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Rocky #4
Rocky IV
Pugilist, Rocky Balboa, returns to take on a powerful challenger from the Soviet Union
- GenresFictionMedia Tie In
156 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 12, 1985
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152 people want to read
About the author
Sylvester Stallone
54 books137 followersSylvester Gardenzio Stallone is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. One of the biggest box office draws in the world from the '70s to the '90s, international megastar Sylvester Stallone is a global icon. He has played two characters who have become a part of the American cultural lexicon: Rocky Balboa, the boxer who overcame all odds to fight for love and glory, and John Rambo, a courageous soldier who specialized in violent rescue and revenge missions.
During the 1980s, he enjoyed phenomenal popularity and was one of the biggest movie stars in the world with the Rocky and Rambo franchises. Stallone's culturally influential films changed pop culture history and he has largely enjoyed a career on the Hollywood A list for over 30 years.
He is considered by many (including the mayor of Philadelphia) as the one who made the city of Philadelphia an international tourist attraction with the Rocky Steps. His immense popularity there has led to a statue of his Rocky character being placed permanently near the Philadelphia Museum of Art as a cultural landmark. In August 2007, a statue of Rocky was also erected in the Serbian village of Žitište. Stallone's film Rocky has also been inducted into the National Film Registry as well as having its film props placed in the Smithsonian Museum as a national treasure.
During the 1980s, he enjoyed phenomenal popularity and was one of the biggest movie stars in the world with the Rocky and Rambo franchises. Stallone's culturally influential films changed pop culture history and he has largely enjoyed a career on the Hollywood A list for over 30 years.
He is considered by many (including the mayor of Philadelphia) as the one who made the city of Philadelphia an international tourist attraction with the Rocky Steps. His immense popularity there has led to a statue of his Rocky character being placed permanently near the Philadelphia Museum of Art as a cultural landmark. In August 2007, a statue of Rocky was also erected in the Serbian village of Žitište. Stallone's film Rocky has also been inducted into the National Film Registry as well as having its film props placed in the Smithsonian Museum as a national treasure.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 24, 2011
Sylvester Stallone turns in a book that is no better or worse than many other novelizations. You would expect Rocky Balboa himself to pen a novelization of his own movie (written by! directed by! starring!) that gives deep insight into the personal psychology of Rocky himself, but except for a strange fixation with the word "Minicam" Stallone turns in a novelization that could have been written by pretty much anyone.
One thing we do get more of is Paulie's interaction with the robot. It was a one-off joke in the film, but in the book we see the robot getting Paulie drunk and flirting with him. Rocky himself demonstrates a lot of unease around Paulie's new companion. "He had only bought the robot as a joke. It seemed to be turning into more than a machine."
This subplot comes to a climax the night before everyone heads to Vegas for Apollo Creed's bout with Ivan Drago. Paulie spends the entire night before the trip hidden away somewhere, "partying" with Rocky's robot. Then, apparently unable to slake his sick appetites on its cold, plastic chassis, he spends all his time in Vegas trying to pick up hookers. They can sense that he is into machines, and refuse to even give him a discount. Sorry, Paulie!
One thing we do get more of is Paulie's interaction with the robot. It was a one-off joke in the film, but in the book we see the robot getting Paulie drunk and flirting with him. Rocky himself demonstrates a lot of unease around Paulie's new companion. "He had only bought the robot as a joke. It seemed to be turning into more than a machine."
This subplot comes to a climax the night before everyone heads to Vegas for Apollo Creed's bout with Ivan Drago. Paulie spends the entire night before the trip hidden away somewhere, "partying" with Rocky's robot. Then, apparently unable to slake his sick appetites on its cold, plastic chassis, he spends all his time in Vegas trying to pick up hookers. They can sense that he is into machines, and refuse to even give him a discount. Sorry, Paulie!
