Movies - TV
Adding Bill Conti's Music Saved The Ending Of Sylvester Stallone's Rocky
By MATTHEW BILODEAU
Some signature sounds have become nearly inseparable from the films they're featured in and have helped solidify their movies' enduring legacies. Moments in the Best Picture winner, "Rocky," may not have had the same feelings of inspiration and triumph that the film mustered without the help of composer Bill Conti, who gave the movie its iconic soundtrack.
The "Rocky" theme, or "Gonna Fly Now," and "Going the Distance" tracks add power to the film, but it's "The Final Bell" that supposedly saved the movie. Director John G. Avildsen explained the original ending with the characters being swept away by the crowd couldn't logistically work and that the alternative of Rocky and Adrian walking away while holding hands didn't fit the film's mood.
However, after hearing "The Final Bell," Avildsen knew it would be the lynchpin that solidified the film's legacy. The director shared, "Bill Conti comes in with the last music cue that saved it. And so we have Adrian fighting her way through the crowd, we see Rocky like a wounded elephant with that great music, and without that ending, I don't think we'd be talking about 'Rocky' today."