Rocky V (1990)
ROCKY V -- a favorite film at Badin High School, Hamilton, Ohio
Just like the three sequels before it, ROCKY V opens with a rehash of the last chapter. We see the robotic Russian Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) beating up on Rocky (Sylvester Stallone), before Rocky finally gathers the mental fortitude to snap back and floor the perfectly-conditioned giant. The sequence is extremely contrived, of course, the chronology of the fight tinkered with so that all of Rocky's comeback punches seem to come in an awesome few seconds.
This is one of the pluses that the underrated ROCKY V brings to fans of the series. Director John G. Avildsen - who collected an Oscar for directing the very first installment - along with script writer Stallone, borrow liberally from the foundation built by the four other outings. We get to see everyone and everything again - manager Mickey Goldmill, opponent-turned-friend Apollo Creed, even the black hat and duds worn by Rocky during his days working for a loan shark on the Philadelphia docks. We see Rocky's staunch supporters peopling the streets of the Italian market, as well as the statue (from ROCKY III) atop the steps of the temple-like Philadelphia Museum of Art. It's not necessary to have watched numbers one through four in order to understand this closing chapter, but it makes for more enjoyment.
Here's the story: Rocky is injured in the battle with the rock-faced Russian Drago, invoking late manager Mick's memory that something is "broken inside." Mysteriously, Rocky never seeks a doctor's help. (In fact, there is always a scarcity of promoters and press and especially medical personnel around Rocky's fights, considering they are supposed to be huge spectacles.) Not until wife Adrian (Talia Shire) coaxes Rocky into a CAT scan does he discover the brain injury that could end his life. Meanwhile, Don King-like promoter George Washington Duke (Richard Gant) attracts loads of attention with his mouth and his challenge for Rocky: give a title shot to my contender, Union Cane. Rocky is sorely tempted, but Adrian keeps him from committing to any further matches. What's especially hard, though, is Rocky's financial condition, a key component in the plot. It seems Paulie inadvertently had Rocky sign a paper giving power of attorney to Rocky's accountant. You guessed it - the guy invests the champ's millions and quickly loses them.
Predictability aside, Rocky's monetary ruin opens the story to compelling originality. His estate auctioned off, Rocky moves his family into the South Philly rowhouse that he and Adrian bought as newlyweds. We see some charming scenes with son Robert and Rocky kidding around, the boy showing great intelligence to Rocky's punchy and slangy style. But Rocky is a good father, warning Robert about ways to act in the public school he must attend in the new neighborhood of "urban blight."
At least Rocky is a good father until a new young fighter comes all the way from Oklahoma to ask Rocky's guidance. At first reluctant, Rocky grows to like the chance at still being in the ring, at least vicariously, through Tommy Gunn (Tommy Morrison). The retired champ is flattered that he might establish a father-son relationship like the one Rocky had with Mick. And they are successful together, much of Rocky's gut-punching greatness rubbing off on the young blonde pugilist. The main question we want answered is how long can Tommy stand being called Rocky's boy? How long will it be before the honey-tongued Duke lures Tommy over into his own slick side of the boxing game?
Humor contributes a lot to ROCKY V. We still have Burt Young as Rocky's brother-in-law, a rummy hanger-on, a clichéd bumbling but lovable uncle to Rocky and Adrian's son Robert (Stallone's real-life son Sage Stallone). And there's the wonderful exaggerated tone created by characters like George Washington Duke, the biggest ham since Apollo, and some over-the-top fight scenes that create as much laughter as fascination.
One of the most engaging parts of any ROCKY film is the montage. "V" uses the technique well to tell a number of stories within the subplots. We watch Rocky with protégé Tommy Gunn, training and coaching and mentoring, while Rocky's son Robert seeks attention but is shunned. Because we've seen how close father and son really are, this drifting apart forms a serious threat to Rocky's success story: it's clear that his family, such as it is, has always been more important to Rock than anything concerning the square circle. Yes, it is overkill when Adrian says, "You're losing your family," but sometimes the big palooka needs a message to hit him square in the face. My favorite sequence happens during a street fight. Rocky is down and apparently out, flashes of memory adding to his trauma: Ivan Drago's glare, his mouthpiece looking like steel teeth; Mick's gravelly voice belting out words of inspiration; a grainy shot of Rocky, eyes swollen shut, bright red blood poured suddenly over his face. Avildsen has added some artful and gritty images here to explore Rocky's plight. Even though Rocky's most dangerous weapon has always been his heart, how will he overcome the twinges of fear - and more directly, the brain damage - inflicted during combat with the Russian in the climax of ROCKY IV?
A brilliant stroke brings back Rocky's deceased manager Mickey; Burgess Meredith does a memorable cameo that ends up being one of the strongest scenes in the piece. Bankrupt and disheartened, Rocky returns to the old gym where Mick first tutored him. Mick willed it to Robert years before, and now Rock stands in the great dusty room and goes back into his memory to conjure Mick during a private moment just before Rocky fought Creed in the fluke title bout. One can tell Meredith is 14 years older than he was in the 1976 ROCKY, but his veteran skills save the scene from being too sentimental, and help to provide Rocky with the incentive he needs to enter the other end of boxing.
Even though this final installment of ROCKY is ten years old, its themes strike home as very relevant. Many of my students are inspired not only by Rocky's attitude and gutsy styles of training, but also by Bill Conti's music, an essential part of each film. There's something mythical about the whole thing, the main plot lines involving glamorous rises and heart-breaking falls, underdogs overcoming high odds, father-son relations that are fatal or benevolent. For fans of the ROCKY franchise, ROCKY V should be viewed carefully and not discounted as one of the best.
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