know, they must break you.
Yeah, it’s like 140 minute film. 120 minutes are literally fucking montages.
Look like you know it’s.
8:55
It’s like the Silent Night, deadly night montage.
The movie, Yeah.
Like like it’s.
Actually a movie.
You know, it’s just ridiculous.
It’s fun, like I said, but like, they’re not, they’re not good films.
Same thing with like Rocky 3, like, you know, Mr. T, it’s all silly, but.
9:15
Rocky.
And Rocky 2 are great.
You know Rocky.
You’re a big fan of.
Yes.
Good to know, good to know.
So wait till wait to see what I give this review.
All right, well, so, yeah, interesting foreshadowing here.
9:31
I guess we’ll I guess we’ll find out later as we get into the the show.
But all right, well, that’s a good, good place to pause and take a break and talk about the beer that we have on the show today.
I actually was I was out and about and I decided, you know what?
I let’s go grab a beer and I went with one that I’ve always seen in stores and have been curious about, but just for whatever reason just never really felt the desire to buy 1.
10:02
And so I think I’ve just decided this time, you know, not only is it a good time to try this beer out, but the beer itself looks very kind of New Year’s ask with the gold foil wrapping and, you know, the kind of the classic classy bottle.
10:18
So I was like, you know what?
This is kind of a nice little New Year’s related beer.
So the brewery brewery that I’m talking about is Samuel Smith.
And I, yeah, I might have had one maybe once before, but this is always one that I see the bottles in the store and I’m like, you know, interesting, interesting ideas and, you know, very classic looking English style ales.
10:42
But I’ve just never really gone out of my way to get one.
So here I got the Samuel Smith Tadcaster, their famous Teddy Porter again, which I’ve, I’ve never had and thought it would be a good place to start.
And it like I said, the gold foil wrapping on it, I guess it, this is just make 2 beers in a row that we’ve had like annoying foil wrapping on the not that I’m saying that the golden wrapping is tacky or anything on this beer, but you know, again, there’s champagne style, like have to unwrap be, you know, before you can even get your bottle opener on the bottle cap a little bit annoying sometimes.
11:23
I’ll let you go first.
What do you think?
Because again, you’re not like a huge stout guy or a Porter guy.
So I’m curious to know what you think about this English style Porter.
What What do you think about the Teddy Porter?
Well, I like, I do like porters more so than stouts just because they don’t usually get barraged into the ground with adjunct D stuff that and bourbon like, you know, the like every like, you know, barrel aging and all that.
11:52
So on its own, this is a very delightful Porter.
It’s got a nice brightness to it.
Full, nice, full body.
You know, definitely like dark chocolate.
12:13
Get a lot of like, you know, nice notes, dark chocolate, very smooth, easy to drink.
I like this a lot.
Perfect for the cold, miserable months that are ahead right now.
So.
Have you ever a lot of Smith Samuel Smith beers?
12:32
No, in fact I think this is the first time even seeing them.
So nice.
Find the tinfoil aluminum top.
Get rid of that.
12:50
You know, it’s just not.
It’s just not needed.
Like, you know, it’s not like Sam’s utopias or anything.
Like, you know, it’s sure.
Yeah.
We know I like it a lot.
13:06
I would definitely definitely tried some more.
It’s as simple and basic of a port you can get, but that’s beauty of it.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I agree.
I think this Teddy Porter is really solid.
It’s, you know, again, with the Samus Smith line, I don’t think they make a ton of different styles of beer.
13:26
I do know that they they often make Porter and stout styles.
I think they have a couple different stouts.
But overall I think that this is a really fine English style Porter.
It does what it sets out to do.
Very traditional Porter style, very, you know, nice heavy malt base to it, very subtle hints of chocolate, but not like overwhelmingly chocolatey like, you know, like if you would call it a chocolate stout or anything like that.
13:58
Just very mild, little bit of a caramel element to it as well to give it that mouthfeel and, you know, refinement on the palette overall.
Very, you know, just very drinkable, very sessionable.
I would say, you know, you would think sometimes with that being so dark, people a lot of times think like, Oh well, you know, they’re not really that drinkable.
14:18
I would say that this one is doesn’t feel heavy.
It just feels, you know, like, you know, it’s it’s still got a nice body to it, but it’s not super heavy.
I like it a lot and I like the traditional bottle style on it.
I think that that makes it kind of stand out from others that are trying to, you know, be more modernistic.
14:36
I think this one is just, you know, presenting itself as a very classic traditional style pub ale, and I like that a lot.
So I would definitely check this out more.
I I I I don’t know why I’ve not gone through the Sandler Smith lineup before, but I think I I should start because I like this one.
14:58
All right, let’s talk Rocky.
Where do we want to begin?
Do we begin at the beginning?
I think.
You know what?
I think we might have to begin 54 minutes into the film.
15:19
Was 54 minutes in.
Couldn’t tell you OK because you know what?
Because you have to.
Break in mind?
No.
No, no, Because you know what Film’s so good, you don’t need to check the runtime.
That’s true.
That’s true.
Yeah.
It’s, you know.
You know, abbreviated 2 hours.
15:34
I will.
Well, we’ll get let’s get into that first, I guess.
Yeah, we should start with the beginning fight.
I mean, so the the opening of the movie really starts out with one of the two main fights of Rocky because again, like we were talking about before, Rocky is overall a a very character driven study of the titular character.
15:56
I mean, that makes sense.
It’s called Rocky, It’s study of Rocky.
It’s not generally about the fights themselves, which is something that is I think sets this movie off from some of the films that we might see coming out more recently, or even the sequels in the franchise that they were.
16:16
You know, obviously at a certain point, if you’re going to do sequels, you can’t just keep reiterating the same themes about Rocky, the character.
But this movie?
Hold on, Are you sure about that?
Because haven’t you said basically The Walking Dead did that for seasons of that is true, you know?
16:36
For better, for better or worse, you know, well, the and then the other thing with with The Walking Dead was it would have to constantly modify their character.
Like Carol is a good example of a character in Walking Dead who had to constantly be like, oh, she’s kind of like a wimpy character.
16:52
Oh, no, she now she’s, you know, boss Carol.
Oh, now she’s like a little bit afraid to kill people again.
Oh, now she’s killing everybody just storming a camp and it has to keep going back and forth.
So yeah, that the other side of that, if you try to keep character studying this, you know, specific character, you constantly have to like have them be altered in some way to make it any interesting.
17:14
So.
See, I was to say that’s the fun too, because I’ve been slowly replaying The Walking Dead Telltale Games because they were on sale around Halloween, like for the whole bundle for like 5 bucks and I’m on the 3rd 1:00.
And basically it’s like 3 years into the outbreak.
