Rocky IV (1985)

After iron man Drago, a highly intimidating 6-foot-5, 261-pound Soviet athlete, kills Apollo Creed in an exhibition match, Rocky comes to the heart of Russia for 15 pile-driving boxing rounds of revenge.

Director:

Sylvester Stallone

Writer:

Sylvester Stallone

Stars:

Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young

9 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sylvester Stallone	...	Rocky Balboa
Talia Shire	...	Adrian
Burt Young	...	Paulie
Carl Weathers	...	Apollo Creed
Brigitte Nielsen	...	Ludmilla
Tony Burton	...	Duke
Michael Pataki	...	Nicoli Koloff
Dolph Lundgren	...	Drago
Stu Nahan	...	Commentator #1
R.J. Adams	...	Sports Announcer
Al Bandiero	...	American Commentator #2
Dominic Barto	...	Russian Government Official
Danial Brown	...	Rocky Jr.'s Friend
James Brown	...	The Godfather of Soul
Rose Mary Campos	...	Maid

Storyline

Ever since his match with Clubber Lang, Rocky Balboa has a peaceful life. And now he and former champion, Apollo Creed, enjoy good times and are now the best of friends. But Rocky's peaceful life as a boxer gets paused after a match Apollo went into. Unfortunately, Creed fought Ivan drago, a 6'5" Russian who has never lost a match, and sadly, brutally murders Apollo in the ring. A funeral is held and times start going downhill fast. Now, in order to restore honor, Rocky challenges Drago to a match and must beat him for sweet, bitter vengeance.

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Plot Keywords:

rocky | boxer | russian | ussr | fight | 

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Taglines:

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...

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Genres:

Drama | Sport

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Certificate:

Tous publics

Details

Official Sites:

Rocky Anthology Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

22 January 1986 (France)

Also Known As:

Rocky IV

Filming Locations:

Wyoming, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$127,900,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

United Artists, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min 107 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby (35 mm prints)

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to Peter Cetera, he originally wrote his best-selling solo single "Glory of Love" as the end title for this film, but was passed over by United Artists, and instead used the theme for Karate kid, le moment de vérité II (1986).

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Goofs

The Soviet Anthem version heard at the match was the 1944-1977 version. It is highly unlikely that it would be played on the time of the event.

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Quotes

Paulie: [at Rocky's rented home in a snowy part of Russia] Are you planning to grow reindeer or something? How the heck are you supposed to train here? What a depressing vacation. What about the Rose Bowl game? I hope they have my comics here.
[he falls in the snow]

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Crazy Credits

Only Rocky film that doesn't start with the "scrolling Rocky" logo.

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Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theater 3000: Jack Frost (1997)

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Soundtracks

Double Or Nothing
Performed by Kenny Loggins and Gladys Knight
Written by Paul Williams and Steve Dorff
Produced by Bernard Edwards
Kenny Loggins appears courtesy of Columbia Records

User Reviews

No Credibility, But Sure Is Entertaining

Here's another low-brained but very entertaining "Rocky" movie with one more interesting villain. Instead Of "Apollo Creed" or "Mr. T.," we now have "Ivan Drago,"(Dolph Lundgren) a giant Russian who is more like a machine. He's "indestructable" (and on steroids, too, and unlike some baseball slugger, he admits it!). He has the latest in technology, nutrition, etc., but you just know the much-smaller disadvantaged hero "Rocky Balboa" (Sylvester Stallone) will somehow find a way to chop this "Goliath" down.

Minute-for-minute, this might be the most entertaining of all the Rocky films, and looks good on DVD despite some graininess in the first five minutes. Rocky's wife "Adrian" (Talia Shire) never looked better: mature and pretty; the gruff and profane manager played Burgess Meredith is gone and the repellent obnoxious slob "Paulie" (Burt Young) has only a few lines.

This is the ultimate "David vs. Goliath" tale in every aspect and the final bout - held in Russia - breaks the all-time Rocky record for most punches ever thrown at two fighters. Of course, any real-life human would have been knocked cold about 50 times had they suffered the blows "Rocky" did in this fight!

This is a real flag-waving film with Rocky draping the Stars and Stripes around his shoulders. It's a totally unrealistic story but, all of these in the series were similar, credibility-wise, so just go along with it and enjoy the story. It's only an hour-and-a-half and story literally flies by.