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—.Heavyweight boxing champion Rocky Balboa accompanies his friend Apollo Creed, who will be in a match against Ivan Drago, a Russian boxer who has been scientifically trained, using high tech equipment. When Drago kills Apollo in the match, Rocky blames himself for Apollo's death, and promises to get revenge on Drago in the ring, in the name of Apollo and the United States. Against the wishes of his wife Adrian, Rocky is off to the USSR to take on Drago, and hires Apollo's former manager Duke to help him prepare for the fight. While Drago enhances his amazing punching power using high-tech equipment, Rocky toughens up under the guidance of Duke in a compound in the frozen Soviet countryside, with his mind set on destroying Drago. —.The 'Iron Curtain' is starting to come down around the Soviet Union under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev.
A Soviet boxer named Ivan Drago, nicknamed 'The Siberian Express', comes to the United States with his wife, a Russian champion swimmer and coach for a guest match. Drago is a superbly conditioned boxer who has been scientifically trained in the USSR, and he & his coach propose a fight against Rocky Balboa. Rocky's former adversary, Apollo Creed decides to take on Drago despite having been out of the ring for several years.
Creed unwisely taunts Drago before the match, and after the first round, Drago issues a prophetic warning to Creed: 'You will lose.' Unfortunately the warning comes true and Creed dies following a pounding by the Siberian Express. When death threats are made against the Russian boxer, he returns to the USSR and states if there is to be a match between Balboa & Drago, it will be in the USSR.
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To honor Creed's memory, Rocky takes the Soviets up on their challenge and goes to Siberia to train for the match against the 'Siberian Express', that will take place in Moscow on Christmas Day, in front of a hostile audience. The synopsis below may give away important plot points.Synopsis. In 1985, Ivan Drago (Lundgren), a muscular 6-foot-5, 261-pound Soviet boxer, arrives in the United States with his wife Ludmilla (Nielsen), and a team of trainers from the USSR and Cuba. His manager, Nicolai Koloff (Pataki), takes every opportunity to promote Drago's athleticism as a hallmark of Soviet superiority. The press is invited to the Soviets' highly technical temporary training facility, Koloff explains how all the equipment they've brought with them has turned Drago into a perfect athlete. They also demonstrate with an impact monitor how much force Drago packs in a single punch; more than twice the average for an American boxer.
When asked about reports of widespread steroid use among Soviet athletes, Drago's wife denies any involvement by her husband. Motivated by patriotism and an innate desire to prove himself, Apollo Creed (Weathers) challenges Drago to an exhibition bout. Rocky (Stallone) has reservations, but agrees to train Apollo despite his misgivings about the fight. He asks Apollo whether the fight is against the Russian, or 'you against you'. During a press conference regarding the match, hostility is created between Apollo and Drago's respective camps. Apollo himself trumps up his anger and the Cold War rivalry between the USSR and the United States, confiding in Rocky moments later that it was all an act.
The Soviets are less than amused. The exhibition match takes place at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. The ring, with Drago already standing in it, is brought up through the arena floor to a loudly hostile and booing crowd. Apollo enters the ring in an over-the-top patriotic entrance with James Brown performing 'Living in America' complete with showgirls. The bout starts tamely with Apollo landing several punches that have no effect on the Russian.
It soon turns serious though, as Drago, with a shouted command by Koloff, starts to retaliate with devastating effect. By the end of the first round, Rocky and Apollo's trainer Duke (Burton) plead with him to give up, but Apollo refuses, gravely telling Rocky not to stop the fight.
Drago continues to pummel him in the second round, and despite Duke begging Rocky to throw in the towel, he reluctantly honors Apollo's wish. Eventually, Drago lands a final punch that knocks Apollo to the ground, killing him. In the immediate aftermath, Drago displays no sense of remorse commenting to the assembled media: 'If he dies. Incensed by Drago's cold indifference and feeling a deep sense of guilt, Rocky decides to avenge Apollo's death by agreeing to fight Drago in the Soviet Union on Christmas Day in an unsanctioned 15-round bout. His wife, Adrian, strenuously objects, saying that Rocky simply can't beat the bigger and stronger Russian and the fight will kill him. Rocky says it's in his nature to avenge his friend.
