"You got the heart, but you ain’t got the tools no more."

Sylvester Stallone’s directorial debut, Paradise Alley, was a flop and the studio didn’t want to give him another shot when he said he wanted to direct Rocky II. Luckily, Rocky was such a success and the producers knew he was largely the man behind it, so they gave him another chance. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we continue our Rocky series with Stallone’s 1979 film Rocky II.

We talk about how this film fixes some of the issues we had with the previous film, but also how it has some new problems of its own. We look at what Stallone is doing as a director and what we think about him in that role. We chat about the returning cast – notably Paulie, Adrian and Creed – and look at how their roles have evolved. We chat about Bill Butler’s cinematography, Bill Conti’s cinematography and more. And we dig into the final fight to really see what makes it work so well.

It’s a solid entry into the franchise and a great follow-up to the previous film. We have a great conversation about it so check it out then tune in to this week’s show! The Next Reel – when the movie ends, our conversation begins.

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