Rocky Reviews

Marty like romance tale with boxing gloves.

Full Review | Original Score: C+

The story is achingly familiar, and though Stallone has a certain power, he is certainly not the subtlest actor to crawl out from under Marlon's overcoat.

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A paint-by-numbers inspirational sports film.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

The screenplay of Rocky is purest Hollywood make-believe of the 1930's, but there would be nothing wrong with that, had the film been executed with any verve.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

Rocky retains its power to enthrall ... a quieter movie than some may remember.... It's worth seeing again, for what it was, before it was betrayed by it's less intelligent, testosterone-soaked progeny.

Full Review | Original Score: 87/100

A description of it would sound like a cliche from beginning to end. But Rocky isn't about a story, it's about a hero. And it's inhabited with supreme confidence by a star.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4

The basic storyline has been done to death over the years; this is still one of the most effective and successful applications of the formula.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4

Sly's best pic winner sets underdog-hero standard.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

One of the greatest, if not the greatest, feel good movies of all time.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4

Stallone thoroughly owns the movie with his groggy, downbeat delivery and sense of indomitability.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4

Look past the sequels to see something special in Sylvester Stallone's boxing classic.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

A "guy movie" mega-classic that's really gotten better with age.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5

Stallone -- an actor who has made a career of bad performances in bad films -- proves that when given the right material he can act with the best of them.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

Though far from a masterpiece, the first Rocky (1976) still feels fresh and miraculous, a true Cinderella story making Sylvester Stallone a worldwide star.

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A crowning achievement in Sylvester Stallone's career as a writer and a performer...

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4

There are occasional flashes that the film may be patronizing the lower end of the blue-collar mentality, as much if not more than the characters who keep putting Rocky down on the screen. However, Avildsen is noted for creating such ambiguities.

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Rocky is an old-fashioned fairytale brilliantly revamped to chime in with the depressed mood of the '70s.

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| Original Score: 4/5

| Original Score: 5/5

Tells a timeless story about all the effort it can take to reach for someone else and how our most effective competition can sometimes be us, pushing ourselves to be the best.

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10