Rocky Balboa- Illustration

"Rocky Balboa": Father Teaches Son About Life's Hard Hits Printer view | Topics:  | Bitterness; Blame; Challenges; Childrearing; Children; Courage; Difficulties; Dreams; Excuses; Family; Father; Fatherhood; Goals; Hardship; Instruction; Overcoming; Parenthood; Parents; Perseverance; Relationships; Risk; Strength; Struggles; Trials; Vision |

Rocky Balboa is the final film in the "Rocky" series. An aging Rocky is inspired to fight his last match against the undefeated heavyweight champion. Many people, including his son, believe Rocky will be humiliated.

In this scene, Rocky and his adult son are standing outside Rocky's restaurant. His son is upset because Rocky has decided to fight again. He tells Rocky, "Now, I'm asking you, as a favor, not to go through with this. This is gonna end up bad for you, and it's gonna end up bad for me."

"You think I'm hurting you?"

"Yeah. In a way, you are."

"That's the last thing I ever wanted to do."

"I know that's not what you wanna do, but that's just the way it is. Don't you care what people think? Doesn't it bother you that people are making you out to be a joke, and that I'll be included in that? Do you think that's right?"

Rocky thinks for a moment, then points to the palm of his hand and says, "You ain't gonna believe this, but you used to fit right here. I'd hold you up and say to your mother, 'This kid is gonna be the best kid in the world. This kid is gonna be somebody better than anybody ever knew.' And you grew up good and wonderful.

"Then the time came for you to be your own man and take on the world, and you did. But somewhere along the line, you changed. You stopped being you. You let people stick a finger in your face and tell you you're no good. And when things got hard, you started looking for someone to blame. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place, and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life.

"But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward—how much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! You gotta be willing to take the hits and not point fingers, saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him or her or anybody! Cowards do that, and that's not you!"

Elapsed time: DVD scene 18; 01:02:09–01:04:03

Rated PG-13 for violent content, adult themes, and language.

Rocky Balboa (MGM, 2006), directed and written by Sylvester Stallone; submitted by Jerry De Luca, Montreal West, Quebec, Canada