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Rocky III

year 1982decade 80sdirector Sylvester Stallonegenre Sports drama

100 minutes

IMDb
Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Rocky III | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Cousin Salhost Gus Ramseyproducer Craig Horlbeck format 40th Anniversary
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Roger Ebert's review

Rating not yet verified

Roger Ebert did not publish a review; the panel instead recalls his television disappointment that Rocky had lost humor and charm.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:22:29Read transcript
  • The discussion explicitly says Roger Ebert did not review the film.
  • On the television program, Ebert reportedly said Rocky had lost his humor and charm.
  • The panel rejects that view and argues that Rocky remains funny and charming.

Most Rewatchable Scene

Thunderlips wins one ballot and the opening montage another; the statue confrontation, Mickey revelation, first Clubber fight, beach confession, training, final fight, and freeze-frame ending are also discussed.

In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 00:23:40Read transcript
  • The opening montage intercuts Rocky enjoying celebrity with Clubber destroying opponents, making both the story and threat immediately clear.
  • Thunderlips combines credible wrestling moves, comedy, crowd energy, Paulie’s chair attack, and the movie’s role in Hulkamania.
  • Clubber interrupting the statue ceremony turns a celebration into an escalating challenge and insult to Adrian.
  • Mickey’s admission that Rocky fought selected opponents reframes success as comfort and fear of the truly hungry challenger.
  • The first Clubber fight races from the simultaneous ring entrance through a brawl, early Rocky punches, a knockout, and Mickey’s death.
  • The beach confrontation is called Rocky and Adrian’s best scene because she forces him to admit fear without treating fear as shameful.
  • The training montage is energetic despite Apollo appearing to ease up in the race and the beach embrace becoming comic.
  • The final fight uses a large stated weight difference, a rope-a-dope strategy, and slow-motion reaction shots to build its comeback.
  • Stallone claimed that he and Mr. T went all out late in the final round, but the panel doubts it and allows that only some body punches may have landed.
  • The private Rocky-Apollo fight ends on a freeze-frame that felt like a cliffhanger even though later films never show the result.
  • Thunderlips wins one participant’s scene ballot because the nine-minute sequence contains nearly every kind of entertainment the film offers.
  • The opening montage wins another ballot because it immediately establishes the movie’s pace and stakes.

What’s Aged the Best?

The score, Thunderlips, Eye of the Tiger, Clubber Lang, Apollo, the pinball machine, Adrian, the supporting announcers, and key Mickey dialogue lead the praise.

In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 00:42:09Read transcript
  • The recurring fight overture still signals that Rocky’s comeback is beginning.
  • Thunderlips holds up because the wrestling is authentic and Hogan performs moves absent from much of his later career.
  • Eye of the Tiger remains culturally durable and was central to Hogan’s early crowd response.
  • Clubber Lang remains one of the strongest sports-movie villains because his spare presentation and verbal performance create menace.
  • Apollo’s training role is praised as one of Carl Weathers’s fullest performances in the series.
  • The rare Rocky pinball machine remains desirable and is said to sell for about nine thousand dollars.
  • The ten selected title-defense opponents have absurdly specific credited names that the panel enjoys reciting.
  • Clubber’s slow look into the camera became an iconic Mr. T image.
  • Rocky’s affluent house visually captures how far the family has risen.
  • Adrian’s appearance and confidence plausibly reflect the family’s new wealth while preserving the gradual change from the first two films.
  • Mickey’s warning that Rocky cannot win establishes the template later reused in Rocky IV.
  • Bill Baldwin and Stu Nahan are both said to have aged nicely.

What’s Aged the Worst?

The beach embrace, lost surprise, racial framing, Pushing, Rocky’s ingratitude, Paulie, the Rocky II recap, Mickey’s sudden Jewish history, and fight realism draw criticism.

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:51:36Read transcript
  • The prolonged beach embrace and close shots are considered inexplicable and comic.
  • Knowledge of Mickey’s death, Rocky’s defeat, and Apollo’s arrival has erased the original theatrical surprise.
  • The discussion accepts Gene Siskel’s criticism that another loud Black antagonist could pander to racist viewers.
  • Frank Stallone’s song Pushing is judged weak beside the series’ better songs.
  • Rocky’s complaint that Mickey never used Apollo’s methods seems ungrateful while Apollo is trying to save his career.
  • Paulie’s racism and the decision to take him into a Black Los Angeles gym age especially poorly.
  • Opening with the end of Rocky II feels redundant on repeated viewing.
  • Mickey’s Goldmill surname and Jewish funeral arrive without prior character grounding and surprised the panel.
  • The women lifting Thunderlips’s robe and the extreme damage tolerated in the boxing scenes play worse after later combat-sports viewing.

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie

There is no tomorrow, you can’t win, I pity the fool, pain, and dead meat form the short list.

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:56:54Read transcript
  • There is no tomorrow is offered first as a favorite.
  • You can’t win is another central candidate.
  • I pity the fool is another proposed favorite.
  • Pain is another proposed favorite.
  • Dead meat is another proposed favorite.

