Statue’s Road Becomes Rocky Again

PHILADELPHIA —  Rocky Balboa is down but not out.

A crew worked two hours with a diamond-tipped circular saw and jackhammer to free the 8 1/2-foot bronze likeness of the movie boxing champ from the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art before returning it to the Spectrum sports arena.

But fans of the South Philadelphia palooka played by Sylvester Stallone said Monday that they will fight to return the 800-pound statue to the stone stairway made famous in the original “Rocky.”

Museum President Robert Montgomery Scott has said that the statue is a movie prop, not art, and that he doesn’t want it in front of the classical building.

Among those working to keep the statue there is James Binns, a lawyer and former boxing commissioner hired by Stallone. In Binns’ corner is Mayor W. Wilson Goode, who has come out in favor of the statue as a tourist attraction.

The city Art Commission said it will wait 60 days before determining whether the statue of Rocky in boxing trunks, arms raised in triumph, will be returned to the steps.

The statue, which appeared at the museum during the shooting of “Rocky III” in 1981, was taken back from the Spectrum for filming of “Rocky V.” Filming ended Friday, clearing the way for the producers to honor their contract to move the statue.

“I feel kind of bad,” said Bret Carpin, one of the workers who cut the figure from its concrete base. “I hope he doesn’t hold it against us.”

The museum was closed Monday as usual, but a crowd of TV camera crews, photographers and curious museum employees circled the statue.

In the original “Rocky,” which won the Oscar for best picture in 1976, Rocky runs up the stone steps in triumph while training for a fight.

The Los Angeles publicist for “Rocky V,” Dave Fulton, said of the statue’s fate, “It’s pretty much up to the people of Philadelphia. It’s out of our hands.”