Fifty years ago this month, the world premiere took place of a film that became a cinematic legend and kick-started a career that’s hardly looked back on since. Rocky captured America’s mid-70s yearning for the return of the American Dream – and gave it to the country on a plate. But in the years that followed, the underdog story behind the making of the film became almost as famous as the movie itself and it now arrives on the big screen in its own right in the shape of I Play Rocky.

Rocky Balboa, as created by a then-unknown Sylvester Stallone, was the classic no-hoper made good, clawing his way up the boxing ladder to land a championship bout with the formidable Apollo Creed. In the hands of director Peter Farrelly (Green Book), we’re taken back to how a down-on-his-luck Stallone was inspired by a Mohammed Ali fight to write the screenplay. But that’s only half the story. Hollywood loved the script, but was less than keen on his dealbreaker. The studio wanted a big name – Ryan O’Neal, Burt Reynolds, et al. – to play the title role, but Stallone had other ideas. The role belonged to him and, despite increasing financial incentives, he dug in his heels and wouldn’t budge.

We know how things turned out – the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars, the highest-grossing film of the year taking around $225 million, compared to a budget of just under $1 million – but we’re taken behind the camera to experience the tensions, the technicalities and numerous practical challenges that film fans will simply love. When Rocky (Anthony Ippolito) charges up those steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, we’re probably more interested in the way the shot was created with a Steadicam than we are in Balboa’s athletic prowess. Essentially, Farrelly has made a massive crowd-pleaser, one that brings the story to a whole new generation and which allows him to make a dramedy with a much lighter touch than his more recent comedies, such as Ricky Stanicky and Balls Up.

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Dramedy is where Farrelly is perhaps most at home, and I Play Rocky tells its story with rose-tinted glasses perched firmly on its nose. It may not have the 70s grittiness of the original, but it gives the film a cinematic context instead, one where the first two parts of The Godfather cast a long and dark shadow over Hollywood. Everybody hates Paramount for taking an airport paperback about a mob family – regarded at the time as box office poison – and allowing a comparatively unknown director to cast the lead in the way he wanted. And if the parallels aren’t obvious enough, they’re underlined by Rocky’s local cinema showing Coppola’s The Conversation.

Farrelly has the time of his life re-creating Stallone’s meetings and phone conversations with producers Irwin Winkler (P J Byrne) and Robert Chartoff (Toby Kebbell), who make a loveably slippery double act. And there are times when you forget you’re watching Anthony Ippolito as the actor and slip into the illusion that it’s a younger version of the man himself on the screen. He really is that convincing, but he has his work cut out for him, keeping up with a clutch of supporting performances that are pure joy. As well as Byrne and Kebbell, Jay Duplass is on cracking form as director John Avildson. The scene stealers, though, are Tracy Letts as the frustrated and deeply cynical studio boss and Stephan James (If Beale Street Could Talk) as a jive-talking, technicoloured Carl Weathers, both of whom always seem to be waiting in the wings to prevent the action from flagging.

The original Rocky captured hearts for so many reasons, and it packed the proverbial punch. I Play Rocky isn’t quite in the same knockout league, but as a tribute to both the film and its driving force, it has more than enough charm, laughs and nostalgia to make audiences cheer all over again.

★★★★

In UK cinemas from November 6^th / Anthony Ippolito, AnnaSophia Robb, Tracy Letts, Jay Duplass, Toby Kebbell, Stephan James, Matt Dillon / Dir: Peter Farrelly / Entertainment Film Distributors / 12A

About the Author

Freda Cooper

Editor

Freda is a Senior Writer at The People's Movies. A lifelong movie fan and a film critic for over ten years, Freda’s natural habitat is the darkened rooms frequented by fellow cineastes. She can also be found asking questions of some of the biggest names in the business – from Cate Blanchett to Daniel Craig or Mike Leigh to Pete Docter – or crafting reviews for a number of sites and publications, including The People’s Movies. And listeners to BBC Local Radio can catch her views on the latest releases. She always – and probably always will – cite The Third Man as her favourite film of all time. Her top ten? That’s a moveable feast …..

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