December 13, 2015
When it comes to novelizations, there's one thing I think is tremendously important that other readers should know--assuming they don't know: When it comes to writing novelizations, the writers have an extremely small window to work with when penning a novel from a script that is made up of dialogue and little information regarding actual action. Most writers, at best, get several weeks to work on the entire novelization; including time to look over the script and take down as many notes as possible. My point in all of this? Most novelizations don't go through a great writing and editing process. The result, most of the time, is a final piece of work that does feel very rushed. My other point: Give the authors a break. They and the publishers realize that the final product is nowhere near perfect. With "Rocky IV," Stallone wrote the novelization. Bear in mind that he wrote, starred, and directed the movie on top of numerous other responsibilities. I'm sure his plate was more than full when sitting down to write this novelization.
With all of that out of the way, I have to say that, as one of the biggest Rocky fans, I really did enjoy this novelization. Sure, there were a couple misspelled words, some punctuation errors, and other grammatical errors, but all of that aside, this is a great companion to the movie.
So much about the novel is very different from what we see on screen. Rarely is that the case. So many novelizations are extremely identical to the movies that it's not worth picking them up most of the time. Not "Rocky IV." Sure, much of the dialogue here remains in the film and is even tweaked in some spots. But so much is different. Here are some examples: Adrian is pregnant; we get more time with Drago and his people; Paulie is given a larger presence; Drago is painted as sympathetic in some scenes.
Many of these scenes add so much more depth to the characters and the story at large. One of the most powerful scenes included Cora staring at Rocky during Apollo's funeral and saying, "He was your friend! Why didn't you do anything?" It's a scene that I would have loved to have seen in the movie.
But certain story moments end up going nowhere in the novel. Adrian's pregnancy is brought up several times and really seems to be a tool used to potentially get Rocky not to fight Drago. After that, it's never mentioned again. Attempting to make Drago a sympathetic character was a really interesting move, but by the end of the novel, it doesn't matter, as we're supposed to hate Drago after we read how he talks to Rocky about killing him and cursing at him. The anabolic steroids is brought up at the first press conference (like in the movie) but nothing is made of it again despite the reader being told about Drago's immense punching power. Rocky initially trains at Mickey's gym, but he quickly abandons that plan to head for Siberia, because he's getting too many onlookers and reporters disrupting his training.
Some of those things would have worked had they been fleshed out better, or, as the case is with Mickey's gym and Adrian's pregnancy, some of those should have been left out.
The book is far from perfect, but it adds so much more depth to what the final movie could have been. It's a great companion piece that Rocky fans need to check out and get a closer look at the initial story of the movie.
With all of that, do I prefer the book or the movie? While the book gives us more depth and detail in most scenes, I prefer the movie much more. The movie is better edited and streamlined from a story perspective. Drago is not sympathetic in the movie (unless you read between the lines during the final fight), Adrian isn't pregnant, there is no Mickey's gym, there aren't extensive training sequences in Las Vegas, etc. The movie does a better job at telling a simpler story that doesn't get bogged down in many dead end story strands.
Again, I'm not saying the book isn't worth the read. It most certainly is. I just think, when it comes down to which format is better, the movie is better in the long run.
With all of that out of the way, I have to say that, as one of the biggest Rocky fans, I really did enjoy this novelization. Sure, there were a couple misspelled words, some punctuation errors, and other grammatical errors, but all of that aside, this is a great companion to the movie.
So much about the novel is very different from what we see on screen. Rarely is that the case. So many novelizations are extremely identical to the movies that it's not worth picking them up most of the time. Not "Rocky IV." Sure, much of the dialogue here remains in the film and is even tweaked in some spots. But so much is different. Here are some examples: Adrian is pregnant; we get more time with Drago and his people; Paulie is given a larger presence; Drago is painted as sympathetic in some scenes.
Many of these scenes add so much more depth to the characters and the story at large. One of the most powerful scenes included Cora staring at Rocky during Apollo's funeral and saying, "He was your friend! Why didn't you do anything?" It's a scene that I would have loved to have seen in the movie.
