Last week I watched, delighted, as my friend Sinem ran up the aisle steps of the cinema and stood at the top fist raised high, victory punching the air. I shared her elation but not her physical ability in my current pregnant state. What had moved us to this peak of excitement and caused other cinema goers to applaud spontaneously during the film and lift their arms over their heads in the time honoured tradition of champions? Rocky VI – or to give it it’s cinematic name Rocky Balboa. Rocky, the Italian Stallion, my favourite groggy downbeat boxer had come out of retirement to fight one last fight and had along the way inspired his son and shown the heavy weight champion of the the world how to fight with ‘heart’. The one time enforcer for a loan shark had metamorphosed and his role was now one like his dead trainer – Mickey Goldmill – Rocky as guru.

I was five years old when the first Rocky film came out – I can’t have seen it at the cinema and I think similarly about Rocky II. Creed and Balboa only met on our small screen at home but not so Rocky III – by then I was eleven and stood with my cousin Esen in the queue wrapped around Chelmsford cinema for so long and in such cold that my reward for commitment was chilblains. Rocky III is the film that made the song Eye of the Tiger (sung by Survivor) top of the pops for many weeks – that summer in Cyprus I had to listen to it over 50 times as my cool cousin Uğrul insisted that I transcribe the lyrics for him. I worked hard at my task, eager for approval, however one line stumped me and to this day if I hear the song in my head I sing the line ‘and the last known survivor strokes his bread in the night’! Whilst blatantly incorrect – what bread? Why does the survivor have to caress it? – I managed to pass off the mistake to Uğrul for whom English was his second language. Last night out of curiosity I checked the lyrics, apparently the survivor ‘stalks his prey’, a more logical line but without the mystery elements imbued by my translation.  

Something about these films and this dumb but wise character has kept me riveted for 29 years – the only Rocky film I haven’t seen is Rocky V because it wasn’t really about Rocky fighting. I am perfectly willing to suspend my disbelief and watch a 60 year old man supposedly train up to a standard where he can go the distance with a young athlete in his prime. I can maintain the faith even though said actor has had such radical facelifts that his cheeks no longer move and the distance between his arched and taut eyebrows and eyes is ever increasing – Sly Stallone and mom Jackie never looked so similar. The film was slow, in the style of the original there was plenty of schmaltz, this time mixed with nostalgia and the action was limited to the last 20 minutes. Yet I was on the edge of my seat – the week before I went to see Casino Royale the latest offering from the high octane Bond franchise and despite the car chases, the fighting and the special tricks I managed to fall asleep for a good 30 minutes in the middle. Bond is less believable than my pre-pension pugilist.

Rocky is the ultimate hero, a man with a true moral compass who never does wrong by anyone and he combines his angelic placid demeanour outside the ring with a spirit of indomitability inside the fighting arena. He is loyal to his wife, humble in his aspirations, devoted to his son and despite spending muc of his life in the spotlight unassuming and almost shy. I would be happy to be half the man that Rocky is. Friends ascribe the success of the films to good formula, the rags to riches story, the sub-text of immigrants achieving in the USA and the appeal of Rocky to both man and women as a hero. My sister Alev had yet to be born when the first film came out but is the proud owner of the Rocky films on videos. Sinem and Nancy can both sing the training song  - Gonna Fly Now – at the mention of the word Rocky. We are not alone, the steps that Rocky runs up as the pinnacle to his training efforts are the front steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, now and probably for ever more known as The Rocky Steps. 

The Rocky films have come full circle between I and VI and despite Rocky losing his own rock, wife Adrian, he has succeeded in keeping his life on course and his pride intact and stepped into a new role where he is the mentor to others. I don’t think there can be another Rocky film so I wanted to pay homage to my hero and to embrace publicly his lessons of generosity of heart, pride in one’s roots and love of family. Writers write and fighters fight. God bless you Rocky!