Mr. T. With the feather earrings. And the furious eyeballs. Also the apparently bottomless checkbook – because he can fly about the country (and the world) to sit in the stands at Rocky’s various fights and glower menacingly. <\/p>\n
A great villain. When he yells up at Adrian, “WOMAN! HEY! Woman!” There’s a time and place, Clubber, and this ain’t it.<\/p>\n
Also, how ’bout Hulk Hogan in that beginning “fight”? HA!!! What I love about it is how he scowls and grunts and acts like a complete animal – throwing cops into the stands, punching Paulie to the ground, whirling Rocky around – holding him high above his head – behaving like a total savage.<\/p>\n
Then after the fight – Rocky (who looks like a teeny little midget next to Hulk Hogan) says, “Hey … how ’bout gettin’ a Polaroid with me and my wife?”<\/p>\n
And Hulk Hogan, in this articulate deep clear voice, says, “I’d be happy to.” Or some other urbane mannerly comment … totally different from his in-the-ring persona.<\/p>\n
And let me talk about Adrian for a second – and her role in the whole “training montage in LA” sequence. Here’s the deal. To those who resent women in movies like this in general – you’re never gonna be happy. You’re also morons, and you have completely missed the point of the entire Rocky franchise, which is too bad. It’s not that Adrian is trying to kill the rally, or trying to domesticate him. It’s the total opposite, actually. She senses that Rocky’s heart isn’t in it. He doesn’t have “the eye of the tiger” (how many times does Apollo Creed say that in the film? It could be a good drinking game. You’d be wasted by the end.) And she doesn’t want to see Rocky be half a man, she doesn’t want to see him do ANYthing out of obligation. She doesn’t want to see him carve himself up into little slices … she wants him to be whole. She, who knows him better than anybody, just senses that he somehow isn’t engaged … he doesn’t want to win. And why fight if you don’t want to win? Her husband is a winner – but for the beginning of that sequence in LA he is not acting like a winner. Adrian, in that scene on the beach, has to pull out the boxing gloves of her own, and tell him to act like a champion, to change his attitude – or to NOT fight.<\/p>\n
In my opinion – if you look at her role in that sequence and roll your eyes and think she’s being a wet blanket – then you’ve got some problems with women in general. You don’t like the female element to be near your sporting events at all (and I know guys like that – and female sports bloggers definitely are up against that kind of attitude – not from everyone, so please don’t take this personally if it doesn’t apply to you!!) – but most men have women in their lives. Most men are not single-minded ambitious machines – they have multiple concerns. Rocky’s got a wife. He considers what she has to say. he’s not gonna be like, “SCREW YOU, ADRIAN. I’M GONNA FIGHT NO MATTER WHAT YOU SAY.” Can you imagine him saying that? It would be so out of character. Especially because he thinks he’s dumb, and she’s smart. She’s smart and, like he says in Rocky IV (which I also watched last night. Help. I have a sickness.) “Adrian always tells the truth.” Rocky is not just a boxer. He’s got other “roles” in his life – husband, father, all that stuff. He’s a man- a three-dimensional character.<\/p>\n
So anyway, I really liked the scenes with Adrian watching Rocky train and seeing her think, “Something’s wrong. He doesn’t want to win.”<\/p>\n
I love Clubber Lang. I love his crazy. I love how he punches out the photographers, and paces around like a tiger (eye of the tiger, eye of the tiger, eye of the tiger) in his locker room, snarling (literally!!) at the press. He is uncivilized. The shots of him running along the streets – are reminiscent of the shots in the first Rocky of Rocky running. They have a grit to them, they almost look like a documentary – the shot isn’t “set up”. It’s a long shot. Contrast that to Rocky’s ridiculous “training” in the Waldorf Astoria, or wherever he is. With an orchestra playing, as he punches the bag, interrupting himself to pose for pictures or sign autographs. It’s good story-telling. Clubber Lang is in gritty gyms with filthy floors, by himself, pushing himself. You can see how far Rocky has come from who he used to be.<\/p>\n
And I think the fight itself is spectacular. Those guys are amazing together. It looks real. Don’t you think? There’s something exciting, to me, about watching actors who are also athletes – or have athletic ability – really<\/i> doing something. You can tell that 90% of that up there is them. Or who knows – maybe 100 – not sure if there were any doubles … but that’s real work going on up there. The punches are fake, but the athletic ability is real. And, in my opinion, Stallone is set apart from other “action heroes” – at least in this franchise, where he is very human – and the action is real, as opposed to comic book style. He feels pain. He takes punches. He has … emotions … as he goes through the fight. You can tell. He gets scared. He gets cocky. He gets mad. It’s all going on. Think of other action star actors – and many of them could never get all that nuance in there. Especially when they are supposedly showing off their athletic prowess.<\/p>\n
Oh, and I think my favorite dialogue in the movie is when Rocky, Adrian and Paulie are first walking through Apollo’s ratty ghetto boxing club in LA, and Paulie is freaking out. We don’t belong here … this is bullshit … this is a rat trap … we deserve better than this …. etc. At one point he says something vaguely aggressive towards Apollo and Apollo gets his back up a bit. Rocky, immaculate in his black suit, intervenes, gently, and says to Paulie, “Now don’t get mentally irregular.” Which just CRACKS ME UP. Then Rocky turns to Apollo and says, in the tone of a peacemaker, “It takes about 6 years to get to know him.” Apollo snaps, “I don’t got 6 years.” and walks away. But that whole part made me laugh. “Be patient. Wait 6 years. Paulie starts to grow on you after 6 years.” hahaha<\/p>\n
I’ll write more but these are just my thoughts right now.<\/p>\n
And Rocky IV is so damn campy and I still – STILL – love every second of it.<\/p>\n
It’s ridiculous. I mean … Rocky chopping wood in Siberia? With a beard? HAHAHAHA It’s genius. And ludicrous. Dolph Lundgren’s dead Soviet eyes. “I vil break you.” I love that movie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mr. T. With the feather earrings. And the furious eyeballs. Also the apparently bottomless checkbook – because he can fly about the country (and the world) to sit in the stands at Rocky’s various fights and glower menacingly. A great … Continue reading