Scene Anatomy 101 - Rocky
Posted by George H. Sirois on 08.20.2004
An actor/writer and his character out to prove that life’s not so bad.
A wonderful character in both film and reality is the dreamer. Someone who is down on his luck, not getting a fair share from life, but they’re not letting it drag them into depression. They will make the most of it, and they know in the back of their minds that they deserve to have a time in life – a month, a day, a moment – that will bring all of their hopes and dreams to full fruition. And if that happens, even if it’s only a moment, then life truly is worth living.
One of those dreamers in reality was Chuck Wepner, a professional boxer from the 1970s who was viewed by the fans and his fellow boxers as a joke, someone the top ranked fighters shouldn’t even be bothered with. But sure enough, in early 1975, Wepner found himself in the ring with the champion of all champions, Muhammad Ali. And not only did he last all fifteen round with the champ, but Wepner even knocked Ali down.
Fortunately for the film world, one young writer/actor named Sylvester Stallone happened to catch that fight and it became the catalyst he needed to create the ultimate story about a dreamer getting his day in the sun, the 1976 Academy Award winning Rocky. Stallone crafted an amazing tale about a Philadelphia bum of a boxer named Rocky Balboa (Stallone) who is given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fight Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) for the Heavyweight Championship of the World. Creed looks at this as a publicity stunt and an easy win, but Rocky sees this as his chance to make his mark in life, and once he comes to grips with what he’s given, he realizes that if he can go the distance with the champ, do something that nobody else has done, then maybe life’s not so bad.
But if there is one thing that Rocky has to learn, it’s that he can’t do this alone. And there’s nobody on this earth that knows that fact of life more than Mickey Goldmill (Burgess Meredith). The owner of the gym where Rocky’s been working out for over 10 years, Mickey was a fighter just like Rocky, fighting for peanuts in dingy halls, taking cheap shots from other bums, never getting his shot at the big time. The only thing he can do is keep his eyes open for the next possible big thing, and latch onto him and teach him everything he learned as he grew up. And if he can do that, if he can lead his fighter to respectability in the sport he gave so much for, then maybe life’s not so bad.
The problem is that Mickey has been so dismissive of Rocky for as long as they’ve known each other, that Rocky’s not exactly looking for a handout of advice from anyone, least of all Mickey. So Mickey decides to swallow his pride and go to Rocky’s apartment and present him with his idea to be his manager.
He slowly walks up the dingy staircase and waits for a moment before knocking on Rocky’s door. Rocky opens it just a crack to see who it is.
MICKEY: Hello kid, I seen your light. Can I come in?
ROCKY: Yeah, sure.
Rocky opens the door for Mickey to let him in. Mickey immediately turns on his happy face as he walks inside. He also can’t help but exclaim how lucky Rocky is by getting this shot.
MICKEY: Yeah, good. Heyyyy, nice place you got here. Anyway, I’ve come to tell you that, uh, what happened to you is freak luck.
ROCKY: Yeah. Freak luck.
Rocky, at this point, barely says much of anything. He only chimes in with quick responses to whatever Mickey is saying. This is the first time Mickey’s ever been in his apartment and he knows exactly why.
MICKEY: Ain’t it true? Look, look at the other guys. They’re good fighters, right? They’re colorful. They got good records. They fight their guts out for peanuts, but you. You got a shot at the title!
ROCKY: Freak luck’s a strange thing.
MICKEY: Yeeeeah. Can I sit down?
ROCKY: Yeah, sure.
Mickey takes his hat off, sets it down on a table, then sits down beside the arrangement of animals Rocky has in his apartment, the two turtles, the fish bowl, etc.
MICKEY: What the hell’s all this?
ROCKY: Oh, those, those are domestic turtles. The one on the top is Cuff, and the other one’s Link. And the rest are all marbles.
MICKEY: Yeah? They make good soup. Heh heh.
Rocky’s not laughing. Mickey decides to switch topics and bring himself closer to what he really wants to tell Rocky, but he needs to make sure Rocky knows how much experience Mickey has in this business.
MICKEY: Anyway, I’m here to warn you that you got to be very careful about this shot you got at the title. Because, like the Bible says, you ain’t gonna get a second chance.
ROCKY: Yeah.
