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Rocky Rankings: Part 2 · The Recess Bell

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  This production is brought to you by the reesas Bella. I don't even look
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  at the green in contact with the ball. There's no goalie out there to
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  block. Who numbers all in the hay. It's all it come work with
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  me, it's all in the it's all, it's all. Get off of
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  me. He just easing attention. Baby. Hey everybody, my name is
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  Justin Greenberg and this is film Reel and today's episode is going to be part
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  two of our Rocky Countdown. We were counting down the greatest Rocky movies,
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  ranking them from number six to number one. We got three Rocky movies remaining.
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  But I want to start off today's episode with a tribute to Carl Weathers.
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  And believe it or not, right after I finished recording part one of
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  this podcast a few weeks ago, got the sad news literally right after the
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  recording that Carl Weathers passed away at the age of seventy six. And this
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  one really hit me hard. You know, there's been a lot of celebrity
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  deaths. There's been a lot of deaths in the Rocky franchise. You know,
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  just last year Bert Young passed away who played Paulie. But for some
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  reason, Paulie, he felt a lot older Carl Weathers. You know,
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  he was a healthy man. I mean, seventy six is relatively old,
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  but you know, you saw him just in the Mandalori and you see him
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  in commercials like he's physically fit. So there's something about him passing that just
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  feels a little sadder. I don't know why. And he was in some
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  of my favorite movies growing up, not just the Rocky films, but Happy
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  Gilmour, which we played that clip from, is my second favorite comedy of
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  all time. So not only is he a part of my favorite franchise of
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  all time, Rocky, which we'll you know, talk about in just a
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  moment, but he's also in one of the greatest comedies of all time playing
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  Chubbs, such an iconic character, one that I definitely quote often, especially
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  when playing golf. And then the other big movie that he was in for
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  me growing up was Predator, which is a top five favorite action movie of
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  all time. So I was breaking it down like one of my favorite movies,
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  and he's a part of three of my top fifteen favorite movies of all
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  time. So I just want to start off this Rocky podcast by just giving
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  a shout out to Apollo Creed himself. Mister Carl weathers, you shall be
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  missed. Number three coming in at number three, and my Rocky countdown is
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  Rocky two. Rocky his whole life was a million to one shot, but
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  he's about to show the world he's won in a million while you stand up
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  and fight this guy, har I get done before that was building Rocky two.
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  The story continues, which I think is the most underrated movie in this
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  series. Coming off the smash success of Rocky back in nineteen seventy six,
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  which went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
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  Rocky two picks up right after that original Rocky movie. So Apollo Creed and
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  Rocky they're both going to the hospital, and you know, for people that
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  don't know what happens at the end of Rocky, Rocky does not win the
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  championship from Apollo Creed, but it was a back and forth bout between the
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  two of them and Apollo's Creeds. I think pride has hurt that this unknown
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  guy went the distance with Apollo Creed, you know, the greatest champion of
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  all time. So Apollo needs this rematch. He needs it for himself and
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  Rocky sort of content. He doesn't he doesn't want the rematch. He's living
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  his life. He has Adrian to marry him, which is a hilarious scene.
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  What do you think you do over the next four or fifteen years?
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  What do you mean, Oh, it's wonder if you wouldn't mind marrying me
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  very much? What'd you say if you wouldn't mind marrying me too much?
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  Unfortunately, the character of Adrian, I think, takes a severe dip in
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  quality. I thought she was so good, such an interesting, unique character
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  in the first Rocky movie, and she just does nothing for me in any
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  of the sequels. But eventually Rocky's financial situations, aren't you good? He's
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  going to be having a kid and he can't act in any commercials. Is
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  Again, there's another hilarious scene in this movie. This movie is funny.
