Sports Poets Society

Judy Klemesrud Nov. 22, 1976 - The New York Times For years, Talia Shire's main claim to fame in movie, circles was that she was Francis Ford Coppola's sister. Even the Academy Award nomination she got in 1975 for playing the part of Connie Corleone, Al Pacino's headstrong, sluttish sister in Mr. Coppola's “The Godfather, Part II,” didn't help erase from some minds the notion that she was just a big director's little sister. Those days are probably gone. The reason is “Rocky, a John Avildsen film that opened here yesterday about an aging, down‐and‐out boxer (played by Sylvester Stallone) who almost becomes world champion. Miss Shire is so convincing as Adrian; the hero's Painfully shy girlfriend, that from now on she will be thought of in terms of her talent, rather than her brother. “I've even thought about changing my name back to Copppla,” the sloeeyed, 29‐year‐old actress said the other day insuite her brother owns in the Sherry‐Netherland Hotel. “I ...

Nov. 22, 1976 The New York Times Archives Vincent Canby NOT SINCE "The Great Gatsby" two years ago has any film come into town more absurdly oversold than "Rocky," the sentimental little slum movie that opened yesterday at the Cinema II. As a former head of Paramount Pictures said to me with some irritation at the time "Gatsby" came out, movies shouldn't be penalized for being effectively promoted. That's true. Yet the sort of highpowered publicity (most of it free, it seems) that's been attending the birth of "Rocky" must, in turn, subject the movie to impossible expectations that can boomerang. Be warned.Sylvester Stallone, who had a role in "The Lords of Flatbush," another "sleeper" that never quite measured up as a hit, both wrote the original screenplay and plays the title role. Rocky is a young man who, by day, is a small-time Mafia collector, the sort of fellow who shows his heart of gold by hesitating to br...

RIVERA/AP Sylvester Stallone talks about his memoir, “The Steps,”  in New York on Monday. Referring to his 1976 film “Rocky,”  the actor says he was just trying to write something simple.  “It (‘Rocky’) tapped into something that I cannot take credit for,” Stallone says. ‘I am a lucky dog’ Fifty years after “Rocky,” Sylvester Stallone still identifies with the outsider boxer he portrayed in the film. 30 set 2026 - The Washington Post BY HILLEL ITALIE Associated Press Fifty years after “Rocky,” Sylvester Stallone still identifies with the outsider boxer he portrayed in the film. Fifty years after Sylvester Stallone pulled off one of Hollywood’s all-time long shots with “Rocky,” the Oscar-winning star still identifies with the character who for many embodies the outsider proving all the naysayers wrong.CJ  But he no longer claims to be an underdog. “It would be so disingenuous to say you’re an underdog, ‘as he said from his penthouse,’” Stallone said during a recent in...

CJ RIVERA / INVISION / AP by Hillel Italie of the Associated Press | Sept. 29, 2026 NEW YORK — Fifty years after Sylvester Stallone pulled off one of Hollywood's all-time long shots with “Rocky,” the Oscar-winning star still identifies with the character who for many embodies the outsider proving all the naysayers wrong. But he no longer claims to be an underdog. “It would be so disingenuous to say you’re an underdog, ‘as he said from his penthouse,’" Stallone said during a recent interview, on a high floor of a luxury Manhattan hotel. "Yeah. Come on. I am a lucky dog.” Stallone, who turned 80 in July, is among the most successful movie stars and filmmakers in history. He has generated billions of dollars through such blockbuster franchises as “Rocky,” “Rambo” and “The Expendables” and portrayed some of the most memorable film characters. And he is still working, starring as mobster Dwight “The General" Manfredi in the Paramount+ series “Tulsa King.” By choice an...