If ever I'm in a coma and you can't reach me, play some of Bill Conti's score for the Rocky series (Conquest might work best). That about illustrates how deeply Rocky resonates with me, and a lot of other people.

Poverty. Illness. Discrimination. Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

Rocky speaks past those battles to the deepest part of each of us, the part which may sometimes be beaten but refuses to be defeated. And it's absolutely invaluable.

When we meet Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), we see that his world is made up of some of the roughest corners of Philadelphia, a seedy place with residents that thoroughly match their surroundings. We see that he has to regularly deal with being booed, insulted, and put down by some of the lowest lowlifes in the area. It may be big city Philadelphia, but Rocky's neighborhood is a lot like a small town, where everyone knows everyone else's business, and people presume to know exactly what their neighbor is all about, and will ever be capable of. They exhibit that special type of cynicism common to people stuck in places and lives they don't want to be stuck in.

Rocky isn't like them, but with all the pain and disappointment he's experienced, he's close to being there, using cynicism to cover a big heart or a broken heart, until the day the heart just dies.

But he's not there yet.

Despite all the hurt he's felt, Rocky can't hurt just anyone. And like Van Gogh in Loving Vincent, he loves and appreciates the small things in life, the things other people aren't paying attention to or noticing or that they're taking for granted.

It's because of that big-hearted perspective that Rocky takes notice of shy Adrian (Talia Shire), a girl everyone else seems to have written off, including her loutish brother Paulie (Burt Young). Like Rocky, she cares for and appreciates the little things, spending all of her day working in a pet store. As the movie progresses we come to realize that Rocky and Adrian see each other's big hearts...and when you find someone who recognizes your heart and returns it with their own, that becomes life-changing.

That new relationship provides Rocky with the balance he needs to undertake the challenge of a lifetime, when World Heavyweight Champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) gives him an underdog shot at the title. Rocky isn't really a movie about protagonist Rocky Balboa and antagonist Apollo Creed. In some ways, Creed is the least of Rocky's opposition in the film, because he actually gave Rocky something vital: a real opportunity! No, the movie is about Rocky vs. cynicism, Rocky vs. everyone in the world who didn't believe in him, including himself. Even the great ex-fighter who owns the gym Rocky trained at for years, Mickey (Burgess Meredith), had fallen into the trap of not seeing what was there with Balboa because of his own personal bitterness.

The match with Creed then becomes a chance for redemption for both the fighter Rocky and his trainer Mick, an opportunity for both of them to stand up to what has haunted them and give everything they know they've got inside of them in the face of it. It's a chance to elevate themselves above the world they've been stuck in, a point that is underscored by how much the beautiful arena where the match is held stands in stark contrast to all the gritty locations that preceded it. In addition to showcasing what was great about the look of 70's Boxing, the use of vivid gelled lights and ring/costume colors makes the two fighters appear more vibrant and alive than they do at any other point in the film, while also accentuating the blood-soaked brutality of their epic confrontation.

In the journey to this fight, Rocky was able to find love with Adrian and form a redemptive familial relationship with Mickey, all while applying himself in a way he never had, and thereby giving himself a win he'd needed all of his life. In the face of all those personal victories, the outcome of the big fight truly doesn't matter. Instead Rocky serves as reminder of why at least trying your best and doing right by yourself does.