Welcome to the latest installment of a recurring feature on WORLDOFHURTONLINE.COM: The Unsung Badmother******* Awards!
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The Unsung Badmotherf****** Award recognizes Outstanding Achievements In The Field of Badassery Deserving Wider Recognition. The Unsung Badmother****** is the guy who made a splash and kicked some ass, but remains unappreciated by the masses.
The UBMF Award is named after the oft-quoted moment in the “Theme from Shaft” when Isaac Hayes is abruptly interrupted by his backup singers before he can fully extol the badass virtues of his man, Shaft. If people remember nothing else about the movie “Shaft,” or Blaxploitation in general, they remember that line, and it immortalized Hayes and made John Shaft a cinematic icon.
The latest recipient of The Unsung Badmother****** Award is “the King of Sting,” “the Master of Disaster,” “the Dancing Destroyer,” “the Count of Monte Fisto,” and the former Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the wooooorrrrrllllddddd – APOLLLLLOOOOO CREED…..CREED!
For those of you who may not know, Apollo Creed, as portrayed by the incomparable Carl Weathers, was the antagonist in Rocky I and Rocky II, and played pivotal parts in Rocky III and IV. At the start of the first Rocky movie, Apollo Creed was the reigning heavyweight boxing champion, and unexpectedly, his opponent for a match scheduled in Philadelphia on New Year’s Day 1976, bowed out due to injury. Apollo and his management team found themselves unable to round up a quality opponent on such short notice. Faced with the possibility of upset ticketholders, Apollo came up with the ingenious idea of allowing a local boy to face him in the ring. This way, he could generate even greater local interest, create a fascinating human interest angle for the sportswriters, and still collect a huge purse after steamrolling whatever unfortunate pug he picked from the depths of obscurity. As his opponent, Apollo Creed hand-selected a punch-drunk, past-his-prime southpaw named Rocky Balboa. I’m sure you know the rest of the story. However, it was Apollo who gave Balboa his best, and only opportunity, at the big time. To his credit, Rocky rose to the challenge, but without Apollo Creed, there is no Rocky Balboa. Apollo acted more like Prometheus than his own namesake from Greek mythology by reaching down and giving fire to the boxing career of an aspiring, journeyman boxer.
ROUND 1
To me, Apollo Creed was always the most interesting thing about the Rocky series. Carl Weathers’ portrayal of Apollo Creed as a showboating pugilist with a golden tongue was obviously influenced by Muhammad Ali, but he added depth to his performance that made the role more than a simple impersonation. Very subtly, Weathers established that the Apollo Creed that fans saw in the ring was very different than the man himself. The loud, colorful boastful, boisterous Apollo Creed who predicted his opponent’s downfall in three rounds was a part that “Apollo Creed, Businessman” used to advance the interests and career of “Apollo Creed, The Athlete.”
Apollo Creed’s hustle was always on point. Despite Rocky’s hometown advantage, Apollo used the occasion of the pending U.S. Bicentennial to cast himself as the All-American hero , being ferried to the ring dressed as George Washington crossing the Delaware, before stripping down to his red, white, and blue trunks. (Incidentally, these trunks were passed down to Rocky Balboa in the third and fourth installments of the series, and now the flag-themed trunks are ingrained in the public consciousness as being Rocky’s signature look.)
One of the more amusing sidenotes of the 2008 United States Presidential campaign was the use of the Rocky theme by Barack Obama’s opponents. At various points in the Democratic primary battle and the general election, then-Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton and Sen. John McCain, respectively, both used Bill Conti’s iconic Rocky theme, “Gonna Fly Now,” to underscore their roles as resurgent, and ultimately triumphant, underdogs in their electoral fights with Barack Obama. (I’ll ignore the racial subtext of the plucky White challenger against the smooth-talking Black guy, because I don’t think that was intentional on the part of Clinton or McCain.) What they forgot, and what the general public tends to forget, is that Rocky Balboa lost that first fight against Apollo Creed. And Clubber Lang in Rocky IV. And Mason “The Line” Dixon in the final sequel, Rocky Balboa.
