Rocky II

• Sylvester Stallone as Robert "Rocky" Balboa, Sr., "The Italian Stallion": the underdog who was given one chance at winning the heavyweight championship from Apollo Creed in the first film. Due to the public's belief that it was very possible that Rocky could have won, he gets a second shot at the title in this film.
• Talia Shire as Adrian Balboa: Rocky's love interest-turned-wife. During labor, with their first son, she enters a coma for a large portion of the film.
• Burt Young as Paulie Pennino: Rocky's best-friend-turned-brother-in-law
• Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed: The current world heavyweight champion who gave Rocky a shot at the title in the first film, during which he won by split-decision. Because of the close outcome of the fight the general public believes that Apollo did not necessarily win, and thus he gives Rocky a second chance in a rematch.
• Burgess Meredith as Mickey Goldmill: Rocky's friend, manager and trainer; a former bantamweight fighter from the 1920s and the owner of the local boxing gym.

• Tony Burton as Tony "Duke" Evers: Apollo's father-figure, friend, trainer, and manager.
• Sylvia Meals as Mary Anne Creed: Apollo Creed's wife.
• Seargeoh Stallone as Robert "Rocky" Balboa, Jr.: Rocky and Adrian's newborn child. Seargeoh appeared in the film uncredited.
• Joe Spinell as Tony Gazzo: Loan shark and Rocky's former employer.
• Paul J. Micale as Father Carmine: Rocky's priest.

Jeff Temkin portrays the ring announcer. Appearing as themselves are referee Lou Filippo and commentators Brent Musburger, Stu Nahan and Bill Baldwin. LeRoy Neiman makes an uncredited non-speaking cameo appearance during the training scenes in the film; he is shown drawing a picture of Apollo while he is training.

After the enormous success of the first Rocky, the producers were anxious to make a sequel. Stallone again wrote the script, originally titled Rocky II: Redemption, but John G. Avildsen declined to direct again because he was busy with pre-production on Saturday Night Fever. Stallone wanted the job and waged as big a campaign as he had for the lead role in the previous film. United Artists executives were reluctant to give the actor the directing reins because, while he had previously directed the drama Paradise Alley, it was not a success. However, producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff understood how much of the success of the first Rocky had come from Stallone's enormous input and lobbied hard to get him the job.

The story development of involving Rocky surprising Creed by switching to fighting right-handed was not in the original script and only came about because of an accident onset. While getting in shape for the film, Stallone ripped his left pectoral muscle during a bench pressing contest with bodybuilder Franco Columbu and needed surgery. Therefore, he could not fight with his left hand.

The film's ending fight sequence also posed a challenge because at the time Talia Shire was busy making the drama Old Boyfriends and couldn't be on the set. So Stallone came up with the idea of having her watch the fight from home because of the new baby. Adrian's scenes were actually filmed some months later, toward the end of the shoot.

An estimated 800 school children were used as extras in the scene in which Rocky runs through Philadelphia.[3]

Rocky II: Original Motion Picture Score
Soundtrack album by Bill Conti
Released	1979
Genre	Jazz-funk, Rock
Length	35:04
Label	United Artists Records – LP EMI Manhattan Records – CD
Rocky soundtrack chronology
Rocky (1976) Rocky II (1979) Rocky III (1982)

Just as in the previous installment, Bill Conti composed the film's music. A soundtrack album containing Conti's score was released on August 25, 1979, and charted on the Billboard 200 for five consecutive weeks.[4]

1. "Redemption" – 2:34
2. "Gonna Fly Now" – 2:35
3. "Conquest" – 4:42
4. "Vigil" – 6:31
5. "All of My Life" – 3:56
6. "Overture" – 8:38
7. "Two Kinds of Love" – 2:37
8. "All of My Life" – 2:27

Personnel

• Bill Conti – piano (1)
• Mike Lang – piano (8)
• David Duke – horn solo (4)
• Frank Stallone – vocals (7)
• DeEtta Little, Nelson Pigford – vocals (5)

Rocky II opened in 805 theatres and grossed $11 million in its first week.[6] It finished in the top three highest-grossing films of 1979, in both the North American market and worldwide. In the United States and Canada, the film grossed $6,390,537 during its opening weekend,[7] and $8.1 million in four days.[8] It went on to gross $85,182,160 at the North American box office, and $200,182,160 worldwide.[7]

Rocky II returned to UA 75% of Rocky's rentals in the United States and Canada ($42 million vs. $56 million[9]) when the rule of thumb at the time was that a sequel would only do 30% to 40% of the business of its predecessor.[10]

Rocky II holds a 71% approval rating on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes; out of 31 reviews, the average rating is 6.73/10. The site's consensus reads: "Rocky II is a movie that dares you to root again for the ultimate underdog – and succeeds due to an infectiously powerful climax."[11]

Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that the film "has a waxy feeling, and it never comes to life the way its predecessor did."[12] Variety wrote, "In its boxing and training scenes Rocky II packs much of the punch the original did, complete with an exciting pugilistic finale that's even better than its predecessor. However, in an attempt to tell the new story—that of Rocky's adjustment to near-success and an attempt to live a non-boxing life—the plot tends to drag and the picture takes on a murky quality."[13] Gene Siskel gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "What is most remarkable about Rocky II is that it recalls so many scenes from the original film, which is only three years old and was shown on national television last fall, and yet—amazingly—it all works. Almost every bit of it."[14] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "Rocky II does not merely exploit the original, it extends it logically and grippingly, preserving all the traits of character (and of movie character) that made Rocky I work so well—those notions that ordinary people are worth knowing about, that love is the surpassing emotion in our lives and that some things are worth struggling hard for, even if there may only be the honor of the struggle to show in the end."[15] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote that the film "slavishly repeats the plot of Rocky, achieving differentiation only in dubious forms: soap opera detours, delaying tactics and an ugly new mood of viciousness surrounding a rematch between the boxers."[16]

The film won Best Picture at the American Movie Awards[17] and won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture.[18] Dre Rivas of Film.com included it in his list of top ten films of 1979.[19]

A sequel titled Rocky III, was released in May 1982.

A novelization was published by Ballantine Books in 1979. Sylvester Stallone was credited as the author. The book is a first-person narrative told by Rocky himself.[20]

In 1987, Rocky was released, based on the first four Rocky films. In 2002, another Rocky was released, based on the first five Rocky films. In 2004, Rocky Legends was released, based on the first four Rocky films.