Category: Rocky 4

Mike Torrance Draws Rocky 4 Me

Craig / / 2012, Craig's Sly Art, Rocky 4

Mike Torrance aka The Krayola Kidd makes a return visit with his patriotic Rocky 4 card drawn for July 4th.  I was one of the proud winners of Mike’s recent Free Sketchcard Day and requested Rocky.  What you see is the result of that request.

You can see more of Mike’s art at The Daily Sketch with The Krayola Kidd (and if you’ve never checked out Mike’s site, you ought to if only to see his Walking Dead cards!) and his Deviant Art site. Mike is available for commissions and his prices are very reasonable.


Top 10 Macho Movies of the 80’s

Craig / / 2012, First Blood, Honors, Rocky 4

Krystal Clark over at Screen Cave posted her choices for The Top 10 Macho Movies that Ruled the 80’s.  Both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sly scored two movies in the top ten, but guess who came in at #1.  Yep, Sly for First Blood.  Here’s the list with the rationale for Sly’s films.

10.   Road House
09.   American Ninja
08.   Rocky IV:  “I must break you.” It’s been 26 years since Rocky IV’s release and those words still send chills down our spine. The movie isn’t a masterpiece but what it lacks in sensible dialogue it makes up for in spirit. It was Rocky Balboa versus Ivan Drago. It was the U.S. versus The Soviet Union. It was blonds versus brunettes. You get the picture. 
07.  Missing in Action
06.  Predator
05.  Escape from New York
04.  Die Hard
03.  Blood Sport
02.  Commando
01.  First Blood: John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is the ultimate ‘80s action hero. He’s a loner. He’s quiet. And he happens to be an expert in guerrilla warfare. After being tormented by a corrupt sheriff, Rambo taps into his survival training to fight back. As one man, he takes on 200 police officers and still manages to come out on top. How? Because he oozes machismo! If you send in 200 men against Rambo, don’t forget one thing – “a good supply of body bags.”

Lady Gaga Talking Rocky Again

Craig / / 2011, Celebs, Rocky 4

On May 25, 2011, The Hollywood Reporter posted a piece titled, “Lady Gaga: I Have to Make the Music Industry Bleed“  and once again, Gaga was back with the references to Rocky. 

  • Referencing Sylvester Stallone‘s Rocky IV, the “Born This Way” singer tells Rolling Stone she wants to put the human element back into music: “My favorite part is when Apollo’s ex-trainer says to Rocky, ‘He is not a machine. He’s a man. Cut him, and once he feels his own blood, he will fear you.’ I know it sounds crazy, but I was thinking about the machine of the music industry. I started to think about how I have to make the music industry bleed to remind it that it’s human, it’s not a machine.”

 

Top Five Stallone Eighties Movies

Craig / / 2011, Cobra, First Blood, Rambo 2, Rocky 3, Rocky 4

AMC recently posted their choices for the Top Five Stallone Eighties Movies.  Here’s a taste of the piece:

1. Rocky III (1982)
The third movie in the saga changes the pace, and Sly deftly walks a fine line between the Oscar-worthy drama of the movie’s predecessors and straight-up action… Rocky III is bigger, better, and more exciting than any sports movie that came before (or after)…

2. Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
… one of the greatest action flicks of all time.

3. First Blood (1982)
…First Blood has a realism that is lacking from many eighties action movies…

4. Cobra (1986)
… Cobra is like Dirty Harry after five shots, three Red Bulls, and a trip to a military arsenal.

5. Rocky IV (1985)
The Rocky formula is taken to a whole new level with better training scenes and musical montages, bigger opponents (the truly monstrous Russian, Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren), and Cold War themes…

You can read the whole article here.

Dolph Talks Expendables & More

Craig / / 2011, Celebs, Expendables, Expendables 2, Rocky 4

On Wednesday, March 16, 2011, Jason Rugaard at Movie Mavericks posted an interview with Dolph Lundgren who happened to mention Sly a few times.  Here are a couple of tidbits:

  • Physically ‘Rocky IV’ was very special. We didn’t use any doubles, there was no CGI, and you couldn’t augment anything. We just had to be in great shape, and both Sly [Stallone] and I were…  I enjoyed ‘The Expendables’ too, even though I didn’t take my shirt off, I had to bulk up a bit because I was surrounded by guys like ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and a few boys that aren’t exactly small. In cinema today there aren’t that many big guys around, but in that film we had a bunch.
  • J: Recently some footage surfaced of you and Stallone in Mexico. Internet speculation was that you were location scouting for ‘Expendables 2′. Can you comment on this? 

    DL: Ya, we were scouting a couple of locations, but I don’t think it will be shot there for whatever reasons. Though It will be filmed on multiple locations in France, China, and Ukraine. I’m not 100% sure when it will happen because Stallone is doing a couple of movies and I have a few other movies, but I’ll find out in the next couple of weeks.

