Many critics and movie fans alike enjoy playing a revisionist game, looking back on the Academy Awards of years past, debating which films were deservingly honored and which were not. Did Shakespeare In Love truly deserve top honors over Saving Private Ryan for 1998? What about Annie Hall capturing the ultimate prize over Star Wars for 1977?
Another year that remains hotly contested is 1976, when then-unknown Sylvester Stallone starred in Rocky. That movie won Best Picture over Taxi Driver, Network, and All the President’s Men (Hal Ashby’s Bound for Glory was the oft-forgotten fifth nominee). No one can argue the cultural phenomenon that Rocky became, but many have suggested one of the more complex and topical films should have won.
I don’t place much importance on awards, even the Oscars, but arguing about them can make for a fun, lively discussion. And as much as I revere Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, I always come to the same conclusion: the Academy made the right choice. I think the years of sequels contributed to the original’s somewhat declining reputation. Rocky is a beautifully written, acted, and directed character study that makes nary a misstep. It is often referred to as one of the greatest sports movies of all time. But one its most enduring qualities is how it transcends the sports movie subgenre.
Rocky isn’t so much the story of an amateur boxer who wants to a prize fighter. It’s the story of a ne’er do well loser who yearns for respect. The movie works on many levels, primarily as an inspirational story but also as a genuine romance. Rocky Balboa isn’t the only one desperately in need of validation. Lonely, unloved Adrian (Talia Shire) wants more out of life than working in a pet shop. Her brother Paulie (Burt Young) is an alcoholic with a severe inferiority complex. Mickey (Burgess Meredith), a former journeyman boxer, now desires the chance to help a promising young fighter achieve what he never did.
Even though he hasn’t equaled the accomplishment in the thirty-five years since, Sylvester Stallone crafted a gem with his Oscar-nominated original screenplay. Rocky Balboa is a boxer, but Stallone wrote the character in such a universally relatable way that he could’ve been anything. He turned around three years later and essentially rewrote the movie as a story about winning, rather than simply being a competitor. During perhaps its defining scene, Rocky tells Adrian that all he wants is to “go the distance.” Stallone struck a chord with millions of people from different walks of life, all hoping to “go the distance” in their chosen endeavors. Rocky holds its power to inspire.
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