Casting What-Ifs

Joe Frazier and Ernie Shavers were considered for Clubber; Billy Graham for Thunderlips; Morgan Freeman for Clubber’s trainer; and several actors or wrestlers are proposed as alternatives.

This discussion recalls a choice from an earlier episode.

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:57:20Read transcript
  • Joe Frazier and Ernie Shavers were considered for Clubber, but a stutter and a high voice were seen as liabilities.
  • Mr. T was discovered through America’s Best Bouncer.
  • Superstar Billy Graham was considered too old for Thunderlips.
  • Morgan Freeman unsuccessfully auditioned to be Clubber’s trainer.
  • John Amos is considered as a known actor alternative, though his age and familiarity would reduce Clubber’s mystery.
  • Andre, Ernie Ladd, Big John Stud, Bundy, and Paul Orndorf are discussed as wrestling alternatives for Thunderlips.

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

Tony Burton’s Duke is the main answer, with Jim Hill, Stu Nahan, Eddie Smith, and Stallone’s wife also discussed.

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:00:57Read transcript
  • Duke is favored because viewers knew the performer by that character for years.
  • Jim Hill is proposed for supplying an authentic Los Angeles sportscaster presence.
  • Stu Nahan is recalled from the Rocky films, Spicoli’s dream, and a Globetrotters episode of Gilligan’s Island.
  • Clubber’s cornerman Eddie Smith had a long career of brief television roles.
  • Stallone’s wife appears briefly as the groupie who kisses Rocky.

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Duke is the default choice, while Clubber’s cornerman receives a competing vote for a single urgent line.

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:39Read transcript
  • Duke is proposed because Paulie and Clubber occupy too much screen time to qualify.
  • Wally Taylor wins for the one line “get up.”

Recasting Couch

Morgan Freeman is placed as Clubber’s trainer, Kevin Harlan as a fight announcer, and a young Mel Gibson is jokingly proposed for the rabbi.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:53Read transcript
  • Morgan Freeman is proposed as Clubber’s trainer despite the need to deliver instructions quickly.
  • Kevin Harlan is proposed for the second fight’s play-by-play.
  • A young Mel Gibson is jokingly proposed as the rabbi at Mickey’s funeral.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Research covers Stallone’s extreme diet, the Rocky statue, Mr. T’s mother, a discarded death plan, Ali’s house, and the film’s demo version of Eye of the Tiger.

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:03:43Read transcript
  • Stallone claimed 2.6 percent body fat, a 155-pound weight, ten egg whites and toast, fruit every third day, and several kinds of daily training.
  • Three Rocky statues were made, and Philadelphia officials moved one away from the museum steps after deciding it was a movie prop rather than art.
  • Mr. T claimed his mother walked out of the movie after criticizing the way Clubber spoke to Adrian.
  • Stallone told Roger Ebert in 1979 that a possible third film would stage a Coliseum fight and might end with Rocky’s death.
  • The movie’s exterior house is reported to have belonged to the boxer in Chicago.
  • The film uses an unreleased demo of Eye of the Tiger rather than the later commercial version.

Apex Mountain

The panel places Stallone’s peak at First Blood, gives positive verdicts to Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Survivor, Stu Nahan, and LeRoy Neiman, and rejects or redirects several others.

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 01:06:40Read transcript
  • Stallone is moved to First Blood because the two 1982 hits gave him maximum ability to create later films.
  • Burt Young receives a positive verdict for balancing comedy, menace, and pathos, despite later contenders.
  • Talia Shire is moved to the first Rocky after The Godfather Part II.
  • For Mr. T, the verdict is “not till a team.”
  • Carl Weathers receives a positive verdict because he is in this movie more than in any other Rocky movie.
  • Hulk Hogan is rejected because later wrestling celebrity surpasses Thunderlips.
  • The Rocky statue is judged close but still behind the Statue of Liberty.
  • Survivor receives a positive verdict while its Rocky IV work is also praised.
  • Stu Nehan receives a yes.
  • LeRoy Neiman receives a positive verdict because he appears in a scene and his painting closes the film.
  • Burgess Meredith is moved to the first Rocky or his Penguin role.

Picking Nits

The panel questions Thunderlips’s size and police assault, the selected opponents, the trainer’s medical care, missing Clubber material, fight logistics, and several training or timing details.