Rocky flies to the USSR without Adrian, setting up his training base in Krasnogourbinsk, a (fictional) remote village in Siberia with only Duke and brother-in-law Paulie (Young) to accompany him. He is also closely monitored by two KGB agents. Drago trains with his team's advanced setup and receives steroid injections.
Rocky, on the other hand trains unconventionally by splitting heavy logs, chopping down trees, throwing large rocks, pulls an overloaded snow sleigh, jogs in heavy snow and treacherous icy conditions and climbs a mountain. Duke also coaches Rocky to ignore the intense pain several of his training exercises are causing him. Adrian (Shire) arrives unexpectedly to give Rocky her support after initially refusing to travel to Russia because of her doubts on his fighting chances. Her presence increases Rocky's focus and enhances his training. At the bout, Drago is introduced with an elaborate, patriotic ceremony that puts the home crowd squarely in Drago's corner. In contrast to his fight with Apollo, Drago immediately goes on the offensive and Rocky takes a fierce pounding.
Rocky comes back toward the end of the second round; a right hook inflicts a cut below Drago's left eye that silences the crowd and prompts Rocky to continue punching Drago even after the bell rings. While Duke and Paulie cheer Rocky for his heroism, they remind him that Drago is not a machine, but merely a man. Ironically, Drago comments that Rocky 'is not human, he is like a piece of iron' with his own corner reprimanding him for being 'weak' in comparison to the 'small American.'
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The two boxers continue their battle over the next dozen rounds, with Rocky holding his ground despite Drago's powerful punches. His resilience rallies the previously hostile Soviet crowd to his side. When Drago's Soviet government representative berates his athlete for being weak, Drago picks him up and shoves him off the edge of the ring, stating he fights for himself. When they match before the final round, Drago shows newfound respect for Rocky, saying 'To the end.'
Rocky finally takes down Drago in the last round, winning by knockout to the shock of the Soviet Politburo members watching the fight. A bloody and battered Rocky gives a victory speech, acknowledging how the local crowd's disdain of him turned to respect. He compares it to the animosity between Soviets and Americans, and says that seeing him and Drago fight was 'better than 20 million,' implying war between their two countries. The commentator translates that part of the speech incorrectly to Russian by saying that 'its better than 20 million dollars'. Rocky finally declares, 'If I can change, and you can change, then everybody can change!'
The Soviet General Secretary stands and passionately applauds Rocky, and his aides follow suit. Rocky ends his speech by wishing his son a Merry Christmas, and throws his arms into the air in victory as the crowd applauds.
Vince DiColaBirth nameVincent Louis DiColaBorn( 1957-11-19) November 19, 1957 (age 62),Genres, danceOccupation(s)Musician, songwriterInstrumentsKeyboards, piano, drumsYears active1981–presentWebsiteVincent Louis 'Vince' DiCola (born November 19, 1957) is an American composer, keyboardist and arranger. He has composed scores for films such as, and soundtracks. DiCola also pioneered the use of sequencers on his soundtrack recording for Rocky IV, one of the first to exploit the and computer's sequencing capabilities. Contents.Life and career DiCola was born in 1957 in, to Italian-American parents. After majoring in percussion in college, DiCola began his professional music career upon moving to California in 1981. One of his early credits as a session musician was his synthesizer performance on 's albums Dirty Looks and Old Flame released in 1983 and 1985, respectively.
His first major break came when he was chosen to co-write several songs on the soundtrack (1983) with. Following his work on the Staying Alive project, he was recruited by to write the original score for (1985), followed by scoring (1986).
