Box office
Rocky grossed $5,488 on its opening day at Cinema II, a house record.[40] When it was released nationally, it grossed $5 million during its first wide weekend and consistently performed well for eight months[44] and eventually reached $117 million at the North American box office.[45] Adjusted for inflation in 2018, the film earned over $500 million in North America alone.[46] Overseas, Rocky grossed $107 million, for a worldwide box office total of $225 million.[47] With its production budget of just under $1 million, Rocky is notable for its worldwide percentage return of over 11,000 percent.[48] It was the highest-grossing film released in 1976 in the United States and Canada[49] and the second highest-grossing film of 1977, behind Star Wars.[50]
Critical response
Rocky received positive reviews at the time of its release. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 4 out of 4 stars and said that Stallone reminded him of "the young Marlon Brando."[51] Box Office Magazine claimed audiences would be "touting Sylvester 'Sly' Stallone as a new star".[52][53] Frank Rich liked the film, calling it "almost 100 per cent schmaltz", but favoring it over the cynicism that was prevalent in movies at that time, although he referred to the plot as "gimmicky" and the script "heavy-handed".[54] Several reviews, including Richard Eder's (as well as Canby's negative review), compared the work to that of Frank Capra.
The film, however, did not escape criticism. Vincent Canby, of The New York Times, called it "pure '30s make believe" and dismissed both Stallone's acting and Avildsen's directing, calling the latter "none too decisive".[55] Andrew Sarris found the Capra comparisons disingenuous: "Capra's movies projected more despair deep down than a movie like Rocky could envisage, and most previous ring movies have been much more cynical about the fight scene"; commenting on Rocky's work for a loan shark, Sarris says the film "teeters on the edge of sentimentalizing gangsters". He found Meredith "oddly cast in the kind of part the late James Gleason used to pick his teeth".[56]
Legacy
In modern times, the film enjoys a reputation as a classic and still receives nearly universal praise. On the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 92% approval rating based on 75 reviews, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The site's critics consensus states: "This story of a down-on-his-luck boxer is thoroughly predictable, but Sylvester Stallone's script and stunning performance in the title role brush aside complaints."[57] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 70 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[58]
One of the positive online reviews came from the BBC Films website, with both reviewer Almar Haflidason and BBC online users giving it 5/5 stars.[59] In Steven J. Schneider's 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, Schneider says the film is "often overlooked as schmaltz".[60]
In 2006, the Library of Congress selected Rocky for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".[61][62]
Accolades
| Award | Category | Nominee | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | Best Picture | Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler | Won | [63] |
| Best Director | John G. Avildsen | Won | ||
| Best Actor | Sylvester Stallone | Nominated | ||
| Best Actress | Talia Shire | Nominated | ||
| Best Supporting Actor | Burgess Meredith | Nominated | ||
| Burt Young | Nominated | |||
| Best Original Screenplay | Sylvester Stallone | Nominated | ||
| Best Film Editing | Richard Halsey and Scott Conrad | Won | ||
| Best Original Song | "Gonna Fly Now" Music by Bill Conti; Lyrics by Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins | Nominated | ||
| Best Sound | Harry Warren Tetrick (posthumous), William McCaughey, Lyle J. Burbridge and Bud Alper | Nominated | ||
| British Academy Film Awards | Best Film | Nominated | [64] | |
| Best Direction | John G. Avildsen | Nominated | ||
| Best Actor in a Leading Role | Sylvester Stallone | Nominated | ||
| Best Screenplay | Nominated | |||
| Best Editing | Richard Halsey | Nominated | ||
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Motion Picture – Drama | Won | [65] | |
| Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama | Sylvester Stallone | Nominated | ||
| Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama | Talia Shire | Nominated | ||
| Best Director | John G. Avildsen | Nominated | ||
| Best Screenplay | Sylvester Stallone | Nominated | ||
| Best Original Score | Bill Conti | Nominated |
The Directors Guild of America awarded Rocky its annual award for best film of the year in 1976, and in 2006, Sylvester Stallone's original screenplay for Rocky was selected by the Writers Guild of America as the 78th best screenplay of all time.[66]
Rocky is also ranked as the 65th best-directed film of all time by the Directors Guild of America[67] and as one of the 75 best-edited films in all of cinema in a 2012 survey of members of the Motion Picture Editors Guild.[68]
In June 2008, AFI revealed its 10 Top 10—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Rocky was acknowledged as the second-best film in the sports genre, after Raging Bull.[69][70]
In 2008, Rocky was chosen by British film magazine Empire as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.[71] Conversely, in a 2005 poll by Empire, Rocky was No. 9 on their list of "The Top 10 Worst Pictures to Win Best Picture Oscar".[72]
In 2015, The Hollywood Reporter polled hundreds of Academy members, asking them to re-vote on past controversial decisions. Academy members indicated that, given a second chance, they would award the 1977 Oscar for Best Picture to All the President's Men instead.[73]
Year-end lists
Rocky has also appeared on several of the American Film Institute's 100 Years lists.
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (1998) – #78[74]
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills (2001) – #52
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions (2002) – Nominated[75]
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains (2003)
- Rocky Balboa – #7 Hero[76]
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs (2004)
- "Gonna Fly Now" – #58
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes (2005)
- "Yo, Adrian!" – #80[77]
- AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores (2005) – Nominated[78]
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers (2006) – #4[79]
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) (2007) – #57
- AFI's 10 Top 10 (2008) – #2 Sports Film