17:33
So everyone at this point isn’t like, do what now?
They’re all just like, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, it’s like, you know, nice.
Like everyone’s not acting all.
Scared and not able to do anything.
17:50
Yeah, no, it makes sense.
And I think I think for like I said, for for Rocky’s characteristics, like this movie is really specifically, this would be almost like what you would think of as like a prequel now, because it is very much like setting up the whole idea of Rocky as a character, as a human.
His likes his dislikes in the film spends a lot of time with Sylvester Stallone just loving turtles and fish and just talking to his fish like.
18:15
Hey Fishy.
Hey, old Moby, Moby Dick.
Yeah, and and I think like.
The problem with I would say the problem with that though, in hindsight being 2020, like yes, no, the film is that.
But again, the tone of this film and like it’s nothing against this film or anything, but like I said, the tone is so dislike.
18:35
Rocky 2 is still at least close enough to the first film, but the rest of them are so tone deaf.
Like, you know, it like you’d watch Rocky Ford and you’d be like that man never like the way like Sylvester Stallone looks and that, you know, lifting and stuff and like all that.
18:50
You bet that man never smoked a cigarette in his life.
And here in this movie, you know, after having a fight, he goes in the locker, you know, bums a cigarette from a fan in the crowd and, you know, you know, smoking heaters like he’s Jim Leland and, you know, having a beer.
19:08
And it’s like, you know, it’s a great like again, like that, like great like set like only the 70s could get away with that kind of shit.
And it’s just so great.
And that’s one of the, like I said, like one of the things that like kind of for the franchise, at least, you know, for me is one of the things that I found find, you know, to be, you know, disheartening because, you know, basically by the third film and on, he’s Superman, right?
19:35
The inconsistencies in the way that they present him.
Yeah.
I mean, I love, I like the the whole character study though, because I think like again, and like you said, I think the 70s is able to present this style of like sort of like gritty city life that this film gets very like, you know, accurate in the in the way that it’s set in Philadelphia 70s very, you know, city element.
20:00
Like a lot of some of the, you know, similar to the other vigilante type movies that we’ve covered set in a 70s city.
It gets that, like, grittiness, the griminess.
Rocky’s apartment being like very, you know, rundown, you know, filled with like just.
20:20
Detritus and stuff like that it gets that like kind of, you know, grimy stuff right that you don’t really see as much anymore.
You can’t really mimic because it was just a particular time period that maybe we maybe nostalgia too of just watching all those types of movies.
20:37
But.
Imagine Scream 6 instead of the New York big ass loft apartment that 20 of them are in.
Like you know them crammed in like a like a real apartment like that you know where.
Yeah, Or, you know, like we we you know, that I know what you did last summer remake too, where it’s like you want gritty atmospheres.
20:55
No, we’ve got like this gigantic mansion that we’re going to, you know, like rich person mansion like.
Yeah, I mean, I love that.
I think that this the whole city life, the grittiness of the city life is gives it to this film its own character as well.
You know, it has a certain atmosphere to it.
21:12
There’s a certain like element of bringing like the working class man into the picture, which is something that I think, you know, carry some weight in Rocky that there’s this distinct, there’s stakes, right for Rocky, because the stakes for him is that like he’s kind of set his life.
21:35
And it’s such a situation where he’s a boxer and he does some, you know, light loan shark duties on the side, you know, beating people up for money because they haven’t paid their loan shark.
And this is this is his life.
And he really, it’s this kind of like a small time life.
21:54
And he’s never really made it big as a boxer, but he loves the the sport.
And it’s kind of something that he just embroiled in, whether it makes him money or not.
And I think, like, that’s a really key part of the movie is that he has very little, you know, there’s no room for error if he messes up his life with boxing.
22:16
And, you know, he gets roped into this, this bicentennial fight with Apollo Creed, who is, you know, already a star leading boxer, and he’s a champion.
He has, well, heavyweight behind him.
Yeah.
He’s the world heavyweight champion.
22:33
He’s got a lot of money behind him.
He’s got great advertising, you know, he’s got a kick ass manager leading the whole thing.
And so there’s really, you know, for him, this fight is sort of like, I spent a lot of money on it, you know, and basically that’s about it.
22:50
Like it’s a bicentennial fight.
It’s a show for him.
But for Rocky, when he gets pulled into it, like there’s a lot of stakes involved that the I think the film does a really good job of showcasing that that anxiety, especially later on in the movie where he starts to be like, well, you know, this is kind of a big deal now.
23:09
And I’m really afraid what happens if I lose this match, like, or if I don’t do very well.
And I think that’s a great part of the movie of showcasing like the stakes for the working man versus, you know, someone who’s already made it.
23:24
And they don’t really need to worry about whether they’re going to win or lose the fight.
It’s more of a show.
And we get to see, too, because originally Creed was supposed to fight a different boxer, but he wasn’t able to make the fight.
They couldn’t get any pros to fight.
23:40
And so, you know, Creed comes up with the idea.
You know, it’s New Year’s Eve.
It’s the 200th anniversary of America.
Let’s give Philadelphia warm Philadelphia’s local boys shot.
You know, so there’s, you know, it’s all about the showmanship and, you know, getting people into the gate and making the attraction again.
23:59
I think listen, like not like a big part of the film, but that whole like promotion, like they had actually having a promoter showing like, you know, that carnal, like that carny, you know, instinct of like the sport because rest, you know, pro wrestling’s the same way too.
24:18
They, you know, had territories, they had promoters, you know, would do the same kind of stuff.
It’s the same, you know, same thing in boxing too.
So it’s nice to see, you know, you got to drum up as much interest to get people to come and, you know, pay to go to the show and get a good gate.
24:35
And like that rock, like Rocky didn’t do anything to get picked.
He would did nothing spectacular.
They’re just thumbing through the books and, you know, looking for people and, you know.
Just yeah, they.
Look at him.
Yeah, yeah.
And then Creed sees the name.
24:52
I like that the Italians and I love to the way they’re the fucking Carl Weather says Italian.
He’s like Italian, Italian.
Love that Italian.
Italian.
Sounds like a monster Apollo Creed.
25:09
Versus Country was founded by Italians, right?
And Italian, right.
I’m gonna love this then when I go and beat one of them up.
Yeah.
And and I mean, I guess what do you, what do you think about that?
Because the movies, some of the the themes of the movie particular are the idea of opportunity, right?
25:30
Rocky’s opportunity being an opportunity to fight in this bicentennial fight and kind of put his name on a poster and get his name up in lights.
And you know when I think one of the funniest things, well, not funny, I guess it’s more like it’s almost kind of sad When he sees it is when he goes into the ring right before he’s going to fight and he sees the poster and it’s a hit him on the poster, but they got a shorts color wrong.
