Reviews

Rocky is one of the best films ever made and arguably the greatest sports movie ever made. It speaks to the best inside all of us, the human spirit and what it is capable of. True character shows when we are down, how we handle it.

Rocky, by being given an improbable shot did his best, not to win, but to go farther than he could have ever gone before. By standing up at the final bell he went farther than any of Apollo Creed's opponents had, and farther than anyone ever thought Rocky could go. Because he decided to take an active role in his future, everything else improved as a result. His self-worth, how people saw him, his love life, his friendships. All the supporting characters improved in some (or many) ways due to this event, even Apollo himself.

Rocky isn't just a fighter from south Philly, he is everyman. He's the kid studying for that SAT test to get him into college, those parents making daily sacrifices for their kids, the weekend athlete training in his spare time for that trophy to put on the mantle of the bar that sponsors his team, the executive closing that big deal, the baby taking his/her first steps, or the teacher searching for a new way to reach those troubled students.

Stallone changed his destiny with this film classic and sends us the message that going for it, even if we fall just a bit short, is noble. To end up on your feet, swinging until the final bell is something anyone can do. With a little inspiration, followed by perspiration,and determination life won't get to KO the Rocky in all of us.

Well written, acted, directed, and shot. It had a story, a moral, action, romance and humor; nothing was left out here.

John Ford proves here he was the best director of his time and maybe of all time. He uses symbolism to make some telling points without wasting dialogue on it(Look at the shot of Ethan's sister-in-law getting him his Johnny Reb coat and the final scene with Ethan on the porch).

John Wayne,in his best role, shows why he was much more than just a movie star. His subdued brand of acting is best on display in the scenes where he is staring at the deranged white girls at the Army fort or earlier when he comes up on his brother's burning ranch house. He also is the most dominant on screen presence of any time. He looms above the scene, darkly creating a constant feeling of danger and amusement with the unsettled feelings in others that he creates; a sort of vicious glee.

Both Ford and Wayne show the prefect compliment to each other as any actor/director combination, better than Capra/Stewart, Deniro/Scorese, Spielberg/Ford, Howard/Hanks. Both mastered the say-less-show/do-more style. This is illustrated in many scenes but most of all when Wayne's Ethan Edwards finds his humanity. Here we see Wayne, frantically chasing Natalie Wood's Debbie, her terror/his aggressive sense of purpose, then her surrender; and his (to his humanity)with one line; "Let's go home Debbie".

Here less is more, and it is never less of being more than everything else. An all-time classic.

Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday did go to Tombstone to get rich, but this film badly represents the "truth". This is typical of the time (Vietnam era) where law enforcement,traditions, and America were questioned and debunked whenever possible. Liberalism at it's finest.

This film may have been thought-provoking (although inaccurate) for it's time, but we've grown up from those days, as we did from the overly-romaticized days that produced "My Darling Clementine" and "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Those films were polar opposites of this one, and both were inaccurate. The best film of the Vietnam era on this subject was "Hour of the Gun" made 4 years prior to this one.Add that to "Tombstone" and Kevin Costner's "Wyatt Earp" as perhaps the most close to accurate on this subject as Hollywood will come.

Although the second-most accurate telling of Wyatt Earp and his legend (Kevin Costner's version is more accurate,though not 100%), this film is the most enjoyable film on the subject. It is also one of the best westerns of all time.

The mood if this film isn't as grim as Costner's version, or 1967's "Hour of the Gun", but it's enjoyable to watch (think of Silverado, only slightly better.) It has great action, it's quick-paced, adds in a little romance for the heck of it, and a lot of great lines to be quoted.

I rank it up there with the best westerns ever made, right along with the likes of "the Searchers", "Unforgiven","The Maginficent 7", "High Noon", "Red River", "Stagecoach","Shane", "Silverado", "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", and "Silverado", get it?

Although inaccurate it far outweighs "Doc" made 4 years later. Garner does his best in portraying Earp as grim and unemotional, yet cool and unflinching. This was Earp's persona. Robards, although older than the real Holliday was at the time, also does well. I'm not so sure if the real Holliday was concerned with Earp losing his character. He was a loyal friend who was in it for a pound.

Robert Ryan is a superior actor, but Clanton wasn't a land baron. Clanton was a rustler/rancher, loud-mouth/coward that provoked the gunfight at the O.K.corral and lost the case for the prosecution by being a not-too-bright liar. I don't know if Ryan could be cast correctly to portray the real Ike Clanton.But he does well regardless. Earp also didn't really kill Ike.

This movie does explore the vigilante ride of Wyatt and Doc after the wounding of Virgil and the killing of Morgan Earp. Pete Spence was never a sheriff, and Sherm McMasters was a cowboy that informed for Wyatt. The movie is a superior western and as close to accurate as Hollywood came until "Tombstone" and "Wyatt Earp".

The mood is somewhat interesting but it wasn't a moral struggle for Wyatt and Doc in real life. They were doing what they felt was right, vengeance. Earp thought in very black and white terms, killing his brothers killers was the right thing to do in his mind. It didn't matter if it was against the law he often swore to protect as a peace officer in those western boom towns. He was always upright and correct in his profession as a lawman, but in matters of family he was not on the job and no longer wearing a badge. his duty to law enforcement no longer applied.