Essay Questions

Why does Apollo Creed struggle to beat Rocky?

Apollo Creed had never heard of Rocky Balboa before heading to Philadelphia for his world title bout. He was not expecting to fight him. To Creed, Rocky is a local boxer, someone who has not risen high enough up the boxing ranks yet to warrant a fight with any of the legitimate contenders to his title. Creed views Rocky more as a marketing tool than an opponent because he is getting a great deal more publicity and hoop-la for the fight because a local nobody has been invited to step into the ring and challenge him for his belt.

This is an error on Creed's part. He steps into the ring as if the result is a formality. He doesn't bother to cover, to protect himself, to throw many punches at all, because he is incredibly cocky, and over-confident. He is sure he will be victorious without even having to bring his A-game to the fight. Consequently Rocky is able to land some very effective punches and he knocks Creed down in Round One. This does two things; wakes Creed up a little bit, and gives Rocky the encouragement he needs to continue to box his own game, not Creed's. Creed does begin to look at Rocky differently but he is still over confident and it is not until half way through the bout that he begins to fight as if Rocky is a challenger rather than an opponent. By completely underestimating Rocky's skill, determination and grit, Creed allows him to get in some perfect punches that a more humble approach to both fights and opponent might have prevented.

The casting process was unusually long and arduous. Why was this and what were some of the challenges the director faced when casting the movie?

The studio that picked up Stallone's screenplay wanted the movie to be a vehicle for Burt Reynolds. Stallone, however, insisted that he would play Rocky himself. This was a non-negotiable part of the deal; if he was not able to play the role then he would take the screenplay elsewhere (a gamble, since he had already been turned down by more studios than he cared to admit). He also knew that this was a director who would cast his own movies and was comfortable over-riding the wishes or advice of the studio, and so he went straight to him and presented his own casting as a done deal.

This presented another dilemma; with a relative unknown in the lead role,more recognizable names were needed to fill the supporting cast. Initially, Susan Sarandon was the first choice for the role of Adrianne, but she was too striking and too beautiful to play the role of the fish food sales assistant, and so Talia Shire was cast instead.

Similarly, the studio had wanted to cast a recognizable boxer in the role of Apollo Creed but they were unable to find a boxer willing to take on the role. Joe Frazier appears in the film as himself but was not considered for the eponymous role. As with the other roles, the actor cast was at best third or fourth choice for the part, if they had been considered at the outset at all.