Eastwood had acquired directorial knowledge and expertise from working with director Don Siegel in four contemporaneous films, includingDirty Harry (1971)(released in December), The Beguiled (1971)(released in March), Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970),andCoogan""s Bluff (1968).When accosted and beaten by the female occupant of the home, the Thief lept onto the still erect rope and slithered down to the street when the magician ended the trick.At Wayne Manor, Miranda met up with Bruce and promised hat she would take care of his parents"" legacy."Rocky narrowly lost a split decision (the decision was difficult o hear, but it appeared that two judges voted for the champ and one for Rocky) and the champ barely retained his title.The film""s plot was taken from Schulberg""s own original story - which reworked all the previous material and also dropped the Communists in the plot.