Now, before getting into his experience, Mickey needs to plant the seeds in Rocky’s head so that, maybe, Rocky will just go ahead and ask him to be his manager instead of him having to ask Rocky.
MICKEY: But what you need… is a manager. A manager. I know. I’ve been in this racket for 50 years.
ROCKY: 50 years.
MICKEY: 50 years, ohhhh I’ve seen it all. All of it. You know what I’ve done?
ROCKY: What?
MICKEY: I have done it all. You should have seen me when I knocked Ginny Russo out of the ring, out of the goddamned ring. That’s uh, September the 14th, 1923, and it was the same night that Firpo knocks Dempsey out of the ring. Same night. Now who gets the publicity? Figure that out.
ROCKY: Dempsey.
MICKEY: That’s right. But why?
ROCKY: Dempsey was the champ.
MICKEY: Nooo. Because he had a manager. I had nothing. I wanna show you something. I want you to look at my face. Got 21 stitches over this left eye. I got 34 stitches over this eye. Did you know I had my nose busted 17 times? The last time was with the fight with Sailor Michael. I got the clipping here. Was a good fight. Well, doesn’t matter. Anyway, he put this vegetation on my ear and…
Mickey walks around Rocky’s apartment some more and looks up on the wall, spotting a poster of Rocky Marciano. Mickey sees another way to butter Rocky up a bit more, hopefully get him smiling because he’s being too damn stubborn by giving little more than one-word answers.
MICKEY: Ahhhh, Rocky Marciano! You know, you kinda remind me of the Rock. You know that?
ROCKY: You think so?
MICKEY: Yeah, you move like him. You got heart like he did.
Now Rocky finally participates in the conversation, but he’s letting Mick know that he can see right through everything he’s been saying for the past few minutes, particularly the Marciano comment.
ROCKY: I got heart, but I ain’t got no locker, do I Mick?
MICKEY: Ehhh, anyway, you know, when I was growing up in this business, kid…
Rocky walks to the fridge and opens up a bottle of beer, then takes a swig.
MICKEY: Ehhh, look, I wanna make a suggestion. Don’t drink that piss before a fight. If you don’t mind my saying…
Rocky keeps walking away from Mickey, not looking him in the eye.
MICKEY: Anyway, when I started in this racket, pugs like us, we was treated like dogs. For ten bucks, you got to tear somebody’s throat out. But I never had no management. One time, this son of a bitch I fought, he put a nail right there in the…
ROCKY: The thumb?
Rocky just lets him keep going. He’s fuming inside because the words, “Dipper’s a contender” still echo in Rocky’s mind, and he wants to see just how far Mickey’s going to go in declaring his wanting to be his manager. As Mickey drones on and on, Rocky walks to the bathroom door and pulls out some darts, then stands back and starts throwing the darts at the door.
MICKEY: The thumb, yeah, in the glove. He was punching so many holes in my face, I had spit shooting out of my cheeks. You imagine that? You know, I tell you what I looked like, in my prime, here let me show you this.
He pulls a neatly folded photo out of his pocket, a very impressive looking Mickey Goldmill in the prime of his boxing career before the life started to drag him down.
MICKEY: There, that’s how I looked. Before these guys got at me.
Rocky stops and glances down at the picture for a moment.
ROCKY: That’s nice.
MICKEY: Yeah.
ROCKY: You take very good care of the picture, though.
Rocky looks back at the door and throws another dart.
MICKEY: But I never had, I never had no management!
Rocky’s still throwing the darts. Nothing else has worked for Mickey. Time for the hard sell, put it to him straight.
MICKEY: Look, I got all this knowledge, all up here, I wanna give it to you. I wanna give you this knowledge, I wanna take care of you, I wanna make sure that all this shit that happened to me doesn’t happen to you. You know what I mean?
There. Everything’s on the table. All of Mickey’s pride is right in front of Rocky, and his answer is…
ROCKY: Fight’s set.
But that’s not a good enough answer for Mickey.
MICKEY: Listen to me, I wanna be your manager. You follow that, do you?
Rocky’s mind’s already made up.
ROCKY: Fight’s set. I don’t need no manager.
Now, it’s time for Mickey to start pleading. He didn’t want it to come to this, but he’s not giving up just yet.
MICKEY: But you can’t buy what I’m gonna give you. I got pain and I got experience.
