In the first Rocky, Apollo seeks a “snow white” challenger to beat in the ring he ends up fighting for his life against Rocky and prevailing only by decision. But it is Coogler’s original reimagining that made such a sequel possible.Ĭreed profoundly altered the character of Apollo Creed, a barely concealed stand-in for Muhammad Ali, whose hubris was too comic for pathos until his legacy was passed on to Coogler. Like its predecessor, the movie mines the material of the original Rocky films for its story line. Steven Caple Jr.’s sequel, Creed II, which extends the story arc of Coogler’s resurrection of the Rocky series, was released last week to box-office success, as my colleague David Sims writes. Creed was an act of subversion by Coogler and his co-writer Aaron Covington, and an oddly moving act of humility by Sylvester Stallone, who allowed his career-defining character, an avatar of white masculinity, to be transformed into a vehicle of redemption for Creed’s black protagonist-a role traditionally played by black actors. Jordan) as its protagonist, completely refashioned the iconic American sports-film series, one that has been unendingly imitated in style and content. The director Ryan Coogler’s 2015 film, which features Apollo’s son Adonis Creed (Michael B. Instead that wound became the fuel for the Rocky series, which sees a black boxer humbled by a white challenger in every single movie.Įvery single movie, that is, until Creed. Had the Rocky franchise never existed, that scene, which took place in the original 1976 film, might have simply been a poignant acknowledgment of a persistent wound in the ego of certain white sports fans: the absence of a white American heavyweight boxing champion. ![]() Rocky scolds the bartender not for his racism, but for questioning the champ, and walks off. The bartender complains about the “jig clown” on the screen, and asks where the “real fighters” have gone. Loved the fight, the movie, and the epic ending – it’s not a coincidence that this particular fight is considered the best in the franchise.Rocky Balboa sits in a Philly bar as Apollo Creed, in a three-piece suit, holds forth on a grainy black-and-white TV screen. Rocky managed to get up a second before the ten-count from the referee, while Apollo remained on the floor, and Rocky Balboa was the world heavyweight champion. Rocky, a southpaw (left-handed), fought in an orthodox stance (right-handed), and then switched in that final moment that sent both himself and Creed down to the ground. It went back and forth throughout the rounds until the very end. Don’t get me wrong the punches look semi-real until you see how Stallone cocks his head back, breaking the illusion of a real fight.Īlso, I always hate when boxing movies always have those pauses in the match, where one fighter has the other against the ropes, punching him like crazy, and then they just stop so that the fight can go on.Įven with all that, the fight was epic. Sylvester Stallone took over as the director for the second movie, and boy did this fight deliver. Tommy Gunn – Rocky V (1990)įinally, the best Rocky fight ever – the rematch between Apollo and the Italian Stallion. The find ends in a draw and a whole lot of laughs from 8-year-old me watching the movie for the first time. Instead, after Thundelips tosses him out of the ring, Rocky has Paulie help him take his gloves off, gets back into the ring, and starts pummeling Thunderlips like crazy, eventually tossing him out of the ring as well. If Rocky took such a beating in real life, he’d end up in a wheelchair. Rocky got into it lightly, but Thunderlips took the fight seriously and started breaking Balboa like a ragdoll. Hogan was right at the top of his popularity at the moment, and the fight – much like the rest of Rocky III – was cartoonish and a bit ridiculous. So, inspired by the Muhammad Ali – Antonio Inoki boxer-wrestler fight, Rocky took an exhibition fight against Thunderlips, a pro-wrestler played by none other than Hulk Hogan. So, Rocky is the champ now and became a big star, destroying opponents left and right, doing endorsement deals, commercials, yadda, yadda. This was probably the funniest fight in the entire franchise.
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