Bogged Down
Do you know what the #1 grossing box office hit of 1976 was? I will give you a couuple of clues; it won 3 Academy Awards, grossed 117.2 million domestically and $225 million internationally. It was inspired by a true story. It’s film props were placed in the Smithsonian Museum. The script for the movie was the first screenplay sold by a young aspiring screenwriter who had previously used such pen-names as Q. Moonblood and J.J. Deadlock (neither of which sold any scripts!). The movie was shot on a low-budget of 1.1 million dollars and featured a realitively unknown actor.
The actor, was the man who wrote the script. The actor/screen-writer had slurrred speech and drooping lower lip, that was a result of complications his mother suffered during labor. Her obstetricians misuse of forceps accidentally severed a nerve and caused paralysis in parts of his face. Not exactly the picture purfect image of a Hollywood stud! He was a graduate of Devereux Manor High School, a private school for problem children located in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, and following graduation enrolled in a beauty school, to continue in the family busines. He later dropped out of the beauty school, after winning a scholarship for the American College of Switzerland in Leysin, where he studied drama and was well received in school productions. Returning to America he enrolled in the Theater Arts Department at University of Miami for three years. He came within a few credit hours of graduation before he decided to drop out and pursue a career writing screenplays.
The struggling screenwriter took several acting jobs to help pay his bills He had his first starring role in the softcore pornography feature film The Party at Kitty and Stud’s. He was paid $200 for two days’ work. The actor later explained that he had done the film out of desperation after being bounced out of his apartment and finding himself homeless for several days. In the actor’s words, “it was either do that movie or rob someone, because I was at the end – the very end – of my rope”.
The actor’s other first few film roles were minor, and included brief uncredited appearances in Woody Allen’s Bananas (1971) as a subway thug, in the psychological thriller Klute (1971) as an extra dancing in a club, and in the Jack Lemmon film The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975) as a youth. In the Lemmon film, Jack Lemmon chases, tackles and mugs the, thinking that the character is a pickpocket. He had his second starring role in The Lords of Flatbush, in 1974, in whose script he had a hand in writing. In 1975, he played supporting roles in Farewell, My Lovely; Capone; and Death Race 2000. He made guest appearances on the TV series Police Story and Kojak.
On March 24, 1975, the screen writer/actor saw a boxing match on television at a friends, the Muhammad Ali–Chuck Wepner fight. Wepner was not expected to last past the first round. Before the fight, a reporter asked Wepner if he thought he could survive in the ring with the champion, to which Wepner allegedly answered “ I’ve been a survivor my whole life…if I survived the Marines, I can survive Ali. ”
To everyones surprise Wepner did last past round one. In the ninth round, Wepner landed a punch to Ali’s chest and Ali was knocked down. Wepner went to his corner and said to his manager, “Hey, I knocked him down.” “Yeah,” Wepner’s manager replied, “but he looks really pissed off now…”
In the remaining rounds, Ali opened up cuts above both Wepner’s eyes and broke his nose. Wepner was far behind on the scorecards but made a dramatic comeback. He lost in the final minutes of the 15th round, a technical knockout.
Being inspired, the screenwriter/actor went home, and in three days he had written the script for Rocky. And in a short while, an unknown became one of the biggest names in Hollywood, Sylvester Stalone.
Why tell Sly’s story? Because it is not so different for any of us. We all make mistakes, struggle and just get bogged down. But look, moments of inspiration can come from the simplest of things. Life altering moments! So if you are bogged down today, keep watching, keep looking? What inspires you?
“I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.” – Jesus (The Message – John 16:32-33)
Proverbs 24:15-16 (The Message) Don’t interfere with good people’s lives; don’t try to get the best of them. No matter how many times you trip them up, God-loyal people don’t stay down long; Soon they’re up on their feet, while the wicked end up flat on their faces.
