Item description for Rocky 2 Disc Collectors Edition DVD Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire

Nominated* for 10 Academy Awards(r) and winner for Best Picture, it's the film that inspired a nation! Audiences and critics alike cheered this American success story of an "everyman" triumphing over all odds. Featuring a dynamic musical score, a thrilling fight sequence and four Oscar(r) - nominated* performances, this rousing crowd-pleaser will send spirits soaring. Fighting for love, glory and self-respect, Rocky(r) scores an exultant knockout! Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) is a Philadelphia club fighter who seems to be going nowhere. But whena stroke of fate puts him in the ring with a world heavyweight champion, Rocky knows that it's his one shot at the big time - a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go the distance and come out a winner! *1976: Actor (Stallone), Actress (Talia Shire), Supporting Actor (Burgess Meredith, Burt Young), Director (won), Original Screenplay, Original Song, Editing (won), Sound

The only remaining evidence that Sylvester Stallone might have had a respectable career, this 1976 Oscar winner (for Best Picture, Director, and Editing) is still the quintessential ode to an underdog and one of the best boxing movies ever made. After writing the script about a two-bit boxer who gets a "million-to-one shot" against the world heavyweight champion, Stallone insisted that he star in the title role, and his equally unknown status helped to catapult him (and this rousing film) to overnight success. The story is familiar, but it has been handled with such vitality and emotional honesty that you can't help but leap and cheer for Rocky Balboa, the chump turned champ (despite his valiant defeat in the ring) who stuns the boxing world with the support of his timid girlfriend, Adrian (Talia Shire), and grizzled trainer, Gus (Burgess Meredith). Oscar nominations went to all the lead actors (including Burt Young as Adrian's hot-tempered brother), but four sequels could never top the universal appeal of this low-budget crowd pleaser.

Disc two of this special edition of Rocky covers a lot of ground that should appeal to budding filmmakers as well as fans of the 1976 Oscar winner for Best Picture. In a thorough, thoughtful, and highly entertaining way, the special features in this set focus on the achievement of Rocky from the perspective of some of the film's principal creators. Director John Avildsen discusses his strong draw to writer and star Sylvester Stallone's Everyman tale of a Philadelphia nobody whose true potential is tested in a bout with heavyweight champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). Avildsen and producers Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler speak with passion about the rarity of Stallone's original story, the simplicity and purity of an urban fairy tale about a nobody who gets a chance to shine while also winning the heart of his soulmate (Talia Shire).

Also included are genuinely interesting featurettes about some key contributors to the films' dynamic look and feel, which were accomplished despite a very low budget, a 28-day shooting schedule, and a hit-and-run production in which Stallone, Avildsen, and others would spontaneously pull up somewhere in a van, grab a shot, and move on. Among these short pieces is an extended interview with Garrett Brown, whose then-new invention, the Steadicam, really got a chance to show its full potential by fluidly tracking Stallone's many scenes of running in Rocky. A highlight is Brown's description of how he arrived at the iconic moment when Stallone runs up the stairs of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Never having tested himself or his Steadicam in such a situation, Brown did a practice run, using a willowy female assistant as his subject as she ran up and down the familiar steps. (That footage is included.) Another featurette concerns the make-up wizardry of Michael Westmore, who explains how he was responsible for making the increasing physical damage to Rocky and Apollo Creed during their lengthy fight look grisly enough to seem real. Composer Bill Conti talks about the gladiator theme music we all know by heart, but also discusses scoring the film's quieter, intimate moments. Tributes to co-star Burgess Meredith and cinematographer James Crabe are informative, moving, and sentimental. Stallone himself sits for a lengthy monologue about making Rocky, from his decision to turn down $360,000 for the script to choreographing and shooting the climactic battle.

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