It’s easy to forget after the deluge of increasingly
absurd sequels through the 80s that Rocky – the original – as not only a great
film, but is raw and gritty. I guess because I grew up on the sequels, the
whole of the series sits in my memory as polished Hollywood filmmaking. And I
even watched Rocky ten or fifteen years ago!
The movie truly feels like something out of another era.
It’s low-budget, it’s seedy and dirty. Interestingly, I watched John Huston’s
Fat City for the first time last year. That’s another 70s boxing flock that
predates Rocky by a few years. I remember thinking how gritty it looked and
felt and was shocked to find how similar the pacing and look of Rocky (at least
in the first three quarters or so is to Huston’s film. I wonder if it was
viewed by director John Avildsen and cinematographer James Crabe to achieve a
real brown street look.
