> Blow the dust off your old Survivor cassette and create your own personal workout montage, because your ears are about to go 12 rounds! Sprague and Scott have a devastating combo for you today as they watch and react to BOTH the 1985 original AND 2021 director's cut of Rocky IV: Rocky vs Drago. But a breakdown of an 80s Sylvester Stallone flick just wouldn't be complete without the heavyweight champs themselves, The Action Boyz! Listen as Jon Gabrus, Ben Rodgers, and Ryan Stanger pack the studio to share notes on the considerable changes between the two edits. But does Scott even like it?? After all we mustn't forget, he has NOT SEEN THESE FILMS. Find out why he missed the original, what he expects out of it in 2021, and which cut he prefers. Get in the ring! > > Next week: The Santa Clause (1994)!
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I watched the director's cut of Rocky IV tonight and then did a quick rewatch of the original to see what was changes. Here's what I came up with, feel free to add anything I missed. I'll add some thoughts of mine after the list:
- No exploding gloves at the beginning
- No Rocky v Apollo sparring in the beginning
- Extends Rocky III recap instead
- No Paulie bday party (!). No robot at all (!!!)
- No anniversary cake in bed with Adrian
- No car wash scene
- No steroid question and Popeye joke during training session
- "A normal heavyweight averages 700 pounds of pressure per square inch" is missing. Instead, they just show Drago hitting 1850 psi without context.
- Adds yard talk between Rocky and Apollo
- Adds kitchen scene with Rocky and Adrian
- No robot interrupting dinner talk
- Cut "regular people" line when Rocky and Apollo are watching old fight
- No dressing room scene before Apollo fight
- Cut ominous music before Apollo fight
- No greeting between fighters' wives before Apollo fight
- Rocky isn't announced before Apollo fight
- Moved Drago's wife smoking to before the fight instead of after round 1
- Added more to convo between Rocky and Apollo between rounds
- Added Duke's speech at funeral, longer Rocky speech, talk with Adrian
- Adds meeting with boxing officials who say Rocky can't fight Drago
- No Drago's wife speech at press conference
- Adds Drago trying to talk at presser (This was actually funny - a reporter asks Drago if he can talk and he just says, "Yes.")
- "He's gonna have to kill me" speech moved from staircase talk with Adrian to cabin with Duke
- Added stupid earmuffs joke between Rocky and Paulie in Russia
- No kids watching fight from home ("What do you think we are, nerds?")
- No "knock him out" speech from Duke before round 15
- Adds ref warning to Rocky's corner before 15th
- Different KO, no real count in new version. In original movie, Drago tries to get up, falls through ropes after about an 8 count
- Different celebration, jumps into Duke's arms
- Extended celebration, Rocky taps gloves with Drago after his speech
Adds Eye of the Tiger at end instead of Hearts on Fire
Thoughts:
I didn't like the director's cut as much as the original. As usual with deleted scenes, you can see why they were cut in the first place. Most of the new or extended scenes (new or longer conversations between Rocky and Adrian, Rocky and Apollo) don't really add anything new and instead just sort of repeat what we already got. As a result, t
... keep reading on reddit ➡After the release of Rocky IV: Rocky vs. Drago - The Ultimate Cut, alot of talk has been flying around of the possiblity of cutting both this version and the Theatial release of Rocky IV into one complete movie.
Well after some scene testing and tweaking about, I now think this can be possible, but I need everyone's view as to what should stay in and what should be remove completely.
Examples:
Keep the robot scenes / remove the robot from some shots, but keep as much of the scene as possible / remove the scenes altogether.
Keep James Brown singing "Living In America" / Use an Instrumental version and cut James Brown out / or shorten the song length.
Original Montages structure / or the DC Montages structure.
Drago's PSI reading ? what number figure would be more believible.
Cut / Change list coming soon: (There is a lot...)
Most of the TC shots and scenes put back into the DC version.
Thanks Guys, I'll keep you all updated on this one.