In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 01:09:43Read transcript
  • Joe Sack and Big Yank Ball are singled out as opponent names that do not make sense.
  • Thunderlips’s stated 390-pound weight seems implausible for his visible size.
  • The panel asks whether Thunderlips would be arrested for striking six apparent police officers.
  • Rocky should suspect the selected opponents are weak during ten easy title defenses.
  • Doctors say the trainer needs a hospital immediately but allow the fighter to delay while he dies.
  • The movie misses opportunities to show Clubber as champion through talk-show or celebrity scenes.
  • A third Rocky-Clubber fight would have been commercially and competitively plausible after the rematch.
  • Rocky’s go-for-it answer at the second stare-down is judged a weak comeback even if period-appropriate.
  • The final round may run longer than three minutes, although another timing produces two minutes fifty-eight seconds.
  • Rocky’s sudden beach-race victory appears from nowhere after struggling throughout training.
  • The trainer predicts seven or eight rounds despite Rocky being unable to skip, punch, swim, or enter the ring properly.
  • The speeding limousine behaves as if Rocky is driving even though a chauffeur emerges to open Adrian’s door.
  • Apollo persuades Rocky to return too easily given that Mickey’s death is the whole source of his resistance.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Questions cover Clubber’s responsibility for Mickey, Mickey’s age, fight betting lines and location, Mickey’s last perception, the Rocky-Apollo friendship, performance-enhancing drugs, and the unseen private fight.

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 01:12:49Read transcript
  • The panel asks whether Clubber killed the trainer and predicts an involuntary-manslaughter case would fail because he already had heart problems.
  • The trainer says he is seventy-six in the first film and remains seventy-six on a tombstone three years later.
  • The first Clubber fight is estimated around Rocky minus 550 to minus 700 because public money would favor the established champion.
  • The rematch is estimated around Clubber minus 500 to minus 330, with Rocky’s popularity potentially shortening the line.
  • The second fight’s location is left ambiguous: the panel asks whether it is Vegas, Philly, L.A., Qatar, or Saudi Arabia.
  • A participant asks whether the dying trainer saw the beaten fighter’s face during his last brief opening of the eyes.
  • Rocky and Apollo are compared with famous friendships and partnerships, but the next film’s selfish Apollo behavior weakens the bromance case.
  • The panel asks whether Rocky used performance-enhancing drugs while rapidly adding ten knockouts during the early steroid era.
  • The result of the private Rocky-Apollo fight remains one of the story’s lasting unanswered questions.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

The panel rejects a ten-episode version unless the installments are only about twelve minutes long.

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:16:43Read transcript
  • The immediate answer to a ten-episode adaptation is no.
  • Twelve-minute installments are the only joking exception, including three episodes about pouring beer into raisin brand.

What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie?

The choices are the Thunderlips-fight Polaroid, Rocky’s yellow beach shorts, and the original LeRoy Neiman painting, with the statue and other props considered.

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:24:56Read transcript
  • The category opens with the pinball machine, painting, Apollo trunks, gym sign, limousine, and Rocky statue as possible objects.
  • The Thunderlips-fight Polaroid is one participant’s final choice.
  • The yellow beach-training shorts are another participant’s final choice.
  • The original LeRoy Neiman painting is the third final choice because it could hang as art in a home.

Who Won the Movie?

Mr. T receives two winner ballots and Talia Shire one; Hulk Hogan is a strong alternate, while Stallone is recognized as indispensable but already established.

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:27:37Read transcript
  • Mr. T wins one ballot because his life went from being a bouncer into the stratosphere through this movie.
  • Talia Shire wins another for transforming Adrian from a quiet earlier character into the forceful beach-scene partner.
  • Hulk Hogan is considered but judged likely to become a wrestling star even without the film.
  • Mr. T receives the final ballot because Clubber is called the best sports-movie villain and led immediately to his television role.
  • Stallone is acknowledged as essential, but his success was already secure before this film.
Podcast choices
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Mr. T
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Talia Shire
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Mr. T
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Mr. T
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Talia Shire
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Mr. T
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Mr. T
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Talia Shire
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Mr. T

More from the conversation

The episode argues Rocky III is the best or favorite Rocky and sports movie because it moves rapidly, contains major reversals, and delivered an extraordinary theater experience.
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:25Read transcript
Thunderlips gave mainstream validation to professional wrestling and helped make Hulk Hogan a crossover star before his WWF title run.
Approx. transcript time · 00:08:10Read transcript
The panel calls Rocky III an unusually successful third franchise film after listing many third installments that declined.
Approx. transcript time · 00:10:44Read transcript
The story is interpreted as a study of success creating fear of failure and the difficulty of staying hungry after reaching the top.
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:40Read transcript
Eye of the Tiger replaced You’re the Best, aligning the song with the film’s central idea while freeing the other song for The Karate Kid.
Approx. transcript time · 00:18:09Read transcript
Limited national sports access in 1982 made fictional boxing and wrestling feel more significant to young viewers.
Approx. transcript time · 00:20:59Read transcript
The film cost seventeen million dollars, grossed about 270 million, and ranked fourth for 1982.
Approx. transcript time · 00:22:07Read transcript
The final discussion treats Mr. T’s career transformation as the clearest measure of who gained most from the film.
Approx. transcript time · 01:27:37Read transcript

Mentions across The Rewatchables

Recorded movie reference

Rocky II

The Rewatchables · aired December 2, 2025

Rocky III is listed in the sourced research for this episode. The precise discussion has not been linked yet.

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