Remember 1954’s Best Picture winner, On the Waterfront? You know, Marlon Brando as conflicted Terry Malloy with his famous “I coulda been a contender”? Someone could have plastered that quote on a t-shirt and sent it to Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa a couple of decades later, for these two characters share some pretty significant similarities. Both are talented boxers who miss out on reaching their potential when younger. Both live in poverty. Both work for violent criminals. Both woo women who are on the fringes of society—Terry’s Edie because of her insistence on bringing her brother’s killers to justice and Rocky’s Adrian because she refuses to leave her house or speak to anyone other than her brother.

The main difference between Terry and Rocky, though, is in how they react to the fact that they’ve wasted much of their younger years and have ended up as people that they didn’t originally intend to be. For Terry, his love for Edie motivates him to become an honest and courageous person. When he stands up to his corrupt union boss (the ironically named Johnny Friendly), Terry, although beaten physically, becomes an inspiring leader of men. It does not seem, though, that Terry ever returns to the pursuit of boxing glory he began in his youth.

Rocky Balboa

Rocky Balboa, however, gets a chance that Terry would probably never dream of: a chance to fight for the World Heavyweight Title. At the already ripe old age of 30 (gasp!), Rocky gives himself the proverbial kick in the pants (with some help from his crusty coach Mickey) and works his body back into a fighting machine. What I find interesting is that Rocky’s goal isn’t to win the match. He has no illusions that he can defeat Apollo Creed. Instead, he just wants to endure 15 rounds with the reigning champ.

I find this goal pretty unique for a sports film. Usually, such movies follow an individual or team as they struggle and lose in the beginning, practice real hard in the middle of the film, and then win it all in the end. Don’t get me wrong—I love most of those types of films as well. But Rocky is unique in the protagonist’s aim to prove his toughness, not achieve a victory over an evil opponent (yet another difference between Rocky and On the Waterfront).

For Me Then…

I think it’s just fine and dandy that Rocky proves that he’s got moxie and can take a beating. However, more than just providing a doubting audience with a great show, I think that Rocky’s performance in the boxing match at the end of the film is really for self-identification. He might feel that he needs to prove something to all the people who know the match is set up as more of an exhibition than a real fight, but deep down inside he knows that he is proving something to himself.

Rocky vs. Creed

At one point in the film, Rocky comes across a young teenage girl named Marie who’s a family friend. She’s with a rough crowd, messing around with drugs and such. Rocky escorts her home, spending the entire walk trying to pass on some words of wisdom about hanging out with the wrong people: “But after a while, you get a reputation and that’s it. You get no respect. Ya understand? Ya get no respect…They don’t remember you, they remember the rep…You hang out with nice people, you get nice friends, ya understand? You hang out with smart people, you get smart friends. You hang out with yo-yo’s, you get yo-yo friends. You see, simple mathematics.”

What’s funny about Rocky’s speech is that he doesn’t follow this advice himself. He works for a criminal, and he has not done his best with boxing (as Mickey doesn’t mince words to tell him). So when he takes on Creed, he needs to show himself something: that he can be the good guy. The work might be tough, the outcome might not be a win in an official sports sense, but those 15 rounds allow Rocky to become the person he describes to Marie. He becomes his own hero, someone he can look at in his mirror and truly be proud of.