When Hollywood inspired a generation in the midst of despair

JOHN WIGHT celebrates a timeless boxing movie classic marking its 50th anniversary this year 

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And such was the drama involved in the Herculean efforts of its then unknown writer and lead actor in the movie, Sylvester Stallone, to get it made that it has spawned its very own movie, I Play Rocky, due out in November.

The story of Stallone’s success in getting Rocky from the page onto the screen is indeed the stuff of movies. A young struggling actor in the mid-1970s, Stallone drew inspiration for the story from witnessing, from the vantage point of an old black and white TV, Muhammad Ali being taken the distance when he fought unknown journeyman fighter Chuck Wepner in 1975. 

Designed to be nothing more than a tune-up fight for Ali, Wepner succeeded in knocking Ali to the canvas in the ninth round on the way to lasting the entire 15 rounds of the contest.

Stallone saw in Wepner’s performance a deeper truth surrounding the drive for validation in producing and achieving the unexpected. Heavily leaning in to residual affection for the underdog that underpins the mythos of the American dream, he came up with a classic script and story that still bears up to this day.

Indeed, Rocky — from the moment of its release in early December 1976 — took on a life of its own, launching Stallone into the stratosphere of Hollywood celebrity while inspiring succeeding generations with its message of hope even in the midst of despair.

On broader level, the relationship between Hollywood and boxing is one that stretches way, way back. This is no surprise as boxing is a sport whose history is littered with lives steeped in drama, tragedy and personal struggle, legendary characters deserving of the accolade of having their stories told on the silver screen.

With this in mind, boxing movies have long constituted a genre of their own, giving the world some classic and iconic films that have stood the test of time. 

In the 1950s and ’60s two in particular set the standard. Requiem for a Heavyweight, made in 1962, starred Anthony Quinn as the fictional character of “Harlan Mountain” McLintock, a washed up heavyweight who finds redemption away from the ring. 

The original TV version appeared in 1956 and featured Jack Palance, while a later British TV adaptation of Requiem made the name of a young Scottish actor by the name of Sean Connery. 

Somebody Up There Likes Me, produced in the same period, tells the story of middleweight legend Rocky Graziano. It starred a young method-actor in the shape of Paul Newman.

Moving on, perhaps the greatest boxing movie ever made was Raging Bull in 1980, starring Robert De Niro as controversial boxing legend Jake La Motta. It regularly ranks in critics’ all time top 10 movie lists.

Also up there and worthy of mention is The Hurricane, 1999. Starring Denzel Washington in the lead, The Hurricane is a dramatisation of the life of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, who fought a long and ultimately successful battle against wrongful imprisonment for murder. Then you have Cinderella Man from 2005, which is inspired by the life of Depression-era fighter Jim Braddock with Russell Crowe in the title role.

Such an enduring history of depiction on the silver screen proves that boxing is a sport that lends itself to the mechanics of storytelling. Anyone who ever took the time to explore the life and background of even an average fighter would understand why.

The extreme nature of the sport demands the kind of dedication that most sports do not. The fear involved, the effort required to control this fear, is so immense that the reservoir of mental strength and courage required to do so can only rarely be manufactured.

It is why that by far its most common source is a hard life replete with struggle and conflict. It is a background of dysfunction and hardship of a type your average middle-class social worker would be at a complete loss to comprehend.

In the modern era one fighter exemplified more than any other the attributes and background common to the fighter. It was fitting that his was also a story later turned into a movie. His name is “Irish” Micky Ward and the movie of his life, The Fighter, was released in 2010. It featured Mark Wahlberg as Ward, whose journey from the streets of Lowell, Massachusetts, to boxing glory would be hard to believe if not true.

Returning to Sylvester Stallone and his iconic Rocky series, most critics are in agreement that the first and sixth of the movies made stand out. Rocky Balboa came out in 2006 and was closest in spirit to the original. In it we join Rocky in retirement, running a restaurant in a not so good part of his home town of Philly.

In what foreshadowed the Misfits and YouTube boxing phenomenon of our time, Rocky is persuaded to come out of retirement for one more shot at glory. His opponent, other than himself, is Mason “The Line” Dixon, played by former world champion Antonio Tarver.

In the process of making his unlikely comeback, Rocky comes into conflict with his son, who initially finds his father’s antics as an ageing fighter looking to have one more contest embarrassing. In the most memorable scene from the movie, Rocky and his son have a heated argument in the street over what amounts to the meaning of life.

Rocky: “Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently, if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward!”

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