Rocky Balboa is a Philadelphia club fighter who seems to be going nowhere. But when a stroke of fate puts him in the ring with a world heavyweight champion, Rocky knows that it's his one shot at the big time — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go the distance and come out a winner!
Sylvester Stallone [is] as likable as a basset hound.
– Gene Siskel,
Chicago Tribune,
6 Feb 2013
rotten:
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.
– Richard Schickel,
TIME Magazine,
26 Jul 2011
fresh:
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.
– A.D. Murphy,
Variety,
20 Feb 2009
fresh:
I wanted to like it more than I did, but it'll do.
– Dave Kehr,
Chicago Reader,
13 Dec 2006
fresh:
Rocky is an old-fashioned fairytale brilliantly revamped to chime in with the depressed mood of the '70s.