25:54
He always fights in white shorts with a red stripe and they’ve got red shorts with a white stripe.
He’s like, you got my shorts wrong.
So fun.
Fact.
That was an accident.
Yeah, they printed the poster wrong and.
The property, Yeah, the same thing too with the his overly baggy robe like some.
26:17
He yeah.
It was like they couldn’t like because the film was technically like kind of low budget, like sure had an under just under $1,000,000 budget.
Yeah, which isn’t bad, but like, like low, but I mean, but like it’s fun.
26:34
Like little things like that.
They’re like, oh shit, we got this rope to be too big.
Yeah, don’t worry.
Look, I’ll say quick little funny line about it, you know, and you know, we can tack it up and like just being creative like that.
Like what’s you know, because now it’d be like I just CGI fix, you know, but then like.
26:55
It’s charming, Yeah.
It adds a lot of weight to it.
Actually, it it adds even more weight to the fact that, like, here’s Rocky, unknown dude from before gets called up for, you know, to fight Apollo Creed.
And for Apollo Creed, this is like a shit show.
27:11
He doesn’t really care too much about the actual fight itself.
It’s more about the publicity.
For Rocky, it’s all about being known because he’s, you know, his career is basically done as a boxer besides this.
And they didn’t even get his shorts right.
27:28
You know, they couldn’t even get like the characteristic about him fighting that people would recognize.
So I think it’s really, you know, like whether it was written in or if it was trivia that it would they accidentally got it wrong.
It’s still a great inclusion.
And I think it adds a lot of, you know, a lot of weight to the proceedings of the movie that it, it even weighs on more that this fight is super important for him to like make a show of it.
27:51
Because if he comes in and gets beat up in 2 rounds, like that’s pretty embarrassing all around.
So I, I like that a lot.
I think that in the movie has a lot of great little stuff like that.
Like you just pointed out, like the whole point about how Rocky’s kind of obsessed with this, the the road being a little bit too big.
28:10
And, but like, there’s a lot of moments like that in this movie is written by Sylvester Stallone.
And he he has a lot of really insightful dialogue that occurs that not, you know, you might not, you might take at face value at first, but then you, you kind of like really look at the dialogue and you think about it a little bit.
28:30
And it’s actually besides, you know, just being part of the story.
It has some really pointed and great turns of phrase in it too that I I think works really well in this movie.
One of the, as I say, one of the, I think like it’s a it’s a small thing.
28:49
But like one of the things I do love about like the way Sly, you know, wrote the film and stuff is like we, you know, see him throughout the film, like as he’s trying to, you know, woo Adrian.
And when he finally, you know, gets there to be his girlfriend, you know, and people are saying things that on the TV that, you know, for the fight, you know, Creed’s making fun of him and, you know, making, no, not bad jokes, but like, snide, like, you know, like good little jabs, you know, and.
29:22
And Rocky’s like, oh, I don’t care.
I don’t care.
And AJ and Paulie are like, hey, come on, like you should care.
Whatever.
And then he’s no big deal.
And then once he’s out outside, just talking to Adrian alone, he’s getting ready to leave.
So go.
Yeah, You know, the stuff that you’re saying about me.
29:38
Yeah.
That hurts.
You know, it hurt.
And the same thing, too, at the end, before the fight, you know, when he’s sitting on the bed and he’s like, I can’t do it.
I’m not going to be able to do it.
He’s the greatest.
And nothing.
And I don’t stand the chance.
29:54
The only one thing I want to be able to do is I just want to be able to go the distance with them because no one’s ever gone the distance.
And at least do that.
No, I, I didn’t give up, but I tried my best.
Didn’t him just like showing that vulnerability because, you know, it’s like, I, I mean, I don’t know how intentional it is.
30:19
Like maybe Sylvester is just writing it to be like, you know, character building.
But I saw like the moments like that, like especially today, like kind of shows like how there’s a lot of Matt, like, you know, toxic masculinity in this film.
30:36
You know, especially with, you know, him being like, you know, a leg breaker for the mafia and all that shit.
It just, you know, show that the only time that he can feel like he could show any vulnerability is when he’s with her, you know, which I’m sure back then was probably a lot, you know, for a lot of men, you know, who couldn’t, you know, show any weakness Otherwise you’re pussy and probably the only confident.
31:07
The only reason, it’s like the only reason I’m going to get a wife or a girlfriend to have sex, get cooking and have somebody to cry, you know, and cry out of shoulder because I can’t do it in front of the boys, you know, at the meatpack plant or down with the docks, you know?
31:24
So I mean, like, I just like, it’s like just really nuanced smart.
But it’s not, it’s not like, you know, this like gigantic albatross of like, you know, being talked down to.
31:43
It’s, you know, real like, just like, really, just really good, like, you know, character writing and development and dialogue.
Yeah, I, I think it has a lot of good moments of the relationships with all the the characters within the the movie, because a lot of times the movie really relies on the dialogue between characters throughout and these kind of real dialogues and conversations that Rocky has with others to get the point across.
32:08
And I think you’re right, like a lot of times Rocky does not show vulnerability.
You know, there’s a lot of bravado that he is kind of forced to put on, you know, maybe to promote himself because he is his only promoter for, you know, the majority of his career.
32:23
He’s been his own manager and really hasn’t gotten him that far.
And so I think there’s a lot of truth to the fact that he he has to put on this bravado to really succeed as a boxer and get any jobs at all fighting and so.
32:40
I was going to say which sorry, but that’s like also a great point I didn’t even think about because again, the whole part where he’s like yelling like at Mick when after Mick leaves, like we see him before, you know, Mick opened the door and then closed it because he forgot his hat.
32:56
And then Rocky Pot peeked out of the bathroom thinking he left and closed it.
And then it happened again.
And then he sees like, oh, Mick left and that’s when he starts, you know, yelling about like, where the fuck were, you know, where the hell were you 10 years ago when I needed you?
You never helped me.
You didn’t care.
33:11
Like, you know, he’s just venting out his frustrations and anger in this, you know, vulnerability, you know, into the air, you know, as you see Mick slowly walking away, you know?
Yeah, yeah, it’s great.
They’re these are they’re great moments.
33:27
They’re great like little insights into Rocky as a person.
I think they again, people coming into Rocky probably especially now expect Rocky to be a movie about boxing.
And I think that the movie has actually it only has like 15 minutes of actual boxing.
33:48
Like through that, the whole thing, I mean, there’s training there in a lot of people also recognize Rocky for its training montages, specifically, you know, running up the steps in Philadelphia.