  • I have always been grateful towards Stallone for giving me my shot in ‘Rocky IV’, and then again in ‘The Expendables’. Anytime he wanted to use footage of Ivan Drago, that was fine with me.
  • J: In early drafts of ‘The Expendables’ script your character was a clear-cut drug addict and psychopath. Was it a conscious decision to scale the character back? 

    DL: The original drafts were good, my character was a loose cannon a little more out there, but I think Stallone made the right decision by pulling him back a little. Some of it was cut out before it was shot, you kind of understood that he maybe had problems with drugs, but you weren’t sure. You never saw the guy use in the movie, I think that it made him easier to forgive. In the long term, I think it was a good choice.

You can read the full piece here.  Thanks to Jason Rugaard the great interview and heads-up! – Craig

 

 

 

Ranking the “Rocky” Movies

Craig / / 2011, Rocky, Rocky 2, Rocky 3, Rocky 4, Rocky 5, Rocky Balboa

On February 9, 2011, ChicagoNow.com posted Ranking the Rocky Movies by Kyle Trompeter.  While I don’t agree with Kyle’s rankings, he does make a good case for each choice… and there is a surprise or two in his list.

And for the record, here is how I rank them:

1.  Rocky and Rocky Balboa.  {Perfect bookends to the series]
2.  Rocky III
3.  Rocky II [Depending on my mood sometimes I flip positions on II and IV]
4.  Rocky IV
5.  Rocky V [While many fans really dislike Rocky V, I am thankful that because of it we got Rocky Balboa]

– Craig

6 Stallone Movies Crack Top 100

Craig / / 2010, Honors, Over the Top, Rocky, Rocky 2, Rocky 3, Rocky 4, Victory

On October 13, 2010, Matt King, a senior analyst at BleacherReport.com posted his choices for the 100 Greatest Sports Movies of All Time.  Not surprisingly, Sly had six movies that made the grade.  Here are Matt King’s choices and commentary.

#79   Over the Top

You can thank Sly Stallone for knowing why you turn your hat around when you arm wrestle somebody. That’s valuable information there.

Seriously, though—it’s a movie about arm wrestling. How awesome is that? It’s Stallone right around the time he discovered steroids, facing off against some guy with more neck rolls than a pug. As a man, you just have to love this. It’s man law.

#62 Victory

What’s this? It’s a sports movie and we’re playing the Germans during WWII? Yes, please.

You could make a water polo movie where a team faces off against the Germans during WWII and I would be all in. It’s too easy. The villain is built in. You don’t need to build them up or give them any depth. It’s cool. We hate them. Let’s move along.

I also have a soft spot for sports movies ending a ridiculous note. Sly Stallone catching a penalty kick pretty much fits that bill.

#46 Rocky IV

It’s hard to rank the Rocky movies. Usually when a sports movie comes out with a sequel, it sucks. But Rocky managed to make not one, but three sequels that are extremely watchable.

Somebody has to bring up the rear and, while I do have a special place in my heart for Ivan Drago and Rocky IV, it can’t compete with the others.

It does however give us some amazing lines (I must break you) and a training montage that set the gold standard for cheesy goodness. I’ll always be thankful to Rocky and the fourth installment for singlehandedly winning the Cold War.

#32 Rocky II [and if you take a look at their original post, notice where they got the Rocky II photo]

At the end of Rocky, Apollo tells him that there won’t be a rematch and Rocky says that he doesn’t want one.

Good ending, but that’s hard for us sports fans to accept. We need some kind of resolution.

It’s the same reason most Americans hate soccer for three out of every four years: we hate ties.

Thankfully, Rocky II gave us that rematch and managed to do so without seeming like a horrible cash grab and was a really solid movie.

#24 Rocky III

Rocky III is probably the most entertaining Rocky movie. It’s got over-the-top characters like Hulk Hogan and Clubber Lang, Mickey dying, and a great final fight.

Mr. T really did kick ass as Clubber. With the first two Rockys, you always liked Apollo at least a little bit. He was mouthy, but it came with charm. Clubber Lang was just big, scary, and mean.

#6 Rocky [and don’t ask me why the photo for Rocky is from Rocky Balboa]

The ultimate underdog story.

The first Rocky was the ultimate everyman. He’s just an unassuming, humble guy from Philly who ends up getting a shot at the champ through a series of events and making the most of it.

Eventually, Rocky turns into this super fighter in later movies, but in this one he’s just your average guy with a bigger than average heart. Nothing special.

Stallone will never be considered a great actor, but he’s terrific in the movie. He nails the “aw shucks” attitude.

And who could forget Mickey. That gruff voiced little troll is one of my favorite sports movie characters of all time.

*****

I was happy to see that Over the Top easily made the top 100.  I was surprised that Rocky Balboa didn’t appear on the list.  What’s up with that?  It should have been right there along side Rocky.

If you’d like to see Matt King’s entire list of 100 Greatest Sports Movies of All Time, you know what to do.