Rocky (1976)

This film teaches the classic David vs. Goliath battle by beating and creates instant bonding in the moviegoer for the weaker, in this case the protagonist.

Sylvester Stallone went from anonymity to glory and launched his film career after he was accepted to play the character he had invented in the movie.

The plot of the film is simple and its success perhaps lies in the fact that it revolves around common characters who struggle to survive, not only Rocky Balboa but the whole environment that makes up his friends or neighbors.

This is a boxer of low category who makes a living as a collector of a loan shark and that by those twists of fate is chosen, thanks to the fact that it does not mean a dangerous opponent, by the champion Apollo Creed to make a defense of his title after his opponent is injured and not get another replacement.

Using unorthodox methods, such as beating cattle in a refrigerator, for lack of money, the man trains in the city for his big chance, although he himself doubts the possibility of being able to beat the champion.

His trainer, an old bantamweight champion, is the only person who believes he has a chance and tries to instill this in the man, who is also clumsy and unstudied.

In the end the expected happens, the champion wins the fight but Rocky manages to beat him up in an epic fight, deserving to be the winner and earning the respect of the inhabitants of his city.

Almost the entire film revolves around the economic scarcity of the boxer and his family and reveals everyday aspects of people who are almost invisible to society.

Rocky became an immediate success at the box office and the meager million dollars that was the budget to make it became 225 million dollars in revenue and meant an Oscar for best picture, best director and best editing and 7 other nominations, including best actor, actress, supporting actor, screenplay, sound and song, also won a dozen other film awards, including the Golden Globe.

It was the first and so far the only boxing movie to win an Oscar and marked the beginning of a sequel that is still going strong, after 5 other movies with the boxer as the main character and 3 spin offs where he plays as supporting actor.

According to the words of the creator, it was inspired by a fight made by Muhammad Ali against an unknown named "Chuck" Wepner, who surprisingly managed to knock him down during the course of the fight.

Undoubtedly, this film not only impacted thousands of viewers, but also meant an immediate propaganda for the sport of boxing that raised the popularity of boxing and the city of Philadelphia.

In 2006, the film was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant".