Rocky IV

Rocky IV
File:Rocky iv poster.jpg Rocky IV
Directed by	Sylvester Stallone
Written by	Sylvester Stallone
Produced by	Robert Chartoff Irwin Winkler
Music by	Vince DiCola
Distributed by	MGM/UA Entertainment Co.
Release date	November 27 1985
Running time	91 min
Languages	English Russian
Budget	$31,000,000

Rocky IV is the fourth movie of the Rocky franchise. Rocky Balboa (played again by Sylvester Stallone), has said he plans to retire from boxing after recovering his title from Clubber Lang in Rocky III. A new sensation from the Soviet Union, Ivan Drago (played by Dolph Lundgren), however, begins to emerge as a top contender.

Although Drago has never had a professional boxing fight and all his achievements came as an amateur, he comes to the United States with an entourage of Soviet government officials and his wife (played by Brigitte Nielsen), convinced that he can beat any American world boxing champion.

At the same time, Apollo Creed (played by Carl Weathers) is throwing balls at his dogs in the pool, and sees a story on the news about a boxer coming from the Soviet Union under the name Ivan Drago. While watching his portable T.V., he is furious and calls Rocky to tell him about an idea he made up.

Apollo visits Rocky's mansion and the two reminisce while watching their second bout against each other, and the former champion, upon being asked by Balboa why he wanted to step back into the ring, Creed explains that as a fighter, his instincts to fight cannot be suppressed, and that Balboa wouldn't understand because he was still the champion.

Apollo at this time is probably around 40 years old, as Rocky is around 37/38. However, before the fight, he declares that he is stronger and quicker than he has ever been, although this is probably just a ploy to convince himself he is still in fighting shape.

Rocky reluctantly agrees to train his friend Apollo for a fight with the Russian, and the fight scheduled to take place in Las Vegas. In the press conference preceding the fight, comments about Apollo's ability to fight the Russian, made by Drago's camp, incite a small shoving match, with Drago's power being shown for the first time as he shoves Apollo back into Rocky's arms, who too is nearly taken off of his feet by the momentum. Apollo vows to finish it in the ring.

The fight arrives. Drago's entrance is simple; he is raised to the ring via a lift. Apollo comes in wearing a variant of the Uncle Sam regalia he wore in his first fight with Balboa while dancing to James Brown's 'Livin in America'. The bout was apparently supposed to be an exhibition. Apollo fights smoothly in the first half of the first round. But Drago is barely hurt by Creed's punches, and hammers Apollo without mercy.

In between the two rounds that the fight lasted, Rocky thinks briefly of stopping the fight, and urges Apollo to give up during the break between the first two rounds. Apollo makes Rocky promise not to stop the fight for any reason. During the second round, Apollo lands a single jab out of about 6 punches, and Drago hammers him again. Rocky is about to stop the fight, but decides not to because of the promise he made. Later in the round, Apollo collapses face-first after receiving a ferocious punch to the head; he dies while in the ring, and in Rocky's arms.

After Apollo's death, Rocky starts thinking about fighting Drago, in honor of Apollo, and has a talk with his wife Adrian about it. Adrian (played by Talia Shire) tries to convince her husband not to fight. But Rocky takes a drive and starts thinking about his whole career as a boxer, his fights with Apollo, his friendships with the boxer and the trainer who helped shape his career as a boxer and the way they left this world; when he returns from the drive, he is convinced he wants to go to Russia to challenge Drago and try to avenge his friend Creed. In the process, since the fight isn't sanctioned, he has to give up his heavyweight title.

Rocky and Drago then sign up to meet in Moscow on a special bout to be held on Christmas Day. Rocky flies to Russia with Creed's former trainer and his brother-in-law Paulie and the three begin intense training for the fight in total isolation, in a remote area of the country. (A location in Jackson Hole, Wyoming was used as the shooting location for the outdoor USSR scenes.) They are constantly spied on by members of the Soviet government and spend their whole days training in the severe Russian winter. Drago, meanwhile, is in a high-tech sports center using every type of machinery imaginable for his training. He is tested daily for all kinds of body reactions and extended to the limits by his trainers, while periodically being administered some form of injection, implied to be anabolic steroids.

After months of intense training for both fighters, the two men finally meet in the ring. Rocky is pummeled hard in the first round. However, realizing he must take matters into his own hands if he doesn't want to die, he fights back aggressively in round 2, and surprisingly cuts Drago in the middle of the round, which shocks everyone in Drago's camp. Rocky's trainer then points out that Rocky cutting Drago proves that Drago is not a machine, but just another man. Ironically, Drago at this time points out in his corner that Rocky is not human and is like a piece of iron. This staggers Drago, and the momentum shifts toward Rocky's favor for the first time. The two fighters continue to take turns beating each other up throughout the remaining rounds, but eventually Rocky begins to win over the previously hostile crowd. By round 15, they are both extremely tired, but Rocky has a little more left and is able to drop Drago for the count, avenging Apollo's fatal defeat.

After the fight, Rocky goes on to deliver a dramatic anti-Cold War message where he talks about union and friendship between both countries, and Andrew Korn's Russian character cheers.

Because of his message in this sequel of Rocky and his characterization of an American military hero in Rambo: First Blood Part II in that same year, Stallone earned an award from President Ronald Reagan that year.

The soundtrack for the movie included Living in America by James Brown, the film's music was composed by Vince Di Cola, and also included songs by John Cafferty, the band Survivor, Kenny Loggins, and Robert Tepper. With the annoucement of 2006's Rocky Balboa using his work on the soundtrack, Rocky IV is the only film in the series not to feature Bill Conti.

Taglines:

• When East Meets West, the Champion remains standing.
• He Could Have Stopped The Fight. He Could Have Saved His Best Friend's Life. But Now, The Only Thing He Can't Do Is Walk Away...
• Get ready for the next world war.

U.S. box office gross

• Rocky: US$117.3 million
• Rocky II: US$85 million
• Rocky III: US$125 million
• Rocky IV: US$127.8 million
• Rocky V: US$40.9 million

These figures only reflect movie theater ticket sales in the United States. The most profitable of the films by far was the original Rocky, which only spent a production budget of US$1.1 million.

Worldwide Reception

Rocky IV made 175 million USD outside of the U.S. grossing an overall 300 million worldwide, the most out of any Rocky film. Rocky IV is also the highest-grossing sports movie of all time.

Trivia

• In the Asspen episode of the animated series Southpark a training scene is shown that closeley resembles the training scene in Rocky IV where "Training Montage" is played.

• A similar training montage is used in Family Guy in which Brian Griffin is seen performing the same training regime used by Rocky with the same music. It even finishes in the same manner with Brian yelling "Drago!".

External links

• Rocky IV at IMDb
• Rocky IV: The Undisputed Highlight Of The Cold War