Rocky

Sylvester Stallone may not have invented the sequel, but he damn near perfected it! First with the Rocky franchise and its five follow-ups, then Rambo and his most recent all-star retro action fest, The Expendables. Of course, we need not mention his many one-trick failures like Cobra and Tango & Cash, which were engineered for franchise success but never made it. Simply holding the 6-disc Rocky Heavyweight Collection in your hand is proof enough that the man knew how to tailor each installment – during each decade - to the right audience.

The first Rocky (1976) was a triumph not just for the character, but Stallone himself. Too bad he never lets us forget it. The story about how he wrote the script in three days, refused to sell unless he got the starring role, then carried the movie on his shoulders all the way to the Oscar finish line has been dredged up every time he hits another career slump. Rocky has been in his corner since the beginning and, despite leaning on its success a bit too often, the guy is right: it’s a sweetheart of a movie.

More quirky love story than serious boxing drama, the first film exudes everything the made ‘70s cinema great. And the new hi-def transfer here does a great job of preserving the look and feel of director John G. Avildsen’s gritty shots grabbed on the streets of Philadelphia. Since most folks probably already own a copy of one or all of the films in the series, this new remastered edition is a major selling point and it rarely fails to impress.

The sequels are the same previously available hi-def transfers. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. They all look perfectly acceptable and are now collected in a tight, concise box set not much bigger than a single blu-ray case. Regarding the films themselves, each installment has it’s own cinematic atmosphere, with Stallone evolving the character and the franchise to adapt to the era in which it was made.

Rocky 2 (1979) is the closest in tone to the original and approaches Rocky’s instant stardom quite realistically, forcing the Italian Stallion back onto the streets before a rematch with Apollo Creed comes along. Rocky 3 (1982) gets so much mileage out of Mr. T that Rocky barely needs to show up…but kudos to Stallone for sharing the spotlight for the benefit of the film. Rocky 4 (1985) finally takes the franchise into Reagan-era blockbuster mode; basically one long training montage but with another awesome villain added to the ring courtesy of Dolph Lundgren. Rocky V was pretty much DOA. And Rocky Balboa was Stallone’s attempt to make up for Rocky V. There are some upsides to both films, but they strain to recapture what came so easily to the original.

There are a number of new to blu-ray extras, but everything else is largely recycled from the previous Undisputed Collection that came out a few years back, including actor interviews, featurettes on the make-up, music and set design, plus a vintage Stallone interview from the Dinah! show. The new stuff is made up of three audio commentaries and a collection of 8mm production footage narrated by Avildsen and Lloyd Kaufman of Troma Films who served as pre-production supervisor on the original film. It’s a worthy upgrade for the new transfer and space-saving packaging alone.