Sunday, 21 October 2012

Rocky Road

I am a huge fan of "Rocky."  The original one, (circa 1976.  I was 6 for most of that year and my sister B for whom I wore a maxi dress with great bell sleeves to her wedding... did not marry until '77, this is a pretty big milestone for me, so I wonder how old I was when I watched this movie for the first time?)   Anyway, I love every minute of it, where Rocky blocks the door as a shy Adrian tries to flee on that first date and then they collapse in an embrace to the floor, to the final fight with cries of "Adrian!"  I sob, every time.

I confess that I have not watched the franchise, I don't even know if I've seen "Rocky II," but I caught wind of "Rocky Balboa" this week and decided to record.  It's a film by Sylvester Stallone and I was both transfixed and totally blown over by the sentiment. Over 30 years have passed since that first chapter, and maybe that's why it was so powerful to me, because I had not seen the in between.  Every day between that first "Rocky" and this one, showed on the face of Stallone, his face is both worn by time and care, I was torn.

I loved the flashbacks but really missed Burgess Meredith, the iconic coach, sadly he passed away in 1997, nine years before this latest instalment.  It was like watching a family movie though.  Adrian was gone but she was still present in Rocky.

How I long to watch B's family movies, she was the only one in the family with a cine camera and I think we're talking about a time frame of between '72 and '76, but I'm guessing.  I've been asking for years to re-watch and begging to have it all converted to DVD before it perishes, it does that you know?  The film dies and disintegrates.  If I do ever get to watch those home movies again, maybe I'll recognise a bit of a very young Jack, but I do wonder who she will stare back at. 


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