The homages to rocky


I noticed two particular homages to rocky one being the egg yolk scene and the other with the meat.

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There are some lesser ones as well. How's about Sly's character having no TV like Rocky in the first film. Also Stallone messing up the casino buffet commercial was a slight nod to Rocky II.

As for Raging Bull homages I can think of only two off hand. One was when De Niro's character tells LL Cool J to hit him. And the other was him having a lounge type of act.

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Since Stallone has played the same exact guy for 40 years it would be hard to avoid him doing anything but. His thespian reach has always been that of a flyweight.

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I don't know if I'd call playing Rambo as playing the same guy as Rocky. Stallone might not be Olivier but some of his roles have been diverse at least to a degree.

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Rambo was Rocky in the military. Essentially the same character.

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There was also a line during the fight in which Stallone says, "at least you don't have to cut me", which is a reference to the "cut me Mick" scene in Rocky

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The no TV and cutting the eye I didn't catch or realize. Good calls there. As for myself, here's a selection from my review on the ones I found. The first two are the obvious ones then they get more obscure:

First let’s get some ROCKY references out of the way: Razor is forced into drinking raw eggs by his elderly manager Lighting, played by Alan Arkin, a "Mickey" type character… Also like the original Oscar-winning classic, Razor punches hanging beef in a meat locker… He's fired from a menial job, buys new clothes, drives around in a hotrod and fumbles lines off “dummy cards” during a commercial shoot ala ROCKY 2… In the backstory, after the success as a fighter, he loses his money and returns to poverty like ROCKY 5… He trains in a grueling, hands-on fashion like ROCKY 4 (physically pulling a truck named Road Hawk c/o OVER THE TOP).... He takes part in a virtual reality "What if" bout lifted from ROCKY BALBOA...

And at one point later on, during the promotional circuit, he and Kid wind up at an Ultimate Fighting venue where Razor, comparing the popular sport to scripted Professional Wrestling, is threatened by a melodramatic blowhard brawler: reminiscent of Hulk Hogan in ROCKY 3… As for De Niro’s Kid, he retired from boxing with a lucrative car lot but also runs a nightclub where he, like RAGING BULL himself, performs a laconic stand-up routine.


Full review's here. I didn't loathe it as much as I expected.
http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2013/12/grudge-match.html

And My Movie Reviews www.cultfilmfreaks.com

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I noticed another homage to Rocky.....When De Niro is eating all the pancakes in the restaurant, BJ references a pie eating contest. In Rocky V just before the fight at the end, Rocky's buddys ask him if he needs help and he says, "No guys, it's not a pie eating contest."

"Well my name is Jim, but most people call me.....Jim."

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Alan Arkin is wearing Rocky's outfit from Rocky II in a few scenes - the Hat, Bomber jacket and grey sweater. Plus the meat scene too.

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Also the one bad eye that Stallone's character had and Alan Arkin slapping him to show that he didn't see it coming. In Rocky 2 also the character had one bad eye and Mickey slapped him to prove it.

Stallone retiring while DeNiro really wants a rematch and continuously taunts Stallone just like Apollo did in Rocky 2 when he too wanted a rematch.

Stallone flipping tyres during training was also done by him in Rocky Balboa.

Mr McGee, don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry!

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Some "Rocky" behind the scenes footage is used at the start in the ring

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When Kevin Hart says about the seating arrangement for the fight "stick whatever white boy has been playing a boxer in a movie in the front row" I thought it was a nod to Stallone and the fights he has sat ringside at.

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Also the blindness of right eye was from Rocky 2 and ending of Rocky 1

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Lighting moving in with Razor. Is like Mick moving in with Rocky.

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