Sylvester Stallone turned the inaugural Rocky Day into not just a cool reenactment, but an extremely sweet and heartwarming moment, when in Philadelphia on Sunday, December 3. Then, he was celebrating the city’s first-ever holiday dedicated to him and his famous silver-screen character.
While that would have been a cool moment all on its own, it was made all the better when a young, loud fan showed up for the event and to see Stallone. The little boy knew every line of the movie and its famous scenes forward and backward, and so he got to reenact Rocky’s famous scene with Stallone himself while right next to the Rocky monument.
That monument is where the event occurred, with the little boy showing up and reciting the famous speech from “Rocky Balboa” where Rocky tells his son about the difficulty of life and how what matters is being someone who can keep punching, a fitting metaphor. The little Rocky fan was able to nail the speech, getting it about word for word right.
Even better, Stallone joined in with the young boy and recited the famous lines of the speech as well, catching on after his young fan launched into the famous line from the speech, “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows.” Watch the video of them, originally posted to the young man’s TikTok, here:
In the speech, Rocky tells his son, “Let me tell you something you already know: the world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are — it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life.” Continuing, he adds, “But it ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!”
WXYZ, describing why Philly made Rocky day a holiday, noted, “Philly has named Dec. 3 Rocky Day in honor of the character that immortalized the city on film. From running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to passing through the Italian Market and dining at Pat’s King of Steaks (yes, it’s a real place, and it’s still serving some of the city’s best cheesesteaks), “Rocky” made Philadelphia instantly recognizable across the globe and turned certain locales into tourist destinations.”
The statue in front of which the little reenactment took place is from “Rocky II,” in which a statue of Rocky is placed in front of Philadelphia’s Museum of Art. After the movie’s filming wrapped up, Stallone gifted that statue to the city and itw as installed in 1982, bringing many tourists to the city and famous Rocky steps next to which it sits.
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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