Best Rocky Movie?

id go with Rocky 4. Rocky Balboa i liked and really reminded me of why Rocky 1 was so good.

The original still holds up today, I feel, as the best of all the Rockys. I'm the same way with the Rambo movies too. I'm glad there were more but the first ones had to be great to win the hearts of the audience to begin with.

I preferred the Rocky Horror Picture Show. What--that doesn't count???

I've been a Rocky fan since I was 9, and I like them all, including the fifth. But IV is by far my favourite. It was Rocky's greatest fight yet.

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"George, this is a little too much for me. Escaped convicts, fugitive sex... I've got a cockfight to focus on."

Also, to add, Rocky V is one of the more enjoyable of the Rocky series, if not for Richard Gant's brilliantly OTT performance and that wonderful Elton John song at the end.

The first one. Thread closed.

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#31 on SC's Top 100 Mofos list!!

Agreed.

The 4th film has the best training and fight of the series but the rest of the film is just filler nonsense, like Paulie's Robot scene. I rest my case.

I fought the urge to come in this thread for days. Ranking the Rocky movies is the equivalent of ranking fast food burgers.

However, I must admit, I have seen them all. (with the exception of Rocky Balboa)

I guess I was hoping that at least one of the sequels would capture the magic of the first.

Never happened.

With II, you knew he was gonna be champ. You knew it standing in line waiting to buy your ticket. What other possible reason could there be for a sequel, if not to avenge our hero?

III brought the inevitable crash landing. Mr. T was entertaining, but Paulie remains the most entertaining aspect of the Rocky franchise. (in the parking garage, he tells Rocky, "Ok, I'm gonna break your mouth"..that's funny)

Rocky was suddenly smart (huh?) Winning belt + pile of money + tailored suits = Intelligent Rocky

Probably the best thing about III is the unintentional comedy of Rocky & Apollo, frolicking in the surf together in too-short-short-shorts.

IV, I only saw 2-3 times. Now, the Rocky franchise was harmless enough until this point. The blatant parallel of the whole US/Soviet issues of that time is something you'd expect from professional wrestling, not Rocky. It was low, even by Rocky standards. The flag waving got tiresome....fast.

V, I only saw once. Ends up with the street fight & the slimy promoter getting knocked on his a**. Tommy Morrison devoured the scenery in every shot he was in. If you missed V, you missed nothing.

Oh, except the fact that Sly Stallone proved his math formula in III, by reversing it in V.

Losing belt - pile of money - tailored suits = Yo Adrian Rocky

Anyhow, I haven't seen Rocky Balboa, and probably won't, unless the dvd falls into my hands. Then I'll watch it simply because I have a touch of OCD, and seeing the last one will complete the series for me.

After all that gibberish I just typed, I must say the 1st Rocky is easily the best one. I think Stallone said he wrote it in a couple of days. It's not contrived or preachy like the rest of them. It's just a good story about the underdog getting his shot. Everyone loves an underdog.

Some final Rocky thoughts:

I think it's awesome how every punch thrown in every Rocky movie is the Old Missouri Soup Bone Haymaker. What's more awesome is that every single punch lands.

Think twice before agreeing to be Rocky's manager.

Mick - Dead
Apollo - Dead

I live near Philly, and have been through Italian market several times, (where the guy throws Rocky the orange), and it looks exactly like that. It's not a movie set.

Rocky's made its mark, for sure. 'Gonna Fly Now' in a pretty awesome piece of music. 'Yo Adrian' is as much a piece of Americana as the Rocky Staute.

Speaking of which, whenever someone comes to visit, they invariably want me to take them to see the Rocky Statue. It's been moved around some. Last time I looked, it was at the top of the steps of the Philadelphia Spectrum, and someone had stuck a '94 WYSP' classic rock bumper sticker on Rocky's belt.

If I remeber right, there was actually a big stink about where to actually put the thing. The Museum of Art didn't want it out front of their place. (Too 'common'). I think some politicos actually got involved. That was a looong time ago, though. I could be wrong.


Anyhow, I'm done droning.

