Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #100539 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-02-08
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Colour, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Russian
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 91 minutes

Customer Reviews

ONE OF THE MOST ENTERTAINING FILMS EVER MADE
In 1976, a phenom was born. By now we are all aware of the story of how Stallone wrote the screenplay for Rocky in three days after watching a fight between an extreme underdog and a highly favoured champ. Stallone was a nobody back then yet he still stood his ground and didn't sell out to the producers until they promised him the title role. The rest they say is history. Well 9 years later, after three Rocky films, in my opinion comes the best one. I realize that Rocky was all story and then a climatic boxing match and that is what won the film the Oscar. And even though I can admit that this film is not as concerned with character developement as it is with training montages and bulging muscles, it is by far and away the most entertaining film of the 5. And that is what I enjoy about the film. I love that Rocky IV has some of the best training montages ever filmed. I love that it has the heart of a lion when it shows Rocky scaling a mountain that you know damn well he shouldn't be able to. And I absolutely love the boxing match at the end of the film. This was completely choreographed by Stallone and he and Dolph Lundgren boxed for real for about 75% of the match. Stallone felt that it needed some authenticity so that was the way to do it. And if you think Robert De Niro is an impressive method actor, try this fact on for size. When filming the boxing match, some of the scenes were so real that Stallone was rushed to hospital because his heart was actually pushed up and his ribcage was slightly shattered. So when you watch that match at the end, just know that what you are seeing is not exactly choreography and trick camera work. They did the best job they could to keep the look of the fight as real as possible. And I think this is the best boxing match ever filmed, with all due respect to Raging Bull.

Stallone was in the shape of his life in this year as he filmed Rocky and Rambo back to back and it shows. I have never seen a more sculpted man in the movies than he was here. And I think that added to his superman persona. If you notice in all the Rocky films, he grows a little each time. And that also adds to the enjoyment of the film.

Rocky IV is different than Rocky, there is no doubt. And as much as I love the first one, it doesn't come close to entertaining me as much as this one does. Rocky IV starts fast and it ends hard and in between we are blessed with a great soundtrack and a beautiful montage of all the Rocky films to Robert Tepper's "There's No Easy Way Out" And it is here that even though some will say that Stallone has substituted real human emotion with an MTV ersatz video, I think it works well. There is nothing about this film that I didn't enjoy and if you forget what the experience of watching this one is like, I suggest that you rent it now and take a look at it. And try to remember what it was like when you first saw this film back in the winter of 85. I remember I was in Kokomo Indiana visiting family for Christmas. My mom and I walked into a packed theater and you want to talk about a place erupting like a volcano, then this was the place. When Rocky finally hits Drago to cut him over the eye and Duke yells " he's cut, he's cut! " the crowd went into a frenzy. And you can look no further than that as to why the Rocky films were so popular. It doesn't matter if you are Canadian, American, Portuguese, Polish or Dutch or whatever, Rocky appeals to all of us. Because all of us have been the underdog at some time in our lives and we love to watch him and perhaps live vicariously through him. That is the beauty of Rocky. If Rocky can do it then dammit so can I!

When the movie ended on that cold night back in 1985, and people were filtering out to their cars for the drive home, I swear I could hear the crowd chanting his name, as did the millions..... and millions of the Rock's fans.

Totally Awesome Cold War Propaganda!
To say that Rocky IV is propaganda is a bold understatement. From the opening bell of Rocky IV we are fed repeated anti-soviet and pro-US messages. The obvious arrogance, rampant drug use and lack of freedoms the Russians display here are not antagonistic as much as they are downright degrading and completely inaccurate. Every Soviet character acts as if they are a pathetically corrupt villain, that is until they are shown the path of the righteous man by our hero Rocky Balboa both in and out of the ring in a shameless speech that shows us what this film is really about. The Russian people find their liberation in their love for the American underdog Rocky. Rocky III had a subtle message of money spoiling good ol' Rock into losing his title and regaining it when he found the fire that existed in being a real underdog (a poor New Yorker who had nothing but his ability to fight). Rock IV gives us a message that is the antithesis of this and gives blind justification for hating our enemies for trivial and inaccurate reasons, in other words the legacy of Rocky took more than a few steps back.

In this, the third sequel to the original classic about a kid from south Philly with a 9th grade education who gets a shot at the champion Appollo Creed. By now in the series, Rock has been champion and is friends now with Apollo and when Ivan Drago (a giant Russian boxer played by Dolph Lundgren) comes along, Apollo comes out of retirement to show this commie who is boss. Drago beats him to death in the ring and Rocky now knows what he needs to do. Stop commies! I mean, avenge his friend's death.

Its amusing to say the least as now the U.S.S.R. is no more and the damages of misled messages are inconsequential as the only people who could be swayed by such nonsense have already been swayed by our culture. It's vexing indeed but Rocky IV wins me over because I laugh every time it's on television. That is no reason to call it a good movie though. It so shamelessly sets the stage for the ultimate in melodrama and underdog cliches that only a child would find this believable. It is pornographic propaganda really, I put it right in there with Reefer Madness.

As a character, Rocky does represent something of America in all of his films (though I haven't seen the fifth one entirely). He is the quintessential underdog; he is a simple man that made his way through life by being a good person and doing what he knew how to do for his family. That feels like America for many of us. On the other hand he represents us as well in a different light in Rocky IV; he is the shameless symbol that represents what blind nationalism and unregulated globalization can bring without justifying it's reason, by the film's end the Russians are as blindly proud as the American's who possess unconditional love for their ever-serving government. It doesn't represent the left or the right but simply put, it represents those who can't learn because they think they already know. It represents the ignorant and just plain stupid and who could be their hero, or as Mr. T. once said, their paper champion. There are means and ends in life and conflict is the means to serve what end? Rocky IV promotes the kind of thought that is too arrogant to bother answering such a question.

But you know something? It's so shameless, unintentional, and fun that I don't give a damn and I begin chanting "Rocky" (or was it "Bocky") right along side those newly allied ex-communists every single time I see Rocky IV. Capitalism rocks comrade!

Interesting note...
This is by far the most "hyped" film of the 5 made (so far)
I would just like to tell any interested that this "version" on this Region One disc is the best version on offer , even better than the recent boxset with the DTS tracks on.
As this is the only version to have the full letterbox print in its orgional anamorphic 2:35:1 ratio.
All other versions are a compersit 16:9 standard picture cut down to match the rest.
And if you ever see the "trailer" look for the clip of diologe cut and not used in the finished film.
This also the shortest of the five films , running just under 90 minuets.