And but ultimately those are really short moments in a film, you know, 2 hour film that’s otherwise devoted to character relationship between people.
34:10
I brought the idea of opportunity, and I think Polly’s another good example of a person who is always looking for opportunity and really trying to get out of this lifestyle that he’s living in, you know, because again, Paulie is Adrian’s brother.
They’re living together.
Rocky’s friend, right?
34:25
Yeah, Rocky’s friend.
He is 32 years young looking.
You know, she’s joking.
She’s joking about that, but you know it’s.
Sometimes you see.
Guys like like Paulie and looks in this movie, he’s like balding the exact got like Gray hair and a beard and they’re like.
34:41
Yeah, he’s two years old.
He’s lived a tough life, but I way he’s found in Schlitz in this movie.
He really was only 36 years old at the time.
I mean, so he, he, he’s, he was my age and definitely look, I want to say look like 20 years older than I do.
34:58
Schlitz and whatever like alcohol he kept in his pocket.
He had like some, you know, sipper that he was, you know, constantly poking out in this, you know, Sig so.
I mean, I think I think that’s like, again, he’s another good example and sort of like a foil to Rocky of like what what happens if you don’t make out, make something of yourself as a boxer?
35:18
Like, well, you might be turn out like Polly, you know, and you know, has a job that he fucking hates and is like very, you know, manual labour.
And, you know, you basically ended up getting shit faced every night coming home and living with your sister.
35:33
And I think that, you know, there’s this whole idea of like, Will Rocky even talked to his loan shark guy, you know, Gazzo, who is not really.
I mean, he’s actually he seems like kind of like a guy in rooting for Rocky.
35:51
He’s in his corner, right?
Like he shows up to the fight.
He gives him like your money every now and then.
He’s like here, He’s the 50 bucks he’s for, for a trainer, you know, go get some good, good slacks.
And then what does Rocky do?
Have runs in converse.
That was pretty, pretty top foot equipment for the Yeah, having these as a pair of Chuck teas.
36:12
But well, it’s also funny too.
I want to see the aftermath of like you know, Gazo gave him the 500 bucks, you know, for you know, training and stuff and for after the fight because he knew he’s getting paid 150 a hundred for the fun, just like showing up like so after the fight and the fee you owe me for loan the money out to you long.
36:35
I thought you’re giving it to me.
There’s a little.
Bit of interest on that like. 700%.
Got about that too.
But like, yeah, there’s the movie actually makes God not to be pretty.
It’s like he doesn’t even like, you know, when Rocky at the beginning and he’s supposed to break that dude’s stum and he doesn’t break his stum and Gaza’s like, man, you got to be.
36:53
Breaking these people.
‘S thumbs.
When I tell you to break the thumbs, I mean you don’t break the thumbs and I look like an idiot and.
You know these?
People don’t get scared anymore, but he doesn’t do anything about it.
He’s just kind of like Rocky’s Rocky, you know?
He’s my friend, He’s my buddy.
So like, I do think it’s funny though, you know, that there’s this back and forth between Rocky and Polly, and it’s sort of like they’re the Rocky part of their relationship, that Rocky will not talk to Gazo to get Paulie a job.
37:17
And it maybe is probably, in his eyes, for the best for Paulie because, you know, he’s probably not going to be good at it, for one thing.
Yeah, I was going to say Paulie would be a fucking horrible, like, you know, collector for a loan shark showing up drunk.
Like I’m, I’m working your thumbs, you know, throwing up.
37:33
Yeah, it’s like too full.
It’s like Rocky knows he wouldn’t be good at it.
He’s trying to protect his friend from me, you know, getting into a bad situation.
And I think, like, again, this is sort of the foil for Rockies to know like, well, this is like, what is the possibility if I’m not a good boxer?
So there’s like spurns him on to like, you know, maybe do a better job and, you know, pound those five eggs in the morning, you know, when you’re really not feeling like it at 4:00 AM should be a commercial for Folgers instead of, you know, coffee.
38:05
They when you wake up, pound five eggs in the morning.
Listen, how dare you get you going?
Don’t ever call Folgers coffee.
What do you think about the relationship between Rocky and Adrian?
We haven’t talked about it.
It’s like one of the biggest, you know, points of the movie.
38:22
What do you think?
So love.
That can only start in the 70s do.
You think so?
Well, because the fact that he’s just like showing up.
Yeah, man, showing up at your work on, you know, basically on asked.
And you can see that she’s, you know, vexed and anxious about it.
38:40
But back then they just called her a bitch.
Yeah, she’s shy.
She’s shy.
She’s just shut.
And you know.
Later on, you see, you’re talking to her boss.
Like, I don’t know, he just keeps showing up.
Can’t you do something about it?
Like we don’t have money for security here at this pet store.
38:57
Just deal with them.
Go clean the goddamn cat.
Kids, but you’re right.
If I hear, if I hear you bitch one more time, you’re going to be dealing with the fucking can’t live.
You’re right, it is.
But then creepy with how Rocky shows up all the time, literally day after day just coming into the pet store, like, hey, you see this parakeet over here, You know, and my wife was saying that too.
39:22
She was like, especially when he corners her in his apartment that time when she’s like, I think I better leave now.
And he’s like, they’re not going anywhere.
He like double locks the door, you know, his beefy arm that you know, he’s taking off his shirt.
He’s only got a wife beater on underneath.
39:37
He puts his arm by the door.
Like, please don’t leave Adrian.
So it’s, it’s almost like, it’s like a, you know, it’s suggested implied that you better not leave because something might happen to you otherwise, but.
Hey, you need Dennis Reynolds and she’s not going to leave.
39:55
Obviously that could you know, on a boat.
You know she’s going to have sex because the implication.
What are you talking about?
You know, because if.
She sees my apartment, the way it looks, all this shit, heating, cockroaches and stuff in the neighborhood I live in.
She’s not going to say no to sex.
Why would she say no to sex?
40:11
That’s the implication.
That and the whole like, you know, I’m going to kiss you now.
You don’t have to kiss me, you know.
I’m just, yeah, I’m going to kiss you.
You don’t have to kiss me.
Yeah, I don’t know.
40:26
But I I’d like like.
She found she.
She found love.
She did.
And not only that, and she has to be nearsighted the rest of her life because he went the moment he took the glasses off and found her attractive, she was like, I’m never going back to the glasses.
Yeah.
They don’t mention contacts, they don’t mention contacts or nothing.
40:45
One she looks this is like again, like one of the things like I don’t want like I hate it that like in a lot of these movies, they treat poor Tally Shire like she’s like the, you know, just some troll troll, like trollish looking woman.
41:01
Like she’s just a delightfully cute little like Italian lady.
