Rocky V
Rocky V 1990 movie poster
Directed by	John G. Avildsen
Produced by	Robert Chartoff Irwin Winkler
Written by	Sylvester Stallone
Starring	Sylvester Stallone Talia Shire Burt Young Sage Stallone Burgess Meredith Tommy Morrison Tony Burton
Music by	Bill Conti
Cinematography	Steven B. Poster
Editing by	John G. Avildsen Robert A. Ferretti Michael N. Knue
Distributed by	United Artists United International Pictures
Release date(s)	November 16, 1990
Running time	99 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Preceded by	Rocky IV
Followed by	Rocky Balboa
IMDb profile

Rocky V is the fifth film in the Rocky film saga. It was released on November 16, 1990. The film stars Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Stallone's real life son Sage Stallone and real life boxer Tommy Morrison as boxer Tommy Gunn, an ingrate character who only uses Rocky for his connections and to try to win the World Heavyweight title. Sage Stallone played Rocky Jr., whose attempt to learn how to box also turned out to be an attempt to try to get his father's attention. After Stallone directed the second through fourth films in the series, Rocky V saw the return of director John G. Avildsen, whose direction of the first film won him an Academy Award for Best Director. The film earned $14 million on its opening weekend and $40 million in total US box-office sales, about one-third of its predecessor's take.

Plot synopsis

The film begins with Rocky in his dressing room after the Drago fight, with him and his trainer: Tony "Duke" Evers, who is praising Rocky for his victory. Rocky however, seen to be in some form of physical discomfort, yells at Tony to find his wife Adrian, because something is wrong with him. His hand is shaking, and he can't make it stop. In addition to that, he keeps calling Adrian "Mickey", the name of his deceased former trainer.

Rocky returns home, and is greeted by his son, Robert, who tells him he has made the honor roll at school. Rocky conducts a press conference, during which promoter George Washington Duke (a parody of boxing promoter Don King), tries to goad Rocky into fighting the new #1 contender to his championship, Union Cane , in Tokyo. After Adrian protests that Rocky will be retiring, Rocky originally decides not to take the fight with Cane.

Rocky, Adrian, and Adrian's brother Paulie return to their Philadelphia home to find out that Paulie had signed 'power of attorney' over to Balboa's accountant, who had, in turn, squandered most of his money on real estate flipping. Hearing that he is now bankrupt, Rocky immediately decides that he needs to take the fight against Cane. However, all of the fights have taken a toll on Rocky's health, with his brain sustaining severe damage from all the years of punishment in the ring, and after visiting the doctor (in response to the plea by his wife), he can no longer fight without risking permanent severe injury. Rocky is forced to give up the championship, which Cane acquires automatically for having been the recognized #1 contender, and moves back into his old Philadelphia neighborhood, where he, Adrian, Paulie and Robert must learn to live with next to nothing again.

Rocky returns to his old (and now abandoned) gym where he has a flashback of him training for his first fight with Apollo Creed, with his old mentor, Mickey. Things briefly look up when a young fighter from small-town Oklahoma named Tommy Gunn seeks Rocky to help him win the title. Taking in the young fighter gives Rocky a sense of purpose, and he slowly helps Tommy fight his way up the ladder to become a top contender. The cost of this new friendship results in Rocky paying little attention to Robert, who becomes withdrawn and angry. Robert also falls in the wrong crowd, and begins getting involved in fights in the school yard.

Tommy's rise through the ranks catches the eye of Duke, who uses the promise of a title shot and Tommy's own anger at being compared stylistically to Balboa to convince him to leave Rocky. When Rocky tries to tell Tommy that it's the road to the title and not the title itself that makes a great fighter, Tommy drives off in a huff, leaving Rocky for good. Rocky realizes that Tommy has the skills, but ultimately not the heart of a great fighter. He also realizes his mistake with his son and reconciles with him on what is really important to him ... his family.

