ROCKY III: A 40th Anniversary Retrospective

A Million-to-One Shot

Sylvester Stallone was a broke actor with no prospects when he wrote the screenplay for Rocky in 1975. The script soon became a hot property. However, Stallone wasn’t looking for a quick payday. Instead, he believed that he had to assume creative control over his work if he was to get anywhere in Hollywood. Subsequently, he agreed to sell the script to producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff. The one caveat was that he be cast in the lead.

Stallone’s gamble paid off. In 1976 Rocky was a huge hit, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Stallone became the third person in Academy Awards history nominated for acting and screenwriting in the same year. The two who preceded him were Charlie Chaplin for The Great Dictator (1940) and Orson Welles for Citizen Kane (1941).

Stallone smartly leveraged his success when United Artists asked for a sequel. He told the studio that he wanted to direct Rocky II (1979). They were reluctant. Stallone’s directorial debut, Paradise Alley (1978), had been a box office disappointment. Still, when Stallone threatened to pull out of the Rocky sequel altogether, UA promptly agreed to his demand.

Rocky II was a genuine crowd-pleaser when it hit theaters in 1979. The film exceeded expectations for sequel performance and proved that neither Stallone nor Rocky was a fluke. Plans for a third film were announced. Subsequently, Stallone went to work on a script. Could the filmmaker and his character continue their winning streak?

Back to the Neighborhood

Stallone struggled for over a year to come up with a concept for Rocky III. The first two films chronicled the rise of Rocky Balboa from a Philadelphia club fighter to the heavyweight champion of the world. Any new story would have to be more than just Rocky defending his title against another fighter.

In one version of the script, Rocky fights a Russian champion in the Roman Coliseum. Stallone thought that playing on real-world Cold War tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union might make for big box office. He also toyed with the idea of having Rocky die after the final fight. However, nothing seemed to work.

Stallone needed to recapture the magic of Rocky as the likable everyman. Rocky the underdog was a beloved character because audiences could relate to his struggles, desires, and fears. He was not so relatable as the heavyweight champion of the world surrounded by the trappings of success. His fall from grace because of a crisis of confidence made for compelling drama.

As with previous installments of the Rocky story, Stallone tapped into his own life for inspiration. He recalled after the success of the first film:

“I got a little carried away. I became completely caught up in the fantasy and avoided the reality for quite a while. It took me a lot of time, a lot of pain, a lot of experimentation to get back to where I’m on a stable course once again. And that pretty much is what Rocky III is all about.”

Clubber Lang

Rocky’s opponent needed to be a greater threat than Apollo Creed, Rocky’s nemesis from the first two films. The villain Stallone came up with was James “Clubber” Lang. Clubber is a ruthless fighter whose only goal is to destroy whoever is dumb enough to get in the ring with him.

Stallone took his time looking for the right actor to portray Clubber Lang. He worked with casting director Rhonda Young to field numerous possibilities. Two men who rose to the top were former heavyweight boxing champions Joe Frazier and Earnie Shavers. Frazier, who had a cameo in Rocky, stuttered on camera. Shavers had a high-pitched voice that drained all the threat out of his menacing appearance.

Young then caught an episode of NBC’s Games People Play featuring a World’s Toughest Bouncer competition. The winner of the contest was a physically imposing, charismatic man with a mohawk named Mr. T. Born Laurence Tureaud, Mr. T. was a Chicago native who rose from bar bouncer to celebrity bodyguard. His clients included boxers Frazier, Muhammad Ali, and Leon Spinks. Mr. T. was large, athletic, and eager to break into show business.

He worked hard to get the role of Clubber and delivers a fantastic performance. The new actor took lessons, rehearsed dialogue, and maintained a vigorous workout regimen. Stallone praised his performance during the film’s publicity tour and many times after, stating that the film would not have worked without him. Producer Irwin Winkler recalled that Mr. T brought everything to the role:

“He was never frightened of the camera, never frightened of Sly.”

Tough Gym

A fitness craze began sweeping the nation at the beginning of the 1980s. Gyms, bodybuilding, and aerobic workouts became popular. Professional athletes like ball players and boxers were putting more emphasis on their physical fitness. Stallone noticed this and wanted Rocky to respond in kind. This meant a new look for the hero.

In the two previous installments, Rocky was incredibly strong but beefy. He did not have a lot of muscular definition. Stallone put himself through a grueling exercise routine that lasted for months before filming. His daily routine consisted of a two-mile run in the morning, then two hours of weight training, 18 rounds of sparring, another weightlifting session, then a swim. Stallone’s daily food intake consisted of ten egg whites with a piece of toast, oatmeal cookies made with brown rice, a small scoop of tuna fish, and twenty-five cups of coffee.