You know, she’s Jason Schwartzman’s mom, you know, like, you know, so it’s funny.
Like she’s wearing all she has is a glasses and her hair’s kind of cut short and they’re like she’s either cat lady or a dyke, I don’t know, you know, so what’s going on here?
41:23
And that you know, and fucking Paulie, listen, I can get behind Polly’s therapy methods in ways, you know, instead of like take some zone loft, go see a therapist.
This you’re a God damn loser and you’re making me look bad.
41:39
Stop being such a God damn loser.
You need to go out and have fun.
You know what?
Have fun.
Live your life.
And then she does it and what happens?
You’re a whore like.
I also I appreciate his, you know, the the shut in syndrome that she has, you know, the gore phobia and he’s like, you know how you deal with that you.
41:58
Eat a Turkey out them.
The door, you know, you’re just fucking, you know, like you want to.
Give it.
Well, it’s out the door now.
That is funny too.
She’s like she’s like go out with Rocky.
And because she tells Rocky like, yeah, no, she knows you’re coming over Thanksgiving.
She’s good.
She’s so excited.
42:14
She has no fucking clue, like, you know, and just blindsided and that she’s like he’s like go out with him, go out with him.
Why won’t you go out with him?
Like here, Paulie, Why not Thanksgiving?
It’s stupid, like like she sounds like you know you like eat if you know it, like oh, there’s a Turkey in the oven.
42:33
Like if you think he’d be like don’t, it’s in the oven.
Don’t worry, I’ll watch.
It’ll be.
Fine.
No, no, absolutely.
It roasted Turkey.
Eats it into the fucking alleyway just like, you want to burn so much, fucking eat it.
42:53
Like, yeah.
It’s great.
It’s just hilarious.
It’s like, you know, I I don’t know if I’ve never experienced this, but is maybe that’s the city, you know, family dynamic that people have been in Philadelphia.
43:11
It’s like there are people in the other apartment are like, oh, he’s throwing the Turkey out again.
Every year, every Thanksgiving, he throws the Turkey out the.
Door well, that was back.
Listen, that was back when the instant mashed potatoes cost more than you know, 50 LB Turkey.
So you know, what does he what, what?
43:28
What’s falling?
Care in that scene he just he has the Turkey leg.
Or the Turkey?
Leg and he just keeps hitting Rocky on the leather jacket with the Turkey Lab if I was right, stop touching me with the fucking Turkey leg.
Stop touching my jacket with the Turkey legs.
43:44
So leather jacket, OK, you can’t be touching me with the Turkey.
You got giblets all over my fucking jacket.
That’s right, yeah.
I I don’t know, I just, I think there’s a lot of endearingness to the endearing qualities to the way that the characters are written, how and especially to how Sly plays Rocky.
44:06
I think like, you know, like you said, this film is pretty low budget.
So it really, you know, relatively low budget.
So it really runs on the fact that it doesn’t have a lot of money to spend on, you know, settings or, you know, decorations or, you know, stuff like that.
44:24
So what it does do is just kind of sets itself in the gritty realism of the environment, you know, And they probably didn’t have to pay for any of that, right?
It was just, you know, there was no set decoration where, you know, go into studio.
That was probably just somebody’s apartment that they had that needed a lot of work.
44:44
And they were like that.
It’s a perfect place to shoot.
I like that a lot.
But yeah, again, I I guess.
What do you think?
Like, do you think the the the films ending with Adrian has earned as they get to the end?
And you know, Rocky’s like, well, I just went 15 rounds, but you know who I want?
45:01
Adrian.
Adrian.
Well, we got.
We know why Because yeah, you know, after, you know, Paulie keeps bugging Rocky and being like, you’re fucking my sister, you fuck good.
45:17
My sister, you know, he’s lucky you broke my sister.
Now she’s a whore.
You know, they go home to Rocky’s house and she’s like, wants to, you know, steal his man seed.
45:32
And he’s like, oh, can’t do it, Can’t do it.
He’s had a Epstein until he’s got the end of his training.
And not only that, you got Mickey.
Stay away from women.
Make your legs weak, rock.
45:50
So he’s just he like he’s just bricked up for five weeks.
They go, right, let’s go, let’s go.
That’s how he.
That’s why in the second film she has triplets because he’s like, yeah, you know, he was from that abstaining.
46:07
That is just like he did the step Will Ferrell and step brothers.
Like I can’t travel 500 miles to give you my seed.
Yeah, that’s right.
But no, it no, it’s earned.
Like I definitely think, you know, I mean, the courtship is weird and goofy, but I mean, they’re both weird, goofy characters.
46:26
She’s not.
Rocky is a fucking idiot.
As he says.
Like, but I mean, he really is a fucking idiot because he’s you know, I mean like just hopping around, you know, fucking, you know, shadow boxing while he’s walking all the time and the stuff.
46:44
Then, you know, we can tell him by the way he talks and the fact that he’s like, Hey, how do you spell Del Rio?
You know, that he’s, you know, not the brightest bulb.
And then that tally showers got anxiety and the sadness and you know, as Rocky says again, we fill each other, we fill the gaps, you know, that’s, you know, night like good.
47:11
And like, it does end up where chemistry does once, you know, Adrian starts opening up and becoming more relaxed and comfortable with being with Rocky, you know?
Yeah, yeah, I, I think it’s nice too.
47:31
It’s it, it works.
It’s, it’s a nice recap to the, to the fight, you know?
Rocky didn’t hear like, from, like, you’re like, you know, from, like, dating advice, like, don’t talk too much about yourself.
Hey, yo.
47:47
Every fight.
You haven’t, you know that I thought this guy fought that guy, You know, he’s a picture of me fighting, you know, I don’t know.
Yeah, fighting.
And, you know, it’s fucking hilarious.
The other funny thing, though, too, Speaking of like the fighting stuff is Rocky was nice out talking to her.
48:06
So yeah.
Better than 68 flights, 148 lost, 20, some knockout and he goes.
I got all these crunches and stuff, but never once you see my nose.
Never been broken, man.
Taking all those shots to the face.
I’ve been broken.
What’s the first thing fucking Apollo does?
48:22
Breaks his guy.
Yeah.
And I guess Speaking of that, like how do you feel about the fight?
Like because the fight, you know, pretty significant portion of the the finale probably like 15 to 15 minutes long about.
48:39
Yeah, the last part and well, it’s it’s 10 minutes.
It’s like the last 15 for the whole like theatrics and stuff.
I think like again, it’s simple and the same thing of the training montage in this film too.
It’s simple.
It’s nothing over, you know, the top.
48:57
It’s in the fight.
It does is good.
