Rocky statue makes comeback

Sylvester Stallone, left, portraying Rocky Balboa, and Tommy Morrison, as boxer Tommy Gunn, re-enact a scene from "Rocky V" under a statue of Stallone in 1990. (CHRIS GARDNER / AP, 1990)

PHILADELPHIA — Rocky Balboa — or more specifically, a statue of the Hollywood palooka, boxing gloves raised in triumph — is being restored to a spot outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the winner by a split decision in a bout between fine art and pop culture.

Despite complaints that the statue is piece of kitsch undeserving of display near works by Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet, the city Art Commission voted 6-2 Wednesday to move the 2,000-pound bronze out of storage and put it on a street-level pedestal near the museum steps.

The steps were the setting for one of the most famous scenes in Sylvester Stallone's 1976 movie "Rocky" and have been a big tourist attraction ever since, with visitors to Philadelphia imitating the Italian Stallion's sweat-suited dash to the top. (Of course, after bounding up the 72 steps and pumping their fists in the air like Rocky, the tourists often turn around and leave without setting foot in the museum.)

The 8-foot-6 Rocky is expected to be on his granite pedestal in time for a dedication ceremony Friday night.

"We're thrilled," said city Commerce Director Stephanie Naidoff. "What more wonderful a symbol of hard work and dedication is there than Rocky?"

The two commission members who voted against the move, artist Moe Brooker and University of the Arts President Miguel Angel Corzo, said the site was inappropriate.

"It's not a work of art and ... it doesn't belong there," said Brooker, a professor at Moore College of Art and Design.

Corzo suggested he might resign from the commission over the vote.

He said the issue was not whether the statue was art, pointing out the debatable aesthetic value of some of the Philadelphia museum's works, for example, a porcelain urinal by Marcel Duchamp. But he questioned whether Rocky deserved to be neighbors with sculptures such as Rodin's "The Thinker," which sits nearby on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

But the majority of commissioners who approved the move said Rocky has become synonymous with Philadelphia.

"This is not art as it has been defined by aesthetic" standards, said commissioner Emanuel Kelly, who scored the fight for Rocky. "But in terms of this as a cultural icon over 30 years, it has [passed] ... the test of time."

The sculpture by A. Thomas Schomberg was commissioned by Stallone for a scene in "Rocky III" (1982) and appeared in "Rocky V" (1990). After the third Rocky installment, Stallone donated the statue to the city — and the real fight began.

The statue was installed at the top of the museum steps but was removed after a few months when museum officials and art aficionados said it was merely a movie prop and its "exaggerated proportions and caricature" would sully the renowned museum's image.

After much bobbing and weaving, Rocky was moved to the city's sports-stadium complex in South Philadelphia. It was moved again and eventually warehoused after filming began on the latest installment of the saga, "Rocky Balboa," due for a December release.

This week's dedication ceremony — with Stallone expected to attend — caps a week of festivities celebrating the 30th anniversary of the original "Rocky" movie. The events include a Rocky and Adrian look-alike contest and boxing matches.