"Actor: Geraldine Hughes"

• Rocky - The Complete Saga - Rocky/Rocky 2/Rocky 3/Rocky 4/Rocky 5/Rocky Balboa | DVD | (01/10/2007) from £17.46   |  Saving you £-2.50 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.96

  Rocky - The 1976 Oscar winner for Best Picture, John G Avildsen's Rocky is the story of a down-and-out club fighter who gets his million-to-one shot at a world championship title. In the title role, Sylvester Stallone (who also penned the screenplay) draws a carefully etched portrait of a loser who, in Brando-esque fashion, "coulda been a contender". Rocky then becomes one thanks to a publicity stunt engineered by current champ Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), while finding love courtesy of timid wallflower Adrian (Talia Shire) along the way. Burgess Meredith revives the spirit of 1940's genre pictures through his scenery-chewing performance as Rocky's trainer. An enormously entertaining film, Rocky is irresistible in its depiction of an underachiever who has the courage to start all over again--a description that could have been applied to Stallone's own life at the time. --Kevin Mulhall Rocky 2 - The Italian Stallion returns for a rematch with Apollo Creed, hoping, finally, to capture the heavyweight title. This time, even his girlfriend, Adrian, gives Rocky her blessing. Sylvester Stallone wrote and directed this exciting follow-up, with Burgess Meredith, Talia Shire, Carl Weathers, and Burt Young all reprising their roles from the first film. Rocky 3 - Rocky's lifestyle of wealth and idleness is suddenly shaken when a powerful fighter challenges him to a fight for the championship. After being beaten, the previously over-confident Rocky resumes his training in preparation for a re-match. Rocky 4 - A World Heavyweight Boxing contest is to be staged between the champ, Rocky Balboa and the Soviet amateur champion, Ivan Drago. Both men know that this is more than just a tough contest of strength and skill. Rocky 5 - Times are hard for Rocky Balboa. A lifetime of taking punches has terminated his boxing career and a crooked accountant has left him in financial difficulties. The Balboa family moves back to its roots in a downtown neighbourhood where an aspiring boxer turns to the champ for training... Rocky Balboa - The sixth installment of the Rocky series picks up the story of the Italian Stallion 16 years after the morose Rocky V. And sure, at his advanced age, Sylvester Stallone now looks like one of those sides of beef his character used to pound on. No matter. Somehow you buy the premise after all these years, even if it takes forever for Rocky Balboa to stop wallowing in self-pity (Adrian is dead, his old haunts are demolished) and get down to the business of drinking raw eggs and running up steps. The business at hand is an unlikely exhibition fight with champion Mason Dixon (Antonio Tarver), which the near-sexagenarian Mr. Balboa has no business accepting. Of course, just as sure as the horns of Bill Conti's theme music are even now trumpeting through your head, the ol' Rock might have a punch or two left in him. Stallone wrote and directed, and there isn't much to say except that the movie steps in its pre-determined paces with a canny sense of what has come before (it's practically an homage to all the previous Rocky pictures, complete with fleeting flashbacks). Burt Young is around again, and Geraldine Hughes makes an appealing, rather chaste female companion for Rocky. Stallone's Rocky has gotten suspiciously articulate over the years, but he still knows how to slouch. If Stallone never forgets that, he can probably keep the franchise rolling. --Robert Horton