You, you know, we get to see, you know, Creed toying around, fucking around until he finds out after Rocky hits him with an uppercut and knocks him down first, you know, Yeah, that he is going to be in for a fight, which Hollows trainer mentions like when they show Rocky, you know, punching the beef at the beep, you know, playing for, you know, the news.
49:27
He’s like, hey, champ might want to watch this guy, you know, and he’s like, yeah, no, you know, because he can see he’s like he he might you know, he ain’t fucking around, but the fight, no fights well done.
You know, it’s doesn’t need to be simple as better, doesn’t need to be like over the top, you know, so.
49:46
Yeah, I think they do, you know, pretty good job of showcasing it with the, you know, and you could tell the choreography is not, you know, like you said, it’s it’s fairly simple.
It’s not, you know, crazy well choreographed, especially at the beginning of the film.
50:02
You can see in that opening fight, some of the hits don’t land.
But I think like, again, they did a pretty good job with it for what they had in the choreography that they could do.
And I think one of the biggest things about the fight is that it does showcase the their grotesqueness, their gratuity that sometimes accompanies a fight, the violence that you can have with it, you know, especially with all the the shots of their bruised eyes.
50:28
And like everything is basically especially on both of them.
You know, you can see it really on Rocky because they do some close-ups and they cut his eye.
But you know, you can see it on Apollo as well.
The you know the deform.
Cotton turtle bleed, Yeah.
Yeah, they talk about that too.
They’re like, oh.
He’s coughing up blood.
50:44
Over there, he’s like just, you know, casually, you know?
Busted some Ridge which I haven’t been.
I haven’t really watched boxing since the early 2000s.
Yeah.
I don’t know if they would let you do that anymore.
I don’t.
Know like just continue if you’re just.
Fight.
Yeah, I know.
If you’re like, coughing up blood.
51:01
No, they probably call them.
Yeah, yeah.
I don’t know about that.
Like, you know, I don’t like Lisa, like I don’t watch UFCI, don’t give a shit about MMA, but I know like as soon as they got you, like in a chokehold, you’re not like it’s not like in wrestling, they’re holding it for 20 minutes.
It’s like once they know, like, oh, you know, they got you cut, you know, it’s called I imagine, you know, but you also too, you can see like at the end too, like Rocky’s got the white trunks and you can see like the sweat and blood, like you can practically see through his trunks because of the sweat, you know.
51:36
But I think it’s really cool too.
And I think it’s nice because again, he doesn’t win.
I like that.
Like it’s not like, but the it’s still uplifting because again, he did what he want.
He wanted to do.
51:52
He was able to go the distance.
He proved to himself that he, he proved to himself that he could do it, you know?
Yeah.
And they said and that.
Disappointing as a as a viewer that you see he doesn’t actually win the fight or.
52:07
Or no, no, because I don’t think, like, I think it’d be too schmaltzing easy.
You know, again, it’s an underdog story.
The fact that he even went 15 rounds with Apollo and I had to win on a, you know, judge decision, which if you watch like the film, the fights and stuff like from the film itself, like Apollo won the fight.
52:32
He was connecting with better shots, you know, and stuff.
You know, the only way Rocky was going to win if he was able to get like a knockout at the end, which came close, but he didn’t.
So, I mean, again, world champion went the distance.
No one’s ever gone 15 rounds with Apollo.
52:48
That’s a hell of a win.
And we get to see, too, as he’s calling out for Adrian, like, you know, that’s all he wants, you know?
Yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s what you can all you can really ask for, especially, you know, considering the fact that he’s not, you know, I mean, he had training at the end there, but not really, you know, classically trained or anything like that.
53:09
I think it’s, you know, I think.
That’s what you they were saying they were they remark about that a lot too.
Like, you know, like as they’re coming down for the fight, they’re like the ring announcers are like, you know, some would say it’s a caveman versus the Chevalier, you know, like because of the you know, and Mick, you know, Burgess Meredith points it out a lot.
53:31
Like yeah, yeah, fight like a goddamn 8, you know, because, you know, just.
I mean, when you train on, you know, sides of meat and run around with bricks in your hand, yeah, it’s going to be a caveman style fight, I think.
But yeah, it’s great.
53:47
Again, I think that that kind of lends itself to that idea of like the working man winning, you know, putting in the effort that is very important to Rocky as a whole for this team, You know, is the fact that he’s dude basically going around doing working man stuff, you know, carrying bricks at a construction site or, you know.
54:11
You don’t.
What a chance Palma Terry, as Sonny, would say in the Bronx tale.
What’s up?
The work of a man’s a soccer.
There you go.
Well, that’s what Sylvester Stallone is saying in 2025 as well, considering his.
54:28
What you guys, we say we do have to do A Bronx Tale one of these days.
Sure, eventually.
But yeah, no, like, it’s just great.
And again, haven’t mentioned them that much.
Burgess Meredith as Mickey is great.
Absolutely.
54:44
So charismatic, so just loud.
And like, I always like say it like to say to myself, like, yeah, you are going to cop Thunder Rock.
But you know, it’s just, you know, great.
And, you know, we see the relationship that he has with Rocky is 10.
55:05
You know, he doesn’t think much of Rocky.
Until yeah, Do you think he gets the payday?
Yeah.
Do you think I was, I was going to say, do you think Mickey’s concern is out of actual care and thinking that Rocky can be somebody and then he feels bad that he didn’t help him or that he saw the payday?
55:30
Because when he comes up there and he’s talking to he’s like, you need a manager.
Like all this knowledge I have, you need Matt.
He keeps just saying it over like manager, manager, manager.
I think it’s a little bit of both.
Like, I definitely think there is some element of, you know, good naturedness to it that he’s attempting to give him some guidance because he even says that earlier before this all occurs.
55:54
And Jim, when basically rock, he’s like, why?
Don’t you get my locker?
Away, you know, basically that’s what pissed him off the most and he’s basically says, you know it’s because you like basically you you could have been a good fighter, but you didn’t put in the hard into it and he went and you know joined a loan shark to do that part time.
56:10
And so I think there is a semblance of that where he sees that, you know he actually could be a good fighter, but I think he also sees a payday.
I think he sees that he’s a good good fighter that could further his career by getting that payday.
You know so I think there’s like A2 fold element to it, especially in especially later on too, where he still doesn’t really seem like he’s that much of A mentoring figure.
56:34
You know he’s working working, but you know it’s not necessarily like.
Well, by that I would say, well, by that part, it’s like, oh, Act three, we got to wrap it up, you know?
Yeah, because late in the the movie when by the time that happens, yeah.
56:51
But I mean, again, the film’s not about the sport and the fight.
It’s, you know, a character study and stuff.
So I mean, like, but no, I think it’s, I think it is like, but definitely both.
