--- title: Creed and Rocky: Read the Original Review description: Creed, the latest film in the franchise, will be released on Nov. 25 canonical: https://time.com/4116452/original-rocky-review-creed/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-24T17:00:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:41:52.465Z article:section: History og:title: Read TIME's Original Review of 'Rocky' og:description: 'Not the subtlest actor to crawl out from under Marlon's overcoat' og:url: https://time.com/4116452/original-rocky-review-creed/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda4033da0847945e/69887185e20a87430ea8e440/rocky.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Rocky og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read TIME's Original Review of 'Rocky' twitter:description: 'Not the subtlest actor to crawl out from under Marlon's overcoat' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda4033da0847945e/69887185e20a87430ea8e440/rocky.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read TIME's Original Review of _Rocky_ > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=7c06c5c0-aeb6-43ec-a4f8-f3ff2f73321c&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=7c06c5c0-aeb6-43ec-a4f8-f3ff2f73321c&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1)  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 24, 2015 5:00 PM UTC  Actors Talia Shire and Sylvester Stallone feature on a poster for the United Artists boxing movie 'Rocky', 1976. Actors Talia Shire and Sylvester Stallone feature on a poster for the United Artists boxing movie 'Rocky', 1976. Movie Poster Image Art—Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 24, 2015 5:00 PM UTC On Wednesday, the seventh entrant in the _Rocky_ film franchise—_Creed_, the story of Apollo Creed’s son—will open in theaters, reminding the world yet again that Rocky Balboa is no longer an underdog. That cinematic victory, however, was hard-won. When the original _Rocky_ was released in 1976, TIME’s critic Richard Schickel found that some emotional aspects of the story were “unbeatable.” And, as the magazine had explained in a [feature](http://time.com/vault/issue/1976-11-15/page/103/) the week before, it had a rich back story, too: star Sylvester Stallone had written the script in three days and battled producers for the right to play the title role. Still, he concluded, the whole plot was just too farfetched to accept: --- > “” --- _Rocky_, of course, managed to do more than stay on its feet. At that year’s Oscars, it went home with the ultimate championship belt: the Academy Award for Best Picture. **_Read the full review, here in the TIME Vault:_** [The Contender](http://time.com/vault/issue/1976-12-13/page/98/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4116452/original-rocky-review-creed/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4116452/original-rocky-review-creed/"},"headline":"Read TIME's Original Review of Rocky","datePublished":"2015-11-24T17:00:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:41:52.465Z","description":"'Not the subtlest actor to crawl out from under Marlon's overcoat'","url":"https://time.com/4116452/original-rocky-review-creed/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda4033da0847945e/69887185e20a87430ea8e440/rocky.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda4033da0847945e/69887185e20a87430ea8e440/rocky.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Rocky","caption":"Rocky","creditText":"Movie Poster Image Art—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4116452/original-rocky-review-creed/","name":"Read TIME's Original Review of Rocky"}}]}] ```