HEY YO TSM! WE DID IT! IT'S A STALLONE THREAD

[BruiserBrody]

This is not a hot take.
I watched Rocky 1 for 1st time in probably a decade.
I was surprised by how little the movie is actually about boxing and how it was actually about 2 damaged people who use one another for support in order to improve their lives and realize their potential. Even the training montage was perfunctory.
Creed was basically on screen long enough to establish he was rich and focused on his brand more than worrying about some tomato can he was going to pound.
Rocky's seduction scene felt creepier than intended, especially when his apartment was so messy and Adrian was quietly classy.
I'm not sure how the 1st draft of the script with Rocky throwing the fight and buying a pet store for Adrian would have worked.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

So I rented Rocky 4: recut with my buddies. All spoilers here after:

- They edited out the explosive boxing gloves!!! Minus 5 stars.
- Opening is now a long Rocky 3 montage. Apollo is the main character of the first Rocky 4 act (Can't recall if he was originally) and Drago is intro'd on TV before we ever see Rocky.
- It feels like they cut some meat out of the first arch, as the Creed/Drago fight feels like it comes much faster than I recall.
- I thought they edited out James Brown for a moment as it seems like they linger on Drago in a shadowy ring for a long time as a WCW-like edit of James Brown's song beat plays softly. Again, might be how the original was, but it felt off.
- We get an extra scene of Adrian and Rocky in the kitchen as Adrian is dead set against Apollo fighting the big ape.
- I read they gave Apollo more of a fighting chance in this edit, but he still pretty much get mauled.
- The "Drago gets more backstory to flesh out his character" thing I read about was litterally one sentence at a presser, and then he sips water.
- They definitely redid the montages. I'm pretty sure both Rocky driving around town and Rocky/Drago training comparisons had added stuff and it threw me off as I've watched those on youtube a thousand times. (And did a Brody/Derek training video to parody it)
- We get an extra 3 min scene where Rocky has to argue with boxing suits who ban him from fighting a rookie. This was covered in the original by simply throwing a newspaper headline at us.
- Rocky is knocked down and has new inter dialogue added telling himself to get up.
- A crooked Russian official tries to call the fight off after round 14 in a new scene.
- Rocky adds a line in his final speech about how his friend Apollo died which was suppose to tie into Stallone making this version more about Rocky and Apollo's bromance and not "Merica vs USSR.

As a frequent Rocky 4 viewer, this felt off. The first segment felt like it was missing....something.... and Stallone cut out light hearted moments that I didn't catch off hand (other than no robot). It really didn't seem like 42 mins of new stuff to me.
So on the Meltz scale Rocky 4: 15 out of 10 stars.
Recut: 10/10 Stallone *heart emoji*

According to the trivia mentioned during the Cinephobe podcast, there was allegedly a draft of the movie where Mr. T would have reprised his role as James "Clubber" Lang. In it, Lang would have been a born-again Christian, gone back to using his given name, and would have been the color commentator for the Balboa/Drago fight. No version of this drat was actual filmed, AFAIK.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I like to think Sly wrote this as a backdoor excuse to try and take "Sleep with Dolly Parton" off his bucket list.

That video was terrible but, seriously, was there a straight man in America in 1984 who wouldn't have tried to shoot his shot with Dolly Parton?

 

[BruiserBrody]

 

[King Kamala]

Sylvester Stallone slams Dolph Lundgren and 'parasite producers' over Rocky spin-off Drago

Hollywood action man Sylvester Stallone has hit out at his former Rocky IV co-star Dolph Lundgren and producers behind the franchise over plans for a new spin-off movie.

uk.style.yahoo.com

I don't think Sly's been this upset since he read the reviews for Driven.

 

[BUTT]

If there’s going to be a whole Rocky cinematic universe then I want Lang, a comedy-drama examining the strained relationship between the Clubber and his flamboyant they/them son. Directed by Barry Jenkins.

 

[909]

If there’s going to be a whole Rocky cinematic universe then I want Lang, a comedy-drama examining the strained relationship between the Clubber and his flamboyant they/them son. Directed by Barry Jenkins.

Mr. T and Lil Nas X with uncle Billy Porter let's goooooooooooo

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1591090253376651265

 

[Mickey Massuco]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1591089747434561537

Lmao I can’t imagine living like this

 

[King Kamala]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1609796201959854084

How about it @BruiserBrody ?

 

[BruiserBrody]

Lang roughs him up early and often, and after the Rocky embarrassment, Clubber focuses on his endurance so he can take it to Creed until he breaks him.

 

[RedJed]

During the holidays, did a binge on the new Stallone drama on Paramount Plus, Tulsa King. I have to admit this was probably some of the more entertaining stuff Sly's done since the Rocky series as well as the Expendables (I know, low bar). I think it already got greenlit for a second season as well. Easy to binge through, I think it was seven episodes only.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1620049314566258689

 

[King Kamala]

WTH @BruiserBrody ?

(It does look like Frank makes an appearance though)

 

[strummer]

Didn't Sly get a divorce? Was it a work for this show?

 

[Epic Springs]

They reconciled last Fall.

