Rocky III
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Rocky III | |
|---|---|
 Rocky III movie poster |
|
| Directed by | Sylvester Stallone |
| Produced by | Robert Chartoff Irwin Winkler |
| Written by | Sylvester Stallone |
| Starring | Sylvester Stallone Talia Shire Burt Young Carl Weathers Burgess Meredith Mr. T Tony Burton |
| Music by | Bill Conti |
| Cinematography | Bill Butler |
| Editing by | Mark Warner Don Zimmerman |
| Distributed by |  MGM/UA Entertainment Co. United International Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 28, 1982 |
| Running time | 99 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Rocky II |
| Followed by | Rocky IV |
| IMDb profile | |
"Rocky 3" is also a nickname for Sergei Rachmaninoff's 3rd Piano Concerto.
Rocky III (1982) is the third installment in the Rocky movie series. It stars Sylvester Stallone as the title character, with Carl Weathers as former boxing rival Apollo Creed, and Talia Shire as Rocky's wife, Adrian.
Rocky's opponent is Clubber Lang, played by former bodyguard Mr. T. Clubber Lang is a younger and more aggressive boxer than Rocky. He is brash, outspoken, and charismatic.
The film also features professional wrestler Terry "Hulk Hogan" Bollea as the supporting character "Thunderlips". The role brought Hogan to a widespread audience.
Taglines:
- A Fighter. A Lover. A Legend. The Greatest Challenge.
- The Excitement... The Power... The Man...
- The Greatest Challenge.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Rocky III begins with an opening montage of scenes that explains what happened in the time between Rocky II and Rocky III.
Three years after the events of Rocky II, Rocky Balboa, has become the new heavyweight champion of the world. Rocky begins a string of successful title defenses. As his win streak grows, so does his fame and celebrity, and soon Balboa is seen everywhere, from magazine covers to TV show guest star appearances. Balboa is also heavily merchandised, including T-shirts and his own "Crunch Punch" chocolate bars, and appears as a spokesman for Tony Lama boots and American Express, to name a few. At the same time, Clubber Lang (Mr. T) is climbing the ranks, becoming the number one contender for Balboa's title. Rocky’s brother-in-law Paulie (Burt Young) has grown jealous of Rocky’s accomplishments. After a night of drinking, Paulie destroys a ROCKY pinball machine in a rage and is arrested.
Rocky agrees to a charity boxing/wrestling match with wrestling champion, Thunderlips (Terry "Hulk Hogan" Bollea). Rocky treats the whole affair as light-hearted fun; Thunderlips, however, attacks Rocky with a variety of wrestling moves. After being thrown out of the ring, Rocky decides to remove his gloves and fight back, even managing to throw the hulking Thunderlips out of the ring.
Rocky has a statue unveiled in Philadelphia and reveals his plans to retire. Clubber Lang, who is in attendance at the ceremony, challenges Rocky yet again, this time criticizing Rocky’s title defense as being fixed. Rocky agrees to the fight, but Mickey, his trainer, wants no part of it. He admits to Rocky that the fighters he defended his title against were hand-picked, but only because Rocky received such a bad beating in his win over Creed. He also tells Rocky that Lang is young and hungry (like Rocky once was) and that Rocky has no chance beating him. Rocky manages to convince Mickey to train him, but his Vegas-style training camp is filled with distractions.
Lang and Rocky meet at Philadelphia's Spectrum. During a melee before the fight, Mickey is inadvertently hurt by Lang, suffering a heart attack. Rocky wishes to call the fight off, but Mickey urges him on while he stays in the dressing room. By the time of the fight, Rocky is both enraged and severely distracted by his mentor's condition, and despite attacking Lang fiercely in the beginning of the fight, Rocky is easily knocked out by Lang in the second round, losing the title. When he returns to his locker room, Mickey, refusing medical treatment, passes away.
In a funk of depression, Rocky is confronted by Apollo Creed, who offers to help train him. He convinces Rocky to challenge Clubber again, only this time Creed will help him train. Apollo takes him to the slums of Los Angeles so that Rocky can get back to the basics. At first, Rocky is too demoralized to put forth his best efforts. However, after admitting to Adrian that he's afraid, he pulls himself together to train as hard as he can.
During the rematch, Rocky fights with a level of skill and fighting spirit that no one, including Clubber Lang, had expected. As a result Rocky completely dominates the first round, scoring punch after punch and demonstrating his newfound speed, modeled somewhat after Apollo's fighting style. Defying Lang, Rocky intentionally takes a beating, gambling that Clubber Lang will tire before Rocky is knocked down, which frustrates Lang. Lang wears himself out, and is defeated with a knockout in the third round. Rocky recovers his world heavyweight championship and his self-respect.
Sometime after the fight, Rocky and Apollo return to Mickey's gym, with Apollo revealing his favor: a third fight with Rocky. However, this would only be a sparring match between two friends. The film ends with Rocky and Apollo circling the ring, freezing the frame just before they make contact.
[edit] Bronze statue
A bronze statue of Rocky, called "ROCKY", was commissioned by Sylvester Stallone and created by A. Thomas Schomberg in 1981. Three statues were created and one was placed on the top of the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art for the filming of Rocky III. After filming was complete, a furious debate erupted in Philadelphia between the Art Museum and the City's Art Commission over the meaning of "art." Claiming the statue was not "art" but rather a "movie prop" the city considered various alternate locations and settled upon the front of the Wachovia Spectrum in South Philadelphia. It was later returned to the Art Museum where it was used in the filming of Rocky V, as well as Mannequin and Philadelphia. Afterward, it was again moved to the front of the Spectrum. The statue was returned to the museum's steps on September 8th, 2006.
