Rocky IV (1985)

Director: Sylvester Stallone
Writer: Sylvester Stallone

Fresh from reclaiming the championship title and dealing with the death of mentor Mickey, beloved underdog boxer Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) has new obstacles to overcome in this third sequel.

From my childhood, there are few movies that stick out as clearly as Rocky IV. It would be really easy to rip into this movie and pick it to pieces, but that would really do it a terrible injustice. I'll go out on a limb here: Rocky IV, for all its camp, may very well be the greatest Cold War film ever made. Picking up where Rocky III (1982) leaves off, Rocky taking back the title from Clubber Lang (Mr. T), former opponent and now best friend Apollo Creed (Carl Weaters) insists on fighting the Soviet Union's greatest amateur fighter Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren). The ensuing exhibition bout ends in Apollo's death. Rocky, distraught and feeling guilty over the loss of his best friend, flies to Russia to face Drago regardless of the American Boxing Commission's refusal to sanction the bout. The men train, they fight, it looks like Rocky's going to lose, then he comes back to win it. We all know how these movies turn out. But that's part of the fun. A Rocky film is not unlike an entry in any long-running slasher franchise. We'll use Friday the 13th as an example. You have your (anti)hero: Rocky/Jason. The obstacle: Drago/immoral teenagers. The inevitable outcome: Rocky wins/kids get killed. The death scenes of a Friday the 13th movie are akin to the boxing bouts in a Rocky movie. The slow-motion explosions of sweat and blood are the equivalent to the death scenes of a Friday the 13th entry. The voyeuristic desire to revel in violence is fulfilled by these scenes.

For what little story time there is - the film clocks in at just over 91 minutes with about one third of that dedicated to music montages - Stallone packs in a generous amount of topical political text. From the opening shot, two metallic boxing gloves with American and Soviet flags flying at each other and exploding, the audience understands that this sequel is tackling some larger socio-political issues. Rocky is one of the more recent incarnations of the Horatio Alger hero, an everyman who pulls himself up by his bootstraps to achieve greatness. In this installment, Rocky, who has come to represent our ideals about America, becomes the symbol of Western/Capitalist culture. As a Cold War film, the symbol of Eastern/Communist culture is Drago, the 6'5" blond monolith.

If the on-the-nose dialogue and simple narrative arc weren't enough to drive the East vs. West theme, then the many pop songs certainly bring the point home. The pop music in the movie is fantastic. Beginning with the "No Easy Way Out" sequence (featuring the song in full) followed by the "Burning Heart" and "Hearts on Fire" sequences. The lyrics to Survivor's "Burning Heart," literally, say it all:

Two worlds collide, rival nations

It's a primitive clash, venting years of frustrations

Bravely we hope against all hope, there is so much at stake
Seems our freedom's up against the ropes

Does the crowd understand?

Is it East vs. West, or man against man

Can any nation stand alone?

Of course we can't over look the "Hearts on Fire" training montage (wonderfully parodied by Family Guy). Rocky trains in the snow and in a barn with giant rocks while Drago trains with the latest technology. Of course, in the end, Rocky/nature/warrior spirit wins out over Drago/technology/brute strength. This is yet another touchy element of the film: its blunt handling of the larger themes and glancing over of small details.

What I think the film lacks, apart from some finesse in the script department, is a few extra scenes to round out Rocky's determination to fight Drago. The boxing commission's refusal to sanction the bout is only mentioned in newspaper clippings and news reports. The film's theatrical trailer has a few seconds of the commission deliberating. With that, we know the scenes were shot but excised from the film for whatever reason, probably that nebulous term "pacing." The inclusion of these scenes would, I think, make Rocky's decision all the more personal. Perhaps I'm expecting too much from the film. Maybe I've been watching too many art films to overlook its shortcomings. I mean, it is the fourth in its series; written and directed by its star; and only about an hour long without the music montages. Honestly though, I adore this movie for all the things that a technically wrong with it. All those faults, especially when Apollo's gloves suddenly disappear and reappear before his fight with Drago, are what make the film so memorable.

Apart from the original film in 1976, this entry, I believe, has had the biggest impact on popular culture. For example, this past April in UFC 83, after the Nate Quarry/Kalib Starnes bout, American Quarry ironically quoted Rocky's final "we all can change" speech to the booing Canadian crowd after humiliating his Canadian opponent. He entered the Octagon to jeers but once Starnes began running away from Quarry, the UFC crowd, like in this film, turned their favor to the better fighter. Given this and allusions in other texts, I think the film deserves its own special edition DVD, or even Blu-ray Disc. I mean, MGM could have a lot of fun with this title. I'm thinking commentaries (one with just Lundgren and Stallone), a nice long documentary on the film's making and cultural impact, maybe a trivia track, jump to a music montage option, retrospective interviews. But here's the icing on the cake: you call it "Rocky IV: No Easy Way Out Edition."

Unlikely, yes. But a man can dream.

For further reading, check out Hard Bodies by Susan Jeffords.