'Rocky' is quite a moving film; it has almost an indie quality to it. My wife can't stand Stallone or any of his films, and I really don't like any of his other work much. Rocky, however, is a great movie. The emotional interplay between Stallone's stubbornly underachieving Balboa and the swearing-like-a-sea-cook Mickey, played by the inimitable Burgess Meredith, is deep and meaningful. It's a clear picture, to me, of the interplay and conflict between our animal instinct to be opportunistic and survive by scraping by (Balboa) and the HUMAN instinct that drives many of us towards transcendence, greatness and higher purposes.

That, and the boxing is pretty alright, too. I've always loved how much more aggressive and brawl-ready so many of the fighters in the 60s and 70s were, compared to the slow-as-molasses mastodons of the modern era. 'Rocky' clearly demonstrates boxing as both battle and athletic endeavor.

The rest of Stallone's stuff, eh. If I wanted to spend two mindless hours watching things and people blow up, maybe.

Side note: Paulie (Burt Young) was at a Lakewood, NJ BlueClaws baseball game this past weekend. Too bad I didn't get to go see him.