Yo yo yo! From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, here is a breakdown of the best holiday scenes in ‘Rocky.’

Some movies depict the gritty realism of the Philly holidays.

Like Trading Places (1983), when Dan Aykroyd’s character, dressed in a disgusting Santa suit, drunkenly sticks up a swanky Center City holiday office party, feasts on a slab of smoked salmon on a SEPTA bus, and gets peed on by a dog in the rain.

Other films fail the Philly holidays believability test.

Take the climactic car chase sequence of the cult-thriller Blow Out (1981), when a young John Travolta careens through the courtyard of City Hall and straight into the Mummer’s Parade — but not a single Mummer holds a beer.

Other films capture the magic and romance of Christmas in Philly.

Such as that unforgettable moment in Silver Linings Playbook (2012), when Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence celebrate their newly confessed love — and Robert De Niro’s successful parlay of an Eagles victory with their Christmas dance competition scores — with a kiss amid the splendor of a festively lit Jeweler’s Row.

But nothing compares to Rocky (1976) — because Rocky is a Philly holiday movie: A saccharine, South Philly-style, Capra-esque tale of a hoagie-mouthed underdog who defeats the odds, wins his true love’s heart, and earns a draw with the heavyweight champ — all between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.

“Christmas is the celebration of the solstice, that coldest night, when we’re halfway through the long, long winter — and I think that’s what’s going on in Rocky’s life,” said Johnny Zito, a lifelong South Philadelphian and a filmmaker, who is also co-creator of the Philly lifestyle brand, South Fellini. “There’s light at the end of the tunnel if he can just get past that Christmas hump and prove to himself that he can go the distance at the end of the first Rocky movie.”

» READ MORE: South Fellini's deeply odd video tribute to Philly Christmas kitsch may move you to tears

So, in the spirit of Christmas — and with help from Zito, who along with business partner, Tony Trov, and comedian Bryan Bierman, did a 10-hour deep dive on the Rocky films as part of their Legends of Philadelphia podcast — here’s a breakdown of the most memorable, moving, and just plain silly holiday moments from the Rocky movies. (And, yesss, we’ll include Rocky V, because even a very bad movie can contain some very good Philly holiday moments.)

“It’s Thanksgiving” (Rocky)

From the instant the rickety rowhouse door of Paulie and Adrian’s childhood home slams shut until Adrian lets out her plaintive cry, after Paulie tosses her still-roasting turkey into the blackness of what is presumably a tiny concrete backyard, the scene firmly establishes the emotional depth of the original Rocky.

It’s also the Rocky holiday moment that haunts Zito the most.

“The thing that always sticks out to me is how Paulie throws away the Thanksgiving dinner,” he said. “I think about it every Thanksgiving. How bad it is. What If somebody ruined my dinner like that?”

Date at the ice rink (Rocky)

The irresistible, scruffy appeal of Rocky and Adrian’s romance reveals itself as the pair awkwardly pads around the empty ice (Stallone rewrote the scene when a crowed rink of extras proved too expensive). Rocky’s fruitless attempts to negotiate the bribe he pays the rink manager to stay open later on Thanksgiving is a charming touch. (But Rocky’s refusal to take “no” soon leads to the most problematic and troubling scene of any Rocky film.)

Paulie breaks down on Christmas (Rocky)

Paulie’s second booze-fueled eruption in as many holidays showcases the acting chops that would earn Talia Shire (Adrian) her first Best Actress Oscar nod — she’d been nominated a year earlier for Best Supporting Actress for Godfather II. The scene harrowingly depicts the intergenerational trauma at the core of Paulie and Adrian’s abusive relationship.

The scene also represents the height of Rocky’s bleak winter in Zito’s Christmas solstice analogy.

“Paulie loses it with the bat, it’s very sad, it’s a sad Christmas scene, and kind of the lowest point of the movie, too,” he said.

Prefight jitters (Rocky)

Another production challenge resulted in another classic Rocky scene. A pair of mismatched boxing trunks led Stallone to hastily rewrite Rocky’s restless New Year’s Eve visit to scout out the Spectrum, where Rocky would take on Apollo the next day.

The rewrite leads to an inspired bit of dialogue, when Jergens, the promoter, smarmily dismisses Rocky’s concerns about a poster showing the wrong red-and-white combo on his shorts.

“It doesn’t really matter does it,” Jergens tells Rocky, through a cloud of stogie smoke.

But Rocky soon tells Adrian, nestled in bed in her Christmas pj’s, with visions of red beanie hats dancing in her head: “I just want to go the distance.”

Moreover, said Zito, the scene contains a powerful bit of Philly holiday realism, by depicting the quiet of New Year’s Eve before the bedlam of New Year’s Day.

“Philadelphia doesn’t really do New Year’s, it does New Year’s morning — it does the Mummers Parade and all that,” he said. “So there’s an eerie quiet on New Year’s in the city, everyone is saving up that energy to explode the next morning.”

The fight (Rocky)

Given the day, any Mummer lucky to be sitting ringside would’ve had to begrudgingly admire the extravagant George Washington getup Creed wears into the ring — the fancy satin shawl, the craftsmanship of his float, the glittery costumes and makeup of the Statue of Liberty girls — and that beadwork of his Uncle Sam vest! Get that man some ostrich feathers, Bill.

Rocky vs. Drago (Rocky IV)

For Zito, growing up in South Philly, the debate over whether Rocky IV was a Christmas movie was a holiday tradition, “in the same way people argue if Die Hard is a Christmas movie.”

“The beginning is not a Christmas movie,” Zito argued, the middle is not a Christmas movie, but it takes place on Christmas Eve at the end, so by Die Hard rules, does that count?”

Even before Drago kills Creed in an exhibition match, the setup of the highest-grossing film of the Rocky franchise is pure ‘80s jingoism — the movie was ranked eighth in Maxim’s 2020 list of the “12 most delusional films about Russia.”

“The communists want the Rocky/Drago fight on Christmas in Russia, because they don’t feel safe in the United States,” Zito explained, unable to keep a straight face. “And because they’re godless communists, they want to have it on Christmas Eve.” So Rocky has to decide. Is he going to go avenge his friend’s death or is he going to have Christmas with his family?

The Christmas Eve climax is capped off with Rocky winning over the crowd, KO’ing the Cold War, while young Rocky Jr. watches at home with friends, unsupervised, except for the robot Rocky had bought for Paulie.

“What parents were like, ‘Yeah go spend Christmas Eve with your friend and his robot?” Zito wondered.

“That ain’t Santa. It’s Uncle Paulie!” (Rocky V)

Nearly 15 years after the original, Rocky V (1990) finds Rocky bankrupt and brain-hurt and back in South Philly, trying to make the best of the holidays.

“Merry Xmas. Yo, yo, yo,” says Paulie, playing a somewhat sober Santa for Rocky Jr. and his pals.

It’s a small holiday moment in the worst Rocky movie, but an entry point into the Rocky films for Zito, who was barely 10 and recognized all the familiar trappings of a South Philly Christmas.

“It looked very familiar to me,” Zito said. “The way the house is decorated. It’s kind of small and all your friends are jammed up against the TV and your parents are a foot behind you in a world of their own. It really did feel like South Philly Christmas, even though it was probably shot on a back lot.”

Added Zito: “The Santa who would hang out in front of the King of Jeans ringing his bell for the Salvation Army would say, ‘Yo, yo, yo.’ So it was just very authentic.”