10 Movies That Were Almost WAY Darker

10. Rocky

Rocky is one of cinema's all-time great underdog sports movies, ending with the street-smart charmer Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) losing to world champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) by split decision, but proving himself far beyond anyone's expectations.

It's a triumphant, feel-good ending to a gritty sports drama, but Stallone originally had a far bleaker vision for the overall story and especially its ending, in line with the more pessimistic view of America present throughout 1970s cinema.

Stallone told The Hollywood Reporter back in 2021 that his original conception of Rocky as a character was "very dark," and that he even decided to throw the final fight against Apollo, after deciding that he didn't want to be involved in the boxing world and would rather stew in his own hate.

Stallone's original draft also depicted Rocky's trainer Mickey (Burgess Meredith) as a "very angry, racist man." Uplifting stuff, then.

Yet after Sly's then-wife Sasha Czack read the first draft and called Rocky "so nasty," he re-wrote the script numerous times, transforming him into the more likeable character we ended up with.

And just to think, if Stallone had stuck to his original conception of the movie, it would've almost certainly been a one-off with cult appeal at best - not a Best Picture-winning pop classic which spawned a massive franchise.