A Few Words About A few words about...™ Rocky -- in BD (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

I approached the original 1976 Rocky on Blu-Ray disc with much trepidation, but happily, my concerns were unfounded.

In high definition via Fox's Blu-Ray release, Rocky looks as it did on theater screens in 1976. Color, grain and resolution all look correct. While there have been on-line discussion regarding the film's current real estate which makes up the 1.85:1 aspect ratio, I simply don't know the film well enough to weight in.

With three Academy Awards to its credit, inclusive of Best Picture, this low budget (apparently, just over one million dollars) film needed to be handled well, and it is. Rocky represents the fifth Best Picture winner to come to HD home video, after Unforgiven, Casablanca, Million Dollar Baby and Crash. The Sting and Deerhunter are on their way from Universal.

As one of Fox's initial releases from the M-G-M library, they have selected a quality title and presented it beautifully.

Highly Recommended.

RAH

 

[TonyD]

i love Rocky.
i grew up there(Kensington), so it has a special place for me.

i just picked up a ps3 so look forwrd to picking up some BR discs.

although i havent found this one any less then $25 yet.

 

[Nick Graham]

This one presents a dilemma for me. My purchase of a PS3 is nearing, but you have this option, retailing for 39.99 with no features, compared to an elaborate 2 disc set on SD that MGM released this week, and I'm torn.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Thanks Mr. Harris!

 

[TonyD]

i didnt realize the BR version has no features.

i guess i'll rent it then wait for the doble BR dip.

 

[EnricoE]

i wonder if fox fixed the cropping problem which was introduced in 2004s s.e. dvd set. see the comparison of the dvds at dvdbeaver.com

 

[BrandonJF]

With some of these Blu-Ray discs, you have to make your own "Combo Disc", unfortunately. Heck, that applies to a couple of HD-DVDs, too...

With this one, I figured I got it close enough to an HD-DVD combo price to be ok with it (well, not really "ok" - this is ridiculous that we can't get SD features on some of these high-def versions). The Blu-Ray disc was $25 at Amazon. The 2-disc DVD can be found for $14-$15, but it comes with a free ticket to see "Rocky Balboa". So, I can knock $7-$8 off of that price since I was going to be there on day one anyway.

So, in my mind, I got a 3 disc Rocky combo for $32.

 

[Eric F]

Mr Harris, they are currently running all 5 Rocky movies for free on Comcast's HD OnDemand service. If you have access to this, how would you say this BD compares to that?

 

[Paul.S]

So it looks like this is yet another catalog title that--unless and until there's a comprehensive, definitive BD--fans of the picture will have to have multiple discs of: although brief I love the Sly vid commentary on the 2nd release (in which he talks about the first screening of the picture), I think DTS is only on the 3rd (the Anthology) and it appears as though there are some nice supps on the new SD (new Sly aud commentary, finally a bit on Bill Conti and his terrif score, and a docu . . . but the Avildsen, Winkler & Chartoff, Talia and Burt Young commentary from the 2nd release did not get ported over. Ugh.

 

[Mike_Richardson]

Surprisingly the 5.1 DD on the new (3rd SD) DVD release is as good as the DTS from the 2nd. I got rid of that disc after I played the new one.

Also, that group (Shire/Avildsen/Young) commentary IS on the new 2-disc (standard def) disc...there are 3 commentaries on the new DVD all told.

 

[Bryan^H]

I just picked this up.
Overall, I'm not impressed. The picture is solid, but the color looks too orange and over saturated in some scenes for my liking.
No special features is also discouraging.
The audio is very impressive, and that may be reason enough to give Rocky a purchase on Blu-Ray, but I'm sticking with the special edition on dvd. This is my first Blu disc I feel I can do without.

 

[StevenJ]

I would love to buy this on BD but I think $35 for a Blu-Ray with absolutely NO special features is way too much. I'd pick it up if I could get it for $20

 

[Elizabeth S]

It's $14.99 at Amazon.