Dusting down the classic Hollywood story of the little man winning big, this triple-Oscar-winning boxing drama is shot through with genuine impassioned commitment, born of the fact that Sylvester Stallone realised that this was his best hope of stardom. The notion, then, of success hanging by a thread unites both the character of boxer Rocky Balboa and of Stallone himself. Stallone, in fact, is highly convincing as a mumbling Philadelphia no-hoper who makes the most of his opportunities and ends up having a crack at the loquacious heavyweight champion of the world, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers, by way of Muhammad Ali). Sly also wrote the script and was rewarded with Oscar nominations for both acting and writing.

Rocky Balboa is a Philadelphia club fighter who seems to be going nowhere. But when a stroke of fate puts him in the ring with a world heavyweight champion, Rocky knows that it's his one shot at the big time — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go the distance and come out a winner!