I watched it again last night, this time on some Italian channel, dubbed. I can't recall how many times this masterpiece blew my mind but I recall very well the first time I had seen it, a decade after its release, on TV... And before yesterday, 9 years ago, I had seen it on DVD with who was my beloved at the time, for whom it was a first.
Why are these even worthy of mention, you might ask. I do think it is important for us to be able to enjoy a film at very different stages of our lives. When you're a kid, you'll look up to Rocky as the young man you wanna be. When you're of middle age, you'll understand better how Burt Young's character felt. And probably when we are much older, we may identify with Mikey who was lamenting about being 76, still chasing a chance, a dream.
John G. Avildsen is the guy who set the standards for popularizing the most precious emotions. You just cannot neglect Karate Kid or Rocky. These are more than films. They are citadels of audiovisual culture.
Watch Rocky, and then just look at a pic from some recent Sylvester Stallone movie. The difference of quality and grace is abyssmal. It just blows your mind to see that, the man who rose to fame with such a gem is today appearing in "products" that are literally nothing compared to Rocky.
I won't say I don't understand it. Nor do I condemn Sly's current path. Maybe it's inevitable. Maybe it's normal that, after Rocky, you can never reach so high.
There's so much to say about this movie. Yet, we don't even need to put our feelings into words. The score does it for us. The climax we reach by the ending, the victory of the guy who on paper actually lost the confrontation, the love and affection he has for the woman he has gained the heart of along the way...
Rocky is not just a movie. It's that sports game you can watch again and again, knowing the result, just out of your desire to relive the emotions leading to it.
There are several movies we can choose as "the best ever". And each have their power points. But to each, you can approach also in a pedantic manner and argue this or tat could have been handled better. Borrowing an analogy of Alan Watts, only to apply it to this masterpiece:
"Have you ever seen a misshaped wave? Or a wrong cloud? There are no such things. They come with nature exactly as they are supposed to."
To me, Rocky is to cinema what a wave or a cloud is to nature. It's perfect. Just perfect, and impossible to imagine in a different way of existing.
What we feel for the protagonist of the film is the exact same as what we feel for the brains and souls behind it. Respect, respect, respect.
Why are these even worthy of mention, you might ask. I do think it is important for us to be able to enjoy a film at very different stages of our lives. When you're a kid, you'll look up to Rocky as the young man you wanna be. When you're of middle age, you'll understand better how Burt Young's character felt. And probably when we are much older, we may identify with Mikey who was lamenting about being 76, still chasing a chance, a dream.
John G. Avildsen is the guy who set the standards for popularizing the most precious emotions. You just cannot neglect Karate Kid or Rocky. These are more than films. They are citadels of audiovisual culture.
Watch Rocky, and then just look at a pic from some recent Sylvester Stallone movie. The difference of quality and grace is abyssmal. It just blows your mind to see that, the man who rose to fame with such a gem is today appearing in "products" that are literally nothing compared to Rocky.
I won't say I don't understand it. Nor do I condemn Sly's current path. Maybe it's inevitable. Maybe it's normal that, after Rocky, you can never reach so high.
There's so much to say about this movie. Yet, we don't even need to put our feelings into words. The score does it for us. The climax we reach by the ending, the victory of the guy who on paper actually lost the confrontation, the love and affection he has for the woman he has gained the heart of along the way...
Rocky is not just a movie. It's that sports game you can watch again and again, knowing the result, just out of your desire to relive the emotions leading to it.
There are several movies we can choose as "the best ever". And each have their power points. But to each, you can approach also in a pedantic manner and argue this or tat could have been handled better. Borrowing an analogy of Alan Watts, only to apply it to this masterpiece:
"Have you ever seen a misshaped wave? Or a wrong cloud? There are no such things. They come with nature exactly as they are supposed to."
To me, Rocky is to cinema what a wave or a cloud is to nature. It's perfect. Just perfect, and impossible to imagine in a different way of existing.
What we feel for the protagonist of the film is the exact same as what we feel for the brains and souls behind it. Respect, respect, respect.