Product Description

Rocky Balboa' examines one of America's greatest icons at a vulnerable period in his life--middle age. A former heavyweight boxing champion, known and renown throughout the world for going the distance, Rocky finds a new venture: giving back to his community. This is where he, once more, finds himself at the opposing side of opportunity, not unlike the one he has seen decades ago. Heavyweight champ Mason Dixon and his representation offer Rocky a shot for the title. For Balboa, it'll be one last hurrah he'll never forget.....but with his glory days far behind him can he withstand the inevitabilities of what's to come? A look at going full circle and wanting more, when life turns out how you least expect it and then some.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4102 in DVD
• Brand: Team Marketing
• Released on: 2007-03-20
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 102 minutes

Amazon.com

The sixth installment of the Rocky series picks up the story of the Italian Stallion 16 years after the morose Rocky V. And sure, at his advanced age, Sylvester Stallone now looks like one of those sides of beef his character used to pound on. No matter. Somehow you buy the premise after all these years, even if it takes forever for Rocky Balboa to stop wallowing in self-pity (Adrian is dead, his old haunts are demolished) and get down to the business of drinking raw eggs and running up staircases. The business at hand is an unlikely exhibition fight with champion Mason Dixon (Antonio Tarver), which the near-sexagenarian Mr. Balboa has no business accepting. Of course, just as sure as the horns of Bill Conti's theme music are even now trumpeting through your head, the ol' Rock might have a punch or two left in him. Stallone wrote and directed, and there isn't much to say except that the movie steps in its pre-determined paces with a canny sense of what has come before (it's practically an homage to all the previous Rocky pictures, complete with fleeting flashbacks). Burt Young is around again, and Geraldine Hughes makes an appealing, rather chaste female companion for Rocky. Stallone's Rocky has gotten suspiciously articulate over the years, but he still knows how to slouch. If Stallone never forgets that, he can probably keep the franchise rolling. --Robert Horton

Stills from Rocky Balboa (click for larger image)

Beyond Rocky Balboa on Amazon.com

On Blu-ray

The Amazon.com Rocky Store

The Films of Sylvester Stallone

Customer Reviews

A Good Movie
This movie wasn't bad. Sly is getting old; he had some fat on him in this film. It was said in the commentary that Sly wanted the boxing match to be realistic and not cinematic. That's why Mike Tyson was in the film. A couple of famous HBO Boxing Ring Announcers, such as Jim Lampley and Max Kellerman, hosted the fight.
It's too bad that Adrian was dead. Rocky and Paulie got in an arguement over Rocky's memories of love with Adrian. Rocky manages a restaurant call Adrian's. There's a sports cast comparing Rocky to the current champ Mason "The Line" Dixon. The movie basically gives a reason why the two should fight and the movie ends with a happy ending. Rocky tells the champ " It's not over until it's over." It's fun watching Rocky train and this time he lifts weights heavier than I've ever seen him lift before. At the end of the fight, Rocky was bloody and beat up and everyone was yelling "Rocky! Rocky! Rocky!" Fortunately Rocky didn't become champ again because he's too old but Rocky went the distance.

A positively uplifting and heartfelt winner!
What exactly is age, aside from a number?

For far too long, I have read so many endless attacks against Harrison Ford and Sylvester Stallone simply because they both dared to revisit characters they immortalized in the 1980s. I will never again lend a second's credence to such shameless nitpicking. Sylvester Stallone may very well be a sixty year old man, but he pulled off "Rocky Balboa" in a profoundly moving and realistic manner and subsequently transformed this prior skeptic into a BIG-TIME believer. This, far and beyond any reasonable contention, is the true and respectful swan song the "Rocky" saga has long deserved.

Wisely ignoring the unsightly plot points that were introduced in "Rocky V," this more recent story unfolds with a highly publicized "virtual boxing" match that pits the long-retired Rocky against current heavyweight titleholder Mason Dixon. When Rocky scores the duke in this particular fantasy bout, Dixon retaliates by challenging Balboa to a one-on-one publicly televised 10-round exhibition. Everybody, including Rocky's own son, steadfastly dismisses the idea. But Rocky, who has always ever worked best when the odds were stacked against him, agrees to face Dixon. What ensues, amidst the rudimentary training regimen we've all seen Rocky endure throughout the five previous films, is a staggeringly heartfelt and engaging character study that very nearly rivals that which was introduced in John Avildsen's groundbreaking 1976 original.

Among the most notable are some admittedly touching moments with Rocky and Paulie as they revisit the Italian Stallion's love for Adrian who, as many prior reviewers here have already noted, is no longer part of the narrative fold. These scenes, along with a certain pep-talk Rocky gives his defiantly selfish son at the film's halfway mark, really helped sell the story's realism. Stallone made me genuinely feel for these people, a feat that I and many others had previously doubted he was capable of achieving. His screenplay very literally came out of left field and opened my eyes to the plain and simple fact that he still has what it takes. There was not a single point throughout the entire film where I was deliberately thinking about his age. A person's age, as I've already alluded to, should never be a consideration. You're as young as you feel and, if you happen to be in the phenomenal shape Stallone is in for a man of his years, I say more power to ya'!

There really isn't anything more to be said. "Rocky Balboa" is a more than worthy addition to this extraordinary series of motion pictures. You would be hard pressed to find another film more deserving of a purchase. Make no mistake when I say, it delivers a definitive knockout!

a truly great movie
I wasn't sure what to expect with the news that a new Rocky movie was in the works. I thought to myself "Well, maybe this is just TOO much and the series should have stayed in the past where it belongs". BUT, I was wrong.

This movie really surprised me with the amount of emotional scenes. More emotion than the older Rocky films, which is amazing. This is what REALLY made the movie shine in a light that made the entire thing worth watching over and over.

The emotions obviously lead up to one heck of a fantastic boxing match at the end. Who wins the fight? Doesn't matter, and you'll see why at the end. What a great way to end an interesting series, that's all I'll say about the ending.

Another thing that surprised me was the way the entire movie had a creepy, quiet tone that pretty much stayed like that until the training for the main boxing match at the end. That tone really helped keep my interest in the storyline, so a job WELL done.

Another cool thing is how the storyline leads you believe Rocky is too old to ever fight again, and then you see a completely different person when the time comes for Rocky to fight. Awesome.

You must see Rocky Balboa to watch how to properly tell an interesting and emotional story.