Since then, he has been active in the capacity of producer, recorded and performed as both a solo artist and member of several bands, and continues to work as a session musician and contributor to film soundtracks as composer and performer.DiCola counts and among his biggest influences in progressive rock music. He also admires film-music composers, and.Awards In 1983, DiCola was a co-nominee for the Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special for co-writing the soundtrack of the movie, in spite of the poor critical reception of the film.
He also received a nomination for Best Original Song – Motion Picture for the song ', which he co-wrote with for the same film.At the time, critics didn't appreciate his usage of electronic music in the Rocky IV soundtrack and he received a as a result. But on a more positive note, the song ' from the Transformers soundtrack won DiCola a 1986 Apex award for Best Original Song – Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror.Transformers DiCola has had enough of a cult following amongst fans to have warranted the release of several albums of music related to the Transformers movie, as follow-ups to the release of the original 1986.First released as a '97 exclusive, the 2-CD set contains the first full score of the movie. BotCon 2001 saw the releases of (featuring demos and rarities and including extended commentary from DiCola) and, containing solo piano renditions of songs from the soundtrack, as well as another complete score on a single disc named.He has been a guest at multiple Transformers conventions, including appearances at BotCon'97, BotCon'98, BotCon 2000 and The Official Transformers Collectors' Convention 2004 in.An interview with DiCola was included on the Region 1 DVD release of The Transformers: The Movie released by in the year 2000. However, this interview is not present on the 20th Anniversary Edition released by and in 2006.DiCola credits his work on Transformers with getting his music exposed to a much wider audience and getting him the most attention and fame he has had as an artist.Solo works DiCola released his first solo work in 1986, an album simply titled Piano Solos. He later worked both as an arranger and performer on a 1991 multi-artist project called Artfully Beatles, which led him to release Artistically Beatles, an album of ten Beatles songs he arranged and performed, in 1993.An additional solo album called was released in 2004.
In the same year, he completed the soundtrack to the low-rated 2004 film Sci-Fighter, collaborating with the composer Kenny Meriedeth in October 2003, using Kenny's synthesizer and sound banks. The album Falling Off a Clef contains six new tracks (Castle of the Gods suite, Alien March, Fallen Angel, FS#7, A. P.B., Castle of the Gods Variation) + a selection of 20 tracks from Sci-Fighter soundtrack.Other works In addition to his solo work, DiCola has worked with various musical groups.In 1991–1992 he began working with the 5-piece rock band Storming Heaven, releasing the album Life in Paradise in 1996.
In addition to DiCola on keyboards, guitar and vocals, the Storming Heaven lineup included lead vocalist Rick Livingston, drummer, guitarist Curtis Taylor, and keyboardist Casey Young. Life in Paradise was written during 1991.The band was originally formed in January 1991. They spent the first half of the year creating the start of a musical suite entitled 'Jessie's Journey', an idea that later was abandoned in favor of individual songs.
'It was supposed to be an entire album based on a kind of science fiction theme. Those first four songs ('Cross the Line', 'Red Knight', 'The Passage' and 'Dream House'), they're sort of like the opening four songs of a suite.'
Around the same time in 1996, DiCola, Storming Heaven bandmate Doane Perry, and vocalist formed a soul/progressive-rock trio named Thread and released their one and only self-titled album on CD.In 1999, he recorded experimental and largely improvisational instrumental tracks under the name of The Firing Squad. These recordings remain officially unreleased but several tracks have been posted on YouTube.In 2001, he worked again with Perry and released In-VINCE-ible!, a collection of diverse works from various past projects, with ex-members of Santana and Chicago assisting as session musicians, and featuring several special guests including of and his Storming Heaven bandmates.DiCola appeared as keyboardist on the first album in 2003.He and Perry once again formed a trio, this time with bassist Paul Ill and called DPI, to release a 3-track EP called Found Objects in 2006. Previously the trio had worked with vocalist Vincent Kendall and guitarist Reeves Gabrels in releasing a 42-minute suite called 'Pity the Rich' based on recordings made at the same time.
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