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Uppercut

by Ryan N. Wilcox

As I sat in a theater recently, I saw a trailer for Rocky Balboa, the sixth movie of the Rocky series. My first Rocky movie was Rocky III, the one where he took on Clubber Lang, played by Mr. T. Next in Rocky IV, he took on the Russians, and well, I don't think about Rocky V too much. As much as I enjoyed the machine that was the later portion of the Rocky series, it suffered the fate of most sequels, where you just do the same thing bigger and louder each time. I was in high school when I first saw the original Rocky, and oh my goodness, it's a hell of a film. One thing that we sometimes forget about are our roots, and I think it's important to remember the roots of the Rocky story. The one that was great enough to make all those sequels. Rocky was the ultimate underdog story. It was about a guy who didn't know when to quit. He wasn't special or attractive or smart. He just had a heart of gold and was so passionate about what he loved that he wouldn't give it up for anything. Rocky Balboa was a local fighter/thug who was picked as a local to take on Apollo Creed, the heavyweight champion of the world, during a 4th of July celebration in the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia. Creed thought it would be a great publicity show, Balboa didn't. He trained long and hard and gave Creed the fight of his life. This movie has some of the greatest moments in movie history within it. Rocky climbing to the top of the stairs during the "Gonna Fly Now" song, and his screaming "Adrian!!" at the top of his lungs have been parodied by many other movies over the years. I still know people who climb that famous staircase in Philly and cheer when they get to the top of it, just like Rocky Balboa. The statue made for Rocky III is still in Philly. The movie meant so much for the city, that they decided to keep it up after shooting the movie. Stallone is incredible in it. It's the movie that made his career. Many people don't realize that he also wrote the story. As a result of his portrayal of this character, he has been compared to Rocky in every aspect of his life since 1976. Well, that and Rambo, but quite frankly, I could almost cut and paste this same article when comparing the movie First Blood, to the rest of the Rambo series. Rocky was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won best picture. It is one of the great inspirational movies of all time. It never fails to make even the toughest of men a little misty while watching it. So, when you are sitting there disappointed that they are making yet again another Rocky movie, try to remember that all of this had a very honorable beginning. If you're new to the Rocky series, don't start with the last several chapters. Go back to the beginning and start fresh. You'll enjoy all of them more if you do.