Ba Bum Ba-ba-ba Bum Ba-ba Bum-bum-bum…ding, ding, ding. Fighting out of the blue corner, wearing the red, white and blue trucks, a pretty good movie. Fighting out of the red corner, wearing the black trunks, a movie that didn’t really need to be made. Let us rank the Rocky films from worst to best!
The long-running boxing franchise, starring Sylvester Stallone, has been a part of pop culture for over 40 years now. Over those four decades, the movies have earned both rave reviews (including Oscar wins) and deserved criticism (Tommy Gunn? Really?), depending on which one of the sequels you’re talking about.
In celebration of Carl Weathers’ 72rd birthday, join us as we rank the Rocky films from worst to best. Yo, Adrian! Let’s get somethin’ started.
7. Rocky III (1982)
Getting right to the film that didn’t really need to happen, Rocky III. The story worked on some levels, but the choreographed fighting between Sylvester Stallone and Mr. T, who played Rocky’s nemesis James “Clubber” Lang, went to another level of “…really…?” The film featured a well-fed champ in Rocky Balboa and a man who was hungry for the belt in Clubber Lang. After getting his hiney kicked by the challenger, Rock hits bottom, losing Mickey (Burgess Meredith), then subsequently losing himself. Fortunately, Rocky is lassoed by former foe turned friend, Apollo Creed, who pulls Rocky from the depths of despair to train, and get him back to championship form. Sure, the film is still watchable, and quite enjoyable on many levels (it introduced us to “Eye of The Tiger”), but Sly bawling all over Mickey’s corpse…meh.
Source: Screenshot via MGM/UA