"Rocky," ~ "It's in the bag, Kid"...

...That's what Frank Sinatra said to Sylvester Stallone, who was waiting outside at the premier when Frank came out of the theatre after watching "Rocky". Audiences in theatres all over the country stood up and cheered at the end of this movie. (How often do you see that?) Sly Stallone was only 32 and he had heard a critic slamming "Rocky," but Peter Falk came out of the theatre saying, "It's just great. Don't listen to that critic. Go into the theatre now and talk to the people who just saw it." And, --- Sly did, and the people congratulated him. Sly, who had fought a very hard battle all the way uphill to get "Rocky" to the screen, broke down. Sly had been an out of work actor, at one time homeless. Before he sold "Rocky" and fought to star in it he'd been so poor and desperate that he'd sold his beloved dog at a liquor store for $50 because he could no longer afford to feed him. (Later, as soon as he got money for "Rocky" he waited at that same liquor store for 3 days until the man he sold his dog to showed up. BUT, the rotten guy refused to sell the dog back to Sly until he got $15,000 for the dog & a small role in "Rocky"!) The English Bull Mastiff, Butkus, that you'll see in "Rocky" is that dog, --- Sly's dog in real life. It's hard to find someone who dislikes this movie. Sly wrote it in 3 days, in longhand. It was originally much darker, and he worked on it as screenwriter for free during it's production. (Sly bought the hat he wears in the movie for $3 at a thrift store.) Of course, "Rocky" won the Oscar for Best Picture. Rocky's story is not only a story about an underdog boxer who "goes the distance," but it's a love story about 2 people who would ordinarily lose, but didn't... THEY WON. Rocky says: "If you know your worth go out and get what you're worth. Keep on punching. Eventually, you'll knock something down." Yeah, --- such great advice.