Episode 38: ROCKY (1976)

The Essential Films Podcast

Yo, Adrian! Take your mind off what’s going on in the world and join Adolfo and Mark on today’s adventure: John G Avildsen’s ROCKY (1976)
On this week’s show:
How the current pandemic has affected the movie industry.
How people’s first impression of Rocky is often wrong
Thunderlips: The Ultimate Male
Stallone is a carny
Stallone’s story of the making of Rocky is a little too Hollywood
The unlikely names suggested for the role of Rocky before Stallone insisted on playing the role himself
The bluff that paid off for Stallone
The real story is better than the myth
Is ROCKY a better Oscar movie than TAXI DRIVER?
Casting choices for Adrian and why did Talia Shire have to audition?
The Rocky steps
The paradox of the opening theme and the first shot
The difference between the first and last fight in the film
Lloyd Kauffman’s cameo
Willie Cici
“That pet shop dame”
The differences of Stallone and Burgess Meredith at 69.
How the production used its limitations to its benefit
Rocky would have gotten #MeToo’d
DO NOT DRINK RAW EGGS!
Running in Converse All-Stars seems unwise
The emergence of the steadicam
Chicken bones
Going the distance
“Cut me, Mick”
The alternate ending for the film
Favorite sequels.
FILMS REFERENCED:
THE PARTY AT KITTY AND STUD’S (1970)
BANANAS (1971)
THE GODFATHER (1972)
THE GODFATHER PART II (1974)
THE LORDS OF FLATBUSH (1974)
JAWS (1975)
CAPONE (1975)
DEATH RACE 2000 (1975)
NETWORK (1976)
TAXI DRIVER (1976)
ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN (1976)
STAR WARS (1977)
ROCKY II (1979)
RAGING BULL (1980)
ROCKY III (1982)
THE KARATE KID (1984)
ROCKY IV (1985)
ROCKY V (1990)
THE GODFATHER PART III (1990)
STOP OR MY MOM WILL SHOOT (1992)
INDEPENDENCE DAY (1996)
ROCKY BALBOA (2006)
CREED (2015)
CREED II (2018)
THE MANDALORIAN (TV Series, 2019)
SOCIAL MEDIA
TWITTER: @EssentialFilms, @FPMoviePodcast, @Adolfo_Acosta, @Sportsguy515
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