This workout routine and high-protein diet brought Stallone down to 155 pounds with a dangerously low body fat percentage of 4.5%. The actor grew light-headed and sometimes lacked physical and mental energy. While filming the fight and workout scenes, Stallone would do handstands between takes to get the blood flowing back to his head.

The work paid off on screen. Rocky is completely shredded, which is bodybuilding speak for maximum muscular definition. It allowed Stallone and cinematographer Bill Butler to perform an optical illusion that plays well in the film’s fight scenes. Even though Stallone was only 155 pounds, audiences watching him on screen could believe that Rocky was a 200-pound heavyweight because of his muscular definition. This let Clubber Lang, who actually was the size of a heavyweight fighter, appear much bigger on screen when compared to Rocky.

In the Champ’s Corner

All the major players from the first two films returned for Rocky III. Each of the main characters had a compelling story arc that allowed the actors to explore their roles. So many sequels treat supporting roles as two-dimensional stock characters. Stallone did not let that happen in this film.

Talia Shire returns as Rocky’s wife Adrian. Adrian transforms from the shy pet-shop clerk of the first two films to the fashionable wife of a celebrity. She is comfortable with the life Rocky’s success has afforded them. She is also realistic about their situation and a lot tougher this time around. Only Adrian can snap Rocky out of his doldrums as the film heads into its third act, delivering her best line of the film:

“What do we have that can’t be replaced? A house. We’ve got cars. We’ve got money. We have got everything but the truth. What’s the truth, dammit?”

Burt Young as Paulie continues to provide much of the franchise’s comic relief. He can’t change too much because Paulie will always be Paulie. However, he transforms from a drunken bum brother-in-law to a reliable corner man by the final fight. Oddly enough, it’s his jealousy of Rocky’s success that provides the first glimpse of how much the hero has changed since becoming the champ. Paulie challenges Rocky:

“Three years, did you give me a job? You gave me a lousy, stinkin’ ex-lax watch.”

Burgess Meredith revisits his role as Rocky’s crusty trainer Mickey Goldmill who takes on the added dimension of fatherly protector. Mickey chose softer opponents for Rocky after he won the heavyweight title. Not setups, but fighters less dangerous than Apollo Creed and certainly less dangerous than Clubber Lang. Mickey wants to keep Rocky healthy and give him the good life he earned. Mickey tries to warn Rocky:

“He ain’t just another fighter. This guy is a wrecking machine, and he’s hungry. Hell, you ain’t been hungry since you won that belt.”

Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed makes the biggest change from enemy to ally. Apollo craves the spotlight after Rocky defeated him in Rocky II. Creed also believes that Rocky can beat Lang, but only with his help. He even lends Rocky his star-spangled trunks from their final fight together. Creed reminds Rocky:

“When we fought, you had that eye of the tiger. The edge. And now you gotta get it back. And the way to get it back is to go back to the beginning.”

Tale of the Tape

Rocky III was released in theaters on May 28, 1982. Critical response was mixed. However, like any successful franchise, the film was impervious to bad reviews. It remained in the box office top ten throughout the summer. It closed its 32-week domestic run with $124 million. Rocky III was the fourth highest-grossing film of 1982, behind E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Tootsie, and An Officer and a Gentleman.

The theme song to the film, Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger, became a huge hit. It was certified 8x platinum and ranks at number 26 on Billboard’s all-time Hot 100 singles. Eye of the Tiger is one of the most recognizable pop songs in American history. However, it almost didn’t happen. Stallone originally wanted Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust but failed to secure the rights. Another contender was Joe Esposito’s You’re the Best. Stallone rejected this tune, and it ended up in the 1985 film The Karate Kid.

Art and life intersected after Rocky III in an unexpected way. In the film, the City of Philadelphia presents Rocky with a large bronze statue of his likeness placed at the top of the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This is the location where Rocky finished his run in iconic scenes in the first two films. When filming was completed, Stallone wanted to give the three-ton, 10-foot statue to the city.

Some argued that the statue was really a movie prop and didn’t deserve to be located among great works of art. The statue was relocated to the Philadelphia Spectrum sports arena. In 2006 it was brought back to the Museum grounds.

Stallone didn’t fear being typecast or that people would forever link him to his fictional alter-ego. He said shortly after the film was released:

“I really did like the character. Everything I have is because of him. He was like my therapist, my best friend, my idol, someone to live up to. I don’t know what’s going to replace him.”

It turned out that nothing would have to. Rocky III’s success secured Stallone’s place as a Hollywood A-lister for the rest of the 1980s. Stallone revisited Rocky numerous times. Subsequently, there have been three sequels and two spinoffs. All of them were box office hits. The character of Rocky Balboa is firmly ingrained in American popular culture.

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