Rocky Balboa

This movie has all the best bad elements: weak script with unintended funny parts, poor acting, inconsistent cinematography styles. And yet, I liked the movie. Rocky is an American institution, and I fall prey to all that, though I don't like the way Stallone has milked the Rocky franchise. Yet, can you blame him? He had a good thing going with the first Rocky, and he ran with it. He milked that puppy.

Do you remember the first Rocky? I saw it when it was released in the 1970s, and (now I know) so many things were lost on my young 1970s mind. Last month, though, I saw the first Rocky again, at a girlfriend's house, and I have a newfound appreciation for that simple movie. The first Rocky had all the best good elements: the underdog storyline, the American Dream theme, the strong strong music, the love story. How could you not root for Rocky in the ring and in love? Do you remember in the first Rocky when he first kisses Adrian, in his apartment? Oh my gosh, that is one hot kiss.

But I digress. This latest Rocky movie did have some good, clever yet fleeting images, like the chair in the tree at the graveyard, Paulie painting a dead cow in the meat locker, Rocky changing Little Marie’s lightbulb, Mike Tyson’s ringside cameo. (I am a big fan of boxing and have followed Mike’s career since 1986.)

So, I give this movie one knitting needle up, for nostalgia. Every time I hear the Rocky theme song, it takes me back to school in Texas, and the football season, and me playing trumpet in the marching band, playing the Rocky theme, and we're all in matching blue-and-gold uniforms, marching down the main street and around the courthouse.