ROCKY DIRECTOR SPILLS THE BEANS

[@savedfaves]

Stallone as Rocky and certainly Pat Morita as Miyagi are some of best casting choices in cinema history. I just love Miyagi!! Even to this day I literally cry watching him. And to think the producer didn’t want him. Never ever give up on your dream.

[@marcofreitas3844]

Anthony, what a cool tribute. It made me smile and cry. May your father rest in peace.

[@1967jmattera]

Rest In Peace, John Avildsen. You were arguably one of the best directors of your time. Thanks for the memories.

[@briankane3905]

I remember watching this in the theater and when Bill Conti's music cues up, it sent chills through the entire audience.

[@salamaraif1648]

What a strong classic Rocky and the whole series

[@alasone]

My favorite director. Grew up with fond memories of this and karate kid movies!! Much love Mr Avildsen!

[@genebigs1749]

Bill Conti is a musical genius. Rocky was a great and beautiful movie, a classic in every sense. But one cannot even imagine it without the music!

[@RSTI191]

Hanz Zimmer, as great as he is, doesn't have a thing on Bill Conti..

[@socialwarsmiejercito5608]

Indeed, the music is gold!!

[@djdrock111]

Mr. Avildsen, no movie has, or will ever instill emotion as much as Rocky! Brilliant post. Thanks for sharing.

[@catoblepag]

We had such a little - and precious - time window to communicate with John Avildsen through this youtube channel, and I wish I wrote more to express how much I loved his craft. Some directors are completely self-centered, and the source material always takes a backseat: John was an artist who did his very best to let the emotions flow to the viewer without manipulation, unfiltered, and that's why we got movies like Rocky and Karate Kid, movies where you feel the characters are real, alive, and you'd love to be their friend. His movies had huge heart. Not many directors in movie history achieved that.

[@corrinawright]

Thank you for your kind words about my beloved father-in-law.

[@edwardduarte7393]

Lightning in a bottle. I am so glad it won best picture. Best Movie!!

[@rockysocky]

Edward Duarte you are exactly right about lightning in a bottle! After watching this, I see a dedicated actor/screenwriter and beautiful music plus the insight of an b level director (who won the Oscar). Unbelievable! Thank you all for this gift of cinema!

[@LukeMaynard]

I just want to point out how well this whole tribute was edited together by Anthony. Well done. It sure doesn't hurt that John's memory of the filmmaking years after the fact is AMAZINGLY consistent. He's obviously had to tell the same stories over and over to people a hundred times, but that really makes for a great and truthful experience when they're all stitched together. I think the only thing he's fuzzy on is whether they shot for 27, 28, or 29 days. All the rest is remarkably consistent every time.

[@georgepogatsia8900]

You are a gracious, considerate man. I feel it is those sensibilities that make this film as heartwarming as it is. It's beautiful how you never fail to give Bill Conti & others their due credit. Thank you for sharing this video.

[@socialwarsmiejercito5608]

Behind every great director, is a great composer

[@harrythehawk]

Truly a one in a million movie with a director who made all the right decisions. Inspiring stuff like the movie itself.

[@pledgestone]

Amazing video. One of my all time favorite movies, I well up every time at that final scene, Bill Conti is a legend! This video provides a lot of excellent background, thank you for posting.

[@savedfaves]

Loved the ending. Your father is a great character.

[@dashcan8479]

Thank-you John for this wonderful insight.

[@salamaraif1648]

Rip John g avildsen film director of Rocky 1 and 5 and the karate kid trilogy

[@emmalancaster2896]

Just a brilliant movie on all counts.

[@socialwarsmiejercito5608]

This is amazing!! Great job

[@STEJTHEGREATEST]

Wow, that must really fill you with pride, directing such a standard-bearer of a movie on such a small budget! ;*D Congrats! ;*D

[@EntertainThemcom]

Fantastic picture. Fantastic man. But my favorite film of his was Save The Tiger. Hard to say though. He never made a bad movie. Not a single one.

[@dmletendre]

You are a true inspiration to me as is Rocky a huge fan that is a starving actor as well!

[@helenviccica1180]

very interesting. thanks for sharing

[@BalboaBaggins]

John G. Avildsen you're an inspiration to us all, love your work! Can you consider releasing Rocky V: Director's Cut in good quality? Would love to finally see that take on that great movie! Best regards.

[@pungisotu]

Considering the only existing copy was from a VHS tape, it will be very hard to look very good.

[@BalboaBaggins]

I don't think we should underestimate what editors can do with old footage these days.

[@pungisotu]

It can be improved, sure. But it's well known that something shot on 16mm and 8 mm is going to look much worse than 35 mm when scanned at 2K or 4K, etc. and made digital. Video tape, which is the best known source for the Rocky V work print, from raw footage at that, is usually never thought of as being worth going beyond DVD. They could use DNR and other smoothing and sharpening tactics and give it a cleaner look but it will lose a lot of detail in the process and look very fake and video gamey. It will never look as good as the theatrical Rocky V unless the original footage surfaces, such as was the case with Superman: The Movie: The TV Cut.@Balboa Baggins

[@pungisotu]

​@@BalboaBaggins kzbin.info/www/bejne/b2iWl2B4jMaZe7c See what this guy has been doing with the Rocky V DC.

