OK, so here’s were we draw an incredibly tenuous line between Cocktail and the other film that was in the flat in 1996, Rocky II . Unlike Heywood "Woody" Gould (Cocktail author) Stallone actually intended to teach us all about life and such. And as such, he wasn't as successful. 'Sylvester is not dumb, he’s a smart guy that plays dumb parts.’ It’s one of those quotes you would hope was real even if it’s not. But through the vehicle of the mentally challenged Philly pugilist, Sly has attempted to put us on the correct moral pathway on issues such as the determination of the human spirit in the face of insurmountable odds (I), the determination of the human spirit in the face of insurmountable odds with a happy ending (II), the determination of human spirit to learn to cope with white guilt during a time when a lot of Americans were getting very rich (III), the determination of the human spirit when faced with the Communist threat (IV), and the determination of the human spirit when faced with middle-age and an ever changing, morally corrupt and confusing world (V). At the time of writing, VI hasn't taught us anything yet, but I am eager to be taught.Perhaps the best example of battling against insurmountable odds is the story of the Rocky saga got going at all. The first film's genus is fairly well known, Sly watched some white bloke nearly beat up a black bloke on telly, and his infinite wisdom thought it would make a great pitch for a film. Hollywood liked the script, but didn't like Sylvester. Sylvester held firm and insisted they use him for the lead. Despite being a man who’s past credits included the weirdest porn movie I've ever seen - and a series of cartoons in which he played a lisping cat, he somehow managed to land the part. The odd thing from there in my view is that he pitches a sequel that must have run something along the lines of: 'Okay, we make the same movie, more or less, but this time whitey wins!' Remarkable. After that his fate was sealed and he was re-writing America's recent geo-political history with the Rambo sequels.
Anyway, back to the point, Rocky II is a movie all about a man searching for the unobtainable. And to maintain some semblance of continuity, we'll examine the only scene in the film that has any discernable similarity: their mutual attempts to find work.