Under Duke, Tommy does indeed win the heavyweight title by knocking Union Cane out in the first round using the training Rocky taught him. However, it is an empty victory for Tommy as the angry crowd chants Rocky's name instead, much to Tommy's bemusement. The press tells Tommy that Cane was nothing more than "...a second-rate fighter with so much glass in his jaw he ought to be a chandelier." and that Tommy "...might win a few fights but a Rocky Balboa he'll never be." Duke himself later tells Tommy "As long as they got Balboa on the brain he'll always be champ. The man fought WARS in the ring." Duke tells him the public will never consider him the real champion because he never fought Balboa.

Tommy decides to end matters once and for all by going to Rocky's neighborhood and challenging him to a fight. At first, Rocky declines, but when Paulie intervenes and is punched by Gunn, the stage is set for a brawl. Duke attempts to stop them by trying to persuade Rocky to fight in the ring with Gunn, but Rocky simply replies with "My ring is outside," and the fight begins on the very street where Rocky and Gunn first met. In the beginning, Rocky starts off well. However, during the course of the fight Rocky gets beaten down and has nightmareish flashbacks of Ivan Drago. When Rocky is down, he sees images of Mickey cheering him on from beyond the grave. Mickey tells Rocky, "Get up, you son of a bitch, 'cause Mickey loves ya'!" Out in the street, it is a different ball game than in the ring, as Rocky uses his street skills to knock Tommy out and prove who the real champion is, humiliating both Tommy and Duke with the whole neighborhood, Adrian, Robert, and Paulie supporting him.

Rocky and Robert meet up the next day at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Rocky gives Robert the cuff-link given to him as a gift from Mickey, they make their way to the museum, and the film ends with a shot of Rocky's statue looking out over Philadelphia.

Critical reaction

In addition to its disappointing numbers at the box office, this segment in the Rocky series left a sour taste in hardcore fans' mouths as it left the hero back where he started, arguably with nothing to show for it. The film departed from the standard Rocky formula on display in the previous four films and that made it extremely unpopular with the audience that was drawn to sequels. Sylvester Stallone himself had gone on record in saying he wasn't satisfied with the finished product, saying "I wanted to finish the series on a high and emotional note and Rocky V didn't do that."^[1]

As a result of, and in response to, Rocky V's poor box office performance (and the general dissatisfaction with the end of the franchise), Sylvester Stallone wrote, directed, and starred in Rocky Balboa, the sixth and final chapter to the saga released 16 years after this movie, in an attempt to redeem the character for a final chance to come back as a hero again, and do the story justice by bringing it full circle.

Soundtrack

The Rocky V Soundtrack is quite different from the previous films. This soundtrack is not an original motion picture score, but rather has music from and inspired by the film. This soundtrack features Joey B. Ellis, Elton John, MC Hammer, 7A3, MC Tab, Rob Base, and Bill Conti. Most of the soundtrack is rap music, rather than classic Bill Conti tunes. ^[2]

Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• The condition Rocky has that forcibly retires him from boxing is called cavum septum pellucidum.
• The film contains cameos by several sportswriters and boxing analysts, most notably Al Bernstein and Philadelphia's own Stan Hochman & Al Meltzer.
• Some of the fight sequences were filmed at the The Blue Horizon in Philadelphia, a venue which was a mecca for boxing in the city during the 1970s.
• In the TV Show, Full House, Danny Tanner (Bob Saget) refers to Rocky saying "That's like saying we've seen the last Rocky movie."
• Sportscaster Stu Nahan makes his fifth appearance in the Rocky series, this time as a sports journalist.
• Rocky's priest friend Father Carmine (Paul Micale) makes his second of two appearances in the Rocky series, the first being in Rocky II.
• The character "Tommy Gunn" was played by real-life boxer Tommy Morrison. Morrison's nickname in boxing was "The Duke" similar to George Washington Duke who becomes his manager in the movie.
• George Washington Duke is based on Don King. Coincidentally, six years after the movie's release, Morrison signed with Don King.
• The image of Gunn's first professional fight, the pullback from the mural of Jesus over the boxing ring, mirrors the opening shot of the first Rocky movie.
• In the TV series The Simpsons, Bart refers to Rocky V in the episode Lemon of Troy. Bart is in a place where every door has Roman numerals. All the doors have man eating tigers except door number 7. Having walked out of the class when that subject was taught earlier in the episode, Bart says to himself, "Where have you seen Roman numerals? Wait a minute! I know! Rocky V! That was the fifth one. So Rocky V + Rocky II...equals...Rocky VII: Adrian's Revenge!"
• In the movie right before Rocky Jr. knocks out the kid that is bullying him the kid refers to him as Stallone, instead of Balboa.
• The speech Mickey gives to Rocky in the flashback sequence is based on an interview with Cus D'Amato given in 1985, shortly after Mike Tyson's first professional bout.
• The golden glove necklace featured so prominently in this film was first seen in Rocky III, then again throughout Rocky IV. As a promotional gimmick, replicas of the necklace were distributed to moviegoers at the Hollywood premiere of Rocky V at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
• Michael Williams (III), like Tommy Morrison, was a real-life boxer. He and Morrison were to have an actual match about a month after Rocky V was released, but had to be canceled when Williams was hurt. The match was being hyped as "The Real Cane vs. Gunn Match."
• The famous red, white and blue boxing trunks first worn by Apollo Creed in his fight with Rocky in the first film make their fifth and final appearance in this film.
• Rocky's leather coat introduced in Rocky IV makes its second and final appearance in the trilogy at the start of the movie.
• Jodi Letizia, who played street kid Marie in the original Rocky (1976), was supposed to reprise her role here. Her character was shown to have ended up as Rocky predicted she would: a whore, but the scene ended up on the cutting room floor. The character would eventually reappear in Rocky Balboa (2006), as a bartender and confidante to the aging Rocky. Actress Geraldine Hughes took over the role.
• Scenes with Mickey, played by Burgess Meredith, were trimmed in the final film when Rocky fights Tommy. Mickey appeared in ghost form on top of the railway bridge, giving words of encouragement. In the final film, this was made into flashbacks.
• Adrian goes back to working at the pet shop she first worked at in the original Rocky.
• Sylvester Stallone originally intended for Rocky to die after defeating Tommy Gunn in their streetfight, however according to him, the director, and the studio they had second thoughts and eventually, Stallone rewrote the ending.
• The Ring Magazine belt in Rocky's basement and the identical belt Morrison wins in the ring have changed slightly from the previous movies; they are missing the four side panels showing famous champions George Foreman, James J. Corbett, James J. Braddock, and Jersey Joe Walcott.
• According to Sylvester Stallone, pro wrestling legend Terry Funk helped choreograph much of the street fight between Rocky and Tommy Gunn.
• Kevin Connolly, who gained success as Eric Murphy on HBO's Entourage, was in his first acting role as neighborhood bully Chickie.
• One of the more startling timeline mistakes occurs in between Rocky IV and V. While Rocky IV ends with Rocky acknowledging his son (who appears to be seven or eight years old) after his fight with Drago, Rocky V begins with Rocky returning from Russia being greeted by his son who at this point appears to be at least thirteen years old. This noticeable mistake has never been explained.
• Tony Burton briefly reprises his role as Duke at the beginning of the film. However, during his scenes, Rocky refers to him as "Tony." In the credits, Burton is credited as playing "Tony," as opposed to "Duke." Rocky V is the only film in the series to do so, as the next installment in the series, Rocky Balboa correctly names Burton's character, "Duke Evers."

U.S. box office

• Rocky V: US$40.9 million

Anticipated to be one of the big hits of the 1990 holiday season, Rocky V finished second in its opening weekend to Home Alone and never recovered.

Rocky V made almost twice as much overseas and thereby a total of $119.9 million worldwide.

References

External links

• Official MGM site
• Rocky V at the Internet Movie Database

Rocky series
Rocky | Rocky II | Rocky III | Rocky IV | Rocky V | Rocky Balboa
Characters
Rocky Balboa | Mickey Goldmill | Apollo Creed Clubber Lang | Ivan Drago
Video games
Rocky | Rocky Legends
Related articles
Rocky music | Rocky Steps
Related articles (Boxing)
The distance | The "Real" Rocky | Southpaw | World Heavyweight Championship

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