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"A severed foot is the ultimate stocking stuffer" ~ Comedian Mitch Hedberg (1968-2005)

I just adore the whole Rocky series (well maybe not the 5th one). So many great and classic elements - Stallone, the characters (Rocky, Micky, Apollo, Clubber Lang, Ivan Drago etc), the music, the training montages, the fantastically over the top fights etc.

As for 'best' it is undoubtedly the first film. For my 'favourite' however it's a really close battle between the first and the gloriously cheesy 4th film. The first probably just coming out on top

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I cast my vote for Somebody Up There Likes Me as the best Rocky movie.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

My favorites in order:

1.) Rocky

2.) Rocky II

3.) Rocky III

4.) Rocky IV

5.) Rocky V

6.) Rocky Balboa

Yep - just like that. In order. Although, to be honest, I almost put Rocky II and Rocky III before Rocky, but I think Rocky is really good and has props for being the original. I love the Rocky series. I have them all on Blu-ray and DVD. They're great, inspirational movies. Sylvester Stallone being hot as in hell in them doesn't hurt, either. I'm more interested in the story than what happens before the big fight scenes at the end. And yes, I like Rocky V more than Rocky Balboa. The last one was just kind of boring to me... and he and Paulie just seem old and pathetic. I really haven't watched it much, though. At least Rocky V has him naked in that shower in the beginning. Plus Adrian's in it and even though I liked that she had died in 6, it was all just so depressing - more than the 5th, which was supposed to be the most depressing.

The movie that got me into the series, though, was Rocky IV... and it's all this damn robot's fault:



Most. Random. Thing. Ever.

They should have stopped after the first one.

Rocky actually beats Apollo Creed? Come on. And then the even nastier characters that followed?

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It reminds me of a toilet paper on the trees
- Paula

Like most everyone, I like them all (except Rocky V), but my favorite will always be Rocky III. It's the first one I saw at the cinema and I thought the series should have stopped there. I did like Rocky IV but the death of a beloved character hurts. But III had my favorite things going for it in a Rocky movie: awesome training montage; great final fight; the joy of two major boxing sequences, one at the beginning, one at the end, plus Hulk Hogan's "fight" with Rocky; good comic relief from Paulie; and the best ending, for me, of a Rocky movie, with everyone together in triumph.

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"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

I dont understand the hate that 3 gets, its entertaining and it makes sense, the only reason its called 'silly' is because of the larger than life character of mr T but so what? he wasnt even BA back then.

IV sucked ass but had the best training montage

V had a half okay plot but was just executed so terribly

IV was decent not quite as good as I or II but has quality to it

i enjoyed the first one the most

Took more than a few days. Sylvester was spending more time at Vince's Gym at the time than he was writing but when he got down to it, it took more than a few months. The proof reading didn't take more than a few days. At first the studios liked the script but wanted someone else in the lead role. They offered Stalone $200,000 for the script alone and he was starving but he still held out, insisting he star in it. The studios caved in and he went on to make history.
In those days you could find Arnold and Columbo and Ferigno in the same gym. Arnold moved to Gold's and went on to win 7 MR. Olympias and on to Hollywood, eventually to become partners and co-owner with Stalone and Willis in Planet Hollywood.

Rocky - Great movie...one of the Best sports movies ever made
Rocky 2 - A pretty good sequel although it was a bit slower than the first one. The final fight against Creed was awesome though.
Rocky 3 - Completely over the top as most movies in the early 80's were. This is probably the most comical of all the Rocky movies.
Rocky 4 - Totally absurd, but I liked it because Dolph Lungren can hit 3000 kilos into that machine or whatever it was.
Rocky 5 - This was where the franchise went south. Tommy Gunn - played by Tommy Morrison was no Clubber Lang or Ivan Drago
Rocky Balboa - I liked this movie as it tried to circle back to its roots. Antonio Tarver plays the champ that Rocky needs to square off with. I'd probably still rank this behind the first 4 movies though.

I agree, slestack11, on Rocky Balboa bringing the story full-circle. It didn't seem like a movie sequel just for a sequel's sake. It wasn't overlong, Stallone made his point and got out. He clearly loves Rocky and put a nice bow on the series.

Rocky 1 will always be the best no doubt

I'll go with Rocky I. It earned the awards that it got.

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"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men." -- Samuel Adams (1722-1803)