How Rocky Turned An Art Department Mishap Into A Moment Of Sympathy

Nothing is more compelling in sports than an underdog. Whenever people root for dynasties or debate who the GOAT of a given sport is, I am immediately uninterested. Dominance is boring. It's impressive, but it's boring. Underdogs always make for the best stories and end up making the best protagonists in movies about sports. Nowhere is that more evident than in "Rocky," which is basically the prototype of this kind of story and has been endlessly ripped off since its release in 1976.

Part of the reason none of the "Rocky" sequels work for me is that he loses that underdog status. When Rocky Balboa is on top, he no longer becomes interesting to me, in the same way John Rambo is no longer interesting once Stallone decides he's the ultimate badass and not a PTSD-haunted veteran. Stallone wrote "Rocky" when he himself was an underdog, a guy trying to get into the movie business and getting a "no" at every turn. That spirit is felt in every single frame of that first movie and helped it connect with so many people that it ended up winning Best Picture, beating out all-time classics like "All the President's Men," "Network," and "Taxi Driver."

The film itself was scrappily made for under a million dollars, and working with so few resources could lead to some issues in its creation. However, sometimes these issues can be blessings in disguise that bolster Rocky's down-on-his-luck status even more, and you can see that clearly in the lead-up to the climactic fight with Apollo Creed, where a simple poster tells you all you need to know.

In the film's final fight, Rocky sports a pair of white trunks with a red waistband and stripes down each leg. This simplicity juxtaposes him with Apollo Creed sporting American flag trunks. Prior to the fight, he sees a giant poster of himself hanging from the stadium rafters, but he isn't wearing white trunks with red striping in them. He's wearing red trunks with white striping. This was actually a mistake. Speaking with Philadelphia Magazine back in 2016 about the making of "Rocky," director John G. Avildsen recalls how an art department mix-up perfectly added to the sense of how the world saw Rocky Balboa:

"You'll recall there are two giant posters of the fighters in the arena. The artist who had painted the poster had a Polaroid of Sylvester in a pose, but he had the wrong colored trunks. We didn't have any time or money to redo, so I said, Maybe when he's there the night before the fight, Rocky says that the trunks are the wrong color, and the promoter says too bad. And again we feel sorry for the guy."

We rarely talk about Avildsen as a director today, but in the 1970s, he was one of those sturdy journeymen who just knew how to put together a good piece of work, including films like "Joe" and "Save the Tiger." It takes someone who totally understands the story they're telling to see an obstacle like that and weaponize it instead of wasting time and money they didn't have. It's such a great moment because Rocky has finally been put on the primetime stage, but he never stops being an underdog. Much of directing is problem-solving, and this is an excellent example of not just solving a problem but making it a blessing.