Rocky is about a down and out aging boxer who just fights random guys in local fights to make enough money to scrape buy. He lives in a run down house does odd jobs for some mobsters and is trying to start a relationship with a shy women Adrian who works in a pet store. When the heavyweight world champ Apollo Creed comes to Philadelphia and his opponent gets sick at the last minute they decide to offer a local guy a chance to fight for the title. They decide Rocky would be a good story and chose him. This thrusts this poor unknown boxer from the streets into the spotlight and everyone wants to be his friend now that he is a celebrity. While trying to deal with this new found fame he is trying to start a relationship with Adrian. After some intense training he goes toe to toe with Apollo Creed.
The movie with its now iconic music and scenes still hold up over time. The determination and guts that Rocky shows in his rise to the top is inspiring and in the end it doesn't matter if he wins or loses. It seems weird that Sylvester Stallone who became one of the biggest action stars of the 80's not only starred in a Best Picture but also wrote it. He went on to write 5 more Rocky movies and directed 3 of them. But original is still the best and a classic. It must have been inspiration that people were looking for in 1976. Plus it probably didn't hurt either that it was released in 1976 and took place in Philadelphia on the 200th Anniversary of the United States. But the movie beat other movies that I would consider better then Rocky. Including my favorite from 1976 the prophetic Network, the true story about the breaking of the Watergate scandal All the Presidents Men and the Martin Scorseses Taxi Driver. All these movies are more serious in tone and especially Network and Taxi Driver have a very grim ending. All the Presidents Men might have suffered from Watergate fatigue at that point.
Rocky was nominated for 10 awards including Best Picture, Best Director for John Avildsen , Best Screenplay for Sylvester Stallone, Best Actor for Sylvester Stallone, Best Actress for Talia Shire, and Best Song for 'Gonna Fly Now" and became the first sports movie to win Best Picture. Network went on to beat Rocky for Best Original Screenplay and also became the second movie to win 3 awards for acting. Peter Finch beat Sylvester Stallone and Robert Deniro for Best Actor, Faye Dunaway beat Talia Shire for Best Actress, and Beatrice Straight won for Best Supporting Actress. It was also the first time an acting award was given posthumous as Peter Finch had died shortly before the ceremony.
Other Oscar Facts:
Sylvester Stallone became one of the few people to be nominated for Screenplay and Acting in the same year.
Beatrice Straight won the award for Best Supporting Actress with only being on screen for 6 minutes and 8 seconds.
Martin Scorsese was not nominated for Taxi Driver but Lina Wertmuller became the first women to be nominated for Best Director for her foreign language pic Seven Beauties.
Two horror movies a genre that usually gets overlooked by the Academy got a few nominations this year.
Carrie was nominated for Best Actress for Sissy Spacek and Best Supporting Actress for Piper Laurie and
The Omen was nominated for Best Song and won Best Score.
On a personal note Bound for Glory was the only movie nominated for Best Picture that year that I didn't not see.
By the Numbers
Rocky made AFI's 100 Greatest Films list at #78 in 1997 and #57 in 2007 and is currently #215 in IMDB Top 250.
Network was listed at #66 in 1997 and #64 in 2007 and is currently #196 on IMDB Top 250.
Taxi Driver was listed at #47 in 1997 and #52 in 2007 and is currently #41 on IMDB Top 250.
All the Presidents Men didn't make the list in 1997 but was #77 in 2007
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