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  It's a funny movie. The character of Rocky is a funny character in these
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  first two movies. Again, he becomes a completely different character. Also,
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  you know, he's this very humble, down to earth guy with like a
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  learning disability. I guess I don't know what his issue is. He's after
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  sick one action now action in the morning. I splash it on and it
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  makes me meal mainly smeal, mainly cut, not smell manly. Can you
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  read that? Ruck? Yeah, let's go again. But by Rocky three,
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  it's like he's not the same guy. I don't know if that's if
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  it was written that way on purpose, or Stallone didn't want to act that
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  way. I'm not sure the reason, or it could just be, you
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  know, the character he gets wealthy. He again, he becomes a champion
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  at the end of this movie, So does he get some sort of ego
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  and they they go into that. But the way he talks, in his
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  mannerisms is a lot different in Rocky three and Rocky four than it is in
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  these first two Rocky movies. But eventually, like I said, Rocky is
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  sort of forced to get into a fight with Apollo Creed. Mickey does not
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  want to train him because his eye gets really messed up in that first movie
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  and so he can't see out of one of his eyes. And again that's
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  another thing that's never brought up in any of the other Rocky movies. The
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  continuity, as we've talked about in part one, is sort of all over
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  the place. People's ages are changing, actors are changing certain roles, but
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  you just sort of you just forget that sort of stuff with Rocky. Don't
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  think so hard with the Rocky sequels, But this one, Rocky two,
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  is very much in tone with that first Rocky movie. This one is actually
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  written and directed by Sylvester Sloan. This would be the first Rocky movie that
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  he directs on. I think he does a damn good job. It took
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  everything that you liked with that original movie and sort of amped it up.
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  That's what a lot of sequels do. That could be lazy in one sense.
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  You know, you're doing the same thing that you did in the first
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  movie. But I think it amped it up sort of like Aliens did with
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  Alien and Terminator two did with Terminator. Took the original concept and both those
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  movies are very similar to the originals, as is Rocky two. But it
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  amped it up but had a bigger budget. Obviously. You know, the
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  fight sequences, the training sequences are all a little more extravagant, and you
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  get the happy ending with Rocky becoming the heavyweight Champion of the World by defeating
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  Apollo Creed in the in the climax of the film. So I love Rocky
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  two. I just don't. I think it gets lost in the shuffle.
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  I think when people think of Rocky, they think of Rocky and they think
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  of Rocky four. I think those are the two Rocky movies that everyone sort
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  of envisions when thinking about Rocky, and then probably Rocky three right after that.
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  But Rocky two is is lost lost in the shuffle. You know,
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  people think, okay, Rocky five is terrible, Rocky four's you know,
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  the Russian one and Rockies the Academy Award winning one, and Rocky three's I
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  have the Tiger, and then Rocky two is just not talked about and it's
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  it's I think it's very unfortunate because, like I said, it's most in
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  tone with that original Rocky movie. These are the ones that you need to
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  watch right after the other. So I think I think people need to give
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  this one another chance, because I have it as my third favorite Rocky movie.
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  Number two coming in at number two on this list is Rocky three.
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  I want to tell these nice folks why you've been duking me. This guy
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  is a wrecking machine. You know you've got a big mouth. Walk up.
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  Balboa was a fine champion, but his time has passed. This is
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  when things get a little over the top, which is also a name of
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  another Stallone movie, Rocky three, again written and directed by Sylvester Stallone,
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  takes the franchise into a completely different direction. This film is the one that
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  I always have the most fun with, but I'm also, oh really heartbroken
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  in this movie. In Rocky four, we talked about the death of Apollo
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  Creed and that was sad as a kid. But for me, the one
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  that was a lot sad or was the death of Mickey. And a lot
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  of people give crap to Stallone in the scene when Mickey passes away where he's
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  crying, but I I get really emotional with that. It is a little
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  goofy, you know. Don't get me wrong, but I cry. I
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  cry along with Stallone. Hey, Patrece, this is the Stallone thing from
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  Rocky three. To give it, to stop it for a second, I'm
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  telling you, you got to give it to him. That's a real cry.
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  Crying, dude, that's a real man's cry right there. Trying to
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  talk through it just right. So the main plot of this movie is I
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  think Rocky's ego is growing. So maybe you know what I was talking about.
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  Earlier. Maybe this was written, maybe this was supposed to be a
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  complete character change, because he sort of loses that edge, he loses that
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  eye of the tiger, and he's fighting bums, but he's winning fights,
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  he's making money. He's a lot different vocally, he's a lot different the
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  way he dresses. You know, he's got some wealth to him. And
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  there's the up and coming fighter clubber Lang played by mister T that has that
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  edge he has, I think what Rocky had in that original Rocky movie.
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  He needs to prove that he can go the distance, and on top of
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  that, he's a bad motherfucker, and he beats Rocky. He defeats Rocky,
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  and I think a lot of people didn't see that coming. It deviated
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  from the formula that I think people thought this franchise would go. You know,
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  you have your your villain and they have a climactic battle at the end.
