I really didn't mind number 5 because I really thought it was trying to get back to what realistically happens in the boxing world and in life. Think about all the world champions who end up broke or not much better off than when they started (Leon Spinks eaks out a living as a janitor and signing autographs for a fee). My feeling about number 5 is that Stallone was truly trying to make a realistic film.

After supposedly being about half blind in Rocky 2, totally shot and on his last legs at the beginning of Rocky 3 (remember Micky telling him his opponents were being picked because they were not man-eaters like Clubber Lang and the second fight with Apollo, in Mickey's estimation, should have killed him), he just kept getting stronger instead and beating bigger, stronger guys. Rocky 4, to me, while exciting was just about the most unrealistic of the series. Ivan Drago was supposed to be around seven feet tall and who knows how many years younger and Rocky was supposed to be totally shot. It was like Stallone just kept forgetting what was in the script in the previous films.

Then came Rocky 5 and he seemed to get back into realism. Broke and in bad health, Rocky returns to his roots and tries to make a living while training an up and coming fighter who has a falling out with him when he gets blinded by greed. I am not so sure the final street fight scene, if it were in real life, would have ended in Rocky winning. But still it was, IMO, a decent film to end the series on.

As far as Rocky 6, oy vey, I can't imagine what Stallone has cooked up for this but he did release some story ideas in his magazine a year ago but stopped short of revealing the whole plot.

Jody