by In terms of iconic movie montages, there are few that can touch Rocky.
The film montage has been a part of filmmaking for as long as anyone can recall. Few things are better at marking the passage of time than putting lots of clips to a nice tune. There are many movies that can claim to have the greatest montage in movie history, from Requiem For a Dream’s drug-fuelled fall to Forrest Gump jogging the length of America to the tune of Fleetwood Mac.
Even if you’ve never seen the first film in this never-ending franchise, you still know what the montage sequence looks like. Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa is training for his big fight against the world heavyweight champion, Apollo Creed. To get in shape, this underdog takes to the streets, punching raw meat, jogging through Philadelphia early in the morning, and eventually summiting the now-legendary ‘Rocky Steps’ in triumphant glory.
Some may prefer Rocky III’s montage thanks to Survivor’s classic (and only) song ‘Eye of the Tiger‘, but there’s something about the original that you just can’t beat. That something might just be ‘Gonna Fly Now’, the scene’s much-imitated soundtrack. The theme has become one of the most recognisable in cinema history, those opening notes a universal indicator that somebody is about to go for a run or smack the crap out of a pig carcass.
The song was written by master Bill Conti, the same man who composed music for The Karate Kid, For Your Eyes Only, and, amazingly, for the soap opera Dynasty. The words were provided by Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins. Yes, ‘Gonna Fly Now’ does contain words. Your head will probably first think of the instrumental part of the song, but it does contain words – 30 of them to be precise. According to an interview Conti did with the BBC in 2016, these lyrics were sung by a bunch of people who worked in the same building as his wife. They weren’t even paid for their contributions.
In that same interview, Conti revealed that he only got the Rocky gig because two other people turned it down. “There was no money for anyone,” he revealed. “I had to pay for everything involved with the music: the paper, the musicians, the studio costs, and the tape, and I got what was left. Established composers thought, ‘I don’t want to take that chance.’”
This double risk by both composer and studio paid off in a way nobody could have expected. It was a hit single, topping the US singles chart and infecting every corner of popular culture. It is now a standard at most sports stadiums around the country, particularly for the Philadelphia Eagles NFL franchise. Even Bob Dylan admitted to being a fan, something that I never imagined that I’d ever say.
There’s one last fact about ‘Gonna Fly Now’ that really puts icing on the cake. Prior to working on the film, Conti had ‘never seen a fight live’, and neither had director John G Avildsen. You can see why they kept that quiet during the original press tour.
