Rusty Dennis is the mother of Rocky, a seriously deformed but extremely intelligent and emotionally warm child. Rusty is a no-nonsense mother whose wild lifestyle is often at odds with her tenderness and protectiveness towards Rocky. She is determined that Rocky be given the same chances and happiness that everyone else takes for granted.

Songs by Bob Seger were substituted in place of those by Bruce Springsteen shortly before the film's release after a failure to reach agreement with Springsteen.

Rusty Dennis:
First you told me he was gonna be retarded, then you told me he was gonna be blind AND deaf. If I'd dug his grave every time one of you geniuses told me he was gonna die, I'd be eating fuckin' chop suey in China by now!

Miscellaneous: When Rocky looks in the carnival mirror it alters his deformed face to appear almost normal. They send for his mother (Cher) to look at him. The same mirror that altered Rocky's face to appear normal should have deformed his mother's face. But when you see them looking in the mirror, Cher's face is looking perfect.

Performed by Bruce Springsteen