Nick Thomas
Fifty years ago, a scrappy boxing film with a surprisingly low budget and starring a little-known starving actor knocked out star-laden productions such as “A Star is Born” and “All the President’s Men” to win the coveted title of highest grossing film for 1976. “Rocky” went on to win three Oscars including Best Picture.
Contributing to the film’s success, some 80 minutes into the story, audience eardrums are pelted with one of the most stirring and memorable movie themes of the 20th century during Rocky’s rigorous training scene. As the intensity of the training increases, so does the music and lyrics, culminating in the famous dash up the stone stairs of the Philadelphia Museum of Arts as Carol Connors’ inspiring three simple words leap from the soundtrack.
“It’s the film’s iconic moment when Rocky runs through the streets, punches the meat, then climbs those stairs and thrusts his fists in the air,” Connors told me from her home in Beverly Hills. “Then you hear ‘Gonna Fly Now.’ I was actually one of the voices because we didn’t have a big budget to hire a high-priced singer.”
Connors doesn’t hesitate when asked what the film’s theme has meant to her over the past 50 years. “It paid for my Beverly Hills home!” she said. “But beyond that, it captured a movie moment that represents believing in yourself while demonstrating perseverance, hope, and courage. It’s something we can all identify with and is such an enormous high in the story.”
Carol co-wrote the lyrics with Ayn Robbins, while the music was scored by now veteran composer Bill Conti. The three had the same agent who informed the trio of “a little film about a boxer” that needed a theme song. After watching a rough cut of the partially scored film, everyone in the viewing room knew a more powerful theme was needed and “Gonna Fly Now” was born.
The upfront payment of $500 for Carol’s contribution didn’t go far in the late-70s, but royalty checks soon began arriving and continue to this day whenever the movie airs or the song plays. “The entire music budget for the film was $18,000,” she recalls. “You couldn’t write four notes of a movie theme for that today.”
Connors recalls Conti arriving at her house after the screening, sitting at her piano, and belting out the Rocky melody. “After he left, I remember thinking how could anyone write words to that music?” she said. “I went into the shower, and the film and training scene were still fresh in my mind. I pictured Rocky reaching the top of those stairs and thought, oh my God, he could even fly now. So that’s where ‘Gonna Fly Now’ came from.”
ked what the film’s theme has meant to her over the past 50 years. “It paid for my Beverly Hills home!” she said. “But beyond that, it captured a movie moment that represents believing in yourself while demonstrating perseverance, hope, and courage. It’s something we can all identify with and is such an enormous high in the story.”
