"I must break you."

At the height of the Cold War, it seems fitting that Sylvester Stallone would find incredible success in his Rocky franchise by weaving a tale about his all-American boxer going up against a cold, almost-robotic Russian boxer. The film found tremendous success at the box office, becoming the highest grossing sports film ever, a record which it held for 24 years. But how well does it hold up today? Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we continue our Rocky series with Stallone’s 1985 film Rocky IV.

We talk about the decline this franchise has taken and how this one almost feels like a parody of the original characters – yet how it’s strangely still entertaining. We look at some of the nonsensical elements in the film – the robot, the montages, the dumbing down of characters – and we pair those with our levels of enjoyment. We chat about the returning talent continuing in the franchise – Stallone, Talia Shire, Carl Weathers, Burt Young – and look at the newcomers – specifically Dolph Lundgren and Brigitte Nielsen. We complain about the absence of Bill Conti but at least we have the music to talk about… so much music. And we wonder about product placement.

It’s a fun movie, even if it feels like the franchise is falling off the rails a bit. We have a great time talking about it, so check it out and tune in! The Next Reel – when the movie ends, our conversation begins.

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Film Sundries

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• Watch this film: iTunes • Amazon • YouTube
• Script Transcript
• Original theatrical trailer
• Original poster artwork
• Flickchart
• Letterboxd
• The True Force of a Boxer’s Punch