Of all the films on this list, it is perhaps Rocky which is the most surprising success. Sylvester Stallone showed up at United Artists door with a script hed written about a down-on-his-luck boxer who somehow gets a shot at the heavyweight title, which he wrote after witnessing the Ali v. Wepner fight. His previous experience of movies was limited to sporadic appearances in softcore pornography. Remarkably the studios liked the script, and somehow Stallone held tight until he got the leading part on the condition the film cost next to nothing to make and therefore wasnt a gamble. What followed was one of the most extraordinary successes in film history, when one considers it was made for next to nothing by a complete nobody. Rocky made $225m at the box office the biggest hit of 1976 and even won three Oscars, which included Best Picture. It has spawned five sequels so far, and has entered into wider popular culture with a host of soundtracks, video games and other media to its name. Stallone himself became one of the biggest action heroes in the industry, a bankable star in his own right who is still churning out movies (of varying quality) to this day. Did you enjoy this article? Share your appreciation below in the comments thread.
