Rocky II
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Rocky II | |
|---|---|
 Rocky II 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 Tony Burton |
| Music by | Bill Conti |
| Cinematography | Bill Butler |
| Editing by | Stanford C. Allen Janice Hampton |
| Distributed by |  United Artists (1979-1981) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1982-present) |
| Release date(s) | June 15, 1979 |
| Running time | 119 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Rocky |
| Followed by | Rocky III |
| IMDb profile | |
"Rocky 2" is also a nickname for Sergei Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto.
Rocky II was the 1979 sequel to Rocky, a motion picture in which an unknown boxer had been given a chance to go the distance with the World Heavyweight Champion. Sylvester Stallone, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith, Burt Young and Talia Shire reprised their original roles.
Taglines:
- The Rematch Of The Century.
- The story continues...
- The Italian Stallion is back!
- Rocky shows he's a champ, and wins!
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Rocky II begins with the 15th round of the Bicentennial fight from the first movie.
After their championship bout, Rocky and Apollo are taken by ambulance to a hospital, where they meet once again in the hospital lobby. Apollo Creed, who retained the championship on points, is angry at Rocky, the first man to go the distance with him, and starts clamoring for another chance to knock Rocky out. Rocky goes to Apollo's room that night and asks "Did you give me your best?" to which Apollo answers "Yes". Rocky declines talk of a rematch and tells Apollo that he is quitting boxing. Rocky's decision to retire is strengthened when doctors tell him he needs surgery for a detached retina. Following his hospital stay, Rocky begins to enjoy the profits from his fight with Apollo. He buys his first brand new car which is a 1979 Pontiac Trans Am, marries Adrian, and buys a two-story house. For money, Rocky opts to exploit his image as the "Italian Stallion" by appearing in commercials. His new career, however, is quickly derailed by his subpar reading skills, which lead to a clash with the director of his first commercial.
Unable to find white-collar work due to his lack of education, and after being laid off from the meat plant where Paulie previously worked because of cutbacks, he gets a job as a boxing trainer at Mickey's gym. Adrian, now pregnant, returns to her old job at the pet store. Creed, who has been receiving hate mail about his win over Rocky, elects to pressure Rocky into another fight so that he can prove himself. Rocky begins to have second thoughts about the fight, because of the pressure applied by Apollo. Rocky decides to accept the challenge and begins training. Mickey wants Rocky to learn to fight right handed in order to better protect Rocky's bad eye, and to give him a surprise advantage by switching back to left handed with the intention of throwing off Apollo's timing and confusing him. However, Adrian's opposition saps his resolve and his training suffers. When Paulie confronts Adrian about her opinion, her angry reaction creates a serious medical condition that breaks her water prematurely. During the birth of their son, Adrian falls into a coma and Rocky breaks training to spend every waking moment at her side, not even seeing his newborn son until she recovers. When Adrian emerges from the coma, she tells Rocky to "win" and he restarts training in earnest with Mickey for the rematch with Apollo. His conditioning improves dramatically with increased strength and speed.
As with the first fight, Rocky's training includes a brisk run throughout the city of Philadelphia. This time, however, he is greeted with the cheers and encouragement of onlookers as he runs through the streets of South Philadelphia, having become a local celebrity following his narrow loss to Apollo. Along the way, children and pre-teens begin to follow him, their numbers increasing dramatically block by block. By the time he reaches the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Center City, hundreds of young people have joined in. Ultimately, they follow Rocky to the top of the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, enthusiastically chanting his name as he lifts his arms in a victory pose.
Rocky and Apollo once again fight an intense battle in front of a standing-room-only crowd at the Philadelphia Spectrum. Apollo gets off to a fast start, flooring Rocky twice in the first two rounds and building a huge lead on the scorecards as the fight goes on. At the start of the fifteenth round, Apollo's trainer begs him not to try to go for a knockout, as he can win simply by avoiding Rocky; Apollo, not wanting another questionable victory and frustrated that Rocky keeps coming back, disregards the advice. Mickey tells Rocky to switch back to boxing left handed now, and although Rocky initially refuses, he switches back, landing several crashing lefts. Rocky hits Apollo with a final punch that knocks him down, but from sheer exhaustion, Rocky also goes down to the canvas. The referee starts the final ten-count as the fighters struggle to their feet. As a beaten and exhausted Apollo slumps to a corner, Rocky grabs the rope and picks himself up at the count of 9, and is declared the new World Heavyweight Champion. In the post-match interview, he thanks Apollo for another hard-fought battle and Mick for training him before shouting, "Yo, Adrian! I did it!"
[edit] Trivia
- Approximately 800 school children are estimated to have been used for the scene depicting Rocky's run through Philadelphia.[1]
- This was the last film until Rocky V and later Rocky Balboa to depict Rocky living in downtown Philadelphia.
