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The eight cliches of boxing movies | 14124__rocky_l

NO. 2 The Secret Softie

AS SEEN IN Rocky (1976)

THE STORY When street-toughened Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) isn't training for his big fight, he's taking care of his pet turtles (Cuff and Link) and his goldfish (Moby Dick) and gently courting mousy pet shop employee Adrian (Talia Shire).

OTHER EXAMPLES Devoted dads Jim Braddock (Crowe) in Cinderella Man and Wallace Beery and Jon Voight in both versions of The Champ. Also, Mountain Rivera (Anthony Quinn) in Requiem for a Heavyweight dreams of being a summer camp counselor, and Kid Natural (Ryan O'Neal) in The Main Event prefers teaching driver's ed to boxing.

THE EXCEPTION Midge Kelly (Kirk Douglas) in Champion (1949) casually steps on and discards people along the way to prominence.

FIGHTING WORDS Asked by Adrian why he fights, Rocky says: ''Because I can't sing or dance.''

EW MOVIE GRADE B (Read the review)


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