Rocky IV

**Rocky IV** is a 1985 film starring Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Brigitte Nielsen and Dolph Lundgren, directed and written by Stallone and produced by Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler.

## Plot

Ivan Drago, a Soviet boxer, arrives in the United States with his wife, Ludmilla, a Soviet swimmer and a team of trainers from the Soviet Union and Cuba. His manager, Nicolai Koloff, takes every opportunity to promote Drago's athleticism as a hallmark of Soviet superiority. Motivated by patriotism and an innate desire to prove himself, Apollo Creed challenges Drago to an exhibition bout. Rocky has reservations, but agrees to train Apollo despite his misgivings about the match.

During a press conference regarding the match, hostility sparks between Apollo's and Drago's respective camps. The boxing exhibition takes place at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. Apollo enters the ring in an over-the-top patriotic entrance with James Brown performing "Living in America" complete with showgirls. The bout starts tamely with Apollo landing several punches that are ineffective against Drago, but Drago suddenly retaliates with devastating effects. By the end of the first round, Rocky and Apollo's trainer, Duke, plead with him to give up, but a battered Apollo refuses to do so and tells Rocky to not stop the match "no matter what." Drago continues to pummel him in the second round and Duke begs Rocky to throw in the towel. Rocky honors Apollo’s wishes, which allows Drago to land one final punch on Apollo, killing him. In the aftermath, Drago displays no sense of contrition, commenting to the assembled media: "If he dies, he dies."

Enraged by guilt and the Soviets' cold indifference, Rocky decides to challenge Drago himself. Drago's camp agrees to an unsanctioned 15-round fight in the Soviet Union on Christmas Day, an arrangement meant to protect Drago from the threats of violence he has been receiving in the U.S. Rocky travels to the Soviet Union without Adrian, setting up his training base in a remote cabin in Krasnogourbinsk with only Duke and brother-in-law Paulie to accompany him. Duke opens up to Rocky, stating that he actually raised Apollo and that his death felt like a father losing his son, and expresses his faith in Rocky that he will do what needs to be done and prevail. To prepare for the match, Drago uses high-tech equipment, steroid enhancement, and a team of trainers and doctors monitoring his every movement. Rocky, on the other hand, lifts and throws heavy logs, chops down trees, pulls an overloaded snow sleigh with Paulie atop, jogs through heavy snow under treacherous icy conditions, and climbs the largest icy mountain. Adrian arrives unexpectedly to give Rocky her support after initially refusing to travel to the Soviet Union, because of her worry that Rocky would be killed like Apollo.

Before the match, Drago is introduced with an elaborate patriotic ceremony, inspired by Apollo Creed's intro. The home crowd is squarely on Drago's side and hostile to Rocky. In stark contrast to his match with Apollo, Drago immediately goes on the offensive. Rocky takes a fierce pounding, and is thrown and shoved across the ring in the first round, but comes back toward the end of the second round and lands a brutal right hook, cutting Drago's left eye and stunning both him and the crowd. This prompts Rocky to continue punching even after the bell rings. Duke encourages Rocky by reminding him that he just showed that Drago is a man and not a machine as he’s been made out to be. Drago ironically comments to his trainers that Rocky "is not human, he is like a piece of iron," after his trainers reprimand him for his performance against the "weak" American.

The two boxers continue their battle over the next dozen rounds, trading blows, with Rocky managing to continually hold his ground despite Drago's best efforts. His resilience and determination rallies the previously hostile Soviet crowd to his side, which unsettles Drago to the point that he picks Koloff up by the throat and throws him off the ring for berating his performance, declaring that he fights for only himself. In the final round, Rocky defeats Drago by driving him across the ring with vicious hooks to the midsection, then a series of blows to the head, with one final, tremendous punch dropping Drago to the canvas for a knockout, to the shock of the Soviet Politburo members watching the match.

Rocky gives a victory speech, acknowledging that the local crowd's disdain of him had turned to respect during the fight. He compares it to the animosity between the U.S. and the Soviets, and says that seeing him and Drago fight was "better than 20 million", alluding to a possible war between the U.S. and the Soviets. Rocky finally declares, "If I can change, and you can change, then everybody can change!" The Soviet general secretary stands up and reluctantly applauds Rocky, and his aides follow suit. Rocky ends his speech by wishing his son watching the match on TV a Merry Christmas, and raises his arms into the air in victory as the crowd applauds.