The theme to Rocky III being played on a hardware orchestra is a little hard on the ears to be honest. It’s still impressive but what used to be kind of nice to hear with other songs is now becoming something that’s not quite as pleasant since the grinding quality of the hardware is a bit rough on the ears when you really listen. In some instances it almost sounds like the sounds that came when using dialup service in the 90’s. Obviously you’re not going to get the same kind of sound quality out of electronic hardware as you would regular instruments but the grinding and grating sounds kind of take away the enjoyment just a little bit. Otherwise it’s still pretty impressive.
I think the only sad part about Rocky III was that by this time people might have actually been getting just a little tired of Rocky. He’d gone through hell with Apollo twice and finally gotten the championship, but after that his success really went to his head. He got his face fixed up, got his life in order, and had more in his life than he’d ever known was possible. He had a wife, a kid, a huge home and several cars, and yet he no longer had that spark in his eyes that said he’d do anything to stay standing when it came to his life in the ring. He went down to Clubber Lang the first time like a sack of wet, rotten potatoes.
But then in comes Apollo Creed, the man who knows what it takes to win, and the only man that’s left that could possibly inspire Rocky to get back up and finish the next round. Mickey knew that his time was near, he knew that he couldn’t take Rocky any further than he’d already done, and as a result he had a hand in making Rocky soft. It wasn’t Mickey’s fault really, he was trying to look after Rocky and make sure that his legacy was assured, but all the same his efforts led to the eventual beat down of the champ. And when Mickey died, that little part of Rocky died as well. You could see it when he told Apollo that Mickey had never had him train in the same style that Apollo had.
Apollo knew this, but he also knew that to beat a fighter like Clubber Lang that Rocky would have to take on a new look and a new style that would be miles above anything he’d ever done before. He knew that to train a real champ, one that could step in the ring with monsters like Clubber, that Rocky would have to become something he’d had yet to attain at that point, a real fighting champion.
I remember this movie all the time when I’m faced with adversity that seems too great to overcome. Well, this and many others, but this one holds a special place in my heart because it goes back to a saying that I happen to like. If you want something you’ve never had you’d better be ready to do something you’ve never done.
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