rocky 3 Tagged Articles at Cinematical

If you were a child raised in Philadelphia between the years of 1975 and 1985, you were raised at the altar of The Phillies, The Flyers, The Eagles, The 76ers ... and Rocky Balboa. To say that Sylvester Stallone's fictitious pugilist is a local hero is kind of like saying the Dallas Cowboys are mildly evil. Take a stroll through Philly's most colorful locations and you'll see the Italian Market where Rocky draws a crowd, beautiful patches of Fairmount Park, and (of course) the wonderfully huge staircase located in front of our world-renowned Philadelphia Museum of Art. Basically, Rocky is as much a part of Philadelphia as are cheese steaks, soft pretzels, and The Mummers Parade.

So what's up with this whole Rocky Statue uproar? Let's break it down by bullet-points:

• The Rocky Statue was created by A. Thomas Schomberg and paid for by MGM. The 9-foot, 1,500-pound behemoth was commissioned for use in Rocky 3, to be used as the centerpiece for a scene in which the City of Brotherly Love shows how much it loves Rocky Balboa. (Foreshadowing AND irony!)
  
• After Rocky 3, the statue was re-located to just outside the Spectrum sports arena, which caused a lot of confusion for tourists who, after sprinting all 72 of the Art Museum steps, realized that Bronze Rocky was nowhere to be found. (Let's just say The Art Museum and The Spectrum aren't exactly within walking distance.)
  
• The statue made a brief re-appearance atop the Art Museum steps when Rocky 5 showed up, but was quickly re-placed back at the sports park.
• The Rocky Statue was put into storage when Veterans Stadium was (intentionally) destroyed in 2002, and that's where it resides right now. (In storage, that is, not in the destruction.)
  
• The arrival of this December's Rocky Balboa has sparked a lot of new chit-chat here in Philly: Several local politicians would like to see Bronze Rocky returned to somewhere very close to the Art Museum, while some on the museum board are dead-set against it. They don't think it's artsy enough, I suppose.
• Recent reports indicate that a compromise has been reached, and that the statue will most likely earn a home -- at the bottom (?) of the Art Museum steps. And just in time, too! September 6th marks the beginning of "Philly Loves Rocky Week," and Sly is scheduled to show up and soak in the love.
  

Now, as a lifelong Philadelphian and a non-stop movie geek, my take on the whole "controversy" should be pretty darn obvious: Give Rocky the spotlight. Sure he's a fictional character, but this character has done more for this city than the last 11 mayors combined. Ask a guy from California what he knows about Philly, and "Rocky" will be one of his top five answers, guaranteed. So what if the statue was initially created as a movie prop? It's a pretty impressive piece of work all the same. More importantly, it's a well-known, well-established, and well-admired symbol of this city, regardless of what the Art Experts have to say on the matter.

I mean, we're talking about a city that boasts a giant clothespin statue, for cryin' out loud.

Borat Comes Under Fire!

As Sacha Baron Cohen prepares to release his film, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, the poor schmucks caught up in Cohen's cross-country practical joke are pissed. And they want you to know there's nothing funny about being a fool. George Matthews Marshall -- who was one of the men suckered into believing Borat was a real person -- claims the whole thing was "disgraceful" and "disgusting." Marshall explains, "He intimated we might have favored slavery ... we were horrified." Now, if that's not the perfect tagline for this flick, I don't know what is.

Save the Rocky Statue!

After discovering the famous bronze Rocky statue (Um, remember Rocky III?) was placed in storage by city officials in Philadelphia, Sylvester Stallone has been fighting to find the thing a permanent home. Although there was a campaign to stick Bronze Rocky at the foot of the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps, museum bosses felt poor old Rocky just wasn't artsy enough. Now, no one knows where to put it. Hey, worse comes to worse, I have a ton of friends who would love to throw that puppy in their living room. Just an idea. You can get back to me. I'll be here.

Depp Records Entire Album of Sea Shanties!

Not for nothing, but when Johnny Depp is finally finished with all this Pirates of the Caribbean nonsense, I wouldn't be surprised if the guy disappears, only to be caught hijacking cargo from a ship in the Atlantic a few years from now. Yes, he's that obsessed with this role. According to reports, the actor has joined forces with folks like Bono, Bryan Ferry and folk singer Eliza Carthy to produce an album full of sea shanties with plans to use the songs in Pirates of the Caribbean 3. Keith Richards (who is set to play Depp's father in the third installment) was supposed to appear on the album as well until -- I love this part -- he was injured after falling out of a tree. I have no idea what in the world a 63-year-old man would be doing up in a tree, though it makes for one hilarious story.