Rocky IV (1985)

When Apollo Creed is killed in a match against a powerful Soviet boxer, Rocky decides to challenge him himself.

Director:

Sylvester Stallone

Writer:

Sylvester Stallone

Stars:

Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young

7 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

Rocky Balboa, heavyweight champion of the world, is the trainer for Apollo Creed in an exhibition match against Ivan Drago, a "superman" boxer from the Soviet Union. When Apollo is killed in the ring by the brutal Drago, Balboa blames himself and promises to avenge his friend's death in the ring.

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Plot Keywords:

boxer | russian | death | fight | champion | 

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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:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Rocky Anthology Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

27 November 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Rocky IV - Der Kampf des Jahrhunderts

Filming Locations:

Fremont Mansion - 56 Fremont Place, Los Angeles, California, 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

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

Over 8000 people auditioned for Ivan Drago.

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Goofs

When Rocky is driving and thinking about Drago, there is a flashback to the Drago/Apollo fight, but one of the shots of Drago is actually taken from the upcoming Rocky/Drago fight, because the trunks are the wrong color and Drago is bleeding

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Quotes

Adrian: Rocky?
Rocky: Yeah?
Adrian: You alright?
Rocky: Yeah I'm fine
Adrian: Why'd you do it?
Rocky: I just gotta do what I gotta do.
Adrian: You don't have to do anything
Rocky: No, Adrian, I do and I gotta leave this place too.
Adrian: So where are you going?
Rocky: They said they're gonna let me train in Russia and I just want to be somewhere where I ain't gonna think about nothing except him.
[...]

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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 Punky Brewster: Accidents Happen (1986)

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Soundtracks

"One Way Street"
Performed by Go West
Written by Peter Cox and Richard Drummie
Produced by Gary Stevenson
Go West appears courtesy of Chrysalis 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.