FINAL FIGHT – ROCKY III
When the topic of greatest movies, or more specifically greatest movie moments, comes to the forefront, there are some classics that always come up in the conversation. Gone With the Wind? Check. Godfather? Check. I could go on and on. Ladies and gents, go find this one, and thank me later.
FINAL FIGHT, ROCKY III
Yep. I said it. And let’s fast forward to the final fight, Rocky versus CLUBBER LANG. Mr. T, right in the heyday of his “A-TEAM” fame as the nemesis Clubber Lang. He’s got the mohawk, the scowl, the NAME (can’t say it enough, CLUBBER LANG) … you have to put him up there with the greatest villains of all time, probably sandwiched somewhere between Darth Vader and Sheriff Buford T Justice. And then you have Sylvester Stallone, whose limited acting range perfectly, PERFECTLY, spans the limited emotional range of a boxer.
Every punch sounds like a car crash. Every punch is a haymaker that lands. And is there a better combination than an orchestra providing background music, building up the pressure and tension of the moment, coupled with Stallone and Mr. T trading car crashes and one liners, Stallone enriching us all with his broken-jawed, sedated dialogue along the way? Please let me know… I’ll wait.
Nope. You can’t beat it.
For you movie snobs, you can have your Casablanca, and you can have your Citizen Kane, and you can have whichever Hitchcock film you choose.. give me CLUBBER LANE and ROCKY throwing exploding fists at one another, to music, no less.