Rocky III
By Peter John Gardner
"To all my love slaves out there: Thunderlips is here. In the flesh, baby. The ultimate male versus... the ultimate meatball."
So says Thunderlips, played by none other than Hulk Hogan, in the third installment in the Rocky series; a moment that I like to pinpoint as the exact moment where Stallone movies can't be taken seriously anymore. "The Party at Kitty and Stud's" aside, Stallone's repertoire up until this point consisted of movies, while still bad, where legit attempts at selling Stallone as a serious actor/writer/director. When you've got Hulk Hogan, Mr. T, and Burgess Meredith together in one movie, one can only mutter, "What the hell?", sit back, and revel in the awesomeness of this cornucopia of 80's pop culture.
Like all Rocky movies, Rocky III opens up with a recap of what went down in the previous film, that being Apollo Creed. What follows is a montage of Rocky beating the crap out of his subsequent opponents. Presumably, we're supposed to see Rocky becoming more cocky and overconfident during this montage, but it's hard to feel that when they've got the triumphant sounding Rocky theme playing.
You've probably seen this movie on a Sunday afternoon at some point in your life, so I'll spare you a lengthy summary of the film. Basically what happens is Mr. T wants a shot at Rocky's belt, Rock-o thinks his shit doesn't stink and doesn't take the challenge seriously, so Mr. T destroys him in the first match. Mr. Balboa wants the title back, but his confidence and will is destroyed. Only his ex-rival, Apollo Creed, can help He-Who-Says-"Yo" regain his confidence and hunger or his "eye of the tiger" as Creed calls it so we can have the Survivor song fit snugly into the film. The two boxers befriend each other in the second most repressed homosexual relationship in an 80's movie (the first being Top Gun, of course). Seriously, watch the token training montage late in the film where they're running on the beach together. You can't tell me those two don't want each other.
The term "eye of the tiger" would make a great euphamism for Stallone's urethra.
At this point, there are so many stupid one-liners and jokes that Rocky has become harder to relate to as a person and thus feels more like a cartoon character. Beneath the cheese of it all lies a theme (I think) of confidence. One cannot become too confident when they find success or else they run the risk of forgetting where they came from. Success can take away a person's drive to one-up themself and can provide a false feeling of invincibility. In Rocky's case, being too cocky led to a swift ass beating from Mr. T.
I've always tried to remain a humble person. Some would call it low self-esteem, but that's not how I look at it. I've achieved things in my life that I'm proud of, and want other people to be proud of, but I also know that I'm nothing in the grand scheme of things. I barely register on your radar. Always assuming that someone can do something better than me gives me a will to try my hardest. If I thought I was the shit, I would become lazy and think that no one could do better than me and not give it my all. I guess the lesson to learn from Rocky III is to know your strengths well, but be aware that if you become too arrogant, you'll wind up getting the shit beat out of you by Mr. T.
"Nothing is real if you don't believe in who you are!" Thanks for that nugget of wisdom, Rocky.