ROCKY: Hey, I got pain and I got experience too.
MICKEY: Listen kid…
Finally, Rocky looks Mickey right in the eye. It’s time to set him straight.
ROCKY: Hey yo, Mick. I needed your help about ten years ago, right? Ten years ago? You never helped me. You didn’t care.
Rocky turns to walk into the bathroom.
MICKEY: If you wanted the help…
Rocky shuts the bathroom door on Mickey. Mickey starts talking to Rocky through the door.
MICKEY: I say if you wanted the help, why didn’t you ask? Why didn’t you ask me?
ROCKY: Look, I asked but you never heard nothing!
Mickey leans up against the door, desperate for some sort of response from Rocky.
MICKEY: Well, I… I’m 76 years old. And uh…
As an answer to Mickey’s final plea, Rocky flushes the toilet. Mickey slumps against the door for a moment, then realizes that his attempt to take care of this young fighter has failed. He takes a deep breath, then walks to the front door. He opens the door, then shuts it when he puts his hand on his head and realizes that he didn’t grab his hat.
As he turns to get his hat, Rocky – thinking that Mickey left since he heard the door shut – opens the bathroom door, sees Mickey still there, and shuts the door again. And Mickey knows without a doubt, that Rocky wants nothing to do with him.
Without saying another word, Mickey picks up his hat, turns and leaves the apartment. Rocky opens the door again, seeing that Mickey’s left. As he stands there in the bathroom doorway, everything that has been seething inside Rocky’s mind, inside his very soul, comes pouring out of him.
ROCKY: Took you long enough to get here. Ten years, you don’t come to my house. What’s wrong, you don’t like my house? My house stinks? THAT’S RIGHT, IT STINKS! I DIDN’T ASK NO FAVORS FROM YOU! DON’T COME AROUND ME! Talking about your prime. WHAT ABOUT MY PRIME, MICK?! AT LEAST YOU HAD A PRIME! I ain’t got no prime, I ain’t got nothing! Legs are goin, everything’s goin, nobody’s getting no nothin’! Guy comes up, offers me a fight. Big deal, says, “Fight the fight,” yeah, I’ll fight the big fight. I’m gonna go and fight the big fight and get in the ring, I’M GONNA GET THAT! I’M GONNA GET THAT!
Rocky throws his fists into the bathroom door, letting out all of aggression, all of his frustration in one big tirade. Cleansing himself of all the crap that’s been building up in him for so many years.
Mickey keeps his head down as he leaves Rocky’s apartment building, the piercing words of Rocky’s venting finding their way into his ears.
ROCKY: AY, YOU WANNA BE AT RINGSIDE AND SEE IT?! DO YA?! YOU WANNA HELP ME OUT?! WANNA SEE ME GET MY FACE GET KICKED IN?! LEGS AIN’T WORKING, NOTHING’S WORKING! SAYING, “GO ON, FIGHT THE CHAMP!”
Rocky starts calming down just a little bit.
ROCKY: Yeah, I’ll fight him. I’ll get my face kicked in.
But he’s got just a little bit left inside him to let out.
ROCKY: YOU COMIN’ ROUND HERE, YOU WANNA MOVE IN WITH ME?! COME ON IN, IT’S A NICE HOUSE! REAL NICE, YOU OUGHTA MOVE! IT STINKS! This whole place stinks.
Mickey keeps on walking, trying to get as far away from Rocky’s accusing voice as quickly as possible.
But then, Rocky comes running out of the apartment building and runs up to Mickey. Mickey stops, taking a small step away thinking the worst. But Rocky puts his hand on Mickey’s shoulder and starts talking to him. (In a brilliant maneuver by director John Avildsen, this moment Rocky and Mickey are sharing is shown from a distance. The audience doesn’t hear anything that Rocky’s saying, and the audience shouldn’t. This is between these two dreamers, we have nothing to do with this.
We are, however, given a hint of how the conversation ended because Rocky holds out his hand and Mickey takes it. We see that the partnership that Mickey had sought is now a reality. His dream has been accomplished, and he will now help his young fighter to make his dream come true.
Next week is a very special edition of Scene Anatomy 101, dedicated to the memory of a very important film music composer. If you know who he is, you have knowledge. And “knowledge is good.”
