"Rocky" (1976) Written-By and Starring Sylvester Stallone, Directed by John G. Avildsen, Produced by Robert Chartoff and Irvin Winkler

[DonRocks]

Presenting the Academy Award Winner for "Best Movie" in 1976: "Rocky."

I think we can safely say this was a break-out film for Stallone.

The first movie I watched from the Rocky series was Rocky III (with Mr. T as Clubber Lang). I was in college, and it was right up my alley - I *loved* it, in a way that I loved Terminator 2, or even The Twilight Zone believe it or not. It was a combination of superficial, gut, ra-ra survival (Terminator 2) and well-executed pulp escapism (The Twilight Zone).

Then, the second movie I saw was Rocky IV (with Dolph Lundgren as Ivan Drago) which I thought was really pretty bad, even at my tender age. I don't think I saw any of the Rocky films beyond this one.

It wasn't until years later that I saw Rocky and Rocky II, and despite having just rewatched Rocky (the original which won an Academy Award for Best Picture), I just can't bring myself to love it, and I'm wondering if it's because my teenage mind was tainted by the superficial glories of Rocky III.

I would love to know other people's opinions on this film. Best Picture? Really? Maybe it's like Momofuku Noodle Bar - the right thing at the right time?

[PappyVanWise]

Presenting the Academy Award Winner for "Best Movie" in 1976: "Rocky."

I would love to know other people's opinions on this film. Best Picture? Really?

A fun Oscars game is to re-award historical shows to see how the choices held up (fun for me, but I'm a film geek).  This can also be done for pro sports drafts and even James Beard awards.  Wine Spectator top 100?  Sure why not.

Rocky beat out Network, All the President's Men, and Taxi Driver for the Best Picture trophy.  Not sure that stands the test of time, but hey Cuba Gooding Jr has won the same amount of Oscars as Robert Redford, so go figure.

(and yes I left out Bound for Glory, Rocky would still probably beat that one today)

[DonRocks]

Rocky beat out Network, All the President's Men, and Taxi Driver for the Best Picture trophy.  Not sure that stands the test of time, but hey Cuba Gooding Jr has won the same amount of Oscars as Robert Redford, so go figure.

(and yes I left out Bound for Glory, Rocky would still probably beat that one today)

Most of the "film geeks" I know think "Network" got robbed.

Let me tell you something: "The Shootist" deserves more credit than it has. I'm not saying it's in "Best Picture" territory, but it deserves mention.

A fun Oscars game is to re-award historical shows to see how the choices held up (fun for me, but I'm a film geek).  This can also be done for pro sports drafts and even James Beard awards.  Wine Spectator top 100?  Sure why not.

One thing that's important to remember is that some of these honors are, by definition, more solidly grounded than others.

For example: Pro sports drafts have serious money on the line, and relatively zero bribery, bias, or anything else - it's all about who teams honestly, truly believe will turn out to be *The Best*. Of the items you list, they are absolutely the most worthy of scrutiny.

The Academy Awards, The James Beard Awards, and The Wine Spectator Top 100 Awards are, in descending order, less-and-less reliable. The more independent, (theoretically) unknown judges an award system has, the more unbiased and reliable it is.

Based on this, I would argue that The Wine Spectator Top 100 Awards - which I believe are based on the opinions of just a few for-profit magazine employees - are the least reliable of all. Followed by The James Beard Awards (consisting of dozens of judges, some of whom cozy up to each other and, yes, also the nominees), and then the Academy Awards (which, I believe, also consist of dozens of judges, some of whom are probably on the take with big bucks at stake). My guess is that both the Academy Awards and the James Beard Awards are more "pure" than the Wine Spectator Top 100 Awards, and I'd love to have an open-ended, community discussion about this very subject.

[PappyVanWise]

Network really resonates in a way today that no one could've expected in the 1970s.  It predicted a very small part of a future that was much more believable but in some ways just as bleak as 1984 or Fahrenheit 451, and now it basically has come true.  This movie and A Face in the Crowd (1957) are really amazing pieces of media fortune telling. 

[DaveO]

I loved the first Rocky.  I'm partial to movies of that ilk, with characters of that type, and stories that provide that kind of emotional lift.   Did it deserve the Academy Award over its competitors that year?   I don't care.   I also loved some of the movies it competed against that year and from time to time I've seen those others referenced above additional times.  In fact what an astonishing quartet of wonderful stories in film, each significantly different.

They were all worthwhile winners, imho and all are worthy of seeing again.