I’m hosting a little watch party to some people who haven’t seen the Rocky series, and we’re about to watch the 4th movie. But I don’t know which to show them! I was thinking starting with the OG and maybe after watching the series then going back to the director’s cut, but just want a second opinion :)
I noticed while updating my "2021 first watches list" that Rocky IV was on there - a movie I saw a couple years ago. I realised what had happened is my entry for Rocky IV: Rocky vs Drago The Ultimate Director's Cut had just been shunted onto the page for the original film, including my review and any lists featuring the 2021 Cut now have the original in its place.
What do you guys think of this change?
On the one hand it does seem silly to have individual pages for every "director's cut", but on the other hand, this was a theatrically released cut with the director's express enthusiasm, not just some Blu-Ray extra, and is also quite substantially changed from the original. If Zack Snyder's Justice League gets its own page, why shouldn't Sylvester Stallone's Rocky vs Drago?
Someone has re-added the Director's Cut page - it currently has only 127 views and I imagine it'll get taken down again.
https://preview.redd.it/c2im1jtl9b881.png?width=1175&format=png&auto=webp&s=0c1fe04933b38724a76000946d086af501b9360c
His strength is twice that of an average boxer. He is indeed Captain Ivan Drago. He has a whole team of people doping and training him.
The year is 1985, and just a few years after (1991) Bucky Barnes is dispatched to assassinate the Starks. We find out later that Barnes is not the only winter solider, and that many more are kept in stasis. One of these stasis soldiers was taken out of stasis and used to subtly test American progress on strength and endurance enhancement through a “friendly” sport challenge. Rocky is au natural and is able to train to beat Drago. This convinces the USSR that further enhancement is needed for the winter solider program.
Title says it all. No further comment. I refuse due to lack of time.
Went and saw the one night only screening of “Rocky IV: Rocky vs Drago” last night with an old friend. We had a great time, but there are some things about this re-cut that I need to get off my chest. Well, one thing in particular, and that is Sylvester Stallone’s decision to leave an iconic supporting character on the cutting room floor: Paulie’s Robot.
Plain and simple, the film suffers without the robot. The pacing of the first 20 minutes leading up to Apollo vs Drago is very choppy and stilted, as we never get a chance to ground ourselves in the day to day lives of our main crew. During the pre-screening interview, Stallone boasted about this new version being much more character driven, but besides from a few awkwardly acted scenes between Rocky and Adrian added in, there is no extra depth that wasn’t already provided by Paulie’s birthday party sequence (aka “The Robot Scenes).
To me, the robot scenes in the original cut really worked with the themes of the film. We see Rocky continuing to drift further away from his animalistic nature in the earlier films. This makes it more effective when he has to strip down to the basics later to find the will to defeat Drago and avenge his friend’s death. The robot also served to further contrast the difference between American and Russian culture; The US being one of excess and silliness and Russia being more serious and goal-oriented.
To put it simply, the robot is funny and it works. It provides some much needed levity in a film that too often dives into melodrama to achieve its emotional beats. We also lose about 75% of Paulie’s dialogue without it, which is a shame for obvious reasons.
Overall, this new cut was fine but unnecessary. The original is a great time capsule for the era and a lot of fun. The director’s cut tries to present the story in a more modern, serious tone and thus loses a lot of the flavor Rocky IV is known for. As a life-long Rocky fan, I cannot give it my recommendation.
The full construction scene test of Apollo talking with the Balboas about Drago using both the Original cut and the Director's cut, sorted out most of the color correction issues and sound.
I have been working painstakingly hard for over a week perfecting the full uncut extended version of Rocky IV: Rocky vs Drago. My last upload had a few short scenes missing as it was hard to see what was cut by sly from memory when he’s removed sound and angles that I’m used to seeing. Now I’ve had a chance to compare both versions side by side and have re-added the cut scenes to an already perfect version. All scenes from the theatrical version and director’s cut are present providing one isn’t replacing the other. I have included the best dialogue and looking scenes that I think makes the film look at its best. There are some scenes of dialogue I prefer in the director’s cut over the theatrical and they have been replaced and look amazing. Brigitte Nielsen’s scenes have been fully restored unless she’s been replaced by a cool looking extra scenes and all her dialogue has been restored too. The training montages are the director’s cut versions (these are better) but with some slight changes - the steroid scene is still intact in mine which is a must have over the pathetic looking new skipping sequence. The two fights have been extended even further with missing cuts of Apollo and Drago restored that Sly cut and this has been achieved in the final fight with Rocky and Drago too. I have also corrected the music in certain scenes where two versions are joined (extended swimming pool scene with Apollo and Apollo’s death scene and funeral). This version is really looking fantastic now and I’ve spent a whole week plus skilfully editing and restoring it to bring it to you all in its fullest state which improves slightly over my last version that I uploaded before release date in the UK cinemas. I rushed that out for people to see before it came out in the cinema, but now that it’s out, I have perfected and released an improved full uncut extended cut. It’s uploading as I type so will add it to the sites tomorrow. I hope u all enjoy it!!!
