Thirty Years Later, Rocky Balboa Still Packs a Punch
Can we all just close our eyes and pretend that Rocky V never happened? Because if ever there were a franchise-finisher to be remembered for staging the Italian Stallion's final bout, Rocky Balboa, due out Dec. 20, portends to be it. Having grown up with this film series, I cheered and I cried at a press screening last week, as the famed palooka-turned-pugilist entered the ring just one more, most memorable time.The Oscar-winning Rocky and its first follow-up were seminal films, even coining the term "a Rocky story" to sum up the tale of an underdog (in this case, a loan shark's sad-sack collection man) who overcomes the odds to achieve greatness — a bid for both true love and the title. Rocky III, with the arrival of Mr. T's Clubber Lang, found Rocko facing his fiercest opponent yet — as Burgess Meredith's Mickey reveals (in his raspy growl) that previous comers "wuz hand-picked!" — and then dealing with the loss of the trainer he for so long held dear. Rocky IV, an ...