I agree with this. There should never have been a second Rocky movie.

I am partial to these lines:

Lockers are bad anyway after a while, people get the combination. I must have had twenty bucks taken out of there in the past six years, ya know. Don't sound like much, but it adds up, ya know.

Rocky: Listen, I don't want no turkey anyway, ya know.
Adrian: But it was Thanksgiving.
Rocky: It was what?
Adrian: It was Thanksgiving.
Rocky: Yeah, to you, but to me, it's Thursday, right?

__________________

Paulie: What's the story? What's happenin'? Ya really like her?
Rocky: Sure, I like her.
Paulie: I don't see it. What's the attraction?
Rocky: I don't know. Fills gaps, I guess.
Paulie: What's 'gaps'?
Rocky: I dunno, gaps. She's got gaps, I got gaps. Together, we fill gaps. I dunno.

__________________

"If you can catch this chicken, then you can catch Creed."

During one Network TV screening, the censors overdubbed a scene so that Paulie asked Rocky "Are you dirtying my sister?" Like he pushed her into a mud puddle or something.

I liked Rocky III very much when I watched it for the first time. I was 18 or so and took it for what it was - a cartoon. I remember being awed by the way Hulk Hogan threw people around the ring. Mr. T was a fearsome opponent too. It does, in retrospect, cast a bad light on the first movie, though, because it is a pretty poor movie and the first is one of the all time greats.

The fourth is just a joke. I can't believe anyone can watch it without laughing. The fifth one too. Rocky Balboa is very good, though. I enjoyed it a lot - it seemed to be, like the first one, using boxing to again say something about the human condition.

Which was the whole point, wasn't it?

But once Rocky became Rocky™, he just became an unlikeable cartoon character. At least he was unlikeable in the first one but you grew to admire him. In the later films, I got the impression that you were supposed to like him simply because the movie was named after him.

The biggest problem I have with IV is it takes one of the all time greatest champions, and makes him an ineffectual chump.

I also wonder if Apollo could have beat Clubber Lang. While he taught Rocky his style, it was Rocky's rope a dope that brought him down.

Apollo Creed?

I agree, but found him very likeable.

I think they should've made Rocky IV even campier by having Clubber Lang as Rocky's trainer. "I'm gonna make you beat that White Russian chump!"

Rocky's an idiot.

Okay. I personally don't use intellect as one of my criteria when deciding to like a fictional character.

It's one of my criteria for liking anyone, fictional or not. It's not necessary, but it sure helps.

Eh.

I think that a character (or person) like Rocky can't really help that, so I don't hold it against him. In the first two films, particularly the second, he seemed pretty nice and good-hearted. For what the character was and what he represented, I thought his lack of intelligence made him more endearing.

I thought he was a warm, personable, complex character. I loved the character in Rocky and in Rocky Balboa.

I think that's what's endearing about him in the first, yes, definitely. But beyond that? Willful ignorance, which I cannot stand. Particularly in the third film. I see how you would like him in the second film, though, Hanzo.

Uncle Twitchy is channeling Mickey.

Never seen any of the Rocky movies. I remember when each came out and know more or less what the plot was on each one. And that they apparently had some very brutal scenes. And I remember this:

Fat and weak, what a disgrace.
Guess the champ got too lazy.
Ain't gonna fly now, he's just takin' up space.
Sold his gloves, threw his eggs down the drain.

But he’s no bum, he works down the street
He bought the neighborhood deli.
Back on his feet, now he's choppin' up meat.
Come inside, maybe you'll hear him say,

Try the rye or the kaiser,
They're our special tonight.
If you want, you can have an appetizer
You might like our salami and the liver’s alright
And they'd really go well with the rye or the kaiser

I'm glad dinner's gonna be ready soon. These posts make me hungry.

One thing bugged me in III (when it all started going downhill). Apollo says he lost because Rocky had the eye of the tiger when they fought but in II, Apollo had the eye of the tiger, not Rocky.

If you take out the credits, music video, & montages, Rocky IV is essentially an hour long.

I hope the Rocky theme is reinstated; how can a Rocky movie not have it...?