The November 25th issue of Entertainment Weekly contains an article rating the top 30 sports movie dvds and stars.
Sly Stallone, Rocky and Rocky III all earned top spots.
Here’s what they had to say:
4. Rocky [PG, 119 mins., 1976; MGM]
HERE’S WHY: Hard enough to take a 15-round beating from Apollo Creed [Carl Weathers], soft enough to give Adrian [Talia Shire] the bed the night before the big fight, the Philly southpaw is more character than most. With one shot to prove he’s not just another bum from the hood, Sylvester Stallone faces the champ and does the unthinkable, by Hollywood standards: He loses. But wins our hearts by going the distance [and remembering Adrian’s hat].
DID YOU KNOW? The Italian Stallion’s blow-by-blow of the bout weighed in at 32 pages. EXTRAS The 2001 special edition features commentaries detailing every decision made in the making of this Best Picture.
FINAL SCORE: We’d all like to eat lightning and crap thunder for Mickey [Burgess Meredith]. – Mandi Bierly
24. Rocky III [PG, 100 mins., 1982; MGM]
HERE’S WHY: Because it perfected the formula. Why have one nigh-invulnerable black heavyweight when you can have two? Why have one viscerally adrenalized fight when you can have three? The story of the Italian Stallion’s defeat at the hands of and subsequent victory over Clubber Lang – the only actually scary performance of Mr. T’s career – packs all the inspirational triumph you look for in a Rocky flick [and a touch of casual racism that you don’t], but Rocky III‘s true gift to sports cinema is the anatomically fetishized, borderline homoerotic training sequence. That, and “The Eye of the Tiger.”
EXTRAS: We pity the DVD fools who included nothing but a measly trailer. If we find them, our prediction for the encounter? Pain.
FINAL SCORE: Twenty notches below the first Rocky on our list, but the most fun installment in the whole series. – Marc Bernardin
SYLVESTER STALLONE Rocky [1976] Rocky Balboa may be an outclassed palooka, but he has the heart of a champ, a virtue that Stallone portrays so convincingly that he transformed his Philly underdog into an indellible and enduring pop-culture hero. [See #4]
– The pic above is different than the one with the article. – Craig
