Making The Case For Rocky V

Returning To Where You Came From

I tend to have fond feelings for things that are rejected by the general consensus. Here are a few examples: Michael Jordan playing for the Washington Wizards. The U2 album that was automatically downloaded to everybody’s iPhone in 2014. Jimmy Carter is my all-time favorite President. Rocky V is a movie that is disdained by almost everybody, but I love it. Here’s how bad the hatred for Rocky V is:

• The movie has a 33% critic score and 31% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

• Here are a few BRUTAL reviews pulled from Rotten Tomatoes:

  • “Like watching some favourite relative die, Stallone subjects the viewer to a miserable and pathetic end for such an enduring character.” - Almar Haflidason, BBC

  • “In Rocky V, the underdog is officially diagnosed as 'brain damaged.' Yo. So what else is new?” - Rita Kempley, Washington Post

  • “An embarrassment to brain-damaged boxers and their wussy sons everywhere.” - Martin Scribbs, Low IQ Canadian

• It is the lowest rated Rocky/Creed movie on IMDB with 5.4 stars out of 10.

• The Rocky V Soundtrack isn’t even on Spotify.

• Even Sylvester Stallone admitted his true feelings for the movie in 2008: “Rocky V” was bad. It was a failure. It definitely didn’t live up to expectations.”

I am here make the case that they are all wrong. That even the star of the film, the man that is literally Rocky, fails to see the value of the fifth installment of the franchise. Rocky V is a good movie.

A Quick Synopsis

Rocky returns home from defeating Ivan Drago and ending the Cold War. He is a national hero, but it comes with a cost. Rocky has sustained terrible brain damage from his career in boxing. The brain damage angle of the story is interesting to me. This was about 20 years before the research and reports of NFL players being diagnosed with CTE. In this way, Rocky V was ahead of his time.

Rocky’s problems get more complex after he lands at the airport. He faces pressure from boxing promoter, George Washington Duke, to return to the ring. Duke sees dollar bills. Rocky’s shortsightedness sees an opportunity, but his wife, Adrian steps up to protect him. The Balboa Family gets to their house and it turns out Paulie made some financial decisions that caused the family to lose all of their money. I have a few thoughts about this. First, we have no idea how Paulie had the power to give some financial jerk power of attorney over the entire Balboa wealth fund. Personally, I wouldn’t trust my brothers-in-law with that much money, but even more so a guy like Paulie. My other thought is, if I’m Rocky, Paulie gets cut out of the family after the Apollo Creed fights. The character is there for comedic relief for the movie, but he’s the toxic drunk uncle if this was real life. He’s not worth the baggage, especially if it leads to financial ruin.

So, the Balboa family moves back to Philadelphia, to Paulie’s old house nonetheless. Their new life of returning to where they came from is a far ways from the comfort of their wealth. Rocky is impacted hard by this, while Adrian tries to hold the family together. He wants to fight. She wants to protect him. They both want to do their best to give their son, Robert, the best life possible. Rocky is going to lose his way a bit and it impacts his relationship with his son. He opens up Mickey’s old gym and starts training fighters.

Rocky meets the wandering fighter, Tommy Gunn, and manages him to become a successful fighters. Unfortunately, Tommy Gunn replaces Robert as Rocky’s focus of attention. Robert rebels, as any middle school-aged kid would. Tommy Gunn rejects Rocky and is enticed away by the promoter, Duke. Rocky repairs his relationship with his son and Gunn becomes World Champion, but Gunn has one more fight to prove himself. He feels stuck in Rocky’s shadow so he shows up to Rocky’s bar to challenge him to a fight befitting of the streets of Philadelphia.

