Somebody Up There Likes Me

If I were a casting director, I would have asked Charles Bronson for the part of Rocky.
Bronson was as tough looking as Graziano, but not as good looking. Bronson was just as chiseled as Rocky was. There will never be a fighter or character, as the Dead End Kid ,
again...

 

Burt,

Charles Bronson in 'Hard Times',,,,,the guy was 54
And he looked like he could beat the hell out of any Light Heavyweight out their in 1975.

Don't think Mr. Majestyk could have gotten the New York accent down as well as
Mr. Newman.

 

IL D, Professor Henry Higgins could have groomed Bronson for the part of Rocky. "the rain in Spain is......"

 

Many folks don't like Newman as Graziano, but I dealt with the choice... I like the flick... Its a goodie...

MR.BILLbbb

 

Amen and Amen Burt!! I never saw Newman as Rocky...it would have been so cool to have Bronson in that part...but the question is...would Charlie have been able to pull off Rocky's speech mannerisms? Actually, i wouldn't care. Bronson would have been great!

 

Charles Bronson in 'Hard Times'

Jill Ireland,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"How do you do make a living"

Charles Bronson,,,,,,,,,,"I knock people down"

Man that guy was Cool.....


Jill Ireland,,,,,,,,,,," I barely know you"

Charles Bronson,,,,"Yeah,,,,, but would you like to"

 

oooh Zale was a brutal Body puncher

 

Good flick. I watched this a couple of years back. Good stuff.

 

Bronson was cut like Rocky, rc, but as an actor, Bronson had none of the rascal in him that made Rocky beloved in New York.

 

Yeah..you'd have to be a bigtime Bronson fan for sure, to believe him in that role..because truth be known, Bronson wasn't the most gifted of actors when it came to nuanced subtleties..Charlie was best when he played himself really..and didn't have to adopt an accent or anything. Newman, on the other hand, though the physical resemblance wasn't there, was more adept as an actor, and was believable with the accent and mannerisms. If you were able to morph the two actors together...

 

It's a decent boxing movie, but not in the same class as "Champion" or "Body And Soul" that came out in the 1940s, around the time Graziano was fighting.

I think James Dean would have been good in the role. JD was an awesome actor in Giant, just getting better.

 

Thank God they never let James Caan play Rocky Balboa,,,,,,,,,in 'Rocky'

What was a better TV Commercial
Rocky Graziano for 'Lee Myles Transmissions'
or
Joe Dimaggio for 'The Bowery Savings Banks'

 

was bronson ever a fighter? i believe that i heard or read somewhere that he was a pro fightewr. is this correct? also read that eddie murphy had a contract to play srr in a life story bout the great srr. is this true? if so why hasent it been made?

 

Your mention of DiMaggio reminded me of an incident, ID:

As a kid, had a bud named Sal who was a tough street fighter and gave it a shot as a pro heavy. No amateur experience -- just balls and a big punch.

Sal worshiped at the shrine of Joe DiMaggio; everything out of his mouth was: Joe DiMaggio this and Joe DiMaggio that, and he was the best Italian athlete ever...and blah, blah, blah. Never stopped.

Every day Sal got pounded sparring, and it was worse in his few prelims.

When he packed-it-in, Sal opened an Italian restaurant in Queens, named after his idol: "Jolt'n Joe's." Every inch inside was covered with pictures and paintings of DiMaggio, newspaper clippings about him, and the wallpaper was all Yankee pinstripes.

For years, we'd meet in Jolt'n Joe's for dinner every week, but you could hardly eat, with all Sal's DiMaggio stories.

I had a friend who did some business with people connected to DiMaggio, and I told him all about Sal and what a thrill it would be for him if DiMaggio would come to his restaurant.

Not too long after, the guy calls back and says Joe will do it that Friday at 8 P.M.

So, I round up our crew, and we make it our business to be in the restaurant early. We couldn't wait to see Sal's reaction when DiMaggio came in the door.

We all made small talk...but it was killing us. Finally, the door opens and there's DiMaggio--"Joe D," in person-- as dapper as you could imagine in a double-breasted sharkskin suit.

I thought Sal was gonna have a coronary. His mouth dropped open; his eyes went wide. He practically leaped over to where DiMaggio was: "Joe...Joe! This is the greatest dream of my life! I never thought I would ever meet you. Look... your pictures are every place!... You've been my hero since I was kid!"

We had to fight back the tears.

"Sit! sit! Joe. I make you something personally" Sal almost kissed us as he headed into the kitchen.

Joe was seated and waited. We were feeling wonderful to see Sal's dream come true.

When Sal came out and placed the food on the table, he said to Joe, with his eyes glistening: "My son feels the same way about you that I do, Joe. Could you autograph this menu... to Paulie?"

DiMaggio looked up and said, "I get $5 for that."

All the air was sucked out of the room.

Sal looked at him... unbelieving, then hurled himself on top of DiMaggio, trying to strangle him, yelling, "YOU MISERABLE MUTHA ****ER!

It took all of us to pull him off DiMaggio. Sal kept trying to dive back at him. We were barely able to get DiMaggio out of there and back into his car.