But certain story moments end up going nowhere in the novel. Adrian's pregnancy is brought up several times and really seems to be a tool used to potentially get Rocky not to fight Drago. After that, it's never mentioned again. Attempting to make Drago a sympathetic character was a really interesting move, but by the end of the novel, it doesn't matter, as we're supposed to hate Drago after we read how he talks to Rocky about killing him and cursing at him. The anabolic steroids is brought up at the first press conference (like in the movie) but nothing is made of it again despite the reader being told about Drago's immense punching power. Rocky initially trains at Mickey's gym, but he quickly abandons that plan to head for Siberia, because he's getting too many onlookers and reporters disrupting his training.
Some of those things would have worked had they been fleshed out better, or, as the case is with Mickey's gym and Adrian's pregnancy, some of those should have been left out.
The book is far from perfect, but it adds so much more depth to what the final movie could have been. It's a great companion piece that Rocky fans need to check out and get a closer look at the initial story of the movie.
With all of that, do I prefer the book or the movie? While the book gives us more depth and detail in most scenes, I prefer the movie much more. The movie is better edited and streamlined from a story perspective. Drago is not sympathetic in the movie (unless you read between the lines during the final fight), Adrian isn't pregnant, there is no Mickey's gym, there aren't extensive training sequences in Las Vegas, etc. The movie does a better job at telling a simpler story that doesn't get bogged down in many dead end story strands.
Again, I'm not saying the book isn't worth the read. It most certainly is. I just think, when it comes down to which format is better, the movie is better in the long run.
August 26, 2013
Adrian is pregnant! I am not sure where to begin, but I will begin with that.
Prior to this, I believe I have only read one other novelizations of an original screenplay, and that was in 1989 when I read Batman. I remember thinking, "This isn't what happened! He didn't say that!" It was later that I discovered that movie tie-ins of this sort are written before the filming is complete, and so there are often discrepancies between what was originally intended, and the final film. These discrepancies are what make movie tie-ins awesome.
After reading this, I understood the villains so much better...the truth is, Rocky IV is probably the best movie ever, and it is also completely ridiculous. The film is only about 90 minutes long, and about 45 minutes are of montages. One of the montages includes flashbacks to when Apollo Creed was killed. It is a great montage, but it is shown thirty seconds after he died.
Paulie is awesome.
Drago is shown to be a real person. A man with a real love for his wife.
Sometimes, I wondered if Stallone actually wrote the novelization of his screenplay. I just thought, "Why is this guy spending all this time writing this movie tie-in? Shouldn't he be chopping down trees and jabbing steroids in his ass? Who the hell reads movie tie-ins, anyway?" I guess I read movie tie-ins, but besides me, who else? I'm sure someone read it, but is there really a market for novelizations of movies? Anyway, Stallone probably wrote it, because he spent a lot of time talking about how beautiful Ludmilla Drago is, which makes sense because the actress that played that role was his wife.
I would recommend this book to anyone that saw the movie and wanted to know more about Paulie's relationship with the Robot.
Prior to this, I believe I have only read one other novelizations of an original screenplay, and that was in 1989 when I read Batman. I remember thinking, "This isn't what happened! He didn't say that!" It was later that I discovered that movie tie-ins of this sort are written before the filming is complete, and so there are often discrepancies between what was originally intended, and the final film. These discrepancies are what make movie tie-ins awesome.
After reading this, I understood the villains so much better...the truth is, Rocky IV is probably the best movie ever, and it is also completely ridiculous. The film is only about 90 minutes long, and about 45 minutes are of montages. One of the montages includes flashbacks to when Apollo Creed was killed. It is a great montage, but it is shown thirty seconds after he died.
Paulie is awesome.
Drago is shown to be a real person. A man with a real love for his wife.
