Sylvester Stallone, or, to be more accurate, ‘Rocky,’ brought out the fans (and some fellow movie stars) this past weekend, this as the 77-year-old movie legend was handed the keys to the city of Philadelphia, Philly of course being the place that gave the world the fictitious but ever so seriously inspirational ‘Rocky Balboa.’
Whether you love the ‘Rocky’ films or hate them, or if you are some place in-between, it cannot be denied how actor Burt Young, who of course played the part of ‘Paulie’ in six of the boxing classics (well, ‘Rocky’ and ‘Rocky II’ deserve the distinction) added a whole lot to the movies.
This past weekend, in his home town of Bayonne, Chuck Wepner was honoured with a statue. In this month of November, way back in 1976, the movie that is based, at least somewhat, on Wepner’s life and career, had its premiere in New York.
We may well have seen the final appearance of beloved fictional ring warrior Rocky Balboa, but his famed adversaries are set to pop up on the silver screen again in the future.
If dates mean much of anything to you, you might find it a little interesting, maybe even ironic, that the classic movie ‘Rocky’ is now as old as real-life heavyweight legend George Foreman was when he made good on his wholly unrealistic comeback and regained the world heavyweight crown.