Rocky - The Musical

I never noticed that Rocky Balboa had a musical. That all changed last week.

I'm a big fan of the Rocky movie franchise. When we went to Philadelphia I had a CD with the Rocky theme ready. It played on repeat as we drove around the city. One of my goals in life was to run the museum steps that were made famous in Rocky I and II.  I ran them both times I went to Philly.  I own all six of the movies and will watch them at least once a year.

Last week I had the privilege to watch Rocky IV.  It's probably my favorite in the Rocky series. As I watched it I couldn't help but notice something that I had never noticed before. There are a ton of musical montages in the movie. Now most movies have a musical montage. It's where a song is played as the actors do something. It could be a flashback scene. It could happen when the hero of the movie turns things around. Or in Rocky's case it could be as he trains for a big fight.  You may have never noticed it before, but the next time you watch a movie I'll bet that there will be a music montage of some sort. 

Rocky IV has 6 music montages. I think that constitutes it as a musical. They are all awesome, but it is a lot of musical montages. There's the beginning of the movie where "Eye of the Tiger" plays. There's Apollo Creed's fight entrance to Living in America by James Brown. There's the epic flashback scene, the arrival in Russia and two, count em, two training montages. Finally there is the classic theme that plays during the final fight scene of the movie.  If you are a fan then you'll appreciate and remember the following...