“The Rocky movie was partly a ripoff of
Joe Frazier’s life in the Philly area. He was not credited in the movie and didn’t receive a cent of royalties”
They took the city and the fighting style from Frazier, but also based Apollo Creed on Ali; does that mean they owe Ali, too? The premise came from Ali’s fight with Chuck Wepner; does that mean Wepner gets a cut? The recent movie “Real Steel” borrowed liberally from “Rocky;” does Sly have a check coming?
Public things are public. You don’t have to pay for general inspiration.
Sylvester Stallone has admitted that the character
Rocky Balboa was a composite of Chuck Wepner and Joe Frazier, mostly Wepner. As far as I know neither one were acknowledged in the credits and neither one received any royalties. Both could have sued, especially the journeyman Wepner, because Rocky was almost a ripoff of his life as a fighter. The rags to riches story and finally getting a shot at the title. Ali fought Wepner for the title. Stallone said after watching the Ali/Wepner fight he wrote the script for Rocky. Even if he received no money, wouldn’t you think that at the end of the credit it would have said “Thanks to Chuck Wepner, for inspiring me to write the story of Rocky”. Stallone didn’t want to give him a cent, so he didn’t mention him.