Rocky IV

Released in the US on 27 November 1985, Rocky IV is the franchise's biggest hit, with about $300 million worldwide and six weeks at number one. Sylvester Stallone wrote, directed and starred. It was also Dolph Lundgren's American debut; the former Kyokushin karateka trained with Stallone for months before the shoot.

Real punches

Stallone and Lundgren agreed to hit each other for real in the final fight. A shot to the chest put Stallone in intensive care for eight days with a swollen heart and halted production, although producer Irwin Winkler's memoir tells it differently. Carl Weathers also walked off set for four days after Lundgren got too rough during the Apollo fight. The Moscow bout was shot at Vancouver's PNE Agrodome and fills nearly a third of the running time.

Two ways to train

The training montage sets Drago's machines and medical monitoring against Rocky hauling logs and running through deep snow in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park. Boxers will see conditioning more than technique: the fights are wide hooks thrown with no defence, and Roger Ebert mocked the implausible power of the punches.

A Cold War icon

Reviews were harsh (around 40% on Rotten Tomatoes) and it collected several Razzies, yet it became a 1980s icon, read as American individualism against the Soviet machine. Stallone's 2021 recut, Rocky IV: Rocky vs. Drago, fared better with critics. Drago returns in Creed II (2018), where his son Viktor fights Adonis Creed.