Released 50 years ago, Sylvester Stallone’s “Rocky” remains a crowd-pleasing cinematic masterpiece, a classic underdog tale about a down-and-out boxer who winds up landing a shot at the heavyweight championship.
On Friday, November 13, a group of fans came together in Philadelphia, where the film is set, to pay homage and wound up making a little history themselves.
Guinness World Record
The Associated Press reports that fans gathered on Friday, November 13 at the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the scene of what’s become the film’s signature scene.
Every participant wore the same outfit, costumed as Stallone’s Rocky Balboa in that scene, attired in a grey hoodie and matching sweatpants, along with a black beanie and black high-top Converse sneakers.
The goal: to set a new Guinness World Record for the largest number of people dressed as Rocky to ever assemble in one place.
According to Guinness, a minimum of 250 people costumed as Stallone’s character were required. Those Philly fans, however, came through; the official number far surpassed that, with Guinness officials certifying 570 participants were in attendance.
“What’s your name?” the announcer asked one of the fans, who gamely replied, “Rocky Balboa.”
A Month of ‘Rocky’ Celebrations
Per AP, the city has organized a variety of events throughout the month of November — the same month that “Rocky” was released in theaters back in 1976.
This includes a competitive sprint up those museum steps, a rededication ceremony to mark the permanent installation of the now-iconic Rocky statue, and a meat market challenge in which fans can try their hand at punching frozen beef carcasses hanging on hooks.
In another event, held the following day, 45,000 runners — including participants from all 50 states and 75 different countries — participated in the return of the “Rocky Run.”
‘I Play Rocky’
The Philadelphia celebrations coincide with the recent release of “I Play Rocky,” a new movie that dramatizes Stallone’s Herculean efforts to turn his “Rocky” screenplay into a movie.
As the film recounts, Stallone (played by Anthony Ippolito) was a flat-broke struggling actor scrabbling to survive when his script landed on Hollywood’s radar. The studio was adamant in casting a name actor to play the underdog fighter, offering Stallone ever-increasing amounts of money to sell his script — only for him to doggedly refuse, insisting the only way the film would be made is if he played Rocky. The studio finally relented, with the low-budget film (costing a reported $1 million) sweeping the Oscars the following year and transforming the unknown Stallone into a Hollywood superstar.
Discussing his recent memoir “The Steps” in a recent interview with “CBS Sunday Morning,” Stallone recalled how producers offered him big bucks for his script, with the offer climbing to as high as $360,000 as he continually refused.
“I said, pass. I can’t do it,” said Stallone. “I’ve literally crawled through every gutter in New York. I’ve slept in every alleyway. I have paid my dues, and I know this is it. I will never have this opportunity again. I don’t know if you believe in destiny, but I think in some cases, it happens.”
‘Rocky’ Fans Set World Record At Famed Philly Statue to Mark Film’s 50th Anniversary