#john g. avildsen

[pierppasolini]

A Night in Heaven (1983) // dir. John G. Avildsen

[deaddumbblonde]

Susan Sarandon in Joe (1970) dir. John G. Avildsen

[leofromthedark]

ROCKY (1976) dir. John G. Avildsen

- Sylvester Stallone, Blu-Ray Commentary

[astralbondpro]

Rocky (1976) // Dir. John G. Avildsen

[mtonino]

Sylvester Stallone e Carl Weathers provano la coreografia del combattimento Rocky - Apollo

Rocky (1976) John G. Avildsen

[velveys]

Behind the Scenes of The Karate Kid (1983)

[lobbycards]

Rocky V, Spanish lobby card. 1990

[greensparty]

Remembering Carl Weathers 1948-2024

Sad news today that actor, director and former NFL player Carl Weathers has died at 76. His most famous role was as Apollo Creed in the legendary underdog sports epic Rocky! The opponent of Rocky later became a close friend and he returned in Rocky II, Rocky III, and Rocky IV. He was such a great character! Weathers even appeared in the documentary John G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs about the Rocky director (I included the doc in my Best Documentaries of the 2010s list).

Sly Stallone and Weathers in Rocky

In the 80s he co-starred in Predator. After co-stars Jesse Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger became governors, many asked Weathers if he'd go into politics. Unfortunately it never happened, but he did appear in an SNL sketch where he did a fake election ad!

Weathers and the future Governator in Predator

Other notable films he appeared in included Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the 80s action movie Action Jackson ("now I'm pissed off!"), as the golf mentor to Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore, and the voice of Combat Carls in Toy Story 4 (which I included on my Best Movies of 2019 list).

Weathers and Grogu on The Mandalorian

But his biggest role in recent years was a Greef Karga on the Star Wars spin-off series The Mandalorian. Earlier this week I named it my #3 TV Show of 2023. As the ally to Din Dijarin he stole many scenes and was nominated for an Emmy for his performance. He even directed two great episodes of the show in 2020 and 2023. It also needs to be said that he directed a lot of other TV shows too!

The link above is the obit from Hollywood Reporter.

[cinematitlecards]

"Rocky" (1976) Directed by John G. Avildsen (Drama/Sports) . . "Rocky II" (1979) Directed by Sylvester Stallone (Drama/Sports) . . "Rocky III" (1982) Directed by Sylvester Stallone (Drama/Sports) . . "Rocky IV" (1985) Directed by Sylvester Stallone (Drama/Sports) . . "Rocky V" (1990) Directed by John G. Avildsen (Drama/Sports) . . "Rocky Balboa" (2006) Directed by Sylvester Stallone (Action/Drama/Sports)

[80smovies]

[citizenscreen]

Birthday remembrance - director John G. Avildsen, pictured with his Best Director Oscar for ROCKY #botd

[pierppasolini]

A Night in Heaven (1983) // dir. John G. Avildsen

[deaddumbblonde]

Susan Sarandon in Joe (1970) dir. John G. Avildsen

[leofromthedark]

'Cause I was thinkin', it really don't matter if I lose this fight. It really don't matter if this guy opens my head, either. 'Cause all I wanna do is go the distance. Nobody's ever gone the distance with Creed, and if I can go that distance, you see, and that bell rings and I'm still standin', I'm gonna know for the first time in my life, see, that I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood.

ROCKY (1976) dir. John G. Avildsen & dp. James Crabe

[filmjunky-99]

t h e k a r a t e k i d, 1984 🎬 dir. John G. Avildsen

[thegirlsread]

so surprised that rocky is really the story of a himbo in love who also boxes (but that isn’t nearly as prevalent in the story as i thought it would be). can anybody tell me if the other movies in the franchise are as good or worthy of a watch?