THE SPORT SCAN – Sylvester Stallone gave notes to each of his opus of Rocky, distributing the (very) good and also (very) bad points.
With the character of Rocky Balboa, Sylvester Stallone signed one of the most famous sagas in Hollywood. Six episodes (and even nine if we count the productions devoted to Adonis Johnson’s Creed after hanging up) which had more or less success in theaters or with critics. But the boxer from Philadelphia undoubtedly left his mark on cinema history between 1976, the date of the first Rocky, and 2006, the last one, where the “Italian Stallion” put on the gloves one last time.
The first, Rocky, directed by John G. Avildsen, is often considered the best of the series, even winning three Academy Awards. This is also the opinion of the American actor who agreed to play the game of rating each of his productions during an exchange on television. Rocky Balboa received 10 out of 10, a perfect score, while the second received only 7.5 out of ten according to him. “You are generous,” his interlocutor retorts. Rocky III, Eye of the Tiger, occupies a special place for the actor: “I like number 3 and I need to go up to 9.”
The fourth opus, which achieved great success in theaters by retracing the confrontation with the Soviet Ivan Drago, was less successful in his eyes since it only received 7.5 in rating. “It was the hardest of all. Dolph Lundgren (Ivan Drago in the film, editor’s note) was the one who hit the hardest. There’s a lot of editing…”
A zero point for Rocky V
Without taking any pinches, Stallone mentioned No. 5, released in 1990, generally considered the least successful by fans. “A zero, the actor decides. It was bad and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to do the last one, because I couldn’t end up doing something that bad, that inappropriate. That was the reason I did it.”
Stallone didn’t rate the series finale but took the time to say that there wouldn’t be another Rocky where we’d see him return to the ring as he celebrated his 78th birthday this summer . “No, what am I going to do?” I’m not going to fight arthritis…”concluded the Hollywood star.