Rocky
This review is a part of the Best Picture Project: a review of every single Academy Award winner for the Best Picture category. Rocky is the forty ninth Best Picture winner at the 1976 Academy Awards.
Never in the history of the Best Picture category has a film been both so overrated and underrated. Rocky has had far too many sequels spawned, and is now seen as one of the most marketable, light weighted franchises of all time. If it wasn’t for the redeeming first Creed film, Rocky’s entire franchise would have been in a permanent limbo after its first two best releases. And yet, here we are. Just over forty five years later, and Rocky is the sports film for so many movie goers. This film somehow beat the following for the Best Picture award: Network, Bound for Glory, Taxi Driver, and All the President’s Men. Look. I like Rocky too, but not that much. I understand the appeal, but this is out of control. Overrated.
Then again, let’s revisit this exact same argument. This is the film that beat the other four flicks, which were either Old Hollywood standardized or New Hollywood familiar (either or was doing well at the Academy Awards at this point). Revisit Rocky and forget that any sequels exist. There is no franchise. There is no overdone theme song at every sporting event ever. There’s just this film written by a wannabe actor down on his luck, and struggling to survive. Sylvester Stallone had nothing when he wrote this film. He wrote himself exactly how he felt: a loser that had a big heart. This underdog, barely-financed, sloppy film had all of the best intentions in the world. This won Best Picture. Compare it to every single Best Picture winner before it, and you’ll see that this is the first time a sleeper hit pulled off the impossible. Underrated.
For me, part of Rocky’s charm comes from its humanistic story elements, as opposed to focusing just on the sport side of things.
I’m here to say that it’s easy to love Rocky, but it’s even easier to hate on it. Don’t despise it just because. If the imperfect filmmaking and the obvious narrative don’t do it for you, then that is okay. Otherwise, remove all of the franchising Rocky has had since. Forget he ever had countless sequels, all of those parodies, and a robot butler (please forget that last part). With a fresh pair of eyes, Rocky’s shoddiness feels like it’s right at home amongst the more experimental New Hollywood films (whether it’s intentional or not is debatable). It is so stripped down, but it allows the misfit characters to shine. Sure, I don’t think Rocky is Best Picture material, but I completely understand and respect its Academy success. The tale makes the win nicer than the actual win. Putting Rocky into context can help you see why it’s so adored in the first place.
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.