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Thursday, 18 August 2011

Rocky - or the American Fantozzi


Let's admit it. We were watching Rocky as kids and thought it was cool. We watch it now and think it's trash. But what a piece of trash!
Rocky comes to life illiterate, ignorant and almost retarded. But the evolution works on him, and in Rocky IV he is almost normal. He can even drive his cars! More than that, at the end of the chapter he makes a speech to the Russians and the Americans which could easily be in the Penguin Book of 20th-Century Speeches.
And Adrian, oh Adrian. She is the great woman behind the great champion. Champion? Not that Rocky is a winner. He is a man who can simply take more punches than the others. That's how he usually wins his fights.
The initial chapter is a phenomenon in itself. The sequel, as often happens, is not really up to the first movie, but then comes the 3rd part. Which is easy to label as the trashiest of all. But look attentively and I am sure you will agree that it puts the gay element in it, making it simply great. Just re-watch the scenes where Rocky and Apollo run together on the beach: it's all about their leg muscles going up and down , the two friends wearing those cut-to-the-chest sweatshirts... and they end up celebrating in the sea, embracing each other among splashes of water. Just watch them, all the cliches are there!
In Rocky IV, Rocky recovers all of his virility, and couldn't be otherwise having to be the champion of American-ity. ...Or is it just because his partner Apollo is dead?


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