Rocky II
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''Rocky II'' is a 1979 American
sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
written, directed by, and starring
Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Gardenzio "Sly" Stallone (; born July 6, 1946) is an American actor and filmmaker. In a Sylvester Stallone filmography, film career spanning more than fifty years, Stallone has received List of awards and nominations received by Syl ...
. It is the direct sequel to ''
Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American independent film, independent sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the Rocky (film series), ''Rocky'' franchise and also star ...
'' (1976) and the second installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise. It also stars
Talia Shire Talia Rose Shire (née Coppola; born April 25, 1946) is an American actress and member of the Coppola family. She is best known for her roles as Connie Corleone in The Godfather (film series), ''The Godfather'' trilogy and Adrian Pennino, Adrian ...
, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burgess Meredith. Set immediately after the events of the original film,
Rocky Balboa Robert "Rocky" Balboa (also known by his ring name the Italian Stallion) is a fictional character and the titular protagonist of the ''Rocky'' franchise. The character was created by Sylvester Stallone, who has also portrayed him in eight of ...
(Stallone), struggling to adjust to his newfound fame and family life, finds himself in a rematch fiercely demanded by Apollo Creed (Weathers). Development of ''Rocky II'' began in 1977, after Stallone completed the screenplay.
United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...
was reluctant to allow Stallone to direct after John G. Avildsen, the director of the first film, was unable to return. Stallone was eventually hired after refusing to allow the film to be made without him as director, and the returns of the rest of the cast were secured soon thereafter.
Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...
commenced in 1978, with filming held primarily on location in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, during which Stallone sustained several injuries. The film is dedicated to the late Jane Oliver who was Stallone's first agent. ''Rocky II'' was theatrically released in the United States by United Artists on June 15, 1979. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for its characterization, finale, and Stallone's performance. It grossed $200 million worldwide and $85 million in North America, making it the third highest-grossing film of 1979 domestically and the second highest-grossing film worldwide. The sequel, '' Rocky III'', was released in 1982.


Plot

On
New Year's Day In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year, January 1, 1 January. Most solar calendars, such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars, begin the year regularly at or near the December solstice, northern winter ...
1976, world heavyweight boxing champion Apollo Creed has successfully defended his title in a split decision against challenger
Rocky Balboa Robert "Rocky" Balboa (also known by his ring name the Italian Stallion) is a fictional character and the titular protagonist of the ''Rocky'' franchise. The character was created by Sylvester Stallone, who has also portrayed him in eight of ...
. He and Rocky are taken to the same hospital. Despite their agreement that there would be no rematch, Apollo challenges Rocky again that night to prove that Rocky going the distance with him was a fluke, but Rocky declines and retires from
professional boxing Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...
. Balboa's girlfriend, Adrian, supports his choice as do his doctors who go on to reveal that Rocky will require surgery for a detached retina, a condition that could lead to permanent blindness. In a private moment, Rocky goes to see a recuperating Apollo, and asks whether Apollo gave his all in the fight; Apollo confirms that he did. After Rocky is released from the hospital, he enjoys the benefits of his newfound celebrity status. An agent sees Rocky as a potential endorsement and sponsorship goldmine, and his sudden wealth encourages him to propose to Adrian; she happily accepts, and they marry in a small ceremony. Soon after, Adrian reveals that she is pregnant. Meanwhile, Apollo, fueled by hate mail claiming he fixed the fight in order to protect his reign as champ, becomes obsessed with the idea that a rematch is the only way to discredit Rocky's performance. Determined to rectify his boxing career's only blemish, Apollo demands his team do whatever necessary to goad Rocky out of retirement, despite the pleas of his friends and family that Rocky's ability to absorb punishment is too dangerous for his chances to successfully defend the title a second time. Rocky at first seems unaffected by Apollo's smear campaign, but his limited education and poor manners soon lead him into financial problems. After several unsuccessful attempts to find employment, Rocky visits Mickey Goldmill, his trainer and manager, at his gym to talk about the possibility of facing Apollo. Mickey declines out of concern for Rocky's health, but he changes his mind after Apollo publicly insults Rocky. Adrian confronts Rocky about the danger of returning to boxing and reminds him of the risk to his eyesight, but he retorts that fighting is all he knows. Adrian backs down but refuses to support him. Rocky and Mickey begin training, but Rocky is unfocused due to Adrian's disapproval. Adrian's brother, Paulie, confronts his sister about not supporting her husband, but Adrian faints during the confrontation and is rushed to the hospital, where she goes into labor. Despite being born prematurely, the baby is healthy, but Adrian falls into a coma. Rocky blames himself for what happened and refuses to leave her bedside until she wakes up, and will not go to see his new baby until the baby can be together with his mother. When Adrian comes out of her coma she finds Rocky by her bedside, and the couple is soon shown their new baby boy, who they name Robert "Rocky Jr". Adrian gives her blessing to the rematch and Rocky quickly gets into shape for the fight. On
Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...
, the night of the match, Apollo makes a public goal of beating Rocky in no more than two rounds to prove the first match going the distance was a fluke. Unlike the first fight, Apollo has trained heavily. In order to protect his vulnerable eye, Rocky opts to fight right-handed rather than his natural southpaw, but this leaves him at a major disadvantage, as he is knocked down twice by Creed and outclassed for much of the fight. Going into the fifteenth and final round, Creed is well ahead on points and only needs to stay away from Balboa to win the fight by decision. However, Creed wants to win by knock-out in order to erase any doubts about his superiority and ignores his trainer's pleas to stay back. In the final round, Rocky switches back to his natural stance and, in dramatic fashion, unleashes a series of counter punches on Creed. Both men, exhausted, trade punches until Rocky is able to gain the upper hand and knock Creed down. The blow causes Rocky to also lose his balance and fall at the same time. As both men struggle to regain their feet, Rocky is able to will himself up at the count of 9 while Apollo collapses from exhaustion, giving Rocky the win by knockout and making him the new heavyweight champion. Rocky then gives an impassioned speech to the crowd and holds the belt over his head with a message for his wife, who is watching the fight on television: "Yo, Adrian, I did it!"