 

[King Kamala]

Sylvester Stallone Says His 'Rocky III' Diet Was Just Tuna, Oatmeal Cookies, and Coffee

‘I wanted to keep my body fat down to 2.8%."

www.menshealth.com

 

[King Kamala]

Demolition Man's Writer Explains How the Three Seashells Came To Be

Over the decades, few film debates have endured as much as Demolition Man’s three seashells, and now we can at least put one aspect of that debate to bed: where, exactly, they came from.

gizmodo.com

Stallone actually made a vague attempt to explain the Three Seashells process in one of those 10+ part fan submitted Q&As he did with AICN in the mid-late '00s. IIRC, basically two of the shells you put together for scooping and the third one was for scraping.

 

[King Kamala]

View this content on Instagram

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@BruiserBrody sadly muttering about death of kayfabe.

 

[Brocklock]

https://deadline.com/2024/04/tulsa-...sed-criticizing-background-actors-1235878860/

Stallone and an unnamed director were accused of calling some of the extras “ugly,” “tub of lard” and “fat guy with cane.” The recipient of the latter comment apparently said later that it “hurt his soul” to hear himself described that way on set.

Allegedly, Stallone then suggested that production bring in “pretty young girls to be around me,” instead.

I'm laughing a lot hearing "Tub of Lard" and "fat guy with cane" with the Sly voice, but this is not surprising at all. Team Arnold 4 Life.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Love Sly, but Dolly Parton made sure to bury him in her autobio decades ago over his treatment of the poors while they were filming Rhinestone.

 

[King Kamala]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CYM6VD2G?&linkCode=sl1&tag=discconnected06-20&linkId=458667fc9d9b7a65686271a15b1898c7&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl&fbclid=IwAR2ptTCTEtQUDZTe3BOzLfPGhfaxJ7xhPgGN3JGCzRKT6xev7gwQDNIQpJg_aem_ASH44SSdx1vx8YLf6khQwNpDKB-QzWLh___UK3E1b1NJ1GXzfA6v_cPy_N9kqPop1dH-RFCHhZGcMmGcCZuB7rjR

I doubt we’ll get the in depth @BruiserBrody run down of the two and a half hour cut of Rocky Balboa like he did for IV but here is to hoping.

 

[King Kamala]

Peter Farrelly Directing ‘I Play Rocky,’ Inside Story of Sylvester Stallone’s Star-Making Performance

Peter Farrelly, the Oscar-winning 'Green Book' filmmaker, will direct behind-the-scenes drama 'I Play Rocky' about Sylvester Stallone's early years

variety.com

I’d be so much more excited for this if it weren’t from the director of Green Book.

 

[Valeyard]

But what if it's a classic Farrelly Brothers-style comedy about the making of the porno and trying to sell his script?

 

[HarleyQuinn]

This is not a hot take.
I watched Rocky 1 for 1st time in probably a decade.
I was surprised by how little the movie is actually about boxing and how it was actually about 2 damaged people who use one another for support in order to improve their lives and realize their potential. Even the training montage was perfunctory.
Creed was basically on screen long enough to establish he was rich and focused on his brand more than worrying about some tomato can he was going to pound.
Rocky's seduction scene felt creepier than intended, especially when his apartment was so messy and Adrian was quietly classy.
I'm not sure how the 1st draft of the script with Rocky throwing the fight and buying a pet store for Adrian would have worked.

I re-watched the 1st Rocky during the Rocky marathon on AMC and this was a lot of my thinking too. I actually remembered Adrian having more character to her but it's a credit to Talia Shire that she made the character memorable because there really wasn't a lot of meat on her script bone outside of her interactions with Paulie (and even those were sorta limited).

Burgess Meredith, to me, was fantastic. I know this film basically made Sylvester Stallone but I thought Meredith was far & away the best actor in this.

 

[Valeyard]

The only weak spot for me is not enough Joe Spinell. But I watch these often enough to miss him by part 3.

Honestly if Rocky 5 had them go broke by Rocky's old ties to Gazzo coming to light after the Drago fight and them losing everything for reasons, it's a better movie. Would give Paulie something to do as well.

 

[King Kamala]

Joe Spinnell was dead by the time that Rocky V was made though. I guess you could have Robert Z'Dar or somebody play Gazzo's son who has the smoking gun.

 

[Valeyard]

He doesn't even need to be in it, just his association to Rocky. Like if Duke dug that up and released it or something. Let Paulie get mad no one cares that he worked for Gazzo too. Gazzo is just a really interesting thread that is just dropped completely.

 

[King Kamala]

How old was Vincent Gallo in 1990? He could have been Gazzo Jr. Him trying to exert influence on his future IRL friend Sage Stallone would've been better than Sage Stallone quarreling with future E from Entourage.

 

[King Kamala]

One thing is for certain RE: how Rocky V could've been improved. Stallone should've gotten his brother to record a New Jack Swing remake of "Take You Back" for the soundtrack.


Edit- I guess there was a hip hop/New Jack Swing song that sampled/interpolated “Take You Back” but it didn’t involve "Let Me Be" Frank Stallone so that's a fatal error.

Edit x2- no wonder why I forgot this. This sucks!