Sports Poets Society

FRANK P. TOMASULO "Movies and Cultural Contradictions" American Cinema ot the 1970s: Themes and Variations Berg, Oxford (UK), 2007 In this extremely popular but predictable film, world heavy-weight champion Apollo Creed ( Carl Weathers ), an obvious Muhammad Ali surrogate, decides to give an unknown boxer a break when his scheduled opponent bows out of a bout at the last minute. As part of this clever publicity stunt, a down-and-out, out-of-shape journeyman club tighter, the dim-wined “Italian Stallion” Rocky Balboa ( Sylvester Stallone ), is chosen to be that lucky man. Religious themes and images abound, as well as various aspects of an All-American Horatio Alger story . This low-budget sleeper relied on patriotic appeal, religious sentiment. class antagonisms, submerged racism, and ambivalent male chauvinism to attract the highest U.S. box office receipts of the year--$57 million--and the highest worldwide grosses of the year--$225 million--all on a budget of only $1.1 ...

FRANK P. TOMASULO "Movies and Cultural Contradictions" American Cinema ot the 1970s: Themes and Variations Berg, Oxford (UK), 2007 In its bicentennial year, the United States was wracked by disillusionment and mistrust of the government . The Watergate scandal and the evacuation of Vietnam were still fresh in everyone's mind. Forced to deal with these traumatic events, combined with a lethargic economy (8.5 percent unemployment), energy shortages and OPEC price hikes of 5 to 10 percent, high inflation (8.7 percent and rising), and the decline of the U.S. dollar on international currency exchanges, the American national psyche suffered from a climate of despair and, in the phrase made famous by new California governor Jerry Brown the previous year, "lowered expectations." President Gerald R. Ford 's WIN (Whip Inflation Now) buttons did nothing to bolster consumer/investor confidence and were widely perceived to be a public relations gimmick to paper over st...