--- description: Creed, the latest film in the franchise, will be released on Nov. 25 title: Read TIME's Original Review of 'Rocky' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda4033da0847945e/69887185e20a87430ea8e440/rocky.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Read TIME's Original Review of _Rocky_  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 24, 2015 5:00 PM CUT  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](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 24, 2015 5:00 PM CUT 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/ "undefined") 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/ "undefined") ```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"}}]}] ```