The Creed Trilogy May Not Exist Without Rocky V

Rocky becoming a trainer was the only logical career move after his fighting career. Nobody would have gone to a movie about Rocky as a fight commentator who participates in celebrity golf tournaments. In 2015, Creed gave us the perfect story of Rocky training a pupil. The story behind Creed getting made is amazing and the movie is so beloved in my heart. I’ll go into more detail in the future when I write about it, but trust me when I say that Creed was the best film of 2015. Rocky V is the first time we see Rocky as a trainer. We see him in the gym teaching young fighters and eventually training his eventual foe. He’s ultimately not successful in the job, but his failures with Tommy Gunn prepare him to teach Adonis Creed.

A Father-Son Movie

At its heart, Rocky V is a movie about a father’s relationship with his son. It’s very evident early on how much Rocky loves his kid, who is played by Sage Stallone. Rocky wants nothing but the best for his son, but losing the comforts of his wealth puts pressure on his ability to provide. Sadly, Rocky gets distracted by his training and love of Tommy Gunn that he neglects his responsibilities of a dad. I’m not surprised by this. Rocky didn’t grow up with a father. He didn’t have someone present in his life until he had Mickey and he wanted to be Mickey to Tommy. Rocky was operating under the assumption that things between and Robert would always be ok, but that’s not how relationships work. You have to invest them. You have to put in the work. I think this type of character development for Rocky is great. He’s a flawed individual, like all of us. He becomes a better person because he learns a lesson, like many of us do in life.

Inspirational Moments

This scene with Micky is one of my favorite scenes in the entire Rocky Saga. I watched a lot of motivational scenes in my 20’s with the advent of YouTube. This scene was always in the rotation. Mickey was always Rocky’s father figure and there would be no Rocky without the mentorship of Mickey. Those words “Get up you son of a bitch! Cuz Mickey loves ya” are at the heart of the movie. Rocky has been knocked down (again) and he has to get back up. He sees Tommy Gunn as a person that he can pass down Mickey’s wisdom too, but it ends up being Robert who needs the lessons.

There are a couple of other inspirational moments from this movie that I love, but they are in the fight linked below.

The Fight

We get a street fight! While the snobby film critic mocks, I embrace the different arena for Rocky’s bout. This movie highlights the streets of Philadelphia where Rocky grew up and whatever place to throw some punches than the place where young Rocky most definitely learned to fight?

There are two quotes from Rocky in this scene that are an adrenaline injection to my veins….

1. Duke: “In the ring! In the ring! Tommy Gunn only fights in the ring!”

   Rocky: “My ring’s outside.”

   LFG!!!!!!!!!!

2. As in all of Rocky’s fights, he gets knocked down and it seems like the fight is lost….but that son of a bitch got up cuz Mickey loves him! Tommy starts to retreat to the car feeling victorious, but Rocky wants some more….

   Rocky: “Yo, Tommy! I didn’t hear no bell! One more round.”

   How many times in life do we just need to say, “One more round.” We just need a little bit more time to fight, to keep pressing on.

   LFG!!!!!!!!!!!

Rocky V, A Product Of Its Era

The Rocky/Creed Saga spans six decades and each film is really a product of its time. From the stories to the music to the cinematography. Rocky and Rocky II are 70’s movies. Rocky III and Rocky IV are picture perfect for the extravagance of 80’s filmmaking. Rocky Balboa (my least favorite) exists in the era of reboots and comebacks and Creed is a reflection of the 2010s and 2020s era of writing a new story for a younger generation. Rocky V is the only film in the saga to take place in the 1990s. The film mentions urban blight and incorporates Hip-Hop into the soundtrack. It has a darker tone and a grittier feel than its immediate two predecessors. Rocky V is film of the 90s.

Here is how Chuck Klosterman describes the decade in his phenomenal book, The Nineties: “The texture is what mattered. The feeling of the era, and that feeling supposedly signified, isolates the nineties from both its distant past and its immediate future. It was a period of ambivalence, defined by an overwhelming assumption that life, and particularly American life, was underwhelming.” That statement is Rocky V. We moved away from the wealth and the extravagance of fighting Mr. T and Ivan Drago, leading to the end of the Cold War. We moved into this new phase of life: going back to where you came from, and you realize that though you left, it never left you.