Rocky IV - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Rocky IV or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Rocky IV

[claude]

Arnold Schwarzenegger helped train Dolph Lundgren to make sure he was in the right shape for the film.

[riley]

Over 8,000 people auditioned for the part of Ivan Drago. Dolph Lundgren was first turned down by the casting directors for being too tall but later on, he got the chance to send photos and meet Sylvester Stallone who told him he had a good chance to get the part, but advised him to gain twenty pounds of muscle. In total, it took Lundgren several months to win the part.

[carla]

Created during a particularly tense era of the Cold War, Producer Bob Chartoff saw Drago as the "indomitable enemy," personifying everything we fear about the Soviet Union. "If there had ever been conflict, this is what we would have had to face," he says. Dolph Lundgren, meanwhile, said he felt sympathy for Drago, who he understood as an exploited tool of scheming politicians and military opportunists looking to advance their own interests through him.

[lena]

It has been calculated that Rocky IV is 31.9% montages, nearly a third of the film. During the second half of the film, or the last 50 minutes, it is approximately 50% montage.

[frances]

The first "Rocky" film in which "Gonna Fly Now" is not sung, although a few bars of the song are incorporated into Vince DiCola's score. "Rocky V (1990)" also only features part of the song in instrumental form. It wouldn't be until "Rocky Balboa (2006)" that the song, lyrics and all, would reappear.

[alyssa]

Sylvester Stallone has been quoted as saying the enormous financial success and fan-following of "Rocky IV" once had him envisioning another Rocky movie devoted to Drago and his post-boxing life, with Balboa's storyline running parallel to Drago's. However, he noted the damage both boxers sustained in the fight made them "incapable of reason" and thus instead planned "Rocky V (1990)" as a showcase of the dangers of boxing.

[kim]

In a 2010 interview in Britain around the release of The Expendables (2010), Dolph Lundgren claimed not to still have some of the Ivan Drago 'stuff' when asked if he still had the shorts because it was stolen in a burglary twenty years ago.

[harry]

The State Anthem of the USSR that opens Rocky's fight with Drago was actually the version of the Stalin era, with the lyrics: "Banner of the Soviets, banner of the people, may it lead from victory to victory!" From 1977 on, the two lines became, "Party of Lenin, strength of the people, leads us to the triumph of Communism!"

[dustin]

A major character arc for Rocky is that he is riddled with guilt for not throwing the towel in and saving Apollo's life. However, it's likely that it wouldn't have made a difference anyway. As seen just before Drago delivers the fatal blow that kills Apollo, he's pounding Apollo so ferociously that the referee attempts to intervene only to be tossed aside by Drago. His attack was so savage that even if Rocky had thrown in the towel in a timely manner, it's likely the ref wouldn't have been able to stop Drago's onslaught in time to save Apollo.

[jessica]

This is the only Rocky film where the music is not composed by Bill Conti, who chose to score "The Karate Kid Part II (1986)" instead. Coincidentally, Peter Cetera originally wrote the KK II theme song, "Glory of Love", for "Rocky IV", but Sylvester Stallone rejected it, in favor of "Hearts On Fire".

[jim]

At the press conference for the Drago vs. Creed fight, Drago is wearing his Soviet Army uniform. He wears the rank of Captain, and was awarded a Hero of the Soviet Union medal. This was the highest medal awarded by the Soviet government.

[sylvia]

Europe's hit "The Final Countdown", similar in style to Vince DiCola's score, is often falsely claimed to be in this film. The song was also recorded in 1985 (but released in 1986).

[addison]

Paulie's robot was created by the International Robotics, Inc. in New York City. Its voice was the company's CEO Robert Doornick. Roger Ebert surmises the robot is an android of some type, complete with artificial intelligence. The robot is identified by robotic engineers as "SICO" and is/was a member of the Screen Actors Guild and toured with James Brown in the 1980s. In an interview with the Ain't It Cool News website, Sylvester Stallone revealed that he first saw the robot at a party, and was amused by it, so he decided to include it in this movie, so that audiences could get a look at it.

[kylie]

Drago is not a Russian surname but a South Slavic (e.g. Serbian or Slovenian) given name meaning "dear". As a surname, it is occasionally encountered in the US and may have different roots.

[ken]

Numerous fans have stated that they find this film to be confusing in terms of the title belt, and what exactly happens to it when Rocky is in Russia. This is most likely because the scene explaining what would happen to the belt was cut from the film, and replaced with a newspaper montage. Initially, between Apollo's funeral and the Rocky/Drago press conference, there was to be a scene in which Rocky visits the U.S. boxing board. While there, he is told that they will not sanction the fight, and if he goes ahead with it, he will not be allowed to carry the title. This scene was cut prior to release as it was felt it would slow up the film too much, and it was replaced with the much briefer newspaper montage.