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'Rocky' Rankings! · The Recess Bell

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  This production is brought to you by the Reesas Bell. Rocky Balboa is my
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  favorite character in all of cinema, and the Rocky series is my all time
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  favorite film series. It has inspired multiple generations of people to overcome the odds
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  and go the distance. But what is the best in the series. Everyone
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  has their own personal favorite. But let's find out where I rank the movies
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  on this episode of Film Reel number six. All right, so I think
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  we all know where this list is starting. And by the way, I'm
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  not going over the Creed movies. That's its own thing. I'm just gonna
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  do the six Rocky movies. And I think majority of people, when you
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  ask them what the worst of the Rocky movies is, they're gonna say Rocky
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  five. All that's left is his family. We've been down before. I'll
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  get it all back his heart. I gotta fight, Okay, I got
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  problem. They gotta fight and a dream, a dream to get it all
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  back. This is a tremendous opportunity, opportunity for who for you to make
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  money for him to be disabled. Even though it was panned by critics and
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  audiences didn't flock to the cinemas like they did for the previous four Rocky movies.
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  I still have a soft spot for this movie. Anytime it's on,
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  I'm watching it, whether it's at the beginning of the movie, at the
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  end of the movie, I'm sticking through till we get to that climax where
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  Rocky's in that street fight with Tommy gunn Judgment, Come on, fuck Judgment.
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  How suit Silver for what now? If you like the boxing scenes in
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  the previous Rocky movies, which has its flaws, clearly, you know,
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  the fight choreography got better as the series progressed. You know, Rocky Balboa
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  had some great fight choreography, and then the Creed films took it to another
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  level. But if you like boxing, this does not feature Rocky boxing Rocky
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  at the end of Rocky four, and it's weird. The timeline in the
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  series is just all over the place because Rocky five takes place right after Rocky
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  Four. But Rocky's kid in Rocky four is a little kid, and then
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  by the time Rocky five begins, he's played by Sage Stallone, who is
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  you know, Sylvester Sloan's actual son, but he's significantly older. But Rocky
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  is forced to retire at the beginning of Rocky five, and he takes on
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  a Mickey type role. You know, he's the trainer and the guidance to
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  a young up and coming fighter, Tommy Gunn played by Tommy Morrison, who
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  was a great boxer who he had his own issues though unfortunately. But I
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  mean, if you watch the real fights of Tommy Morrison, I mean that
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  guy was vicious in the ring though a lot of awesome knockouts. If he
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  gets up on me, the most surprised person in the conca, this fight
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  should be over now. Moya should stop this fight. He is not to
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  his speak, but he stopped the fight another first round knockout or tied to
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  a fuss. It's cool that the Rocky series brings in real athletes, because
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  you can't fake that. You know, if you look at somebody throwing a
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  punch in a movie, you could tell right away that they're not athletic.
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  And Rocky, you know, always brought real athletic people into this film series.
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  So I really like that. You know, when you watch a movie,
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  even if it's a football movie or basketball movie, and these guys,
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  these actors are playing athletes, it takes out of the movie when they're just
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  not athletic looking. This movie is very depressing though. You know, the
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  character of Rocky is going through a lot of financially issues. He sort of
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  goes back to his roots, moving back to his own, you know,
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  his old hometown, and even dresses how he used to dress in the original
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  Rocky movie, and a lot of this movie brought back a lot of elements
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  of that original film. I think the biggest thing would be the director,
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  John Avilson. You know, he he directed the original Rocky film and went
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  on to win Best Picture in nineteen seventy six, and this was the first
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  time he returned to the franchise. But this movie has its flaws. Sage
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  Stallone, you know, God rest his soul, he's not good in the
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  role of playing Rocky Son. It tries something different. You know, you
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  got to give kudos to Stallone for not following the same formula. He tried
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  to do something different with the movie and it still has some great scenes.
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  You know, when Rocky and Tommy get into that street fight at the end
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  of the film and you think Rocky's knocked out, and then he has that
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  vision of Mickey Big at the NFL get up the son of it. That's
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  all. If that moment does not give you goosebumps, you just don't have
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  a soul. Now. The original ending of this movie was actually gonna have
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  Rocky dying, and I'm so glad they did not go that route because Rocky
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  Balboa is a significantly better film than this one. You know, the sixth
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  Rocky movie and then the Creed series I thought was amazing as well, So
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  I'm glad they didn't go that route. I still like the movie. It's
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  got a good Elton John song at the end of it. Rocky Five's terrible,
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  but you know, it's one of those movies it's so bad, it's
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  kind of good. Number five Rocky Balboa. You heard Rocky Balboa applied for
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  a license. You want me to find a guy that I could be with
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  both hands tibaha my back. That computer fight got a lot of people curious.