Cast

*
Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Gardenzio "Sly" Stallone (; born July 6, 1946) is an American actor and filmmaker. In a Sylvester Stallone filmography, film career spanning more than fifty years, Stallone has received List of awards and nominations received by Syl ...
as Robert "Rocky" Balboa, "The Italian Stallion": the underdog who was given one chance at winning the heavyweight championship from Apollo Creed in the first film. Due to the public's belief that it was very possible that Rocky could have won, he gets a second shot at the title in this film. *
Talia Shire Talia Rose Shire (née Coppola; born April 25, 1946) is an American actress and member of the Coppola family. She is best known for her roles as Connie Corleone in The Godfather (film series), ''The Godfather'' trilogy and Adrian Pennino, Adrian ...
as Adrian Balboa: Rocky's love interest-turned-wife. During labor, with their first son, she enters a coma for a large portion of the film. * Burt Young as Paulie Pennino: Rocky's best-friend-turned-brother-in-law * Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed: The current world heavyweight champion who gave Rocky a shot at the title in the first film, during which he won by split-decision. Because of the close outcome of the fight the general public believes that Apollo did not necessarily win, and thus he gives Rocky a second chance in a rematch. * Burgess Meredith as Michael "Mickey" Goldmill: Rocky's friend, manager and trainer; a former
bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports and weightlifting. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class ...
fighter from the 1920s and the owner of the local boxing gym. * Tony Burton as Tony "Duke" Evers: Apollo's father-figure, friend, trainer, and manager. * Sylvia Meals as Mary Anne Creed: Apollo Creed's wife. * Seargeoh Stallone as Robert "Rocky" Balboa Jr.: Rocky and Adrian's newborn child. Seargeoh appeared in the film uncredited. * Paul Micale as Father Carmine: Rocky's priest. * Joe Spinell as Tony Gazzo: loan shark and Rocky's former employer. * Frank McRae as meat foreman. Jeff Temkin portrays the ring announcer. Appearing as themselves are referee Lou Filippo and commentators
Brent Musburger Brent Woody Musburger (born May 26, 1939) is an American sportscaster, currently the lead broadcaster and managing editor at Vegas Stats and Information Network (VSiN). With CBS Sports from 1973 until 1990, he was the original host of their ...
, Stu Nahan and Bill Baldwin. LeRoy Neiman makes an uncredited non-speaking cameo appearance during the training scenes in the film; he is shown drawing a picture of Apollo while he is training.


Production


Development and writing

After the enormous success of the first ''
Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American independent film, independent sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the Rocky (film series), ''Rocky'' franchise and also star ...
'', the producers were anxious to make a sequel. Stallone again wrote the script, originally titled ''Rocky II: Redemption'', but John G. Avildsen declined to direct again because he was busy with pre-production on ''
Saturday Night Fever ''Saturday Night Fever'' is a 1977 American Dance in film, dance Drama (film and television), drama film directed by John Badham and produced by Robert Stigwood. It stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a young Italian Americans, Italian-America ...
''. Stallone wanted the job and waged as big a campaign as he had for the lead role in the previous film. United Artists executives were reluctant to give the actor the directing reins because, while he had previously directed the drama '' Paradise Alley'', it was not a success. However, producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff understood how much of the success of the first ''Rocky'' had come from Stallone's enormous input and lobbied hard to get him the job. Stallone wanted boxer Chuck Wepner to play Rocky's sparring partner, but Wepner was in a destructive cycle and failed his audition.


Filming

The story development of Rocky surprising Creed by switching to fighting right-handed was not in the original script and only came about because of an accident on set. While getting in shape for the film, Stallone experienced an almost complete tear on his left pectoralis major muscle while trying to bench press 100 kg with bodybuilder Franco Columbu and underwent a partially successful surgery in order to try to reattach the muscle. Therefore, he could not fight with his left hand. The film's ending fight sequence also posed a challenge because at the time Talia Shire was busy making the drama '' Old Boyfriends'' and couldn't be on the set. So Stallone came up with the idea of having her watch the fight from home because of the new baby. Adrian's scenes were actually filmed some months later, toward the end of the shoot. An estimated 800 school children were used as extras in the scene in which Rocky runs through Philadelphia and climbs the steps at the
Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...
.


