Rocky IV is a 1985 American film written by, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Burt Young, Talia Shire, Carl Weathers, Tony Burton, Brigitte Nielsen, and Michael Pataki. It is the fourth installment and most financially successful entry in the Rocky franchise.
In the film, Rocky Balboa has retired after regaining his title from Clubber Lang and is living a more quiet life with his family. However the Soviet Union and their top boxer make an entrance into professional boxing with their best athlete Ivan Drago with the challenge to fight Balboa. His best friend Apollo Creed decides to fight him instead, but is killed in the ring. Enraged by this, Rocky decides to fight Drago in Russia to avenge his friend and defend the honor of his country.
Critical reception was mixed, but the film earned $300 million at the box office, making it the most successful entry in the Rocky series. This film marked Carl Weathers' final appearance in the series. The film's success led to a fourth sequel in 1990.
In July 2020, Stallone announced a director's cut would be released to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the film. Ongoing editing caused it to miss the anniversary date but was released theatrically for one night on November 11, 2021 before being released to digital formats the next day. (See Director's cut below.)
Plot[]
In 1985, Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), a highly intimidating 6-foot 5, 261-pound Soviet boxer, arrives in the United States with his wife Ludmilla (Brigitte Nielsen), and a team of trainers from the USSR and Cuba. His manager, Nicolai Koloff (Michael Pataki), takes every opportunity to promote Drago's athleticism as a hallmark of Soviet superiority. Motivated by patriotism and an innate desire to prove himself, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) challenges Drago to an exhibition bout. Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) has reservations, but agrees to train Apollo.
The exhibition takes place at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. Apollo enters the ring, wearing his old Uncle Sam outfit, in an over-the-top patriotic entrance with James Brown performing "Living in America". The bout starts tamely with Apollo landing several punches that have no effect on the Russian. It soon turns serious though, as Drago beats Apollo mercilessly. Apollo is in dire straits and taking the worst beating of his life as the first round ends. Rocky and Apollo's trainer Duke (Tony Burton) plead with him to give up, but Apollo refuses to do so, and tells Rocky not to stop the fight. The second round doesn't go any better, and despite Duke begging Rocky to throw in the towel, he honors Apollo's wish. This turns out to have fatal consequences as Drago beats Apollo so badly that he drops dead in the ring. In the immediate aftermath, Drago displays no sense of remorse commenting to the assembled media: "If he dies... he dies."
Incensed by Drago's cold indifference and feeling a deep sense of guilt, Rocky decides to avenge Apollo's death by agreeing to relinquish his title and fight Drago in Russia on Christmas Day in an unsanctioned 15-round bout. He flies to the USSR without Adrian, setting up his training base in Krasnogourbinsk with only Duke and brother-in-law Paulie (Burt Young) to accompany him. To prepare for the fight, Drago uses very high-tech equipment with use of PEDs and a team of trainers and doctors monitoring his every fiber. Rocky, on the other hand, throws heavy logs, chops down trees, pulls an overloaded snow sleigh, jogs in heavy snow and treacherous icy conditions and climbs a mountain. Adrian (Talia Shire) shows up unexpectedly to give Rocky her support after initially refusing to travel to Russia because of her doubts on his fighting chances, resulting in Rocky's training having an added focus.
Drago is introduced with an elaborate, patriotic ceremony that puts the Russian crowd squarely on Drago's side, as Rocky is booed by all in attendance. In contrast to his fight with Apollo, Drago immediately goes on the offensive and Rocky takes a fierce pounding. Rocky comes back toward the end of the second and silences the Russian crowd by landing a strong right hook that cuts Drago just below his left eye. While Drago is visibly shaken, Rocky is fired up and assaults Drago, which continues even after the bell rings. While Duke and Paulie cheer Rocky for his heroism, they remind him that Drago is not a machine, but a man. Ironically, Drago comments that Rocky "is not human, he is like a piece of iron" with his own corner reprimanding him for being "weak" in comparison to the "small American."
The two boxers continue to hit each other over the next dozen rounds, with Rocky holding his ground despite Drago's powerful punches. His resilience rallies the previously hostile Soviet crowd to his side, which unsettles Drago to the point that he shoves Koloff off the ring for berating his performance. Rocky finally takes out Drago in the 15th and last round, winning by knockout to the shock of the Soviet Politburo members watching the fight. A bloody and battered Rocky gives a victory speech, acknowledging the mutual disdain at first between himself and the crowd. He says it is like the wider disdain between Russians and Americans, but that he and the crowd have come to respect and admire each other during the course of the fight. Rocky adds that the crowd has seen "two guys killin' each other, but I guess that's better than 20 million" who might die if the Cold War turned hot. Rocky finally declares, "If I can change, and you can change, then everybody can change!" The Soviet General Secretary stands and passionately applauds Rocky, and his aides follow suit. Rocky ends his speech by wishing his son a Merry Christmas, and throws his arms into the air in victory as the crowd applauds.
