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[CONTAINER][POSTER] [/POSTER][MOVIE]Title: Rocky II

Tagline: Once he fought for a dream. Now he's fighting for love!

Genre: [GENRE]Drama[/GENRE], [GENRE]Sports Film[/GENRE]

Director: [DIRECTOR]Sylvester Stallone[/DIRECTOR]

Cast: [ACTOR]Sylvester Stallone[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Talia Shire[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Burt Young[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Carl Weathers[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Burgess Meredith[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Tony Burton[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Joe Spinell[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Leonard Gaines[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Sylvia Meals[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Frank McRae[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]John Pleshette[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Stu Nahan[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Bill Baldwin[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Jerry Ziesmer[/ACTOR]

Release Date: [RELEASE]1979-06-15[/RELEASE]

Runtime: [RUNTIME]119[/RUNTIME]

Plot: [PLOT]After Rocky goes the distance with champ Apollo Creed, both try to put the fight behind them and move on. Rocky settles down with Adrian but can't put his life together outside the ring, while Creed seeks a rematch to restore his reputation. Soon enough, the "Master of Disaster" and the "Italian Stallion" are set on a collision course for a climactic battle that is brutal and unforgettable.[/PLOT][/MOVIE][/CONTAINER]

I don't understand how you can watch only the first one. I don't know if it's that Western attitude that says we have to wrap everything up in a tidy bow/win in the end/root for the underdog/etc., but these two movies are each practically half of one big movie with a looong intermission. I'm sure RockyII was created just because somebody wanted to capitalize on the unexpected success of the first one, but whoever put it together did it right, manipulating the viewers' emotions and dragging you into that final fight until you are yelling just as loud as anyone else in the crowd.

--Patrick

When I was a kid, I ran to watch each of the first 4 Rocky movies (figuratively because somebody drove.) Rocky II was just to give Rocky the average ended that everyone wanted. Hey, Rocky III gave us Mr. T, so it was not too terrible. Rocky IV was so terrible, in its late Cold War politics, and barnyard workouts. Then there was the long intermission to V and it felt so fake and forced, that I never bothered. Then they waited longer and did it again.

This movie is just fucking awful. From "Win, Rocky, Win" until the end of the movie should have been a deleted scene / alternate ending to the first movie.

PatrThom said:

I don't understand how you can watch only the first one.

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The first one is the only one I've watched in it's entirety. I know the general plots and major scenes from all the sequels, but I've never had the urge to sit down and watch them. I don't like boxing and I'm ambivalent on Sylvester Stallone, so it wasn't a series that held any interest for me. But I think the first one was a great film.

Celt Z said:

I think the first one was a great film.

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They could've ended the series after two movies, and it would've still been hailed as a classic, and all that.
Then III came along and compressed the formulae of the first two movies into a single movie as the filmmakers decided to see if the premise still had any legs. III is still a fail-then-buckle-down-and-redeem story, but it is more obviously dramatic/played for the audience rather than the sort of "audience-is-a-fly-on-the-wall" feeling of the first two.
Then IV came along with more of a superhero/pro-wrestling vibe. It is very spectacle-driven/visual, and is very Hollywood.
Then V and the rest came along, but I haven't seen them yet.

--Patrick