Rocky III

Question: Would Clubber Lang have been charged in Mickey's death since it was his shoving Mickey that caused his heart attack and eventual death?

Answer: Unlikely. Lang shoved him in the heat of the moment, and there's no indication he meant to kill or injure him.

Question: Why is Mickey stubborn about seeing a doctor for his heart? Does he think this would distract Rocky?

Rob245

Answer: A lot of older people are stubborn about their health, especially if they fear the news will be bad or if there's nothing to be done. At his age, Mickey doesn't want to hear that his heart is bad, that he doesn't have long to live, and that he has to make major lifestyle changes. As an ex-boxer, he's not going to want to sit in a rocking chair eating healthy food.

Brian Katcher

Question: At the start of Rocky III he is the undisputed world heavyweight champion, who has successfully defended his title 10 times. I thought the point of the first Rocky film was that he was a 'no hoper' who gets a shot at the title. At the start of the first Rocky film he is an 'over-the-hill', outsider, still strong and hard hitting, but past his peak fitness, beginning to age and lose his speed. Rocky is a fictional character, but he still has a wikipedia entry, which says that he was 30 at the time of his fight with Apollo Creed, by which time his record is 44 wins and 20 losses. What is the possibility of a boxing outsider aged over 30 having a turnaround in his career and becoming a successful world champion?

Rob Halliday

Answer: I think the point was that Apollo Creed didn't take him seriously, that he wasn't a serious competitor for him, didn't train hard enough for the fight whilst Rocky fought every chance he got. His way of fighting, not giving up, good chin and deadly punches gives him the ability to got toe to toe and later beat Apollo Creed in Rocky II where Apollo trains way better but wastes time with a smear campaign and still can't beat Rocky's spirit and chin, next to that Rocky trains way better too and has a good mental focus in time for the fight. The later fights when he is champion, as Rocky's trainer Mickey explains, are not real competitors, just show fights to keep the money coming in and keep Rocky healthy. Clubber Lang is the first real competitor after Creed, and he nearly kills him.

lionhead

Question: In Rocky II we're told Rocky suffered an eye injury, a detached retina. However, in this film that's suddenly no longer an issue. What happened in between?

Answer: A detached retina can be fixed with surgery, and since Rocky is now well-off, we can assume he did just that.

Question: Right at the end of the movie Rocky and Apollo have their behind closed doors deciding fight. They are supposedly alone. How did they tie their own gloves on? You try tying a boxing glove on with one free hand.

Answer: Nobody says no-one was at the dressing lockers to help them out.

lionhead

Answer: No. One or the other would have mentioned it in an interview by now. Likely, they stopped just short and posed so Leroy Neiman could paint them.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: Why is Clubber Lang allowed to box professionally, considering that his favorite KO punch seems to be right to the back of the head while the opponent is on their knees?

Answer: Clubber Lang worked his way up the professional ranks. If you notice, the challanger is still able to fight, the referee uses his own discresion to ignore the final punch as the match would have been called in Langs favour anyway.

Continuity mistake: In Rocky, Micky mentions to Rocky that he is 76 years old. When Micky dies in Rocky III, his tombstone says 76 years. Rocky III takes place at least 3 years after Rocky. (01:04:50)

More mistakes in Rocky III

Clubber Lang: I'm gonna torture him. I'm gonna crucify him. Real bad.

More quotes from Rocky III

Trivia: When Rocky is on the exercise bike during his public training session for his first fight with Clubber Lang, a blonde groupie comes along and asks him if she could have a kiss. This groupie is Sasha Czack, who was Sylvester Stallone's first wife.

More trivia for Rocky III

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.