A first-rate film that's about as close to perfect as any movie about boxing (or any other sport) that I've ever seen. The plot is very simple -- small-time boxer Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) is given a chance to fight the heavyweight champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). It sounds no different than a ton of old movies about the sport. But this film proves that it's not always how fresh or unique the story is but how well it's crafted. Rocky is a masterpiece of filmmaking with dynamite acting from Sylvester Stallone, Burgess Meredith, Talia Shire, Burt Young, and Carl Weathers. Many classic scenes, lines, characters. Bill Conti's score is one of the all-time greats. It was nominated for nine Oscars, winning three including Best Picture. It was director John G. Avildsen's best film and many would argue it is Stallone's best as well. Certainly his best screenplay. The fight choreography is terrific. Followed by a string of enjoyable sequels but they were just solid entertainment. This one is very entertaining but it is also something much more than that. It's one of those movies that becomes part of culture in a big way where everybody recognizes something from the film even if they've never seen it.

One gains a certain degree of perspective with the passage of time, and one of the things I like to do is watch a movie that I saw upon it's original release and compare my feelings for it now to those I experienced back in the day. I thought "Rocky" was a great and inspiring movie back in 1976, and with only the slightest bit of hesitation, I think it delivers the same feelings today. I throw in that slight hesitation part because over the years, the sports underdog theme has been worked to death in cinema. But the thing about "Rocky" is that it's not so much a film about boxing as it is a film about life in general. A direction-less man with no goals suddenly finds the gold ring handed to him on a platter. Not that there isn't a whole lot of work involved to make that dream come true, but one has to recognize opportunity in the first place. I read with some amusement the negative reviews of the picture on this board and have to wonder how many of the nay-sayers consider themselves so intellectually superior that they trash the film for that simple lack of recognition. Because criticizing Rocky Balboa for talking like he had a mouth full of marbles is missing the point. He talked like that because he was a street punk working as an enforcer for a local mob boss, and the people he dealt with on a daily basis weren't exactly magna cum laude types. Nor was he going up against members of mensa whenever he climbed through the ring ropes at a local boxing joint.

To prove he's not just another bum from the neighborhood, all Rocky wants to do, as he confesses to Adrian (Talia Shire) in that touching apartment scene, is go the distance with the champ. He doesn't have to knock him out, doesn't even have to win, just go the distance. You know, I still have to remind myself at times as I reflect on the picture that Rocky really didn't win the match. But he comes out a winner in the truest sense of the word, and that message blurs out the ring announcer's call of a split decision in favor of Apollo Creed. If there was no "Rocky II", (or III or IV or V), I wonder how many of the movie's fans would have been settled with the idea that Rocky Balboa actually became the world champion that day.

Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) is a struggling Italian/American boxer who also earns cash collecting debts for shady Philadelphian 'businessman' Gazzo (Joe Spinell). When heavyweight boxing champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) finds himself without an opponent for his upcoming match, he offers the unknown fighter a chance at the title as a gimmick, but doesn't count on Rocky's determination to go the distance.

I watched Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull not that long ago, an excellent film, but something of a downer—a gritty study of a not very nice character whose horrible personality and poor choices see him winding up losing everything. Rocky, on the other hand, is a real feel-good film about a guy on the skids who is given a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to make something of himself. It's an uplifting Cinderella story, a classic underdog tale that leaves the viewer with a big smile on their face, which is why I prefer it slightly over Scorsese's film.

Rocky also has a great story behind the making of the film which mirrors that of its main character: star Stallone went from an almost broke struggling actor to Hollywood mega-star by not only writing the script for Rocky, but also insisting that he play the title role. The rest, as they say, is history.

Those only familiar with Stallone's later action hero work will be surprised at how good an actor he is in his breakthrough role, tackling the drama just as well as the boxing: Rocky's burgeoning romance with shy pet store clerk Adrian (Talia Shire), his friendship with her brother Paulie (Burt Young), and his strained relationship with trainer Mickey (Burgess Meredith) are all handled superbly.

Director John G. Avildsen also manages all aspects of his film with aplomb, with the final fight between Rocky and Apollo being the absolute showstopper, a gruelling battle of wills, both combatants pushed to their limits. Add a rousing score from Bill Conti and what you have is an unmissable, uplifting classic of the '70s.

9.5 out of 10, rounded up to 10 for IMDb.