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.
“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.”
I’m no legal expert, but I doubt there would be much of a case. All are public figures, though Wepner marginally. Their lives are open season, to a point. It was enough to earn an “inspired by” credit, certainly. As with all inspiration, if you change it enough and mix different ones around thoroughly, it becomes difficult to seperate claims. It becomes your own.
You also oversell its debt Wepner’s life. Firstly, the movie fight was an exhibition, not for the title. Secondly, Rocky was a washout bone-cracker for the mafia. Did you see his last fight before national exposure? It was in a makeshift church gym, for which he won a few bucks. Wepner was a real professional who had fought Foreman and Liston prior to Ali. Also, Rocky went the distance (which was extremely important plotwise), whereas Wepner was TKOed.
There’s also the fact that “Rocky III” takes off from Wepner’s match against Andre the Giant. That’s quite obvious, as is the basic premise of the original.
“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.”
I can’t deduce Stallone’s reasons. Maybe that is why he did it, and maybe Wepner could have won a suit. Either way, I don’t think he’s entitled to anything. What he inspired was so basic, and in my opinion no one loved the movie back then or keeps it a classic to this days because the basic idea is so great. A million bad movies could be made with a starting point of “flashy black champ gives hulking white longshot a chance.”