'Rocky'

The ultimate triumph of the will. This is a movie about the human spirit and the protagonist (the very uncartoon-like Sylvester Stallone) happens to be a boxer. He could've been a hotel clerk, a maid, a rodeo clown or surfer. It still would've been something beyond boxing and beyond winning.

Winning didn't matter. Picking yourself up by your bootstraps and grinding mattered.

I guess boxing being the choice for the film did have some poignancy. Boxing is, arguably, the most primal and basic sport in history. Running might trump it in this regard, but two shirtless guys punching each other with a series of bobs, jabs, juking and jiving is something neanderthals were doing a million years ago and what mankind has done in every culture since.

Stallone, over time, is a man who's image has been that of great debate. On one hand, he's a leather-faced meathead, who doesn't have the most diverse career and who is probably generally considered "dumb."

On the other hand, he's the creator and protrayor of two of the most notable film characters in history (John Rambo, Rocky Balboa), he's had notable box-office success and he's written a lot of his movies including all the Rockys, Rambos, Cobra and Cliffhanger. What has Brad Pitt every written?

Stallone was actually more of a writer than anything. He allegedly wrote Rocky in three days and was offered $350,000 for the script. He agreed as long as he could play the lead role. It was agreed, but he didn't get hardly anything for continuing as a writer and playing the lead in a gigantic film.