Happy Birthday, John G. Avildsen! Born today in 1935 as John Guilbert Avildsen, this American editor, cinematographer and film director's career had endured many ups and downs.
Born in Oak Park, Illinois, Avildsen was of Danish heritage. Years later, he was educated at The Hotchkiss School and New York University.
Avildsen started out as an assistant director on films by Arthur Penn ('Bonnie and Clyde', 'Little Big Man') and Otto Preminger ('Laura', 'Angel Face', 'Carmen Jones', 'The Man with the Golden Arm', 'Anatomy of a Murder').
Afterwards, Avildsen received the low budget 1970 American drama/thriller film 'Joe', which later received good notices Peter Boyle and moderate box-office business as well. It was also the film debut of Susan Sarandon.
Three years later, Avildsen followed this up with the 1973 American drama/crime film 'Save the Tiger'.
The following year, the feature was nominated for three Oscars, winning one for Best Actor (Jack Lemmon). This occurred at the 46th Academy Awards in early April 1974.
Avildsen was the original director for both 'Serpico' (1973) and 'Saturday Night Fever (1977).
Ultimately, the positions went to Sidney Lumet ('12 Angry Men', 'Dog Day Afternoon', 'Network') for 'Serpico' and John Badham for 'Saturday Night Fever'.
This was because Avildsen was fired over disputes with American film producer and personal manager Martin Bregman and Australian-born British-resident music entrepreneur, film producer and impresario Robert Stigwood, respectively.
Both 'Joe' and 'Save the Tiger' were about losers, but as the 1970s continued, Avildsen shifted to people who went on to be victorious.
Two years later, Avildsen directed the film of which he is best known. This was the 1976 American sport/drama film' Rocky'. It was also written by then unknown Sylvester Stallone.
Prior to this, Stallone's first starring and leading role was in the 1970 American low-budget softcore pornographic romance film 'The Party at Kitty and Stud's'.
For this, Stallone only worked two days and was paid $200. The porn was originally titled 'The Italian Stallion'.
Stallone wrote the screenplay for 'Rocky' in three and a half days, shortly after watching the championship match between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner that took place at Richfield Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio on March 24, 1975.
Wepner was TKO'd in the 15th round of the match by Ali, with few expecting him to last as long as he did.
Despite the fact that the match motivated Stallone to begin work on 'Rocky', he has subsequently denied that Wepner provided any inspiration for the script.
Other possible inspirations for the film may have included characteristics of real-life boxers Rocky Marciano and Joe Frazier, as well as Rocky Graziano's 1955 autobiography Somebody Up There Likes Me: The Story of My Life So Far and the film of the same name.
However, Wepner filed a lawsuit which was eventually settled with Stallone for an undisclosed amount.
Upon release, 'Rocky' was a major critical and commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1976.
On a budget of $960,000 (equivalent to $4.31 million in 2019), the film went on to gross $225 million at the box office (equivalent to $1.01 billion in 2019).
One year later, 'Rocky' garnered ten Oscar nominations but won three Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Film Editing. This occurred at the 49th Academy Awards in late March 1977.
The nominations included Best Actor in a Leading Role (Sylvester Stallone), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Talia Shire), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Burgess Meredith), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Burt Young).
It also included Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (Sylvester Stallone), Best Music, Original Song (Bill Conti) (music), Carol Connors (lyrics) and Ayn Robbins (lyrics) for the song "Gonna Fly Now" and Best Sound.
It was at the event that Stallone became the third person to be nominated for both acting and writing in the same year, following Charlie Chaplin and Orson Welles.
Roger Ebert later gave 'Rocky' 4 out of 4 stars, saying that Stallone reminded him of "the young Marlon Brando."
However, several reviews, as well as American film and theatre critic and then-chief film critic of The New York Times Vincent Canby's negative review, compared the work to that of Frank Capra.
Canby had called 'Rocky' "pure '30s make believe" and dismissed both Stallone's acting and Avildsen's directing, calling the latter "none too decisive".
American film critic and a leading proponent of the auteur theory of film criticism Andrew Sarris found the Capra comparisons disingenuous.
He said: "Capra's movies projected more despair deep down than a movie like Rocky could envisage, and most previous ring movies have been much more cynical about the fight scene [...]."
He also commented on Rocky's work as a loan shark, saying that the film "teeters on the edge of sentimentalizing gangsters."
Sarris also found Burgess Meredith "oddly cast in the kind of part the late James Gleason used to pick his teeth."
