This year will mark the 44th anniversary of the iconic boxing drama Rocky written by and starring Sylvester Stallone (Rambo: Last Blood) and to celebrate the film’s legacy a new documentary is coming out narrated by the Oscar-nominated star entitled 40 Years of Rocky: The Birth of a Classic. The trailer can be viewed in the player below!
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Written and directed by Derek Wayne Johnson (John G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs), the documentary will be narrated by Stallone as he recounts the story of making the 1976 sports classic and its lasting legacy in the sports and entertainment worlds. Stallone’s narration is transposed over archival footage from behind the scenes of the set of the film with stars Carl Weathers, Talia Shire, Burgess Meredith and Burt Young.
First released in 1976, Rocky was penned by and starred Stallone as Rocky Balboa, an uneducated, kind-hearting working class Italian-American who seeks to move on from his life as a debt collector and into becoming the world heavyweight boxing champion while also falling in love with the shy local pet store worker Adrianna “Adrian” Pennino. Other stars in the film include Young as Adrian’s brother Paulie, Meredith as Rocky’s trainer Mickey Goldmill and Weathers as the reigning champion, Apollo Creed.
The film was a sleeper hit, grossing $225 million at the box office on a budget of just over $1 million and scoring large critical acclaim, receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning three, including Best Picture. It would spawn a franchise that included five sequels and a spin-off series starring Michael B. Jordan as the son to Weathers’ Apollo Creed. Stallone would star in all eight of the films as Rocky, as well as writing seven of them and directing four of the original six films.
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40 Years of Rocky: The Birth of a Classic is set to be released on June 9 and can be pre-ordered here!