The third of the three statues was listed on eBay in early 2005, with a starting bid of US$5,000,000. It was being auctioned to raise funds for the International Institute for Sport and Olympic History. It failed to sell and was listed again for US$3 million; after receiving only one bid, which turned out to be fraudulent, it has been relisted several times for US$1 million. [1]
The statues weigh 800 pounds each and stand about 8'6" tall.
[edit] Trivia
- The movie's soundtrack contained Survivor's "Eye Of The Tiger." The song went on to become an international chart-topper later in 1982. Stallone had originally intended for the film to feature Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust", but he was unable to secure the rights. "Eye of the Tiger" was written specifically for the movie, and is based on a line of the film's dialogue.
- A Rocky pinball machine appears in the film. It was a regular production pinball machine that many arcades stocked around that time.[2]
- Rocky III is the first Rocky movie in which Rocky loses a fight by a knockout. It is also the first Rocky movie in which Rocky does not "go the distance", boxing for the full fifteen rounds. He loses his title defense in round two; he regains the title in round three of the rematch.
- The film includes footage of Sylvester Stallone's appearance in a 1979 episode of The Muppet Show.[3] Stallone appeared in the show as himself, and was introduced by the host using his real name. For the purposes of Rocky III, the footage was redubbed so that Stallone was instead introduced as Rocky.
- Sylvester Stallone's first wife, Sasha, makes a cameo during Rocky's first training sequence as the fan asking Rocky for a kiss.
- During the montage scene you can glimpse The Official Rocky Scrapbook. This was an actual book published in 1977 written by Sylvester Stallone.
- This movie was the on-screen debut for Terry "Hulk Hogan" Bollea. The relatively unknown professional wrestler used the exposure from this film to help launch perhaps the most famous professional wrestling career in wrestling history.
- Sylvester Stallone and Mr. T both went on to make appearances for the World Wrestling Federation. Mr. T teamed with Hogan against "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff at the inaugural WrestleMania pay-per-view event in 1985, and several subsequent matches. Stallone eventually inducted co-star Hulk Hogan into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of WrestleMania 21 weekend in 2005, as well as promoting Rocky Balboa in 2006, on an episode of Monday Night RAW.
- The timeline of the films becomes muddled with this installment. The original Rocky (1976) is set in late 1975, and culminates with a title fight held on January 1, 1976. Its sequel Rocky II (1979) is set later in the same year. When Rocky's trainer dies in Rocky III, his tombstone shows that the film is set in 1981. However, the events of Rocky II are repeatedly described as being set three years in the past, rather than five years as should be the case. In the original Rocky, the character is said to have been born in 1945. In Rocky III he should be 36, but he is instead described as being 34 years old. In Rocky, Rocky's trainer says he is 76 years old, putting his date of birth in 1899. However, his tombstone in Rocky III lists his date of birth as 1905. This timeline skew becomes more evident in Rocky IV and V, as the characters seem to age 3-4 years between installments despite story elements occurring concurrently.
- This is the only Rocky movie that does not feature a press conference.
- The ring announcer for the fight between Rocky and Thunderlips is painter LeRoy Neiman. A painting of his with Rocky and Apollo is featured in the closing credits.
- Real-life boxing ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Sr. provides the introductions for the first Lang-Balboa fight.
- The sportscasting duo of Stu Nahan and Bill Baldwin return to provide live coverage of both Rocky/Clubber fights. This was Bill Baldwin's last appearance in the Rocky series; he died in November 1982.
- Both former Heavyweight contender Earnie Shavers and former champion Joe Frazier were considered for the role of Clubber Lang.
- Mr T's workout routine in the beginning of the film in the basement of a building mirrors the way he actually worked out in his youth, according to his autobiography. He didn't have the money to use machines, so he improvised using whatever was available.
- In the film, Clubber, when asked if he hates Rocky, says, "I don't hate him...but I pity the fool." The last part of that phrase has since become synonymous with Mr. T.
[edit] U.S. box office gross
- Rocky III (1982): US$125 million
[edit] U.K. & U.S charts for the soundtrack
UK Date: 04/09/1982 - Run: 52-*42*-47-43-50-55-77 (7 wks)
US Date: 10/07/1982 - Run: 72-42-34-30-21-19-*15*-15-15-15-15-33-59-79-100-115-138-158-199 (19 wks)
[edit] External links
- Official MGM site
- Rocky III at the Internet Movie Database
- Movie Tour Guide.com - Maps and directions to Rocky 3 Filming Locations
| Rocky series |
|---|
| Rocky | Rocky II | Rocky III | Rocky IV | Rocky V | Rocky Balboa |
| Characters |
| Rocky Balboa | Mickey Goldmill | Apollo Creed Clubber Lang | Ivan Drago | Tommy Gunn |
| Video games |
| Rocky | Rocky Legends |
| Related articles |
| Rocky actors | Rocky music | Rocky Steps |
| Related articles (Boxing) |
| The distance | The "Real" Rocky | Southpaw | World Heavyweight Championship |