Cast[]
- Sylvester Stallone - Rocky Balboa
- Dolph Lundgren - Captain Ivan Drago
- Burt Young - Paulie Pennino
- Talia Shire - Adrian Balboa
- Carl Weathers - Apollo Creed
- Brigitte Nielsen - Ludmilla Vobet Drago
- Tony Burton - Tony "Duke" Evers
- Michael Pataki - Nicoli Koloff
- George Rogan - Sergei Igor Rimsky
- James "Canonball" Green - Manuel Vega
- Stu Nahan - Commentator #1 (Creed-Drago)
- Warner Wolf - Commentator #2 (Creed-Drago)
- R.J. Adams - Sports Announcer
- Barry Tompkins - American Commentator #1 (Rocky-Drago)
- Al Bandiero - American Commentator #2 (Rocky-Drago)
- James Brown - Himself
- Burgess Meredith - Mickey Goldmill (Archive Footage, uncredited)
Development[]
During filming of the opening scenes of the fight between Balboa and Drago, Stallone spoke with Lundgren about making them more realistic and engaging in legitimate sparring. "In the first round, I thought these two characters should hate each other so much that they should just attack each other like pit dogs… professionalism be damned."[1]
Lundgren landed a particularly hard punch against Stallone's chest during filming. Stallone did not feel it until the third take of trading body blows but ignored it. Later, he was taken to the hospital where it was diagnosed that his heart had slammed against his breastbone and had begun swelling. He spent eight days in intensive care. Stallone recounted this later, comparing it to auto accidents where the steering wheel slams into driver, saying, "So in a sense I was hit by 'a streetcar named Drago'"[1] and replying to the doctor that commented he looked like he had been hit by a truck with "I was."[2]
Director's cut[]
In August 2020, Stallone announced he was working on a director's cut to commemorate the 35th anniversary, which became Rocky IV: Rocky Vs. Drago: The Ultimate Director's Cut.[3] Over the next few months, he shared progress on the updates, which included adding footage to the exhibition match between Drago and Creed,[4] and removed all references to Sico the robot given to Paulie[5] and expanding the press conference between Drago and Balboa[6] James Hunt of Screen Rant stated that the removal of the robot would be "a huge shame and even bigger mistake", saying that it would take away "part of the charm and air of ridiculousness that helps make Rocky IV such an enjoyable entry in the franchise".[7]. Robert Doornick, creator and voice of the robot, stated that though Stallone loved the robot, removing it from the director's cut would save on royalty fees to him.[8]
In February 2021, Stallone shared another update from the sound mixing room, indicating the new film was nearly finished.[9] On April 6th, he announced the film was finished and offered insight into how directors are often required to stop working on films in order for them to be released and do not often get a chance to correct flaws in them.[10] On June 8th, the film was given an official theatrical release of November 11, 2021[11] In total, approximately 38-40 minutes of new and reused material was added to the film, but only added three minutes to the runtime due to the other edits. The changes added depth to the relationships between Rocky and Apollo, Rocky and Adrian.[12]
Stallone and Burt Young (Paulie Pennino) attended the premiere in Philadelphia, which included a Q&A session with Stallone where he discussed the changes to the film.[3] A 93-minute documentary on the making of the director's cut can be viewed on the Total Rocky website.
External links[]
- Total Rocky website
- "The Making of 'Rocky vs Drago'" documentary. Also available on YouTube.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Stallone answers December 9th & 10th Questions in a double round - plus Harry's Seen ROCKY BALBOA at BNAT!!!", Ain't It Cool News, December 16, 2006
- ↑ Interview on The Directors Chair, El Rey Network
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Sylvester Stallone Working on Rocky 4 Director's Cut", Screen Rant, July 6, 2020 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "Director's cut 1" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ "Sylvester Stallone Releases New Footage of Rocky 4 Director’s Cut", Screen Rant, September 10, 2020
- ↑ "Rocky IV Director’s Cut Won’t Include That Ridiculous Robot", Screen Rant, August 31, 2020
- ↑ "Rocky 4 Director's Cut Teased By Sylvester Stallone", Screen Rant, August 9, 2020
- ↑ "Why Stallone's Rocky IV Director's Cut Is Wrong To Remove The Robot", Screen Rant, August 31, 2020
- ↑ "Rocky IV: Paulie’s Robot Creator Speaks Out About Director’s Cut Controversy – Exclusive", Empire, September 29, 2020
- ↑ "Sylvester Stallone Shares An Update On His Rocky IV Director’s Cut", Cinema Blend, February 8, 2021
- ↑ "Sylvester Stallone Completes Rocky 4 Director’s Cut", Screen Rant, April 6, 2021
- ↑ "Rocky 4 Director's Cut Gets November 2021 Theatrical Release Date", Screen Rant, June 8, 2021
- ↑ "Rocky IV: Rocky vs Drago review – silly director’s cut is a losing battle", The Guardian, November 11, 2021