>At least with regards to my point about Talia Shire, Burgess
>Meredith and Burt Young. We know there names now but I am
>wondering if audiences when Rocky came out knew their names?

well, that was my point, at least with burgess meredith. batman was a hit show, and he was one of the main villains, so that is massive pop cultural familiarity already. as i said, he has dozens of credits preceding rocky, including starring in the classic version of of mice and men. i listened to the audio commentary recently of burnt offerings, and they refered to his storied career before he became part of the hollywood blacklist.

with talia, that's where it gets into subjectivity. i wasn't alive then, but it's hard to imagine the main cast of the godfather I & II not getting individual attention. there were so many breakout roles. it wasn't an obscure part, and people are quick to name those movies alongside her name.

with burt young, again, it's a guess, but those were big movies in addition to other ones he was in, so i cannot qualify him as a "no name." stallone had less of a CV. young had bigger parts over more years in bigger movies by then. maybe his name wasn't a draw, but he was known.


>Let me know what you come up with something that touches Rocky
>success.

i am going to try to take a look at this later. a lot of the horror movies are considered classics now, but they weren't best picture caliber then or now. i actually thought of city of god earlier but have no idea how well-known the cast were domestically. a lot of foreign movies i find great i had little to no exposure to the cast. most i can eliminate from consideration because they still don't have the recognition of rocky.


>A success that kinda maybe sorta is in the same ballpark is
>Get Out. Now Catherine Neener and Bradley Whitford were known
>faces (and probably names) but not lead actors or box offices
>draws but the success of Get Out rivals that of a big studio
>flic featuring Will Smith.

again, when you start with names like catherine keener, you're already not dealing with a "no-name" cast. not that she is a mainstream box office draw, but she is an established favorite especially among indie film fans. put her in anything and the film is elevated. i already knew the cast of get out before i saw it, but admittedly i watch a lot of movies and tv.