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  But no, Rocky loses a fight to club or Lang and then they
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  have to have a rematch. But what he really loses is this mentor his
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  trainer, Mickey. Mickey passes away after that fight. Before we get to
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  any of this. Actually, there is a charity wrestling boxing fight at the
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  beginning of this movie with Hulk Hogan playing Thunderlips in the flesh puh my love
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  slaves out there. Thunder Lips is here taking on Sylvester Sloan's Rocky. And
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  that's a very interesting story because Hogan wanted to do this movie Rocky three,
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  and Vince McMahon's senior was adamant that he would not do this movie. So
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  Hogan was like, all right, I'm leaving your company. I need to
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  do this Rocky movie. So he went onto the a w A, which
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  is a different wrestling organization, and he became a Juggernaut. He became a
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  smess sensation after the success of this movie. This movie was more successful than
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  Rocky one and Rocky two. It was a giant box office hit and Hogan.
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  Hogan eventually came back to the then WWF when Vince McMahon junior, you
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  know, the Vince McMann that everyone knows and hates now, he's like,
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  I don't care if you're in movies, We're gonna we're gonna have you back
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  here, and the rest is history. Hogan went on to be the World
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  Heavyweight Champion and an icon, but really his claim to fame is from this
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  Rocky movie, as is Mister T. Mister T was a juggernaut in the
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  eighties on the A Team, and of course he had the Mister T serial,
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  but he got is real, you know, shine from from Rocky Cereal.
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  Okay, So, as we mentioned, Mickey passes away and Rocky needs
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  a new ally and he turns to the man that he feuded with in those
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  first two Rocky movies, Apollo Creede. And this is what I love.
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  I love them coming together and Apollo explaining that you need to find that eye
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  of the tiger. And the training sequences, like Rocky's got no soul.
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  You know, he's he's trying to move. You watch Apollow in those fights.
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  You know, he's very much like Muhammad Ali. You know, he's
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  shucking, he's jibing, he's he's moving, he's grooving. And then you
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  look at stallone and he's just like the Frankenstein Monster. You know, he's
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  just very flat footed and and and I guess he's trying to teach him like
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  you, no, you need to have some rhythm, you need to you
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  need to get with it, Rocky. So I love that that growth of
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  that character Rocky and again, they don't talk about Rocky's eye being messed up
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  at all. You just sort of again need to ignore that. So eventually,
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  you know, Rocky finds that edge, he finds that Eye of the
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  Tiger. There's a very homo erotic scene of them, you know, running
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  on the beach together and sort of embracing into the ocean. It's it's hilarious,
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  it's fun, it's inspirational. I mean, I remember getting the soundtrack
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  to this movie and me and my brother would just consistently listen to Eye of
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  the Tiger. Now, it's one of those songs that is very much overplayed,
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  but I don't care. Whenever it's on, you are just jacked,
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  man. You want to go out there and you want to win the heavyweight
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  championship of the world. And that's exactly what Rocky does. He faces clubber
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  Lang in that rematch, and he reclaims the title that is rightfully his.
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  This movie, like I said, I think it's the most fun. It's
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  very cartoony. It's very very different tone than the first two Rocky movies.
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  But I like that because you can't follow, you can't remember what we talked
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  about just a moment ago. How Rocky two sort of took everything that Rocky
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  one did and sort of amped it up. You can't just keep on doing
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  that, then what is Rocky three gonna be even more ramped up? You
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  gotta do something a little different. You gotta take a different sort of tone
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  with the movie. I think, or less it would get very formulaic.
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  So I think taking this approach making it very nineteen eighties. It definitely is
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  of its time. But I love it. Man, I'm a sucker for
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  these types of films. And as I mentioned, it was a smash hit.
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  The soundtrack was a smash hit. Mister t became a smash hit,
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  and him and Hulk Hogan would actually team up at the first ever WrestleMania to
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  take on the late Great Rowdy Roddy Piper and the late great mister Wonderful Paul
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  Orndorf. So yeah, this movie influenced a lot of things. I mean,
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  WrestleMania would not be what it is without Rocky three. Wrestle Wingium wouldn't
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  be a thing without Agan. There is no WWF in my mind. Uh,
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  they couldn't do it without Hogan, and Hogan wouldn't have been Hogan without
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  Rocky three. Mister T would not be mister T without Rocky three, and
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  I don't want to live in a world without mister T. That's why Rocky
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  three is number two on my list, which leads us to number one,
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  Number one. Rocky, Come on, you knew this movie was going to
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  be number one. It is. It's perfection. You know, I've been
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  coming up for six years. Six years You've been sticking it to me.