They've already lined up Dolph Thorolundgren.
Having seen Rocky vs Drago tonight, I can't help but feel the best movie lies somewhere between the original and this new cut. It was good, more dramatic, and less cheesy. But some stuff felt forced, and other stuff Stallone cut, I felt should have stayed.
Thoughts from those who also saw it?
I tried buying it off Amazon.com, but damn, I'm from Canada, so it won't let me. Anyone know where or how I can see this thing? Thank you.
I've seen the workprint version of Rocky V and it's a huge improvement over the original Rocky V. Stallone has so much to work with from the workprint version and probably a lot of unseen footage that I'm sure he could make an excellent version of Rocky V!
Personally I liked it, although my nostalgia for the original cut probably gives it the upper hand in my opinion. Love the call back Rocky does before the last round, refusing to end the fight. Thought the end was a bit awkward with Eye of the Tiger playing and Rocky strolling around the ring with his crew, but overall, excellent job humanizing Apollo and his struggles with the limelight
When I heard Stallone said he was sorry he killed off Creed, I thought maybe it was intended to sell tickets to the upcoming Rocky IV director’s cut. Not that Stallone didn’t mean it, but that the media was spreading it to get people interested in the possibility that there’d be more Creed.
Which there was, along with the rest of the main characters. The extended funeral scene was nice.
However, Stallone didn’t merely expand Creed’s role as he did Adrian and Drago’s. He shifted the whole structure of the movie. First by removing Eye of the Tiger from the beginning. Then by flashing back to Apollo talking about the Eye of the Tiger. Finally saving Eye of the Tiger for the end.
By reconnecting Creed to the phrase and playing the song after Rocky wins, it allows Creed to be more a part of the victory.
One problem I’ve always had with Rocky IV is how swiftly it moves from Creed’s death to Rocky’s training. We know why Rocky’s doing it, because he tells Arian. Also because Tony talks about Creed. And we know Rocky feels guilty about not throwing the towel. He needs to take punishment from Drago because getting hit in the face is how Rocky deals with things.
That being said, over time Creed kinda fades from the story. It becomes more about Cold War politics and winning over the crowd and all that. I don’t feel Creed’s presence as strongly as I do Mick’s after his death in Rocky III.
Saving Eye of the Tiger for the end somewhat mitigates that.
I am still struggling with how to buy and/or just watch the thing in Canada. I heard it is on iTunes, but that is not an option for me.
Any suggestions or help would be immensely appreciated!! Thanks in advance!
AMC and Atom Tickets both listed the runtime as two hours, five minutes. All promotional materials for the film indicated that there were 40 new minutes of footage. So why did it end up running a slim 95 minutes or so? My screening started the movie at roughly 8:20 and credits were rolling by 9:50.
It's been so long since I've seen Rocky 4 that I can't really tell what in the film is new and what was original material. Did we get the right cut or what? All I can definitively say is that the scene with Paulie and the robot had definitely been yanked.....not sure if that makes the movie better or worse.
It was when, after the Drago fight, Rocky goes up to Drago and shows him respect. This wasn't in the original version.
Wtf?! I don't understand why Rocky would show any kind of respect to Drago after how cold Drago acted about Apollo's death. Drago didn't deserve any respect whatsoever from Rocky. If anything, Drago should've came up to Rocky to show HIM respect for beating him.
Which song was more badass?
