ANOTHER ROCKY?...It's ludicrous, admits STALLONE..

[KiwiCoromandel]

Sylvester Stallone is not punch-drunk. He has not taken so many blows to the head while filming Rocky movies that he's unaware of how people are rolling their eyes at the prospect of another.

A 60-year-old in the ring against a heavyweight champ in his prime? Stallone knows what people are saying about Rocky Balboa, the sixth - and, he promises - final instalment about the Philadelphia street bruiser who makes good.

Stallone conceded that audiences may expect Rocky Balboa to be as much of a joke as 1990's critical and commercial turkey Rocky V turned out to be.

"There's no question about it. It's ludicrous on the surface," Stallone said in an interview. "It reeks of vanity and lack of self-awareness. I realise that. I told my wife, if I was sitting there listening to this on television, that someone else is doing Godfather 7, I'd go, come on.

"But they don't see it exactly the way I see it. I never saw it as a boxing story. I saw it as an old man characterisation of trying to deal with incredible grief and loss."

In Rocky Balboa, Stallone's Italian Stallion is back in the old neighbourhood, running a restaurant called Adrian's, named after the love of his life (Talia Shire, seen only in flashbacks), who has died of cancer.

Like all the blows he's taken in his life, Rocky tries to move on, but he's tethered to Adrian in his mourning, and one last return to the ring becomes a way for him to let go of pent-up anger and emotional baggage.

Stallone's not alone in returning to an iconic role after many years. In his 50s, Clint Eastwood reprised his Dirty Harry character with two 1980s sequels. Also in his 50s, Sean Connery came back to James Bond with 1983's Never Say Never Again, 12 years after retiring as Britain's super-spy. Well into his 60s, Harrison Ford still hopes to do another Indiana Jones adventure with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.

Earlier this year, Sharon Stone returned in her late 40s to her femme-fatale viper with Basic Instinct 2, which critics and moviegoers laughed out of theatres.

Stone had been in the same boat as Stallone, a former Hollywood A-lister who had not had a hit in ages and was viewed as grasping at old glory. But Stone said she does not regret trying.

"Every single thing you do in life is not a win," Stone said. "Babe Ruth had more strikeouts than home runs, and he still held the home run title for a long time. You learn a lot from just having the guts to get up and hit."

Stallone also has struck out more times than he's connected. Other than the Rocky movies and his three Rambo action flicks, Stallone's only notable success as a lead player was Cliffhanger. His 30-year-plus career is littered with duds such as Paradise Alley, Rhinestone, Oscar, Judge Dredd and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.

Rocky, an out-of-nowhere low-budget film that won the 1976 Best Picture Academy Award, rocketed Stallone to stardom. Inspired by a title fight in which a hopelessly outclassed boxer hung in tenaciously with Muhammad Ali, Stallone wrote the screenplay and held steadfast against studio executives who wanted to cast a big-name actor as Rocky.

The first film had the already ageing club fighter go the distance after earning an unlikely bout with the world heavyweight champion. Rocky II had him crowned champ in a rematch, while the following movies strained credibility as Rocky faced more preposterous opponents and circumstances.

Stallone thought he was done with the character after Rocky V, in which the fighter loses his fortune, sets out to manage a young boxer and ends up in a bare-knuckle street brawl.

The movie left Stallone as unsatisfied as everyone else with Rocky's fate.

"It was caricaturish, broad acting. It just wasn't there, and I'll take responsibility for it," said Stallone, who wrote all six Rocky movies and directed four, including Rocky Balboa. "It bothered me immensely, and people weren't shy about also vocalising their disenchantment with the final effort.

"So it ate at me. I've had other films that haven't worked, but this really ate at me. I felt I'd let everyone down."

About seven years ago, when he was 52, Stallone got the idea of resurrecting Rocky one last time and giving him a better send-off. No-one in Hollywood wanted it.

"The quotes were pretty vitriolic about the idea of making the film," Stallone said.

New management at MGM decided to bite and gave him the go-ahead last year, when Stallone was nearing 60.

Rocky Balboa has the fighter initially hoping to return for some small exhibition matches. The notion strikes him after a computerised virtual match declares him the winner over current champ Mason "The Line" Dixon, played by real-life light heavyweight king Antonio Tarver.

Dixon's handlers talk him into an easy payday match against Rocky, who of course ends up in another rousing training montage that includes a reprise of his run up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

What does Tarver think of Rocky's return to the ring?

"It would never happen," Tarver said. "I think 60 years is a bit over the hill when you look at real-life boxing. But that doesn't take away from Sylvester Stallone being a totally unusual 60-year-old. When you look at his physique, his strength, the way he's kept his body up, the guy looks incredible. If I can only look that good when I'm 60, God bless me."

However audiences receive Rocky Balboa, Stallone knows he has another tough sell ahead. Early next year, he's scheduled to start shooting a fourth Rambo movie.

Stallone said the Rambo sequel was in the works before he got financing for Rocky Balboa and that he's contractually obligated to do it now. His preference would be to separate the two with a different film - like the Edgar Allan Poe biopic he has written and plans to direct - so it doesn't look as though he's cashing in on past success twice in a row.

"I think I can make the best of it," Stallone said of Rambo IV. "I think if I can find some heart and soul in that whole journey, it can be worth it, because it's an interesting character. It's a different character than they're doing today."

Stallone ultimately is pragmatic about why he's reviving Rocky and Rambo back to back.

"You give the people what they want," he said. "That may not be such a popular credo for artists to live by, but I found out the hard way, you give them what YOU want, they may not come."

source:AP

image:AP:SYLVESTER STALLONE at a premiere of ROCKY BALBOA...

[DudeAsInCool]

I saw the latest Rocky last night. The prologue is too long--the ending doesn't work for me--but the film was still enjoyable, and in particular, the small human dramas inbetween.