40 Years of Rocky: The Birth of a Classic

40 Years of Rocky: The Birth of a Classic (2020) is a documentary you can watch online on iFILM. Marking four decades since Rocky, Sylvester Stallone and original director John G. Avildsen sit down to narrate the whole journey — from the first draft of the script to the final shooting day.

Across its half-hour runtime, the two walk through how an unknown actor refused to sell his screenplay unless he got to star in it, and how a shoestring budget produced the story of a broke Philadelphia fighter. There's rare on-set footage, the climb up the museum steps, memories of Carl Weathers, Talia Shire and Burgess Meredith, and Bill Conti's score humming underneath.

Director Derek Wayne Johnson skips the glossy anniversary reel and builds something firsthand instead — the two men who actually made the film recalling how it really came together. Essential viewing for anyone who has rewatched Rocky and wondered what happened behind the camera. Stream the documentary online on iFILM.