by Chris Marshall:
For pretty much my entire life, I assumed that I had seen Rocky. It hardly seems possible that
anybody could have not seen it. But
as I watched it, I came to realize that so much of it appeared totally
unfamiliar. So much so that, in my movie journal, I changed it from “yes” to “no”
under my Seen Before? column.
I knew the final scene, of course. The fight with Apollo
Creed I’ve seen many times before, but even though I knew exactly what would
happen, it was still brilliantly done. Not brilliantly done on a boxing level,
but on an emotional level, it was perfect.
For as great as this movie is, though, the actual boxing
scenes are not very convincing. I can maybe believe that Rocky, who is a club
fighter, after all, would completely eschew any attempts at defense. But Apollo
Creed, who is supposedly the best boxer in the world? Inconceivable. His
behavior outside the ring might have been based on Muhammad Ali, but inside the
ring, he couldn’t be more different. If he learned how to block, maybe Ivan Drago
wouldn’t have killed him a few years later.
