Rocky Balboa (film)

Rocky Balboa is a 2006 film from written and directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone as underdog boxer Rocky Balboa. It is the sixth film in the Rocky series, which began with the Oscar-winning Rocky thirty years earlier in 1976; it was followed by Creed, in 2015. Balboa, a retired widower living in Kensington, Philadelphia, owns and operates an Italian restaurant in the city called "Adrian's", named after his late wife. He decides to try his hand at one final match, ending up in an exhibition against the reigning champ.

Rocky Balboa

 * [confronted by his son over taking on Mason Dixon] Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place, and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that! I'm always gonna love you, no matter what. No matter what happens. You're my son and you're my blood. You're the best thing in my life. But until you start believing in yourself, you ain't gonna have a life. Don't forget to visit your mother.

Dialogue

 * Martin: You got everything money can buy, except what it can't. It's pride. Pride is what got your ass out of here, and losing is what brought ya back. But people like you, they need to be tested. They need a challenge.
 * Mason 'The Line' Dixon: But you know that ain't never gonna happen. There ain't anybody out there, Martin.
 * Martin: There's always somebody out there. Always. And when that time comes and you find something standing in front of you, something that ain't running and ain't backing up and is hitting on you and you're too damn tired to breathe. You find that situation on you. That's good, 'cause that's baptism under fire! Oh, you get through that and you find the only kind of respect that matters in this damn world: self-respect.


 * Rocky: Yo, don't I got some rights?
 * Boxing Commissioner: What rights do you think you're referring to?
 * Rocky: Rights, like in that official piece of paper they wrote down the street there?
 * Boxing Commissioner: That's the Bill of Rights.
 * Rocky: Yeah yeah, the Bill of Rights. Don't it say something about going after what makes you happy?
 * Boxing Commissioner: No, that's the pursuit of happiness. But what's your point?
 * Rocky: My point is, I'm pursuing something and nobody looks too happy about it.
 * Boxing Commissioner: But, we're just looking out for your interests.
 * Rocky: I appreciate that, but maybe you're looking out for your interests just a little bit more. I mean you shouldn't be asking people to come down here and pay the freight on something they paid, it still ain't good enough, I mean you think that's right? I mean maybe you're doing your job but why you gotta stop me from doing mine? Cause if you're willing to go through all the battling you got to go through to get where you want to get, who's got the right to stop you? I mean maybe some of you guys got something you never finished, something you really want to do, something you never said to someone, something... and you're told no, even after you paid your dues? Who's got the right to tell you that, who? Nobody! It's your right to listen to your gut, it ain't nobody's right to say no after you earned the right to be where you want to be and do what you want to do!... You know, the older I get the more things I gotta leave behind, that's life. The only thing I'm asking you guys to leave on the table... is what's right.


 * Paulie: Are you still mad that Adrian left you?
 * Rocky: She didn't leave, Paulie. She [voice breaks] died.


 * [Duke rationalizes Rocky's training plan for the Dixon fight]
 * Duke: You know all there is to know about fighting, so there's no sense us going down that same old road again. To beat this guy, you need speed - you don't have it. And your knees can't take the pounding, so hard running is out. And you got arthritis in your neck, and you've got calcium deposits on most of your joints, so sparring is out.
 * Paulie: I had that problem. [Rocky nods at him and looks back at Duke]
 * Duke: So, what we'll be calling on is good ol’ fashion blunt-force trauma. Horsepower. Heavy-duty, cast-iron, piledriving punches that will have to hurt so much they'll rattle his ancestors. Every time you hit him with a shot, it's gotta feel like he tried kissing the express train. [cracks neck] Yeah! Let's start building some hurtin' bombs!


 * Mason 'The Line' Dixon: It's already over.
 * Rocky: Nothing's over 'til it's over.
 * Dixon: What's that from, the 80's?
 * Rocky: That's probably the 70's.


 * Rocky: Hey yo, champ, aren't you a little scared?
 * Mason 'The Line' Dixon: I don't get scared. [walks away]
 * Rocky: [turns and walks away with his son] You know, I think you try harder when you're scared. This is...that's when it's worked best for me.


 * Rocky: [to a ESPN commentator before the fight with Dixon] How you doin'?
 * ESPN Commentator: [to his colleagues] Rocky Balboa just asked me how I'm doing. Now, I grew up watching this guy. I never thought that I would be calling one of his fights! Unbelievable. I'm a fan, I can't help it.


 * Mason 'The Line' Dixon: [before the final round] You are one crazy old man.
 * Rocky: You'll get there.

Tagline

 * Courage. Integrity. Faith. Victory.
 * It ain't over 'til it's over.

Cast

 * Sylvester Stallone - Rocky Balboa
 * Antonio Traver - Mason "The Line Dixon"
 * Milo Ventimiglia - Robert Balboa
 * Tony Burton - Tony "Duke" Evers
 * Burt Young - Paulie Pennino