Sometimes, I wondered if Stallone actually wrote the novelization of his screenplay. I just thought, "Why is this guy spending all this time writing this movie tie-in? Shouldn't he be chopping down trees and jabbing steroids in his ass? Who the hell reads movie tie-ins, anyway?" I guess I read movie tie-ins, but besides me, who else? I'm sure someone read it, but is there really a market for novelizations of movies? Anyway, Stallone probably wrote it, because he spent a lot of time talking about how beautiful Ludmilla Drago is, which makes sense because the actress that played that role was his wife.
I would recommend this book to anyone that saw the movie and wanted to know more about Paulie's relationship with the Robot.
May 2, 2020
"You heard about the Russians, right?" "Yeah, they live in Russia."
After the devastating events of Rocky III, I wasn't expecting to get another devastating event in Rocky IV (I must have blocked the second event from my memory). It makes both films all the worse, when you read the novelizations - you get the punch in the gut twice, if you'll excuse the pun.
This is an excellent novelization, although again, very short - it's 156 pages long, and I feel that there could have easily been another 40-50 pages added. There's so much additional content in the lead up to the Creed/Drago fight, that was clearly cut from the final film, most of which I would have liked to have seen.
The beginning of the novelization is different - it starts off with Apollo and Rocky in the showers (be still, my beating heart and then to see a bearded Stallone in the film - yummy), then flashes back to the Rocky/Clubber Lang fight, before going to Apollo and Rocky's "friendly" match in Goldmills. I do find the beginning of the film quite confusing, as Rocky has a new hat (we find out where this comes from in the book), and it seems to be a couple of years later, as his son is older, but it seems to be a continuation directly after Rocky III - actor who played his son clearly changed, which made me think it was a couple of years later!
There's more scenes of Paulie in the novelization as well. I've complained about how annoying I found him in the previous novelization, and his "me, me, me" attitude still grinds my gears. His ungratefulness at the robot for his 40th (which turns into some weird relationship), when he felt he "deserved" a sports car - thinking that a sports car would turn him into a hit with the ladies. Constantly trying his luck with the slot machines and tables in Las Vegas and then denting Rocky's car.
There's a few scenes of Rocky working in his office, again on an English program to improve his speech and also some history tests, which you see 5 year old Rocky Jnr helping with. There's also an odd scene, right before he gives Adrian her "early" anniversary present (at least he remembers their anniversary) - he splashes cologne on his face and chest and then "he pulled at the elastic of his pyjama bottoms and splashed on a few more drops". Rocky was hoping to get lucky that night! His gift to Adrian was also different - in the film it's a rather hideous snake watch, but in the book, it's a string of pearls.
The Russians don't suddenly just have a press conference, the book actually shows them on the plane and arriving in the airport, prior to the press conference. There's good descriptions of each of the Russians, as seen through the eyes of Michelle (!), the stewardness, who is so bored on the flight, that she wishes a wandering hand would go up her skirt, and can't wait to get to New York to party.
There's quite a bit of insight into Cora's marriage to Apollo, a character who's not seen nearly enough in the films. I suppose all the concentration is given to Adrian, rather than Apollo's marriage. They are described as being complete opposites in the book.
The whole Apollo finding out that the Russians are here and wish to fight (actually Rocky, but never mind) is changed slightly from the film, and the scene where Apollo goes to Rocky to talk it over is extended quite significantly. We also see Apollo training prior to the Drago fight, which was cut from the final film, making the lead up to it quite abrupt. Maybe they felt we'd seen previous training sequences, and obviously we see Rocky training in Russia, so they probably thought one training sequence was enough for the film. But it does show how almost unprepared Apollo and almost uninterested he was for the fight - much like Rocky's training prior to his first fight with Clubber Lang. Apollo seems to prefer the show that he's going to put on, and the attention he's getting for the "exhibition match", than the training. Rocky also shows that he's been heavily influenced by Mickey, while attempting to get Apollo to concentrate and train.
The book also provides some background/family information for Ivan Drago, and his wife, Ludmilla. Ludmilla's background is only a paragraph, so a great deal more brief than Ivan's.
