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Rocky III
Rocky III
Rocky III
Rocky III
Rocky III
Taxi Driver
Film credit
Mr. T
Stats
- Episodes featuring their films
- 1
- Movies in this archive
- 1
Rewatchables episodes featuring Mr. T’s films
Displaying 1 episode
Mentioned in discussions
Who Won the Movie?
Mr. T (two votes); Talia Shire (one)
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. — Gus Ramsey
- Talia Shire wins another for transforming Adrian from a quiet earlier character into the forceful beach-scene partner. — Cousin Sal
- Hulk Hogan is considered but judged likely to become a wrestling star even without the film. — Bill Simmons
- Mr. T receives the final ballot because Clubber is called the best sports-movie villain and led immediately to his television role. — Bill Simmons
- Stallone is acknowledged as essential, but his success was already secure before this film.
Podcast choices
Apex Mountain
Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Survivor, Stu Nahan, and LeRoy Neiman
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. — Bill Simmons
- Burt Young receives a positive verdict for balancing comedy, menace, and pathos, despite later contenders. — Bill Simmons
- Talia Shire is moved to the first Rocky after The Godfather Part II. — Bill Simmons
- For Mr. T, the verdict is “not till a team.” — Bill Simmons
- Carl Weathers receives a positive verdict because he is in this movie more than in any other Rocky movie. — Bill Simmons
- Hulk Hogan is rejected because later wrestling celebrity surpasses Thunderlips. — Bill Simmons
- The Rocky statue is judged close but still behind the Statue of Liberty. — Bill Simmons
- Survivor receives a positive verdict while its Rocky IV work is also praised. — Bill Simmons
- Stu Nehan receives a yes. — Bill Simmons
- LeRoy Neiman receives a positive verdict because he appears in a scene and his painting closes the film. — Bill Simmons
- Burgess Meredith is moved to the first Rocky or his Penguin role. — Bill Simmons
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. — Bill Simmons
- 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. — Bill Simmons
- Mr. T claimed his mother walked out of the movie after criticizing the way Clubber spoke to Adrian. — Bill Simmons
- Stallone told Roger Ebert in 1979 that a possible third film would stage a Coliseum fight and might end with Rocky’s death. — Bill Simmons
- The movie’s exterior house is reported to have belonged to the boxer in Chicago. — Bill Simmons
- The film uses an unreleased demo of Eye of the Tiger rather than the later commercial version. — Bill Simmons
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. — Bill Simmons
- Mr. T was discovered through America’s Best Bouncer. — Bill Simmons
- Superstar Billy Graham was considered too old for Thunderlips. — Bill Simmons
- 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. — Cousin Sal
- Andre, Ernie Ladd, Big John Stud, Bundy, and Paul Orndorf are discussed as wrestling alternatives for Thunderlips.
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
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. — Bill Simmons
- Eye of the Tiger remains culturally durable and was central to Hogan’s early crowd response. — Bill Simmons
- 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. — Bill Simmons
- The rare Rocky pinball machine remains desirable and is said to sell for about nine thousand dollars. — Bill Simmons
- The ten selected title-defense opponents have absurdly specific credited names that the panel enjoys reciting. — Bill Simmons
- Clubber’s slow look into the camera became an iconic Mr. T image. — Bill Simmons
- Rocky’s affluent house visually captures how far the family has risen. — Bill Simmons
- 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.
Most Rewatchable Scene
Split: Thunderlips; the opening montage
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. — Bill Simmons
- The first Clubber fight races from the simultaneous ring entrance through a brawl, early Rocky punches, a knockout, and Mickey’s death. — Bill Simmons
- 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. — Bill Simmons
- 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.
Apex Mountain
Clap pushups; mid-70s New York
In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:20:35Read transcript
- This was not Apex Mountain for De Niro or for Scorsese. — Bill Simmons
- Scorsese's Apex is debated between Raging Bull and Goodfellas; Goodfellas is favored, while another view says he has not reached it and is still going, with a joke about his next film.
- Along with Rocky, 1976 was the apex for clap pushups, the first time one participant saw anyone work out in a movie, plus the hand over the burner.
- This is Apex Mountain for disgusting mid-70s New York, which no movie captured better. — Bill Hader
- It is not the Apex for taxis, which came with the late-70s TV show Taxi; DC Cab with Mr. T is raised and rejected. — Bill Simmons
Displaying all 7 discussions