Because again, like it seems like, you know, he realizes like holy shit, you know, there’s, you know, some money to be had.
57:09
But as he’s going there, you can see like he’s lamenting like after Rocky says like, where the hell, you know, where the hell were you 10 years?
You don’t come to my apartment.
You know, he’s like.
I’m kind of sees that.
He sees he’s like, I’m just like, he’s like, God, I’m 73 years old.
Like he realizes like he doesn’t have like, you know, he didn’t make it either.
57:26
He couldn’t, you know, he became, was a, you know, boxing trainer, you know.
Yeah, for sure.
I think, I think it’s a little bit of both, but some of the money down doesn’t help or it doesn’t hurt, I mean.
Brother, Brother Billy’s in the background.
57:42
They will come up.
Hey.
How do you how do you think the movie does with setting up Creed?
Apollo.
Yeah, he’s great.
He’s charismatic.
He’s not, he’s not unlikable.
57:59
He’s charismatic.
You know, he’s got the quips like he’s Muhammad Ali, he’s got the Shuck and guide like Muhammad Ali, you know, you know, I, I love him.
You know, 2 is where you get to start to see, you know, him be, you know, because the whole reason for the rematch is after the fight, even though they said in this film, you know, rematch, we’re not no rematch, you know, because he won on a split decision.
58:24
The reason why he wants to have the fight is because everyone says, you know, I won the fight, but I didn’t beat him.
And so you get to see him be more of an asshole because he’s, you know, trying to get, you know, trigger Stallone into, you know, Rocky into wanting to have a rematch, you know, so, you know, is more, you know, bitchy, but he a little bit.
58:48
More from him as a character because I don’t feel, I feel like we don’t get to see too much.
I think that’s fine though for this because again, he’s we don’t need to know about Creed because we know he’s, he’s the heavyweight champion.
59:03
He wants to put on a show for the bicentennial.
He’s a showman.
He’s a Carney.
I think it would be like more like if you made it like a three hour film, like The Godfather, you could, but like for a 2 hour film, I think that’d be asking a little too much because the film is, you know.
59:25
Already 2 hours.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I just thought I, you know, I think Carl Weathers does a great job, you know, especially later on in the movie where there’s a, you know, sort of WWE style entry that he has to the ring where he comes out.
He’s first George Washington and then ditches that and then he becomes Uncle Sam.
59:44
And and the commentators too, are forced to like explain it to the audience like, oh, it looks like he’s George Washington.
If you didn’t know that George Washington for spreading the United States.
You know, like father of the country.
Well, the one reference that I think would go, especially today would go by a lot of people.
1:00:00
He’s like, oh, he’s throwing dollars like George Washington.
Like like I like, I kind of have to think about that one.
Like like.
George Washington, throw a fucking dollar.
Like, you know, but I love, I love the uncle him dressed up like Uncle Sam.
Like I want you.
I want you like, that’s right, Uncle Sam.
1:00:18
You know, the World War One posters where he’s was asking you, he wanted you to be in the military.
You know, again, I like, I love the Carney, the Carney aspect of it.
You know, it’s putting on a show, making it fun.
And the fact that he’s doing that too, just shows also like, like how full of himself, you know, and how much he thinks he’s going to win because even at the start of the fight, he’s like Creed and three, Creed and three, you know, and as he’s doing all that, they go to like Rocky and Mick and he’s like, I don’t know how much he spends on his haircut, you know.
1:00:58
So it’s like it’s it’s, you know, but like it’s funny and great.
But you know, like, God, if I was like a fighter and like if I was like in UFC or boxing and someone came up like, you know, we’re about to have a fight and some assholes going up and do it, I would like, you know, I’d be seeing like blood red.
1:01:20
Like you look like, you know, yeah.
You just got to make sure you don’t get embarrassed.
Otherwise you do get clowned on, you know, there you go.
But.
All right, so we got to give Rocky a rating.
Hold on.
Oh, what do you got?
Hold on, we’re not, we’re not done yet.
1:01:38
We didn’t talk about something very important, the Bill Conte score.
Well, you know, it’s used very sporadically.
It’s not something that is prevalent through much of the film.
1:01:53
The film uses a lot of diegetic sound, a lot of like sound from the radio.
Only now and then does it actually have a score set behind it, which I think is actually really good for this movie.
It sets the realism to it as well.
1:02:11
You know, especially, you know, as he’s walking around the city, you don’t really expect to hear like, you know, score chords behind him.
So I think it works really well for the movie to not use that too often.
And then when it does, as in, you know, the montage of running, you know, his, his training regimen or the, the finale of the movie, I think that you, you get a much more triumphant element to it because it has been used so sparingly.
1:02:41
It works to the film’s advantage.
And it’s a really, you know, it’s again, it’s like a very uplifting score.
It’s, you know, triumphant.
It’s great.
There’s a reason why it became the staple point of, you know.
And they had to shove anything, as I said, and the sequels they had to shove.
1:02:59
And like, you know, music montages everywhere.
I, I, I love it because anytime there is, you know, part of the score actually playing, you know, it’s just such a great mix of like disco funk, you know, rock gets you pumped up.
1:03:18
Like, you know, you can’t hear.
You’re going to fly now and not like, you know, feel like, want, like you want to run, like, run through a wall for somebody.
Like, you know, you know that I love the vocals, too because they’re so stupid but funny, like trying hard so hard.
1:03:41
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, they’re the.
The vocals are sort of like an afterthought.
It’s.
Yeah.
No, no, I know.
But but it’s funny, you know, For men, yeah.
1:03:56
No, I like to score a lot.
Yes, yeah, it’s it’s great.
It’s great.
Anything else we didn’t talk about?
What it What’s your opinion on taking mentally slow people to the I was at the zoo for the first.
1:04:15
Day, I don’t know, I haven’t, I haven’t really experienced whether that’s effective or not.
So, but it’s a, it’s a good point of reference for anybody like that, you know, I don’t know.
It’s so stupid, but it makes me laugh every fucking time just because it’s so like, just imagine, like, did that happen to, like, Sylvester Stallone, like, one time?
1:04:37
Like, somebody’s like, hey, yo.
Oh, you got a date with a girl?
Yeah, I got that date.
You know, we should take that dumb broad.
Thanks to the zoo.
Wow.
Don’t go there, you know, Whoa.
I mean, John could be John Travolta there, you know, in Greece.
1:04:54
I don’t know it came from, but yeah, it is funny.
But all right, so on a scale of zero to 10 Surly Ice Rink attendants who keep telling you how much longer you have on the ice, what would you give Rocky?
1:05:10
I also like to that he was asking Adrian like, you know, you won’t go down to the spectrum.