There's also some additional scenes of Adrian prior to flying to Las Vegas to see the Creed/Drago fight and finding out that she's pregnant. She tells Rocky after the fight is over, but I'm unsure if anything ever comes of this, as it's certainly not included in the film, and as far as I can remember, they only had one son - unless it gets mentioned in the next film.
I found that with all these additional scenes, the actual lead up to people starting to arrive in Las Vegas for the Creed/Drago fight, doesn't begin until page 84 and is over by page 101. It feels like it happens a lot quicker in the film, and there's more build up to the training in Russia. I feel like the training in Russia could have had more included, as it feels very cut down, compared to the first half of the book. When you consider that Rocky gets to Russia by page 128, and the book is over by page 156, it does feel incredibly condensed.
We also find out why the United Boxing Federation is not sanctioning the fight with Rocky/Drago, which is bypassed with a brief sentence in the film, and feels like something I missed on my first watch of the movie. Two State Department men also try to persuade Rocky not to go ahead with the fight, but they are clearly unsuccessful.
I have actually surprised myself by enjoying these novelizations. Whilst 1, 3 and 4 have all stuck to the same telling (2 is told completely in Rocky's vernacular) they have felt quite fleshed out, despite often being quite short - there is a lot crammed into them, and makes you wish that these were longer. They are still relatively expensive, so if you see it at a reasonable price, they're definitely worthwhile snapping up. From checking my order history, I've spent £31.58 between the four books, with some being cheaper than others. I am disappointed that there's no more from the series that were novelized, although I'm still hoping that they'll pop up and I just haven't found the right search terms for them as yet. These will definitely be some of the favourites in my novelization collection.
After the devastating events of Rocky III, I wasn't expecting to get another devastating event in Rocky IV (I must have blocked the second event from my memory). It makes both films all the worse, when you read the novelizations - you get the punch in the gut twice, if you'll excuse the pun.
This is an excellent novelization, although again, very short - it's 156 pages long, and I feel that there could have easily been another 40-50 pages added. There's so much additional content in the lead up to the Creed/Drago fight, that was clearly cut from the final film, most of which I would have liked to have seen.
The beginning of the novelization is different - it starts off with Apollo and Rocky in the showers (be still, my beating heart and then to see a bearded Stallone in the film - yummy), then flashes back to the Rocky/Clubber Lang fight, before going to Apollo and Rocky's "friendly" match in Goldmills. I do find the beginning of the film quite confusing, as Rocky has a new hat (we find out where this comes from in the book), and it seems to be a couple of years later, as his son is older, but it seems to be a continuation directly after Rocky III - actor who played his son clearly changed, which made me think it was a couple of years later!
There's more scenes of Paulie in the novelization as well. I've complained about how annoying I found him in the previous novelization, and his "me, me, me" attitude still grinds my gears. His ungratefulness at the robot for his 40th (which turns into some weird relationship), when he felt he "deserved" a sports car - thinking that a sports car would turn him into a hit with the ladies. Constantly trying his luck with the slot machines and tables in Las Vegas and then denting Rocky's car.
There's a few scenes of Rocky working in his office, again on an English program to improve his speech and also some history tests, which you see 5 year old Rocky Jnr helping with. There's also an odd scene, right before he gives Adrian her "early" anniversary present (at least he remembers their anniversary) - he splashes cologne on his face and chest and then "he pulled at the elastic of his pyjama bottoms and splashed on a few more drops". Rocky was hoping to get lucky that night! His gift to Adrian was also different - in the film it's a rather hideous snake watch, but in the book, it's a string of pearls.
The Russians don't suddenly just have a press conference, the book actually shows them on the plane and arriving in the airport, prior to the press conference. There's good descriptions of each of the Russians, as seen through the eyes of Michelle (!), the stewardness, who is so bored on the flight, that she wishes a wandering hand would go up her skirt, and can't wait to get to New York to party.
There's quite a bit of insight into Cora's marriage to Apollo, a character who's not seen nearly enough in the films. I suppose all the concentration is given to Adrian, rather than Apollo's marriage. They are described as being complete opposites in the book.
