Rocky - Special Edition [DVD] [1977]

The 1976 Best Picture Award-winner Rocky has the look of a contemporary on-the-streets movie like Taxi Driver, but the heart of a fairytale. For the Bicentennial Year, world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), a Muhammad Ali-like stars-and-stripes blowhard, cynically offers a title shot to an unknown over-the-hill Philadelphia club fighter, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone). Unlike the sequels, Rocky is a rare American sports movie to realise there's more drama and emotional resonance in losing than winning. The unique finale suggests that going the distance against the odds is more of a triumph than a conventional victory. Stallone, then an unknown as actor and writer, crafts the script to his own strengths--mumbling, Brando-like sincerity combined with explosive physicality expressed in his use of a side of beef as a punch-bag or wintery jogs around Philly. Surprisingly little of the film is taken up with ring action, as we follow Rocky's awkward courtship of pet-store minion Adrian (Talia Shire) and uneasy relationship with her slobbish brother (Burt Young), while Burgess Meredith provides the old pro licks as the curmudgeonly trainer. Though it led to a slick, steroid-fuelled franchise, it has a pleasing roughness, exemplified by the memorable funk/brass band score and the array of fidgety, credible method acting tics. DVD Special Features: Remastered with 5.1 Audio Audio Commentary with Director, Producer and Crew Exclusive Interview with Sylvester Stallone "Behind The Scenes" Featurette with Director John Avildsen Tribute to Burgess Meredith Tribute to James Crabe 3 TV Spots Teaser Trailer Original Trailer for Rocky Original Trailer for Rocky II Original Trailer for Rocky III Original Trailer for Rocky IV Original Trailer for Rocky V Special Hidden Featurette 8 Page Booklet Subtitles: English, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Danish, Portuguese, Polish, Greek, Hungarian, Hebrew, Turkish, English for the hard of hearing.