Three years later, Avildsen directed the 1980 American-West German mystery/thriller film 'The Formula' for MGM, starring Marlon Brando and George C. Scott.
The following year, Avildsen was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Director at the 1st Golden Raspberry Awards in late March 1981.
Three years later, Avildsen made up for this by co-editing and directing the 1984 American semi-autobiographical martial arts drama film 'The Karate Kid'.
Upon release, the film received mostly positive reviews from critics, many of whom praised the action sequences, writing, themes, performances, and music. As with 'Rocky', Conti had composed the score.
'The Karate Kid' was also a commercial success, grossing $130.8 million at the box office on an $8 million budget. This made it one of the the highest-grossing films of 1984 and Hollywood's biggest sleeper hit of the year.
The film revitalized the acting career of Pat Morita, who was previously known for comedic roles.
One year later, Morita earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. However, he didn't win. This occurred at the 57th Academy Awards in late March 1985.
'The Karate Kid' subsequently launched a media franchise and is credited for popularizing karate in the United States.
Avildsen's last-ever film was the 1999 American action/martial arts film 'Inferno' (also known as 'Desert Heat'), starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.
On AFI's 100 Years... 100 Quotes list, the line "Yo, Adrian!" ranked in at #80.
In 2006, 'Rocky' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".
Four years later, the 2010 American/Chinese martial arts drama action/family film 'The Karate Kid' was released. It starred Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith. The latter's parents, Will and Jada Pinkett, served as co-producers.
'Rocky' is considered to be one of the greatest sports films ever made and was ranked as the second-best in the genre, after 'Raging Bull' (1980), by the American Film Institute in 2008.
Avildsen passed from pancreatic cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California on June 16, 2017. He was 81. Avildsen's cause of death was according to his eldest son Anthony.
Avildsen's son, American actor Jonathan Avildsen, appeared in his father's 'The Karate Kid Part III' and 'Rocky V'.
A documentary on the life, career and films of Avildsen were released one month after Avildsen's death.
This was with the 2017 American documentary film 'John G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs', produced and directed by American film director, screenwriter and film producer Derek Wayne Johnson.
The film features interviews with Stallone, Martin Scorsese, Burt Reynolds, Ralph Macchio, and American producer, talent manager and actor Jerry Weintraub, amongst others.
The documentary is a companion to the 2013 biographical film criticism book The Films of John G. Avildsen: Rocky, The Karate Kid, and other Underdogs.
Even four decades later, 'Rocky' still enjoys a reputation as a classic and still receives nearly universal praise.
'Rocky' has since spawned seven sequels: 'Rocky II' (1979), 'Rocky III' (1982), 'Rocky IV' (1985), 'Rocky V' (1990), 'Rocky Balboa' (2006), 'Creed' (2015), and 'Creed II' (2018).
Stallone portrays Rocky in all eight films, wrote seven of the eight films, and directed four of the six titular installments.
Among his credits, Avildsen is also known for directing 'Cry Uncle!' (1971), 'Neighbors' (1981), 'The Karate Kid Part II' (1986), 'For Keeps' (1988), 'Lean on Me' (1989), 'The Karate Kid Part III' (1989), 'Rocky V' (1990), and '8 Seconds' (1994).
Few directors experienced career highs and lows like Avildsen, whose résumé included two of the most popular films ever made -'Rocky' and 'The Karate Kid' - as well as his share of critical misfires and box office failures.
A former advertising manager, he entered film through the independent route in the early 1960s before making his first big splash with 1970's controversial 'Joe'.
Subsequent efforts stumbled until he took on "Save the Tiger" (1973), a bleak look at the collapse of a businessman's life and self-esteem. Its Oscar win for star Jack Lemmon brought Avildsen to the attention of Hollywood.
However, it took the low-budget boxing drama 'Rocky' to earn him an Oscar and industry respect.
Unfortunately, Avildsen found it difficult to find worthy material in its wake; his few subsequent hits were cast in the mold of the Stallone film, including his second major box office success, 'The Karate Kid'.
However, the enduring popularity of both movies preserved Avildsen in the history books as a director with a unique skill for inspiring audiences through the triumphs of his underdog characters.
Not only had he produced a string of bombs and low-budget films, the self-described dreamer also produced some of the most popular films of our time--all the while launching Stallone's career into the stratosphere.
Also known as Johnny Avildsen or Danny Mulroon, Avildsen had been active from 1969–2017.
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