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  Yeah, but I aint interested in getting like mangled and embarrassed. People
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  think you're going crazy? What's crazy about standing tote of toad saying, I
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  am If this is something that you gotta do, then you do it.
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  This is the only Rocky movie that I actually got to see in theaters and
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  I'm so glad that this movie was made. It really gave redemption to this
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  character, to this series. You know, Rocky five was sort of a
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  punching bag pun intended. It was a punchline really for a lot of you
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  know, jokes. It was panned by critics, as I mentioned, and
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  the series was kind of, you know, ridiculed for the next fifteen years
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  or so until Rocky Balboa came out, and that movie I think really shocked
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  everybody and how good it was. Is the plot a little far fetched?
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  Yeah? Perhaps, you know, in the Rocky five we were told that
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  Rocky would never be able to box again, but he was able to come
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  back somehow. In Rocky Balbo, I guess doctors kind of cleared him medically
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  to box. But you know, this takes clearly takes inspiration from George Foreman.
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  You know, for people that don't know, George Foreman was not just
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  the guy who made the Grill, but he was a boxer in the seventies
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  and he sort of hung it up for over a decade or so and then
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  came back in the nineties as an old, you know, out of shape
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  man and was kicking ass heavyweight. History has happened. Referee Joe Cortes reaches
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  the count of ten at two minutes three seconds around number ten, the winner
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  gonna wait and once again heavyweight chopping of a ready. So I think Rocky
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  sort of uh followed that formula with Rocky Balboa. Okay, yeah, he's
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  in his fifties, but he's still a bad ass. He's still got a
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  powerful punch, and this goes back to that formula that we're used to.
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  You know, this is a boxing movie, but it's got some deep elements
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  to it. This is the first movie without Adrian, you know, spoiler
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  alert to a movie that's almost twenty years old. But Adrian passes away in
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  the timeline of Rocky in between Rocky five and Rocky six. You know,
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  Rocky Balboa. I'm not a fan. I will say of the naming of
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  the movie. Why couldn't they just follow? You know, he had Rocky
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  one, and then Rocky two, and then Rocky three. They did the
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  Roman numerals thing, you know, IV that might be confusing to somebody like
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  is he a doctor in this one? No? And then Rocky V.
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  Why wasn't this Rocky V. I I don't know. They went the Rocky
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  Balboa route with that, But that's a whole nother discussion. You know,
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  naming of movies is something that's actually a big pet peeve of mine, but
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  we're not going to get into that. But we will get into the passing
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  of Adrian. Now it's not on film, but I think it's not needed
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  to be on film. We sort of know where Rocky is mentally just by
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  his performance, and Stallone gives gives a great performance. A lot of people
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  think Stallone's a bad actor. Is he like the greatest actor? No,
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  But I think with the right role, he could do some really good things.
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  And with this Rocky character, he's perfected it. A lot of Rocky
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  is Stallone. That's what works. It's what works in pro wrestling also,
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  and there is a lot of elements of pro wrestling in the Rocky series.
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  We'll get to Thunderlips and a couple of films spoiler for where my ranking of
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  Rocky three is. But you know, the best wrestlers are the ones who
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  their character is very close to what they are in the real world. And
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  a lot of Rocky is Sylvester Stallone. And and I think another really great
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  thing about this movie it might might be one of the best things in the
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  whole series. It's the relationship of Rocky and his son Robert, and this
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  time not played by Sage Stallone. Uh, what the hell's the guy's name?
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  I don't know, some Greek name. Uh Robert on googling it,
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  folks, you know, I could edit this out. We're gonna, We're
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  gonna, We're gonna keep it going. Robert Balboa actor, I'm not gonna.
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  I can't say this guy's name. Uh, Melo Ventimiglia. He he
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  does a fantastic job as as Robert Balboa. And their relationship is sort of
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  it's messed up at this point in the Rocky timeline, and this movie is
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  really about, uh, you know, rebuilding that relationship. I think that's
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  the core part of this, of this story in the Rocky series, is
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  the rebuilding of Robert and Rocky. Let me tell you something you already know.
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  The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty
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  place, and I don't care how tough you are. It will beat you
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  to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it me or Nobody's
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  gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit.
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  It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how
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  much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how win it has done.
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  Now, if you know what you're worth, now go out and deal
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  with you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits and not
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  pointing fingers saying you ain't where you want to be because of him or her
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  or anybody. Cowards do that, and that ain't you. You're better than
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  that. I'm always gonna love you no matter what, no matter what happens.
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  You're my son, you're my blood. You're the best thing in my
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  life. But until you start believing in yourself, you could have a life.
