How Stallone Adding Mickey Changes Rocky 4s Drago Fight

How Stallone Adding Mickey Changes Rocky 4’s Drago Fight

Sylvester Stallone added footage of Burgess Meredith’s Mickey to his Rocky IV director’s cut. Here’s how this changes the essence of Rocky vs. Drago.

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How Stallone Adding Mickey Changes Rocky 4s Drago Fight

Sylvester Stallone adding footage of Mickey Goldmill (Burgess Meredith) to his director’s cut of Rocky IV is a significant change to Rocky Balboa’s epic fight against Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren). Stallone’s revamped Rocky IV expands upon the original 1985 movie, which is a cult classic beloved by Rocky fans. But while the creator of Rocky has added lots of new footage to the film, Mickey’s return rights his glaring absence from Rocky IV and reasserts the crusty old trainer’s importance to Balboa and the Rocky movie franchise.

The elderly Mickey Goldmill tragically died in Rocky III after suffering a heart attack prior to Rocky’s first fight with Clubber Lang (Mr. T). Mickey and Rocky became inseparable when Goldmill agreed to train Balboa for his original battle against Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), but after Rocky became heavyweight champion of the world, Mickey protected his protege by signing Balboa to face lesser caliber opponents and avoid Clubber. Mickey’s death shattered Rocky and he was annihilated by Lang. Rocky regained the title and beat Clubber after Apollo returned to train Balboa, taking Mickey’s place as Rocky’s mentor and best friend. In Rocky IV, Rocky had made peace with Mickey’s death and Balboa trained himself to beat Ivan Drago in revenge for the Russian killing Apollo in the ring during their exhibition. Rocky IV is the only one of the original five films where Burgess Meredith didn’t appear as Mickey.

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Sylvester Stallone adds footage of Mickey during Balboa’s war against Drago in Rocky IV’s director’s cut. Rocky sees a memory of Mickey while he’s down on the mat and his mentor urges, “Get up, you sonofab*tch!” Rocky seeing Mickey in Rocky Vs. Drago is part of a sweeping change Stallone is making to the essence of the Drago fight and to Rocky himself. Stallone adds flashbacks of other key inspirational figures in Rocky’s life as well, including Apollo and his wife Adrian (Talia Shire). By doing so, Stallone is acknowledging that this battle with Drago is the final fight of Rocky’s career (until his 2006 comeback against Mason Dixon (Antonio Tarver) in Rocky Balboa). The addition of flashbacks adds a crucial extra dimension to the fight so that the Italian Stallion summons the people he loves to will him on to beat Drago, and Mickey is vital as it reaffirms Goldmill as Rocky’s father figure who made him a winner.

By inserting footage of Mickey, Apollo, and Adrian into Rocky’s fight with Drago, Stallone is incorporating the full breadth of the Rocky franchise to give Balboa the heart he needs to win against the Russian nightmare. But Mickey is arguably the most powerful vision Rocky sees as he battles Drago because Goldmill is his father figure who Balboa loved and needed when he was just “a bum” on the streets of South Philadelphia. In Rocky, Mickey was a washed-up old boxing trainer but he and Rocky beat Apollo and rose all the way to the heavyweight championship together. It only makes sense that Rocky would call upon Mickey’s memory during the toughest fight of his life.

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The footage of Mickey from Rocky IV: Rocky Vs. Drago is actually repurposed from Rocky V. Although he was in his early 80s, Burgess Meredith reprised Mickey one final time and shot a flashback where Goldmill told Rocky how proud he was of him, and he gifted Balboa with a cufflink that was given to him by Rocky Marciano. In the climax of Rocky V, as Balboa was engaged in a street fight with Tommy Gunn (Tommy Morrison), Rocky has a vision of Mickey yelling, “Get up, you sonofab*tch! ‘Cause Mickey loves you!” and this inspired Balboa to finish off Gunn.

Stallone is admittedly not a fan of Rocky V and it makes sense he decided to rework the final Mickey scenes Burgess Meredith filmed into his Rocky IV director’s cut to complete Meredith’s appearances in the first five Rocky films. The Mickey flashback is even more powerful when Rocky is fighting Drago since it’s his beloved mentor giving him inspiration during the greatest and hardest fight of Rocky’s career. Mickey in Rocky IV is also resonant as it brings Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky franchise full-circle so that Mickey is fittingly with Rocky at the end of his professional career just as he was when Rocky embarked on his journey to becoming heavyweight champion.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/rocky-4-drago-fight-mickey-changes-differences-explained/

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