[@BalboaBaggins]

@@pungisotu ok well that sucks. It's a movie worth watching. I've seen it on Vimeo years ago.

[@CooteRJ_84]

For some reason, the 'I love you' at the end sounds a lot clearer..

[@SECRETARIATguy224]

Richard That's because when the film was originally released, the announcement that Creed won ("...and still heavyweight champion of the world, Apollo Creed!") was made before Adrian even got into the ring. But for the 20th anniversary in 1996, MGM/UA decided to mess with the original audio. The movie was mixed originally in mono. They remixed it in stereo. This is very apparent in the Gonna Fly Now training montage and in the Going the Distance fight montage because in the original mono, the music is MUCH louder. Also, the Gonna Fly Now music sounds too "clean", for lack of a better word. They also changed the timing of the announcement of the winner to the end of the film (right when Adrian is telling Rocky "I love you") because the studio knew they were introducing a whole new generation of fans to Rocky, so naturally they would want to encourage the new fans to run out and buy the sequels. Originally, there was no plan for any sequel. Who won the fight didn't matter; it's not what the film is about. What the film is about is self-respect, or more specifically the regaining of self-respect once it's been lost. Only when you respect yourself can you love yourself, and only then can you respect and love others. He went the distance ("I'm gonna know for the first time in my life, see, that I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood.) with Creed. That's how he regained his self-respect. Then when Adrian tells him she loves him, he realized that he loved her, too. MGM/UA literally changed the entire MEANING of the film when they moved that dialogue at the end like that. You can still find the original mix, though. Go on ebay and just buy a copy of Rocky on VHS that was released BEFORE 1996. They're cheap. Then just transfer that onto a DVD. From there, you can digitize it into a computer and do whatever you want.

[@r5t6y7u8]

Several other ideas got dropped: the orginal script was darker with more swearing, Mickey was a big racist, and the studio wanted Ryan O'Neal to play Rocky, who throws the fight at the end. Oh, and the fight still looked fake; most boxers don't look like they put their face through a car windshield. Great film, though.

[@mousehead2000]

ha ha. Funny and interesting way of doing this.

[@Miadolph]

Of course Conti is a genius. After all, he’s Italian

[@MrBoyYankee]

Dear John (Shameless Pun) Question: Will you & Sly produce Creed the spin-off to Rocky?

[@wrlord]

Have to admit, I'd love to have seen the ending as originally planned.

[@Finians_Mancave]

Yuck. Creed carried out by the crowd, then Rocky and Adrian carried out by another crowd?! You can't be serious.

[@TheJoseph5117]

I for one think Mr Avildsen did a great job directing Rocky. But feel he takes FAR too much credit for the direction of the picture. Listening to this you'd think he wrote the bloody thing. He didn't!!

[@dbreiden83080]

Probably got annoyed that Stallone got all the credit. But Sly deserved most of the credit. Rocky was his story and his script. He was brilliant in the part. He made Rocky what it is.

[@dbreiden83080]

@paulie cavarretta He made suggestions and Sly went off and wrote them out. Every word is Sly..

[@grantmalone]

I don't think he takes too much credit at all. He's just being honest. I've watched a lot of interviews and QnAs with Avildsen and I've heard him credit his writers a lot more than many other directors. It's one of the reasons I respect him so much. The first thing he says in this video is that he was charmed by the script, and he clearly said it many times :) So I don't get the impression from him talking that he wrote the bloody thing. Quite the opposite, it's all about his input into the existing script. It just sounds like he directed it.

[@savedfaves]

If you are trying to say Stallone directed the film you are wrong. Stallone isn’t a good director, as is evident by the films he has directed. He’s a good actor and writer. Avildsen is a great director and has directed several movies that had Oscar wins, including best picture, best director and best actor films. If you think he doesn’t deserve the credit for directing Rocky you have no idea what is involved in directing a film. Stallone wrote the film and it’s a good script but writing a film and directing a film are two very different things entirely. His job is to bring the script to life, bring performances out of the actors and make us feel what needs to be felt and give the film a certain feel and pace etc. and he did all of those things so well he got best picture and best director Oscars.

[@SECRETARIATguy224]

For God's sake, EVERYONE knows that Stallone wrote it! But if you don't think that Avildsen being the director was a MAJOR factor in the film becoming the iconic film that it became, you're simply delusional. You do realize that Spielberg didn't WRITE jaws or Schindler's List, and Martin Scorsese didn't WRITE Taxi Driver/Goodfellas/The Departed, don't you? You do know that Damon & Affleck didn't DIRECT Good Will Hunting, don't you? Gus Van Sant did! The director is the one who makes it all go. You can have the greatest script in the world, but without a director that understands the material and has a specific vision, the film will be crap. I'm disgusted at your comment. Stallone HIMSELF has ALWAYS credited Avildsen for his incredible work on that film. For goodness sake, this guy also directed The Karate Kid, as well! Ridiculous.

[@dmletendre]

You are a true inspiration to me as is Rocky a huge fan that is a starving actor as well!

[@savedfaves]

David Letendre You can do it, David.