She's (almost) always on the list

Movie Night With Rocky and Adrian

Thu., Oct. 4, 2007 4:20 PM PDT by Sydne Summer

Michael Buckner

Sure, Bill Conti's "Gonna Fly Now" is the theme song of one of the all-time great boxing movies, but if I hear that Rocky number one more time, I'm the one who's going to be throwing punches.

Maybe I should back up a little. I'm sitting inside one of the theaters at Hollywood's ArcLight Cinemas for the Target Presents AFI's 40th Anniversary movie spectacular. In honor of the American Film Institute's milestone, the ArcLight's showing 10 classic movies, each with an introduction by the movie's legendary star, such as Spartacus' Kirk Douglas, Bonnie and Clyde's Warren Beatty and Unforgiven's Clint Eastwood. In case you haven't guessed, I'm waiting for the Italian Stallion—and it's been 40 minutes!

I've finished my free fountain drink and popcorn and thumbed repeatedly through the program's photos of Meryl Streep, Steven Spielberg and Sidney Poitier accepting star-shaped AFI Lifetime Achievement awards. Where is Rocky Balboa?!

Finally, the music stops and Talia Shire steps up to a platform in front of the big screen. "We made Rocky 32 years ago," she begins. "It's a great boxing movie, but I like to think of it as a love story."

Eventually, the woman who played Adrian introduces her costar Sylvester Stallone. Sly may not be the most eloquent speaker, but hey, he is Rocky. And through his rambles about how he caught the flu from Talia in their first love scene and how 360 extras canceled in the ice skating scene, leaving them with an even better isolated shot, Stallone delivers an inspirational message. "You may not be the best in the world," he proclaims. "But you can be the best in your own life." With that, he leaves us with a couple of jabs and tells us to "keep punching!"

While die-hard Rocky fans mob their hero for autographs before the flick begins, I sneak out to the bathroom. The long wait and big sodas have taken their toll. Out in the lobby I stop dead in my tracks when I spot a radiant Julie Andrews, who's here for The Sound of Music. I've never been so starstruck before!

Thank God for all those free drinks. Without them I would never have run into the most elegant woman I've ever seen in my life.

But yo, I gotta get back to the boxing ring. The movie has already begun.