Synopsis
Now the world champion, Rocky Balboa is living in luxury and only fighting opponents who pose no threat to him in the ring, until Clubber Lang challenges him to a bout. After taking a pounding from Lang, the humbled champ turns to former bitter rival Apollo Creed for a rematch with Lang.
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Cast
- Sylvester StalloneRobert 'Rocky' Balboa
- Talia ShireAdrianna 'Adrian' Balboa
- Burt YoungPaulie Pennino
- Carl WeathersApollo Creed
- Mr. TClubber Lang
- Burgess MeredithMickey Goldmill
- Tony BurtonTony 'Duke' Evers
- Hulk HoganThunderlips
- Ina FriedRobert 'Rocky' Balboa Jr.
- Al SilvaniAl
Recommendations
- 75
Miami Herald
Rocky III looks good -- a lean film with a bit of muscle. Stallone makes it eminently watchable. And that's probably more than we should have expected. [28 May 1982, p.C1] - 75
Washington Post
It's as much fun as ever, a ground-meat-and-potatoes movie, with guys beating hell out of each other to a disco beat. Stallone pulls no punches; the familiar refrain features the Rocky I score, along with its characters and moral simplicity. - 70
Time Out London
As audience movie-making in its purest form, the film is a delight, but it's also so obviously based on Stallone's own personal struggle with success that the mind boggles as to what Rocky can possibly do next. - 70
Newsweek
As tempting as it is to ridicule Rocky III, the disarming fact remains that Stallone has created a very potent populist myth. It worked for him before, and it works for him again. Just as Sinatra can endlessly reprise My Way and still raise goosebumps, so Stallone can turn out shameless variations on his Believe-in-Yourself miracle play and still get the old adrenaline pumping. [31 May 1982, p.70] - 63
Washington Post
An engaging exercise in discreet, incisive and good-humored hokum. Although Rocky III is a vivid piece of popular filmmaking and a considerable bit of harmless fun, the star doesn't seem to derive as much pleasure from the experience as he should. - 60
TV Guide Magazine
Rocky III crawls along without dramatic impetus, failing to convey the big emotions and missing the humor of the first two films. - 60
Variety
The real question with Rocky III was how Sylvester Stallone could twist the plot to make an interesting difference. He manages. As usual, Stallone the writer-director is less successful in handling all the dramatic interims than staging the battles. - 50
The New York Times
It's not giving away state secrets to report that Rocky finds that success has made him fat and that to triumph again, he has to learn to be ''hungry.'' Rocky's problem is thus not that of America in the 80's but more like America in the affluent 60's and early 70's.
