Of all the movies in the Rocky franchise, Rocky III is probably my third favourite. It’s hard to beat the original Rocky which is just a great film, while it’s also impossible to ignore the iconic status of Rocky IV, objectively bad though it may be. Rocky III definitely paves the way for the bombastic nonsense of its immediate successor, but it does, just about, retain some semblance of the more grounded approach of the first two movies.
Ultimately it is the silliness which probably endears it to me the most though. The wrestling match between Thunderlips (played with unashamed glee by Hulk Hogan) and Rocky is, depending on your point of view, either a highlight or the first signs that the franchise has begun to lose its way and frankly either viewpoint has merit.
The music too, is a strength of Mr Balboa’s third outing – Eye of the Tiger is probably synonymous with the whole franchise, but, as far as I’m aware, it only actually features on the soundtrack of Rocky III.
Ultimately though, the main reason that Rocky III will always have a place in my heart is that it introduced the world to the incomparable Mr T. He may not be the greatest actor in the world, but it’s hard to deny that he owns every scene he’s in and pretty much steals the movie. It is quite probable that, without this film, we would never have had The A-Team and my childhood would have been the poorer for it.
While it doesn’t quite enjoy the critical acclaim of some of the other movies in the franchise, or the unadulterated madness of the fourth Rocky film, Rocky III is easily one of the most enjoyable and I pity the fool that disagrees.
Score for Christmasishness
This is the fourth Rocky movie to make the cut for my annual festive countdown and its by far the most tenuous. But there is a brief scene, about five minutes in, that shows Rocky and his family celebrating Christmas as part of a montage which is meant to depict him enjoying the high life and losing the metaphorical ‘eye of the tiger’. Blink and you’ll miss it, but it is there and it looks like everyone is having a lovely time. Also right at the end of the movie, as Apollo is about to take on Rocky for the infamous ‘closed doors’ fight, we see a poster behind Apollo’s head advertising a fight which either took place or is due to take place on December 16th. Which is not to say that it is December 16th at any point during the story, but when the Christmasishness is as dubious as this, I’ll take any supporting evidence I can find.
James Proclaims! 
And Rockie’s wife is called Angela, how Christmassy is that, especially if she sings on a high.
As you say, all tenuous evidence welcome.
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The more tenuous, the more welcome.
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I think I spotted some glitter – so there!
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I’ll take it
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Tenuous links, perhaps. But then, judging by his diction, a couple of hard rights to that Rocky head rings some bells.
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That’s probably fair.
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