• Rocky Red Tag Boxset | DVD | (10/09/2008) from £26.95   |  Saving you £3.04 (11.28%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Rocky This is the film that catapulted Sylvester Stallone into the international spotlight and launched one of the most successful series of films in movie history, This is the story of a loser, a two bit boxer from Philadelphia, who gets a second chance in life by being offered an impossible shot at the heavyweight title. Stallone's performance is as powerful as his character's punches in the ring. This is one of the most exciting action movies you will ever see. Rocky is the simple story of a man whom fate chooses for a shot at glory in what has otherwise been an ordinary life. And while this subject matter is nothing new, it was unusual for Hollywood to release an old-fashioned 'feel-good' movie in the seventies, a decade whose films were mostly unconventional in attitude and anti-establishment in tone.Rocky is, of course, a fairy tale, but by grounding its characters in an everyday reality, the filmmakers were able to make them seem real and alive. And making the major contribution to that sense of reality was Sylvester Stallone, an out-of-work actor/writer whose faith in himself took him from utter obscurity to world-wide fame and fortune virtually overnight..... Rocky II It's the rematch of the century as Rocky Balboa takes on Apollo Creed in this powerful follow-up to one of the most acclaimed movies in film history. After club fighter Rocky Balboa (Stallone) goes the distance with the world heavyweight champion, boxing fans clamour for a rematch. But Rocky, having sustained massive injuries in the bout, announces his retirement. Though he tries to make a new life for himself, Rocky realises that he can't escape his true calling. The ring beckons once more, and the 'Italian Stallion' must prepare for the fight of his life. Rocky III Rocky battles his most powerful adversary yet - the ferocious Clubber Lang (Mr. T) - in this hard-hitting actioner that comes out swinging with adventure, humor and emotionally charged human drama. For what may be the most exciting and fast-paced film in the series, Sylvester Stallone writes, directs and stars with explosive passion and intensity. As Rocky Balboa (Stallone) fights his way into the hearts of millions, life couldn't be better. He scores ten consecutive wins, lands lucrative endorsement contracts and becomes famous throughout the world. But when Clubber Lang KOs Rocky in a humiliating defeat, it becomes apparent that the Italian Stallion has lost his edge. Considering hanging up his gloves, Rocky receives encouragement from an unlikely ally: his old nemesis, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). With Creed's help, Rocky strives to regain the eye of the tiger before confronting Lang in a grueling rematch for the world heavyweight championship. Rocky IV East meets West when Rocky takes on a vicious Soviet fighter who literally killed his last opponent! Sylvester Stallone writes, directs and stars in this war between nations, in which the only battle is fought in a boxing ring. Rocky Balboa (Stallone) proudly holds the world heavyweight boxing championship, but a new challenger has stepped forward: Drago (Dolph Lundgren), a six-foot-four, 261-pound fighter who has the backing of the Soviet Union. This time, Rocky's training regimen takes him to icy Siberia, where he prepares for a globally televised match in the heart of Moscow. But nothing can truly prepare him for what he's about to face - a powerfully charged fight to the finish, in which he must defend not only himself, but also the honor of his country! Rocky V The Italian Stallion rediscovers his roots in this exciting, thrill-packed drama that reunites Sylvester Stallone with the Oscar-winning director of the original Rocky. Upon returning home from his latest triumph, Rocky Balboa (Stallone) learns that all his money has been lost by an unscrupulous financial advisor. To make matters worse, his fight-related injuries force his retirement from the ring. So Rocky, his wife Adrian (Talia Shire) and his son Rocky Jr. (Sage Stallone) move to their old, low-rent neighborhood in South Philadelphia. There, the fighter must resolve the deep-rooted resentment held by his son, a bitterness that grows when Rocky trains Tommy Gunn (Tommy Morrison), a young boxer who soon rises to national prominence. When Tommy turns against his mentor and publicly taunts him, Rocky knows he must fight once more. Rocky Balboa Armed with a highly credible heart-wrenching story, Sylvester Stallone leaps back in to the ring in this knockout final chapter as one of the most iconic characters in the history of motion pictures! Since retiring, Rocky reminisces about his glory days for the locals at his Philly diner, Adrian's. But his quiet world is shattered when the current reigning champion (Antonio Tarver) loses to a virtual, in his-prime Balboa in a computer-simulated match and challenges the retired Italian Stallion to the real thing! Never one to back down, Rocky does the unthinkable and agrees to the fight of his life...pushing himself to the breaking point to go the distance one last time.

• Rocky Balboa | Blu Ray | (21/05/2007) from £14.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (66.71%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The greatest underdog story of our time is back for one final round of the Academy Award-winning franchise.