Watch the basketball game.
It’s the 70s.
It’s not like NBA tickets are expensive.
You know, it’s $2.00 If you want to go have a good time, you know, watching win some basketball.
1:05:31
I’ll give Rocky a 9 1/2 out of 10.
OK, I love the movie.
It’s it’s just great.
Like it’s it’s there’s a good damn reason why it’s, you know, so popular, so prevalent, you know, so important to cultural zeitgeist.
1:05:54
It’s just, you know, it’s cliche for us to say, at least for us, it’s me.
And sometimes you just stay in the podcast.
It’s just something that the 70s in capture so well instead of that any other era couldn’t the level of like, you know, storytelling, direct shit acting, like everything just hits and you know, it’s a perfect little story.
1:06:22
It’s a, you know, makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside.
You know, about the, you know, working man getting, you know, his ass beat and, you know, knocked down life being miserable for everybody.
But you know, they’re being a silver lining at the end of it.
1:06:42
You know, everyone like Talia Shire, Sylvester Stallone, Burgess, Meredith, Carl, they’re all fucking great, put in great jobs is like I like I said, I love it.
It’s just a really, it’s not like if you’re not a big sports film fan, I’d say, as you said, it’s not like a sports sports film.
1:07:04
The boxing is there as a Mac Guffin basically to move the story forward and give it purpose.
But I like it a lot. 9 1/2 hour Ted.
1:07:20
I would recommend it to anybody.
I would give it an 8 out of 10.
I think it’s a really fun movie.
I think it does a good job with the character study and the development of Rocky as a as a person.
You know, again, it’s not something that you’re really expecting when you think about it.
1:07:37
I think, you know, especially if you haven’t seen it, you just know from the culture you’re like, oh, it’s a boxing movie.
It’s not really a boxing.
It’s more like a movie about a character who does boxing.
And I think that that’s actually to the film’s benefit.
I think that it, you know, not focusing solely on boxing and, you know, having multiple fights throughout really gives it a nice study of the character and, and the, the characters around him.
1:08:01
The themes of, you know, being working man, the, the themes of opportunity in the, in, you know, the United States and the hard work and dedication that it takes to become a boxer is all, all works really well for this movie.
And it’s written pretty well with the nice like realistic gritty dialogue and the, the cityscape.
1:08:21
I think all works to the film’s advantage, especially considering has that sort of 1970s gritty, you know?
Just.
City element to it that you kind of expect from a movie of this style and the low budget to really helps in that regard.
1:08:37
Think setting it in that realism of, you know, feeling like you’re really in the city life.
I think that that all works to the movies advantage.
So again, I think it’s really good.
I think occasionally the movie does run a little bit long on dialogue.
1:08:53
Couple couple times they could have cut a few scenes to just kind of like abbreviate some of the dialogue, maybe a little bit of excess there.
I do think that that’s probably the only real pointed thing that I would, you know, point out about the issues with the movie.
1:09:12
Otherwise, I think the two hour runtime is, you know, perfectly acceptable.
There’s no real issues with it.
And again, like I said, the the movie, you know, Law has a couple of choreography gaffes.
I think for the most part, the low budget doesn’t really affect that.
And it it works really well, especially the finale, which has a great fight scene.
1:09:32
So yeah, I would give it an 8 out of 10 after this being my first encounter and experience with Rocky and the franchise as a whole.
So.
So yeah.
And we didn’t even talk about it, but yeah, the New Year’s Day tie in.
1:09:50
What are you doing for New Year’s?
I don’t know what are we doing.
Is there anything fun?
Well, if we’re not getting hit by another ice storm, you know, who knows?
1:10:07
Yeah, it’s not like a hugely celebrated I I think at this point anymore, like I don’t go out on it or anything like that anymore, but.
We’re all we’re too old.
And I, I like the whole I don’t stay up.
Well, I do every now and then.
Like I don’t usually stay up late enough to watch the ball drop.
1:10:24
I don’t care.
Like I don’t care.
That means nothing to me, You.
Don’t want to see how the contemporary artists play the in Times Square, but you don’t know.
Yeah, that always happens to me because I watch it, because of my sister.
1:10:40
Me turn it on.
I’m like, I don’t know who this person is.
I don’t know who that person is.
I don’t know who that is.
And I do that until the ball drops.
That’s basically that’s normally what I end up doing on New Year’s Eve.
I go to a bar and go.
I go to a bar and go Happy New Year, the cut down.
1:11:03
Oh, that was one thing I forgot to mention.
One of the great funny fucking lines in the film.
Hey, they got gay.
What the fuck do you got in the back here robe?
You know something needs.
Yeah, it’s neat.
Bang, you know, why the hell would you do that?
1:11:20
Well, Bolly gets $3000 and you know.
Yeah.
Well, OK, then you see Paul, hey, look who it is.
I got a friend she cost $200 two 5250.
Yeah.
That’s great.
1:11:36
That was one of those escorts, you know, companion for the night.
There you go.
But.
All right, so that’s our New Year’s episode and I hope you have a happy New Year.
We’ll catch you everyone back in 2026 obviously.
1:11:55
Actually when am I going to release this episode?
Probably tomorrow that way with just in time for New Year’s.
So we’ll see everyone back in 2026.
Sure.
We have a, you know, a lot of movies planned.
It’s going to be probably we’re going to take a week off and then come back and.
1:12:14
Regroup and what’s the plan for this?
Year.
That’s right.
I’m pretty sure we’re doing Melania first, so.
Very nice, very nice.
A lovely movie.
I’m sure that’s going to be.
I was, you know, I saw like the trailer for it.
1:12:31
It starts off like, well, here we go again.
And I was like, really got RIP off CJ from Grand Theft Auto San Andreas.
Yeah, that’s opening the San Andreas.
Oh, here we go again.
They did it on purpose.
1:12:48
Yeah, Trump’s big San Andreas fan.
So yeah, come back in 2026 and I’m sure we’ll be doing some some more movies.
So stay tuned for that.
If you like what you heard or you want to follow along with us, subscribe on pretty much any podcast app you can think of.
1:13:07
We’re on Apple podcast or home basis, Spotify, whatever you use, I’m sure we’re on it.
So subscribe, leave us a nice review.
We’re on Facebook and Blue Sky search for us there.
Blood and Black run podcast and we have an e-mail address where you can write to us at [email protected].
Just let us know what you want us to cover and we’ll take that into consideration.
1:13:26
And you can donate to us on our Patreon page.
Anything you donate goes back towards our beer.
So thanks in advance for that.
Thanks for listening to our episode on Rocky.
Hope you enjoyed.
Hope you have a happy New Year again.
We’ll see you in 2026, and until then, take care.