- One note from the previous film is that the driver of Gazzo's car tells Rocky after saying Adrian was mentally challenged to "take her to the zoo, I hear retards love the zoo", and after leaving the hospital in Rocky II, Rocky proposes in the zoo.
- This movie, Rocky V, and Rocky Balboa are the only Rocky movies to earn less than $100 million at the US box office.
- This was the only Rocky movie to have mentioned that Rocky had gained a large Italian fan-base when one of the Ring-Side announcers states, "I've never seen so many Italians in one place", to which his partner says, "You said that, not me".
- This movie has the last camera appearance of the singers who live in Rocky's neighborhood.
- In this film you'll see Stallone's brother as one of the singers, just as in the original film.
- When buying the house, Rocky looks at the address 2313 and tells everyone "Hey, these numbers almost add up to 9, I like that, that's a good omen".
- Although this film was released in 1979, the ring announcers say that it takes place ten months after the first fight with Creed, putting this fight on Thanksgiving 1976.
- While training for the film, Stallone tore his pectoral muscle requiring over 160 stitches.
- In the television series Freaks and Geeks, the character of gym teacher Ben Fredericks mentions that Rocky II is his favourite movie of all time because, "That Carl Weathers is ripped!"
- Sylvester Stallone actually bought and drove a black and gold 1979 Pontiac Trans Am.
[edit] Billboard's Chart for the Soundtrack
Date: 25/08/1979 - Run: 178-169-159-149-*147* (5 wks on Top 200)
[edit] Cast and Crew
- Sylvester Stallone .... Rocky Balboa
- Talia Shire .... Adrian
- Burt Young .... Paulie
- Carl Weathers .... Apollo Creed
- Burgess Meredith .... Mickey Goldmill
- Tony Burton .... Duke (Apollo's Trainer)
- Joe Spinell .... Tony Gazzo
- Leonard Gaines .... Agent
- Sylvia Meals .... Mary Anne Creed
- Frank McRae .... Meat Foreman
- Al Silvani .... Cutter
- John Pleshette .... Director
- Stu Nahan .... Announcer
- Bill Baldwin .... Commentator
- Jerry Ziesmer .... Salesman
- Paul Micale .... Father Carmine (as Paul J. Micale)
- Earl Montgomery .... Employment Manager
- Herb Nanas .... Employment Manager
- Stuart K. Robinson .... Johnny (as Stuart Robinson)
- Frank Stallone .... Singer
- Charles 'Honi' Coles .... Singer (as Charles Coles)
- Doug Flor .... Singer
- Robert Kondyra .... Singer
- James Zazzarino .... Singer
- Eddie 'El Annimal' Lopez .... Fighter (as Eddie Lopez)
- Taurean Blacque .... Lawyer
- James J. Casino .... Chink's Manager (as James Casino)
- Shaka Cumbuka .... Cornerman
- Samuel Davis .... Apollo's Bodyguard
- Roberto Durán .... Fighter (as Roberto Duran)
- Lou Fillipo .... Referee (as Lou Filippo)
- Ruth Ann Flynn .... Jewelry Sales Lady
- Linda Grey .... Agent
- Grainger Hines .... Emergency Room Aide
- Garrie Kelly .... White Hunter
- Ava Lazar .... White Hunter
- Joseph Letizia .... Car Salesman
- René Le Vant .... Young Lugger (as Rene Le Vant)
- Tawny Little .... Reporter
- Paul McCrane .... Young Patient
- Sonny Melendrez .... Reporter
- Tony Munafo .... Boxer
- Brent Musburger .... Reporter
- Ed Ness .... Timekeeper
- Fred Pinkard .... Lawyer
- Jane Marla Robbins .... Gloria
- Hank Rolike .... Cornerman
- David L. Ross .... Reporter (as David Ross)
- Fran Ryan .... Adrian's Nurse
- Whitney Rydbeck .... Sound Man
- Shepherd Sanders .... Employment Manager (as Sheperd Sanders)
- Jeff Temkin .... Ring Announcer
- Allan Warnick .... Makeup Man
- Charles Winkler .... Camera Assistant
- James Zaza .... Emergency Room Reporter
- Brenda King .... Ring girl #2
- Taaffe O'Connell .... Ring Girl
- Velvet Rhodes .... Reporter
- Butkus Stallone .... Dog
- Seargeoh Stallone .... Robert 'Rocky' Balboa Jr.
[edit] Box office gross
[edit] References
- ^ Janet Maslin. "Screen: 'Rocky II' Fights a Rematch: Second Stanza...." (Subscription required), The New York Times, 1979-06-15.
- ^ a b Business Data for Rocky II at the Internet Movie Database
[edit] External link
- Rocky II at the Internet Movie Database
| 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 |