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  Don't forget to visit your mother. The villain in this movie not really
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  a villain, and I think I think that is one of the bigger flaws
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  in the movie. And I guess it's more realistic. You know, does
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  it have to always be an over the top villain like a clubber Lang or
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  a you know, Drago? It doesn't, It certainly doesn't. But Mason
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  the line Dixon not really that memorable. He's played by a real boxer,
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  Antonio tarvar So again, you know, it looks real and it's presented as
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  a real fight when Rocky goes up against the champ, you know, Mason,
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  the Line Dixon. It's it's filmed like an HBO boxing event, and
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  I think that's a great presentation for the climax of this film. But again,
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  it's not really about the boxing. It never really was about the box
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  in the Rocky series. It's about overcoming loss of Adrian, moving on in
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  a relationship, and mending the relationship with your son. And it's it's again
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  about going the distance. It's about proving that at an older age that you
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  don't need to be the champion. And he doesn't win. There is a
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  cut, you know, a different version where he does win the fight at
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  the end. I'm glad they didn't release that one in theaters. That's what
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  makes the original Rocky so great is he goes the distance, and this one
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  shows that even as an old man, like I said, he could still
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  go the distance. Rocky Balboa fantastic movie, but it only comes in at
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  number five, number four. This is where the controversy is going to begin.
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  I think a lot of people would have this movie as the best in
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  the Rocky series. I think it's an amazing movie. Like I said,
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  I like all the Rocky movies, but coming in at number four is number
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  four. He could have saved his best friend's life. Live good, you
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  come, But now the one thing he can't do is walk away. Has
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  the fight? Dason said, yet where in Russia? No, you nuts
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  will be going to Russian I'm not going to Russia. I don't know what
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  you're talking about. That he's had one professional fight and one man is dead.
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  Rocky four is a fantastic film. Is it really a film? Though?
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  It's more of a just a montage video of training sequences, and it's
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  great. I use this movie as inspiration for me to exercise. I always
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  have the film score, which I think you know takes a different turn.
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  It's more of a synthesizer score. It's not Bill Conti, it's it's Vince
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  Dacola doing the music. It's very nineteen eighties, but I love it.
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  I actually had the pleasure of interviewing Vince Stacola, and I love his stuff.
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  Now, this movie did do something very important. It did actually end
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  the Cold War. For people that don't know Rocky speech at the end of
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  the movie actually ended the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States,
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  so it's it's very important historically. Fight I seen a lot of changing the
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  change the way you just felt about me in the way I felt about you
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  is meaningless. If I can change and you can change, everybody change.
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  But as far as the movie goes, it is very weak on plot.
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  As I mentioned, I'd say a third of the movie is training sequences.
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  But it's fun. It is such a fun movie, even even though the
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  sadness of Apollo dying is there. But the build up with with the James
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  Brown living in America, come on, how do you not dance to that
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  number? So the main plot, you know, Apollo takes on Drago.
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  Draco killeds Apollo. Rocky has guilt for not throwing in the towel you know
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  during the fight and to get redemption, I guess for you know, letting
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  his friend die. He goes on to fight Drago. Is not a lot
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  of depth to the character of Drago in this movie, but I'm glad again,
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  I'm glad this character gets revisited in Creed too, because you know,
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  these characters and again I hate to really spoil where I'm putting some movies,
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  but I love the character of Apollo Creed in that original movie because he has
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  depth. There is layers to that character. Drago is essentially just a you
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  know, a Frankenstein monster created by the Soviet Union to take down the American
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  of Rocky Balboa. So yeah, there's not really much depth to Drago.
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  But this is just this is like a cartoon. This is like one of
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  those eighties, you know, action cartoons where you have the bad guy and
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  it's so clear cut, there's no shades of gray. This guy's clearly bad.
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  He killed our friend. We got to train and we gotta fight him
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  in the end. And it's great for what it is, but I do
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  think it is a little overrated. I think a lot of people have this,
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  like I said, if not the best Rocky movie, they definitely have
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  it as the second best Rocky movie, and I completely disagree that. All
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  being said, I love this movie, the music, the training sequences,
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  the atmosphere, the finale, James Brown, It's amazing. It just doesn't
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  crack my top three. And if you want to find out where I rank
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  the remaining three Rocky movie, you'll have to tune in next week because we
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  are not going the distance today. We're gonna break this down into two parts,
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  so tune in next week as I tell you where Rockies one, two,
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  in three rank is it gonna be in that order? You know?
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  I don't know. I do know. Actually you're just gonna have to wait
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  to find out, all right, guys, keep punching. Ay, oh, Adrian Rocky