ROUND 2
Apollo looked like he was carved out of obsidian, and Carl Weathers had a build that was unheard of for the era, but he was far from a dumb jock. After Rocky was thrashed by Clubber Lang in their first fight, Apollo sought out Rocky and offered to train Balboa for a rematch against Lang. Like the proverbial Devil on his shoulder, Apollo appealed to Rocky’s wounded pride and desire to avenge the death of his trainer, Mickey Goldmill. However, Apollo was far from a quiescent Bagger Vance-esque “Magical Negro” only there to serve Rocky’s interests. Apollo struck a Faustian bargain with Balboa, offering to train the demoralized fighter in exchange for a favor to be named later. (How very Pastor-ish of him…) Apollo took Rocky to the grimy Los Angeles gym where he started his career and proved to be a harsh, driven taskmaster, who had his own agenda and ulterior motives for pushing Rocky to regain “The Eye Of The Tiger.” Once again, even though they were on the same side this time, Apollo was still defining and shaping Rocky. Without Apollo Creed, there is no Rocky Balboa.
ROUND 3
By far, Apollo Creed is Rocky’s best villain antagonist. Let’s review the other contenders:
Clubber Lang – (Rocky III) - Mr. T had a distinctive look, and could bark out lines like the human pitbull Clubber Lang was supposed to be, but ultimately, he was a one-note character. Although this was Mr. T’s best performance ever, he was painfully limited as an actor. Carl Weathers played Apollo with sophistication and complexity. He commanded the screen, and could go from yucking it up with Joe Frazier in an outsized Uncle Sam hat to bellowing out orders as a take-charge entrepreneur, with incredible ease. Clubber Lang was a street thug with a brief, turbulent Buster Douglas-esque relationship to fame. Apollo Creed came from the streets, rose above his circumstances, and stayed at the top thanks to his physical and mental acumen. Clubber Lang is the type of guy the Sean Hannities and Lou Dobbs of the world tell us to be afraid of, but Apollo Creed is the type of guy they actually fear.
Ivan Drago – (Rocky IV) – Dolph Lundgren played Ivan Drago as the living embodiment of the steely, mechanized, implaccable Red Menace that the Soviet Union became in our collective imagination in the late 1980s. There was nothing more to him than that. He was a metaphor to be chopped down to size by the plucky American, not an actual person.
Tommy “Gunn” Morrison – (Rocky V) – They made a RockyV? Hmm, you learn something new every day.
Mason “The Line” Dixon – (Rocky Balboa) – Honestly, I’m sure Antonio Tarver is a gifted athlete, as evidenced by his 27-6 professional boxing career, but he barely registered on the screen. The part of Mason Dixon had potential, as a young champion desperate to establish he had the same heart and fortitude that made Balboa such a beloved fighter, but the character was woefully underdeveloped and Tarver’s acting skills didn’t help matters. If the producers were going to cast an actual boxer or fighter, Roy Jones, Jr., Quinton “Rampage” Jackson or Floyd Mayweather would have been much better choices. Although they are not trained actors, each has undeniable charisma and presence.
Recently, someone asked me whose voice I hear in my head when I’m writing Pastor’s dialogue. At the time, I was genuinely stumped for an answer. I honestly didn’t hear Roundtree, O’Neal, Hooks, Brown, or even Williamson. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized how perfect Carl Weathers’ voice was. Tough, determined, from the streets, but not of the streets. Yeah, that’s the voice. Heck, if I were remaking Rocky I’d just edit out most of the parts with Stallone and call it Apollo. That’s why Carl Weathers’ Apollo Creed is the recipient of this week’s Unsung Badmother****** Award. What do ya think about that, Mr. Weathers?
- JEP
UPDATED DECEMBER 11, 2009:
WorldOfHurtOnline.com has named Carl Weathers as the 2009 Unsung Bad Mother****** Of The Year!
Help get the word out and let’s see if we can get Carl Weathers to post an “acceptance speech on Twitter. For more details, go here:
[UPDATED December 11, 2009 at 4:41 PM. Mr. Weathers Tweeted his acknowledgment. Thanks for your help everyone!]
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