Oh Rocky. You came and you gave without taking.

Mom's view:

I have never watched any of the Rocky movies, except in snippets. As far as I can tell, every single one of the movies is about an underdog boxer who makes good in some way, even if he doesn’t win the big fight. They start with an outline of some struggle, then Rocky decides he needs to step up, which leads to the montage scene combining inspirational music and working out, and then the big fight. That’s about it, right? So clearly, their magic eludes me.

The reason I picked this topic is because of a series of events that made it clear that I was on the outside looking in when it came to this franchise. ___________ has a complete set of the Rocky movies. This is thanks to his dad, who was young when Rocky originally came out and found inspiration in this story of a somewhat in shape guy becoming even more in shape to music. He used to go through these bouts of working out and he’d always listen to the Rocky theme song as a part of his whole regime.

When he first gave the DVDs to _________________, I though they’d end up moldering on our shelves the way “Fighter Jets” and some of the other transferred interest items have. And at first, they did. ______________ relegated them to the bottom of the wicker toy chest where we keep all the movies. Then, when I canned the television, they made an appearance. _____________ has now watched every single Rocky installment numerous times, sometimes from a push up position. What is it with guys and Rocky?

Anyway, one night not too long ago, he starts explaining to me that out of all the movies, Rocky IV is hands down the best.

“Rocky IV?”
“Yeah. Definitely.”
“Usually people like the first one of any series the best.”
“Nope. Rocky IV.”
“How come?”
“Well, he’s fighting this guy in Russia who’s this giant guy and you can tell he’s all on steroids and Rocky beats him down.”
“And that’s why it’s the best?”
“Yeah.”

As I am wont to do, I passed on this key information to a co-worker the next day.
“______________ keeps watching those Rocky movies, and he swears Rocky IV is the best. Who likes movies with a IV after them?”

She immediately jumped in.
“No, no. Guys love that one. They all think it’s the best.”
“Really? Why?”
“I don’t know. But they love it.”

Sure enough, she emails her fiancée and passes on the debate. Her fiancée immediately writes back, advising me second hand that while my son is worthy of living, I’m clearly un-American. Actually, I think the exact wording was, “If you don’t like Rocky IV you don’t like America.” And FYI, I wasn’t saying I didn’t like it, having never seen it, but merely that it seems odd, as a general principle, to like a fourth installment better than the first through third. These movies generally don’t get better over time. They just don’t.

As usual, I Googled the issue, and it appears that people either loved Rocky IV or hated it. Very little in between, and there’s clearly a huge following. From what I can tell, the lovers feel that the montage scene is the best, with “Hearts on Fire” inspiring them all. They also like the fact that Rocky defeats communism via the big fight. Hmm.

Here’s my opinion. The Rocky movies are chick flicks for guys. But unlike the guys who laugh at me when I cry at the end of Sleepless in Seattle, even though I know it’s ridiculous and that it would never happen and that seconds after she walks out of the elevator with the guy he probably farts and makes her pay for her own pizza, I say “way to go!” Embrace your inner manly man and enjoy!

Son's view:

Rocky 4 is the best movie ever in the whole entire world. Now, I know I’m eleven but, there is this song in the movie that I workout to and it is totally awesome. If you just think of it you can do like, thirty push ups. It’s crazy. I love this movie and we just got the new one that came out, (rocky balboa) and my mom called it rocky the elderly, and I think that she is right. Stallone had to be about 80 in that movie. It was funny to watch him beat the fighter who was like, 18.