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Dom Robinson reviews
MGM
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 20656 CDVD
- Running time: 115/112/95/88/100 minutes
- Year: 1976/79/82/86/90
- Pressing: 2001
- Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)
- Chapters: 25/16/16/16/16 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: 12 languages available
- Widescreen: 1.85:1/2.35:1
- 16:9-enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: No
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £49.99 (or £19.99 for Rocky 1)
- Extras: Original Trailers; Disc 1 only: Rocky Featurettes, Original Rocky TV Spots,Video Commentary, Audio Commentary
Directors:
- John G. Avildsen
(Rocky 1 & 5)
Sylvester Stallone (Rocky 2, 3 & 4)
Producers:
- Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler
Screenplay:
- Sylvester Stallone
Music:
- Bill Conti
Cast:
- Rocky Balboa: Sylvester Stallone
Adrian: Talia Shire
Paulie: Burt Young
Apollo Creed: Carl Weathers
Mickey: Burgess Meredith
Jergens: Thayer David
Gazzo: Joe Spinell
Mike: Jimmy Gambina
The above credits, bar directing, relate specifically to the first film,although many cast and crew members worked on the sequels.
Drago, one of Rocky’s toughest opponents.“Adrian! Adriaaaaaaaaaan!”
Why was Rocky’s other half, played by Talia Shire, given the masculinespelling of her name and not Adrienne? That’s probably not a question you’llbe asking yourself when you buy this boxset.
Things aren’t going well for the down-at-hell fighter Rocky Balboa(Sylvester Stallone), especially when the opening scenes of film onesee him being kicked out of the club where he used to train in his heyday andthe series follows him suffering physical and emotional blows as he tries toput his life together and become top of the A-list again with the help oftrainer Mickey (the late Burgess Meredith), who wants Rocky to be asgood as he always wanted to be.
In the original film, he takes on the mighty Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers),then goes for a rematch in the sequel. Rocky III, which was the firstof the bunch that I saw and the most prominent to my generation given that itwas spurred on by the release of Survivor‘s chart-topping “Eye of theTiger”, sees him up against the A-Team‘s Mr T, aka B.A. Baracus,but it’s in the fourth film that Rocky goes for revenge after the new king intown, the Russian, Drago (Dolph Lundgren, puts to sleep best friendCreed. Finally, the last film finds Rocky vs. another meathead, whom he mustdefeat although the irreversible damage to his noggin may turn him into avegetable like the other famous now-braindead loony Muhammed Aliand it ends in a fight against new boy Tommy Gunn (Tommy Morrison)in a ridiculous street brawl.
The five films.
Each film is in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, although the fourth was shotin 2.35:1 and I presume that’s the way it’s been presented on DVD but nothaving it here to hand I cannot check. The picture quality is reasonable oneach disc, but it does improve as the series goes on.The average bitrate is a middle-of-the-road 4.69Mb/s, briefly peaking over 7Mb/s.
Dolby Digital 5.1 for films 1 and 3 make good use of the fight scenes, so whycouldn’t all five be remastered in the same way? Other scenes remain fairlylightweight in the audio department. The sequels each have various Europeandialogues in Dolby ProLogic only.
Rocky V, looking the worse for wear.Extras :
When it comes to extras, disc 1 is the most packed, starting with a VideoCommentary with Sylvester Stallone, a 29-minute featurette where the man waxes lyrical about himand his character over the 25 years he’s spent playing, writing and thinkingabout Rocky and an insight into the original ending for the first film. Thereare Two Tributes to both Burgess Meredith and cinematographer JimmyKrabe, a ‘Rocky’ Teaser Trailer (4:3 fullscreen) and TheatricalTrailers for all five films (only Nos.1 & 5 are in anamorphic widescreen),plus three Original Rocky TV Spots totalling two minutes. A feature-lengthAudio Commentary from director John G. Avildsen, producer Robert Chartoffand actors Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire and Burt Young.
The first disc contains subtitles in 12 languages: English (and hard of hearing),Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Danish, Portuguese, Polish, Greek,Hungarian, Hebrew and Turkish. Menus are nicely animated and scored.
The remainder of the collection each only contain the trailer, subtitles andmenus that are silent and static.
Overall, if you’re a fan of the series it’s defintely worth a purchase.Originally destined for a retail price of £60, then knocked down by atenner, some online retailers have been selling this for between£35-£40, which is a price you cannot ignore given that you’regetting the entire five films in remastered widescreen prints.
Rocky calls security as his son urinates on the statue plaque.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.