Rocky 5s Original Ending Killed Stallones Hero Why It Was Changed

Rocky 5’s Original Ending Killed Stallone’s Hero: Why It Was Changed

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Rocky 5 ended the original Rocky franchise, at least for decades, but the original plan was for Sylvester Stallone’s iconic hero to be killed off.

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Rocky 5s Original Ending Killed Stallones Hero Why It Was Changed

Rocky 5 ended the original Rocky franchise, at least for decades, but the original plan was for Sylvester Stallone’s iconic hero to be killed off. Rocky Balboa, former world champion boxer but also perennial underdog, is a movie character that everyone is familiar with, whether or not they’ve actually seen the Rocky series. He’s a cultural institution, an icon that, at his best, represents the power of perseverance and what one person can achieve if they try hard enough. Rocky may not always win, but he never goes down without giving it his all.

While some might argue John Rambo is Stallone’s signature character, Rocky Balboa is arguably much more worthy of the title, partially because were it not for Rocky’s breakaway success, it’s possible Rambo might not have materialized for Stallone a few years later. The first Rocky film is deservedly regarded as an all-time classic, and chances are, anyone reading this has probably seen it. That’s less true for Rocky’s many sequels, which jumped up and down in quality.

Rocky 5 is a movie that Stallone himself isn’t even a fan of anymore, and is generally regarded as the worst in the franchise. While it has its fans, most would agree it was not at all worthy of being Rocky’s permanent swan song. However, it came very close to being just that.

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Rocky 5’s Original Ending Killed Stallone’s Hero: Why It Changed

While many fans love and fondly remember Rocky 4, it’s also quite the over the top movie, featuring a ridiculous robot character and a fight between Rocky and Ivan Drago that is basically the Cold War settled in a boxing ring. That doesn’t make it any less entertaining overall, but with Rocky 5, Sylvester Stallone brought back original director John G. Avildsen, and set out to go back to the series’ more realistic roots. While, at least by most accounts, the resulting film doesn’t work, it at least ends with Rocky triumphing over the odds once again. In Stallone’s original script though, things ended up much worse for The Italian Stallion.

Following the final street brawl between Rocky and his former protege Tommy Gunn, in which an already hurt Rocky takes a ton of additional damage, the former champion was supposed to die from his injuries with his love Adrian at his side. Stallone found writing this scene highly emotional, and reportedly cried while finishing it. As Rocky 5 began filming, Rocky’s death was still the intended conclusion. That is until director Avildsen was contacted by the head of production studio United Artists, who argued that Rocky Balboa was too beloved and iconic to kill off, and demanded the tearjerker ending be changed.

For his part, Stallone eventually came to the same conclusion, if only because having Rocky die after a street fight would run counter to the central themes of the franchise, that being redemption and an unwillingness to give up in the face of adversity. In hindsight, it’s definitely a good thing that Rocky survived Rocky 5, as Stallone would win back both fans and critics with 2006’s excellent Rocky Balboa, and Rocky would also play a central role in the successful Creed spinoff films starring Michael B. Jordan.

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Link Source : https://screenrant.com/rocky-v-movie-original-ending-death-changed/

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