![]() (In a classic Simpsons gag, Bart learns how to add Roman numerals through the many Rocky films: “Rocky V plus Rocky II equals Rocky VII: Adrian’s Revenge!”) It’s true that few film series can justify a Part III beyond it being a churned-out cash grab.īut there’s more fight in Rocky III. Rocky soon became shorthand for that very 1980s trend of relentless sequels. It's easy to believe that the art commission, mockingly called “the Guardians of Good Taste” by the Philadelphia Inquirer, would write off anything to do with Rocky III, a tightly formulaic sequel that thumps along to Eye of the Tiger, and pits Rocky against TV hardman Mr. It was, said Gorman, “a statue that the public can relate to”. ![]() It kicked off a battle between blue collar locals – who adopted the fictitious Balboa as an icon of Philly pride – and stuffy art commission officials, who thought the statue was too lowbrow for pride of place at the museum.Ī truck driver named Art Gorman led the campaign to keep the statue. But Stallone’s gesture – gifting Philadelphia with an 8½ft, 1,500lb monument to himself – caused some controversy. Stallone imagined that the statue would remain permanently in that spot at the Museum of Art. ![]() It took Schomberg more than a year to complete. In reality, Stallone had commissioned the sculptor A. Before the filming for Rocky III began, Sylvester Stallone gifted the film’s most iconic prop – the Rocky Balboa statue – to the City of Philadelphia. In the story, the statue is revealed to Balboa at the “Rocky steps” – the 72 steps that lead up to the Philadelphia Museum of Art – where, in the original film, Rocky runs and raises his arms in near-victory – the sign of a good morning’s training montage. That image of the Italian Stallion atop the steps presides – in triumphant spirit, at least – over the entire series, including the newest installment, Creed III.
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