Rocky IV
“Rocky IV” has always been a favorite of mine. It’s one of the things I’m a sucker for as an individual- the underdog sports story. And when it comes to that, the “Rocky” franchise has stood above the rest as the best (and worst) of the subgenre. I still enjoy this forth entry in the franchise- the music still soars, and Rocky still rocks as a hero…
…but is it really still a good movie? Eh… It’s pretty ridiculous. Starting pretty much right after “Rocky III,” we first see Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) and Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) get in the ring for a little sparring session. The banter is on-par for a Stallone script- pretty formula stuff, and kind of lame, but delivered reasonably well by the old pros. It gets worse when we see Rocky at home (now in L.A.)- Paulie (Burt Young) is living with him, Adrian (Talia Shire), and their son. It’s Paulie’s birthday, and Rocky has gotten him a robot maid to be a companion for him. All I can say now is…ugh…
And all of this is before Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) gets off the plane, and throws his hat into the ring. Russia is entering the boxing world with a fighter that seems to be a few rungs up on the evolutionary scale as Balboa and Creed. His handlers want him to fight Rocky, but Apollo steps in first, giving us a patently-’80s look at American excess. It’s an exhibition match, but between the James Brown number to the introductions of the fighters to the Vegas setting, it’s all crass and way too much. And when Drago kills Apollo in the ring, well, the rest of the film is set up from there.
With the exception of 2006’s “Rocky Balboa,” I haven’t seen any of the other sequels in years (and I don’t even know if I’ve ever really watched “Rocky V”). I think it’s safe to say that beautifully-crafted swan song is the best of the series since the Oscar-winning original. It’s certainly a few steps up from this one, which lacks Bill Conti’s soulful, inspiring music (Vince DiCola wrote the synthesized stings for this film that go well with the ’80s power ballads of Survivor and Robert Tepper) and all the subtextual subtlety of a Michael Bay film. Even if the Cold War was dying down in real life, it was alive and well onscreen with films like this and “Red Dawn.” This is one of Stallone’s key mistakes with this film- rather than make the film with the same underdog spirit that bleeds from the other films (at least the first and last ones), we never really doubt the outcome here. Rocky’s an American, and the good ol’ US will always come out on top. (Clearly audiences wanted to see that- this was one of 1985’s biggest hits, and the peak box-office moment of the series.)
Still, even if the film’s shallowness in story comes out now more than it did when I was younger, I gotta say, there’s still a lot that gets my pulse racing, and that underdog spirit in me going. The gratuitous montages (at least three in this film’s 91 minutes). The cliched power ballads and training music. And of course, there’s Stallone. Say what you will about his intentions and lack of grace as a writer-director, but as the Italian Stallion, he never underestimates our love of Rocky. 34 years since he first came onscreen, Rocky still inspires us with his courage and passion for what comes naturally. As Conti’s Oscar-winning theme says, I “Gotta Fly Now” and absorb Stallone’s underdog spirit.
