This scene from Rocky III is 41 years old and it’s funny even though it wasn’t meant to be!

On the AlloCiné editorial team, we love Rocky III: Eye of the Tiger and think this Sylvester Stallone saga might be the best in cinema (we are)! However, there is one moment in the film that may have aged worse than others. A moment that has become quite funny over the years, even though we didn’t pay much attention to it when the film was released in France in January 1983.

During the film, Apollo Creed trains Rocky to prepare him for a gruesome showdown with boxer Clubber Lang, played by Mr. T. This time, it’s personal for the Italian stallion, as Lang pushes Mickey, Rocky’s regular trainer, who died in the fight. The Rock loses his first fight against his opponent, but decides to get revenge by returning to the ring against Clubber Lang.

Apollo has it under the hood

But before this final match, viewers of the third episode are allowed the traditional “training montage” of the film. This takes place partly on the beach where Apollo and Rocky compete, so that Rocky, rather “bitter” in his box, gains flexibility and speed against the steamer Clubber Lang. As indicated by this accountAs the practice begins on the beach, Apollo easily wins the races, but as the montage progresses, we find Rocky gradually gaining ground until he overtakes the boss, but the boss… who doesn’t push too hard.

Because if you look closely at the end of the montage – which we caught in time – you can see that Carl Weathers (sadly passed away this year) does not at all force Sylvester Stallone, who seems to be giving his best, to overdo it.

Manly Zoom

Add to this that the workout then proceeds in slow motion, with close-ups of the two athletes’ muscular thighs as they finish the race by splashing each other with water, a symbolism closer to homoeroticism than the manly camaraderie it aims for.

All this helps to pull some viewers out of the movie, because the end of the series has everything clip, which is a little out of line with the movie, it is quite dark with the gentrification of rock, its organized charity fights and unrealistic. issues, Mickey’s death and Clubber Lang’s extreme strictness.

Fortunately, the film has become legendary in any case, laying the foundation for the narrative of Rocky IV, which more or less follows the example of Rocky’s death of a loved one and his desire for revenge, fueling his rage to defeat… time against the excellent Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren.