‘I Play Rocky’ movie review: Anthony Ippolito makes this underdog story sing

Fifty years ago, on November 21, Rocky, a film about a small-time boxer going up against the heavyweight world champion, was released. Made with a limited budget and an unknown actor in the lead, it went on to be the most successful film of the year along with getting nominated for 10 Oscars. Since then, it has routinely found its place in best-of lists.

The making of the film is as dramatic as the movie itself. The unknown writer, Sylvester Stallone, wanted to play the lead and stood by his choice despite all the money studio bosses threw at him. Peter Farrelly, who made the execrable Balls Up, has told the story of the making of the classic in I Play Rocky.

While the story might sometimes play fast and loose with the facts, one is swept along on a tide of feel-good emotions. Sylvester Stallone (Anthony Ippolito), frustrated with doing smaller parts, acts on the advice of his wife Sasha (AnnaSophia Robb) and writes screenplays while imagining himself to be the lead.

After watching a boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner, he is inspired to write Rocky. Though the studio bosses love the script, they are unwilling to cast Stallone as the lead. After offering Stallone $350,000 for the script, the producers Irwin Winkler (P. J. Byrne) and Robert Chartoff (Toby Kebbell) agree to Stallone playing the part himself.

They get Rocky off the ground on a tight budget with a clause saying that any delay will result in Stallone being replaced. Shooting is moved from New York to Philadelphia for non-union rates, and the use of Garrett Brown’s Steadicam cuts down the filming days while injecting urgency to the action.

Rocky’s director, John G. Avildsen (Jay Duplass) says, that it is not a boxing film, but a character study of a man who happens to be a boxer. That holds true about I Play Rocky as well. When Stallone tells Winkler and Chartoff, “This movie, it’s about having a belief in yourself. It’s about going the distance. I put my heart and soul on the page. If I’m not willing to live up to what I wrote, then what’s the point?”. And so, he goes to the heart of the film.

Ippolito is uncanny as Stallone; his performance apparently wowed Stallone himself. Apart from looking like a young Stallone, Ippolito has got the gait, the voice, and most importantly the stubborn self belief to sell the character.

The supporting cast including Matt Dillon as Stallone’s father, Frank, and Tracy Letts as United Artists executive Sandy Maddox are equally good.

The period details of the 1970s feel lived in and not merely decorative. The writing is excellent, giving us characters we can identify with. I would not have sold my dog to pay for groceries though.

The film is rather funny with lines such as Avildsen saying “You couldn’t get Spielberg and I couldn’t get Redford” or Stephan James saying, “I am an actor, you always lie,” when Stallone asks him if he knows boxing. This becomes a running gag till Winkler says, “We will get all actors to do a polygraph test for the next film.”

The training sequence on the streets and steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art with Bill Conti’s score swelling in the background strikes a primeval chord. I Play Rocky might be mushy (Butkus the puppy Stallone adopts is so sweet and Stallone buys him back once he sells the script) but there is something irresistible about making a dream come true by sheer conviction.