Watching the Rocky saga for the first time

I only just saw the entire Rocky series for the first time this Christmas period, as a 35 year old.

Opening title of Rocky, 1976

This was a series that I ignorantly thought I didn't need to see to understand. I thought I would know each and every beat that it delivered, before it delivered it. I thought I would grow bored. I didn't think I'd be invested in the story of Rocky Balboa.

But I was  wrong.

I tremendously enjoyed every film in the series - some because they are legitimately great, and others because of how unashamedly silly and of their time they were (I'm only really looking at you, Rocky IV, and the studio-imposed score to Rocky V).

In a way I'm glad I waited this long. My movie-watching education has been too thorough for there to be many gaps as big as the Rocky series, so I had a very rare opportunity to enjoy an entire classic movie saga that despite its reputation, I actually knew very little about.

And then I got to cap it all off with the recent release of Creed, Ryan Coogler's excellent Rocky sequel/spin-off that showed there are still great stories to be told in Rocky's world. 

The entire series struck me in ways I didn't expect, and I grew to love the Rocky character in ways I woudn't have thought possible.

I apologise to anyone whose love of Rocky I dismissed in the past. You were right and I was wrong, all along. Let's get together and talk Rocky sometime, huh?


postscript:
Following my completion of the saga I created this poster for its latest chapter, honouring its very first.