The whole Apollo finding out that the Russians are here and wish to fight (actually Rocky, but never mind) is changed slightly from the film, and the scene where Apollo goes to Rocky to talk it over is extended quite significantly. We also see Apollo training prior to the Drago fight, which was cut from the final film, making the lead up to it quite abrupt. Maybe they felt we'd seen previous training sequences, and obviously we see Rocky training in Russia, so they probably thought one training sequence was enough for the film. But it does show how almost unprepared Apollo and almost uninterested he was for the fight - much like Rocky's training prior to his first fight with Clubber Lang. Apollo seems to prefer the show that he's going to put on, and the attention he's getting for the "exhibition match", than the training. Rocky also shows that he's been heavily influenced by Mickey, while attempting to get Apollo to concentrate and train.
The book also provides some background/family information for Ivan Drago, and his wife, Ludmilla. Ludmilla's background is only a paragraph, so a great deal more brief than Ivan's.
There's also some additional scenes of Adrian prior to flying to Las Vegas to see the Creed/Drago fight and finding out that she's pregnant. She tells Rocky after the fight is over, but I'm unsure if anything ever comes of this, as it's certainly not included in the film, and as far as I can remember, they only had one son - unless it gets mentioned in the next film.
I found that with all these additional scenes, the actual lead up to people starting to arrive in Las Vegas for the Creed/Drago fight, doesn't begin until page 84 and is over by page 101. It feels like it happens a lot quicker in the film, and there's more build up to the training in Russia. I feel like the training in Russia could have had more included, as it feels very cut down, compared to the first half of the book. When you consider that Rocky gets to Russia by page 128, and the book is over by page 156, it does feel incredibly condensed.
We also find out why the United Boxing Federation is not sanctioning the fight with Rocky/Drago, which is bypassed with a brief sentence in the film, and feels like something I missed on my first watch of the movie. Two State Department men also try to persuade Rocky not to go ahead with the fight, but they are clearly unsuccessful.
I have actually surprised myself by enjoying these novelizations. Whilst 1, 3 and 4 have all stuck to the same telling (2 is told completely in Rocky's vernacular) they have felt quite fleshed out, despite often being quite short - there is a lot crammed into them, and makes you wish that these were longer. They are still relatively expensive, so if you see it at a reasonable price, they're definitely worthwhile snapping up. From checking my order history, I've spent £31.58 between the four books, with some being cheaper than others. I am disappointed that there's no more from the series that were novelized, although I'm still hoping that they'll pop up and I just haven't found the right search terms for them as yet. These will definitely be some of the favourites in my novelization collection.
June 16, 2017
This is great for any Rocky fan! Many details were not included in the film, such as Rocky coming back from his behind-closed-doors fight with Apollo, and Rocky doing educational software with his son. The movie but better!
October 11, 2014
good book
October 27, 2020
Movie recommended by Michal Shapira from WarnerMedia
November 30, 2022
OH YEA. What is there not to like?
-Punching Russians? UH YEA
-Training Montage? OF COURSE
-An Omniscient God That Is A Turtle? YEA!!!
-Punching Russians? UH YEA
-Training Montage? OF COURSE
-An Omniscient God That Is A Turtle? YEA!!!
August 4, 2023
Fascinating first-person novelization of the film. One of Stallone's rare forays into books. Reads almost like a treatment. Super entertaining.
July 25, 2021
A lot deeper and more added scences than the movie. The Russian giant, rock solid and his strength and iron will built in the mines and on the streets on Russia will pummel, humiliate and ultimately see Apollo to his grave. An unstoppable force that will collide with Rocky who will risk everything that he loves to seek revenge. The gloomy, cold, and isolated location will help forge Rocky's determination and turn him into the ultimate fighting machine. Drago will finally experience fear and Rocky will inspire the Russian people with his unrelenting don't give in warrior spirit.
Want to read
May 3, 2008Drago!!!!
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