Rocky Steps facts for kids
The Rocky Steps are 72 stone steps leading up to the East entrance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia that gained global fame after being featured in a notable scene from the 1976 film Rocky. In the scene, Rocky Balboa, an unpolished but ambitious boxer from South Philadelphia played by Sylvester Stallone, begins intense physical training after deciding to fight Apollo Creed, the World Heavyweight Champion. The scene is widely considered one of the most iconic in the history of modern films.
Tourists often mimic Rocky's famous climb, which has become a physical metaphor for an underdog rising to a great challenge. A bronze Rocky statue is located at the bottom right of the steps, and is a popular photo opportunity for visitors. The top of the steps offers a commanding view of Eakins Oval, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and Philadelphia City Hall.
History
Rocky creator Sylvester Stallone has recounted that the genesis of the iconic scene occurred when the 1976 film crew for the movie, constrained by a tight budget, identified the steps one night while searching for filming locations around the city. Stallone first thought Rocky should carry his dog Butkus up the steps, but the big bull mastiff proved too heavy for the scene to work. Still, the view from the top of the stairs inspired him to reshoot the scene without the dog. In the 2006 film Rocky Balboa, Rocky lifts his dog Punchy when he reaches the top of the steps. The closing credits of Rocky Balboa show a montage of dozens of people running up the steps.
This scene was one of the first uses in a major film of the Steadicam, a stabilized camera mount that allows its operator to walk and even climb steps while smoothly filming.
Boxer Joe Frazier, who had a paid cameo as himself later in the film, claimed that the scene was based in his training, even if he was not paid for it.
Rocky statue
Prior to the 1982 release of Rocky III, Sylvester Stallone commissioned A. Thomas Schomberg to create a bronze statue of Rocky. Three 2-ton, 10-foot (3.0 m)-tall copies were to be cast. One was installed atop the steps for the filming of Rocky III, and was ultimately relocated to the bottom of the steps. The second Rocky was in the San Diego Hall of Champions Sports Museum in San Diego, California, until it closed in 2017. The statue was then put up for auction, and purchased by an anonymous buyer who was later revealed to be Sylvester Stallone himself.
In 2006, Schomberg realized the casting mold for the statue was beginning to decay, and the third and final edition of the statue was cast in bronze and put up for auction on eBay three separate times between 2002 and 2005, with a starting bid of US$5,000,000, then US$3,000,000, and finally US$1,000,000 to raise funds for the International Institute for Sport and Olympic History. It is currently exhibited at the Schomberg Studios Gallery in Denver, Colorado.
After filming was complete, a debate arose between the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Philadelphia's Art Commission over whether the statue met the definition of art. City officials argued that the Rocky statue was not "art" but a "movie prop", and eventually moved it to the front of the Philadelphia Spectrum, which was then the indoor arena for the Philadelphia 76ers and Philadelphia Flyers.
It was later returned to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for the filming of Rocky V, then brought back to the Spectrum. The statue was replaced with a bronze inlay of Converse sneaker footprints with the name "Rocky" above them. The statue's removal was the subject of a joke in Rocky Balboa.
On September 8, 2006, the Rocky statue was returned to the Art Museum and placed on a pedestal in a grassy area near the foot of the steps to the right of the Museum. The unveiling ceremony included live music, the debut of the first full trailer for Rocky Balboa, and a free showing of the first Rocky movie. At the ceremony, Philadelphia Mayor John Street said that the steps were one of Philly's biggest tourist attractions, and that Stallone, a native New Yorker, had become "the city's favorite adopted son".
See also
In Spanish: Rocky steps para niños
- Rocky statue in Žitište
- Potemkin Stairs
- Exorcist steps
- Joker Stairs
- The Music Box Steps