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  I want to call you. Wanna know? Okay, I'm gonna tell you,
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  guys, you had a talent to become a good fighter. And instead
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  of that yell, m dum cheat second rate your own shot. The character
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  of Rocky Balboa in this film in particular, is so endearing. He's such
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  a charming individual. I think when a lot of people think of Rocky,
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  they just immediately think this is a mindless action movie involving boxing, and maybe
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  some of the sequels make them think that way. They see the clips of
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  the training and that's all they think of Rocky is a is a romance.
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  That's that's the main premise of this movie, is a man falling in love
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  with a very shy woman. I don't know if this if this was being
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  made today, like she'd be classified as autistic. I don't know what Adrian's
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  deal is. If she's just shy. Maybe she's just shy. But it's
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  just adorable. That's the word. Like you never even think, okay,
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  Rocky is adorable. It is, you know, Rocky trying to swoon this
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  woman and uh fall in love with one another by the end of the movie.
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  Is just it's romantic, man, It's It's one of those iconic love
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  stories. Can I ask you a question, absolutely, why do you want
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  to fight? Because I can't stick at that. But also on top of
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  that, it's a great underdog story. It is, in fact the greatest
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  underdog I just had a stroke. It is, in fact the greatest underdog
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  story. This down and out boxer who's fighting in front of ten people gets
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  the opportunity of a lifetime to take on Apollo Creed. And Apollo Creed is
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  such a great character. All the characters are so great in this movie.
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  They're not written better in any of the movies. Apollo Creed, he's this
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  cocky, like we mentioned Muhammad Ali type character who has this ego, but
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  he's not just this like clear cut villain. And he's not Dragos Drago's bad
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  evil man. No, there's layers to the character of Apollo Creed, and
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  you see more of those layers as the movies go on. He's actually pretty
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  much like I think, the best written character in the entire series for consistency.
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  But then there's also Paulie. Paulie, you know, Adrian's brother,
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  who has this jealousy and hate towards a Adrian at some points, but also
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  has this love. You know, I relate, you know, I have
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  a bad temper. I don't have the greatest relationship with my siblings. I
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  don't know. There's a lot of Pauli that I see in myself. And
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  Bert Young is fantastic man the rage that he has, the jealousy, just
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  to look in his eyes, it's such a great performance. The best performance,
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  though, might be might be the Mickey you know, Burgess Meredith is
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  unbelievable as this character, the down and out trainer, the former fighter who
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  doesn't want to train Rocky but eventually gives in. And you know, just
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  how many times has this character been parodied. I think that's that shows how
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  iconic a movie is when you see how many times it's been parodied over the
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  years, and I don't know if the Rocky series might be the most parodied
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  series ever. You know, whether it's in cartoons or other movies, they
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  always seem to have some sort of reference to Rocky. So as we talked
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  about you know that we've talked about it a few times. At the end
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  of this movie, you know, Rocky gets that opportunity to fight Apollo Creed
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  and he doesn't win. But the whole thing is he needs to prove to
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  himself that he can go the distance, he can take on this challenge and
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  not give up, and he goes the distance. You know, it goes
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  down to a decision from the judges, and I love that that takes a
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  lot of balls. A lot of movies wouldn't do that. I think that
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  shows something that that they decided that he's not going to win this fight,
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  but it's still going to be a happy ending to the movie. Brilliant.
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  Stallone bet on himself when making this movie. He wrote the script of this
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  movie, and he was adamant that he was going to be the star in
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  this movie, and he would not make this movie. He would not sell
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  that script unless he got the opportunity to play the character of Rocky because there
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  was a lot of Rocky in himself and he felt that if he got this
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  role, it would change his life forever. And not only did it change
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  his life forever, it changed millions and millions of people's lives because this movie
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  influenced an entire generation, an entire generation. To this day, I am
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  inspired by Rocky and none of that would have happened without this original movie from
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  nineteen seventy six, Rocky the Greatest in the Rocky Series. I want to
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  thank everybody involved in this series. This movie series has been a part of
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  my life for my entire life. And I know he's not listening, but
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  I just want to thank Sylvester Staloon. Thank you from the bottom of my
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  heart for creating this character, one that has inspired me to do better in
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  life, to exercise, to achieve goals that I thought I could never achieve.
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  The greatest underdog of all time, the true champion, the Italian Stallion,
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  Rocky Balboa. So long, everybody, Yeah,