From The Hollywood Reporter · David Rooney · · 1m 20s
Making Rocky, the underdog movie about an underdog movie
Peter Farrelly's making-of drama turns the scrappy backstory of Rocky into its own underdog win.
In brief
Peter Farrelly's making-of drama turns the scrappy backstory of Rocky into its own underdog win. Rocky endures because its message of self-belief against long odds still lands, no matter that none of it was real. Originally reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
The movie behind the movie
I Play Rocky retraces how Sylvester Stallone got his boxing script made, with Anthony Ippolito playing him before anyone knew the name.
A clever framing trick
Screenwriter Peter Gamble and director Peter Farrelly shape the behind-the-scenes struggle into its own underdog triumph, the same beats as the film it is about.
“fashioning the behind-the-scenes story into its own rousing shot of underdog triumph”
Rocky owned 1976
It was the top-grossing film of its year and took best picture at the Oscars the following spring, the defining boomer movie.
It never faded
Half a century on, every generation since has kept Rocky in circulation as a pop-culture landmark rather than a period piece.
Why it still hits
Self-belief, resilience and grinding forward against stiff odds: the story still reads as a live version of the American Dream.
“its message of self-belief, resilience and determination against stiff odds”
Fiction, and fine with it
None of Rocky was true, and the review shrugs at that. The feeling it produces is the point, not the accuracy.
“Who cares if it's pure fiction?”
The bottom line
Rocky endures because its message of self-belief against long odds still lands, no matter that none of it was real.
