Year: 2006

Director & Writer: Sylvester Stallone

Cast:

Sylvester Stallone, Burt Young, Antonio Tarver, Milo Ventimiglia, Geraldine Hughes, Tony Burton, Mike Tyson (cameo)

The Plot:

Thirty years after the first Rocky film comes the triumphant final entry in this long-running movie saga. The story picks up a few years after Adrian’s death, as we find Rocky running a successful restaurant back in the old neighborhood. Unfortunately, he’s still reeling from the loss, and his relationship with his son Robert (Milo Ventimiglia) is slowly deteriorating, causing Rocky to take refuge in the cherished memories of his well-storied past. Meanwhile, ESPN creates a CGI-assisted virtual boxing match between Rocky and current heavyweight champion of the world, Mason “The Line” Dixon (real-life boxer Antonio Tarver). Rocky wins the VR bout, and Dixon’s management convinces the champ to agree to a ten-round exhibition bout with Rocky in Las Vegas. Will Rocky be up to the challenge? Well, with the help of Duke (Tony Burton), Paulie (Burt Young), and Robert/Rocky, Jr., the Itallian Stallion is ready to put it all on the line one last time.
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Stallone ponders the final fate of the Rocky franchise.

Year: 1990

Director: John G. Avilson

Writer: Sylvester Stallone

Cast:
Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Sage Stallone, Tommy Morrison, Richard Gant, Tony Burton, Burgess Meredith (cameo)

The Plot:

A brain-damaged Rocky returns to the United States, only to find that his accountant has swindled him out of his vast fortune. Without medical clearance to fight, Rocky can’t earn the big payday he most desparately needs to save himself from personal bankruptcy. Consequently, Rocky, Adrian, Rocky Jr. (Sage Stallone), and Paulie are forced to move back to the old neighborhood in order to make ends meet. While there, Rocky meets Tommy Gunn (real-life boxer Tommy Morrison), a scruffy kid from Oklahoma with dreams of boxing superstardom. Rocky agrees to manage Tommy, but unfortunately, he ends up neglecting his real son in the process. Meanwhile, a Don King-esque promoter (Richard Gant) seeks to steal Tommy away with the lure of big bucks and easy women. Will Rocky be able to mend his relationship with his son? Will Tommy go over to the dark side? And will Rocky be able to solve the situation with a good hard uppercut to Tommy’s jaw? Absoloootely.

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Year: 1985

Director/Writer: Sylvester Stallone

Cast:

Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Dolph Lundgren, Brigitte Nielson, Tony Burton, James Brown (cameo)

Plot:

Rocky Balboa singlehandedly defeats Communism, signaling the beginning of the end of the Cold War some six years before the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union. Just kidding.

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From left to right: Carl Weathers, Burt Young, Sylvester Stallone, & Talia Shire

Year: 1982

Director: Sylvester Stallone

Writer: Sylvester Stallone

Cast:

Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith, Mr. T, Hulk Hogan

The Plot:

After narrowly beating Apollo Creed for the heavyweight championship of the world, Rocky has gone on to successfully defend the the belt against a whole slew of challengers for three years. In the process, he’s become both megapopular and ridiculously wealthy. However, as successful as he’s been, there’s one fighter that Rocky hasn’t faced — the vicious number one contender, Clubber Lang (Mr. T). On the day of his own announced retirement, Rocky is challenged publicly by Clubber. Against Mickey’s wishes, Rocky agrees to the fight, but the media circus surrounding his own celebrity during his training becomes a distraction, as does Mickey’s heart attack just moments before the match is to begin. In quite possibly the worst day of Rocky’s life, he is beaten handilyby Clubber Lang in two rounds, and Mickey dies. Some time after the match, Apollo approaches Rocky with an offer to train him for a rematch. Rocky accepts, but has ends up battling his own doubts and fears before truly embracing Apollo’s “back-to-basics” fitness regimen. Will Rocky beat Clubber Lang? And just what the hell is this “favor” that Apollo demands for his services?

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Year: 1979

Director: Sylvester Stallone

Writer: Sylvester Stallone

Cast:
Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burgess Meredith, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Roberto Duran (cameo)

The Plot:

After going the distance with Apollo Creed, Rocky retires from boxing and marries Adrian. Ol’ Rock tries to get a regular day job, but finds himself struggling to make ends meet, so a pregnant Adrian volunteers to work part-time at her old job to help pay the bills. Pissed that he didn’t knock Rocky out, Apollo challenges Rocky to a rematch, but Adrian objects, voicing her concerns over Rocky’s health. However, neither Rocky nor his trainer Mickey (Meredith) can ignore Apollo’s taunts for long, and a second bout is arranged against Adrian’s wishes. The Italian Stallion begins training, but without his wife’s approval, Rocky’s heart just isn’t in it anymore. A dramatic turn of events causes Rocky to abandon his training regimen and rush to Adrian’s side. Will he be ready for Creed? Three words: “Gonna Fly Now.”

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Year: 1976

Director: John G. Avilson

Writer: Sylvester Stallone

Cast:

Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Burgess Meredith, Carl Weathers, Joe Frazier (cameo)

Plot:

Rocky Balboa (Stallone), a down-on-his-luck semi-pro boxer, gets the chance of a lifetime when world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed (Weathers) handpicks him for an exhibition bout. Meanwhile, Rocky tries to win the heart of Adrian (Shire), the extremely shy sister of his good friend, Paulie (Burt Young).

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On occasion, I’ve wanted to write about subjects that don’t quite fit into the Hong Kong (and more generally Asian)-centered focus championed by the main site, LoveHKFilm.com, so to rectify this issue, I’ve created “Gwailo Corner.” Now, don’t worry; only about 1 in 10 posts will carry the “Gwailo Corner” moniker, as I’ll be primarily interested in Asian-related cinema, comic books, video games, toys, and the like, as I’ve always been.

Even so, the truth of the matter is that I just want to create a venue on this site to talk about the next Inception or Avatar — big pop cultural phenomena that I’ve got an opinion on and would guess even Hong Kong cinema fans might be interested in discussing. After all, in real life, most people don’t limit their movie interests to a single nation, genre, and/or language. In that respect, “Gwailo Corner” is space for these kinds of discussions — about subtext, politics, and interpretation.

Now, I know the name isn’t perfect. After all, the Cantonese term Gwailo (鬼佬) has often been translated into English as “foreign devil” and has come to mean “white person” in common parlance — sometimes disparagingly, sometimes not. However you personally take “gwailo” to mean, I haven’t chosen it as a way to insult our white readers (I am, after all, half of white person myself), and I don’t mean to suggest that the focus of the posts marked “Gwailo Corner” are somehow for “whites only.” Instead, I just thought it would be a funny, self-deprecatory title for the occasional column that doesn’t focus on stuff coming out of the Asian continent. That’s all.