He’s thicker now, more lumbering, he kinda looks like The Thing. Let there be light!” That’s how we know it’s the real Rocky.Įven physically he seems more like a natural progression of part I than of part III. As he drives away he says “Yo little Marie.
He convinces her that it’s okay to do nice things for people just because you want to. I love the part where he’s talking to her and suddenly pulls out a light bulb because he noticed the first time he ran into her that her porchlight was out. Anyway, I totally forgot that he runs into Marie (now played by Geraldine Hughes, GRAN TORINO) and he befriends her, kind of makes it his hobby to help out her and (after some initial, possibly race-based hesitation) her teenage son Steps (James Francis Kelly III, THE NEXT THREE DAYS). It seems like kinda well-intended but dumb advice (which maybe is why she thanks him by yelling “Screw you, creepo!”) Rocky might know more about the specific people and situation than we do, otherwise let the girl talk how she wants, silly. In my ROCKY review I didn’t get into the odd scene where he walks home the teenage girl Marie and lectures her about hanging out with boys and cursing, and how they’re gonna think she’s a whore. He has a hard time living in the shadow of the Stallion, which Rocky tries to be patient with until he finally gives the kid a great emotional speech about not blaming his unhappiness on other people. Junior seems a little over his head at his big corporate job, and visibly stressed by all the attention his dad constantly gets from random autograph-seekers, well-wishers or his own boss. (Milo Ventimiglia, completing the pattern of different Juniors in each sequel) is a much better execution of the father-son tensions in V.
Meanwhile his relationship with Rocky Jr. That might be because Paulie’s the only person he has to yell at about how hard his life is when he finally breaks. Paulie keeps showing up to the restaurant drunk and causing scenes, but Rocky is always forgiving. He’s very aware that he’s an asshole and doesn’t deserve to be near her as much as Rocky does. And I love that Paulie lingers uncomfortably on the perimeter just like he did in II when she was in the hospital. Although the beginning is specifically about marking the anniversary of Adrian’s death by visiting important places like the ruins of the skating rink where they had their first date, I get the feeling that the shot of him sitting contently at her grave in a folding chair is a pretty regular occurrence. Rocky is alone again, but seems to take it in stride, because he’s Rocky. Even in V, when Rocky lost “everything,” he didn’t lose Adrian. That Adrian has died since part V is crucial. It’s small, and Paulie makes fun of his “Italian food made by Mexicans.” He actually runs the place, seems to be there every day to greet customers, does the hiring and shops for some of the ingredients himself. He’s not poor – he owns a restaurant called Adrian’s – but that’s not exactly high roller shit. This is a more pure ROCKY I throwback than ROCKY V was because Rocky’s life is simple, humble and gentle again. And the trashy people who give Rocky a bunch of shit at a bar could be family members from MILLION DOLLAR BABY. This one has zero (0) Survivor songs in it and it reminds me less of ROCKY IV than of later Clint Eastwood directorial works: quiet, mournful, wintery colors, gentle piano scoring, character driven, raw. The style, the content, the tone, even the character are from different planets. It’s hard to believe this humble character drama is Stallone’s directorial followup to the rock n roll tall tale ROCKY IV. I already reviewed ROCKY BALBOA when it came out, but it’s such a great movie I wanted to checked in on it again.