Music


Soundtrack

Just as in the previous installment,
Bill Conti William Conti (born April 13, 1942) is an American composer and conductor. He is best known for his film scores, including ''Rocky'' (1976), '' Rocky II'' (1979), '' Rocky III'' (1982), '' Rocky V'' (1990), '' Rocky Balboa'' (2006), '' The Karat ...
composed the film's music. A soundtrack album containing Conti's score was released on August 25, 1979, and charted on the ''Billboard'' 200 for five consecutive weeks. # "Redemption" – 2:34 # " Gonna Fly Now" – 2:35 # "Conquest" – 4:42 # "Vigil" – 6:31 # "All of My Life" – 3:56 # "Overture" – 8:38 # "Two Kinds of Love" – 2:37 # "All of My Life" – 2:27 ;Personnel * Bill Conti – piano (1) * Mike Lang – piano (8) * David Duke – horn solo (4) * Frank Stallone – vocals (7) * DeEtta Little, Nelson Pigford – vocals (5)


Chart positions


Reception


Box office

''Rocky II'' opened in 805 theatres and grossed $6,390,537 during its opening weekend, and $11 million in its first week, to rank number one at the US box office. It went on to gross $85,182,160 in the United States and Canada, and $200,182,160 worldwide. It finished in the top three highest-grossing films of 1979, in both the North American market and worldwide. ''Rocky II'' returned to UA 75% of ''Rockys rentals in the United States and Canada ($42 million vs. $56 million) when the rule of thumb at the time was that a sequel would only do 30% to 40% of the business of its predecessor.


Critical response

''Rocky II'' holds a 73% approval rating on review aggregation website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, based on 34 reviews with an average rating of 6.7/10. The site's consensus reads: "''Rocky II'' is a movie that dares you to root again for the ultimate underdog – and succeeds due to an infectiously powerful climax." On
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100 based on nine critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Janet Maslin of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' wrote that the film "has a waxy feeling, and it never comes to life the way its predecessor did." '' Variety'' wrote, "In its boxing and training scenes ''Rocky II'' packs much of the punch the original did, complete with an exciting pugilistic finale that's even better than its predecessor. However, in an attempt to tell the new story—that of Rocky's adjustment to near-success and an attempt to live a non-boxing life—the plot tends to drag and the picture takes on a murky quality."
Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert. Siskel started writing for the '' ...
gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "What is most remarkable about ''Rocky II'' is that it recalls so many scenes from the original film, which is only three years old and was shown on national television last fall, and yet—amazingly—it all works. Almost every bit of it." Charles Champlin of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' wrote that "''Rocky II'' does not merely exploit the original, it extends it logically and grippingly, preserving all the traits of character (and of movie character) that made ''Rocky I'' work so well—those notions that ordinary people are worth knowing about, that love is the surpassing emotion in our lives and that some things are worth struggling hard for, even if there may only be the honor of the struggle to show in the end." Gary Arnold of ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' wrote that the film "slavishly repeats the plot of ''Rocky'', achieving differentiation only in dubious forms: soap opera detours, delaying tactics and an ugly new mood of viciousness surrounding a rematch between the boxers."


Accolades

The film won Best Picture at the American Movie Awards and won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture. Dre Rivas of Film.com included it in his list of top ten films of 1979.


Other media


Sequel

A sequel titled ''Rocky III'', was released in May 1982.


Novelization

A
novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book, or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent ...
was published by
Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major American book publisher that is a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Ballantine was founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. Ballantine was acquired by Random House in ...
in 1979. Sylvester Stallone was credited as the author. The book is a first-person narrative told by Rocky himself.


Video games

In 1987, ''
Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American independent film, independent sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the Rocky (film series), ''Rocky'' franchise and also star ...
'' was released, based on the first four ''Rocky'' films. In 2002, another ''
Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American independent film, independent sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the Rocky (film series), ''Rocky'' franchise and also star ...
'' was released, based on the first five ''Rocky'' films. In 2004, '' Rocky Legends'' was released, based on the first four ''Rocky'' films.


See also

*
List of boxing films This is a list of films about boxing featuring notable sports films where boxing plays a central role in the development of the plot. __TOC__ List See also * List of sports films * List of highest-grossing sports films References {{Spo ...


Notes


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rocky II 1979 films 1979 drama films 1970s English-language films 1970s sports drama films 1970s American films American sequel films American sports drama films American boxing films Thanksgiving in films Films set around New Year Films set in the 1970s Films set in 1976 Films set in Philadelphia Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in Philadelphia Films shot in California Films set in Pennsylvania Films shot in Pennsylvania American pregnancy films Rocky (franchise) films United Artists films Films scored by Bill Conti Films directed by Sylvester Stallone Films produced by Irwin Winkler Films produced by Robert Chartoff Films with screenplays by Sylvester Stallone Films about Italian-American culture English-language sports drama films