Rocky IV (Episode 12) - Paulie’s Robot & Burning Heart Training Montage

Join us for a fun deep dive into Rocky IV as we break down the scenes right after the "No Easy Way Out" montage! Big Gun Doug from the Rocky Minute podcast joins to discuss Paulie’s nagging robot, Rocky’s heartfelt bedroom talk with his son, the epic Survivor "Burning Heart" training arrival in Russia, Tumi luggage trivia, and Paulie’s hilarious complaints in the snow. Packed with movie analysis, laughs, and Rocky lore.

Doug plugs his show — check out Rocky Minute for daily Rocky content!

00:00 Intro & Guest Welcome
01:57 Rocky IV Post-Montage Discussion
04:51 No Easy Way Out Montage Talk
06:15 Tumi Luggage & Paulie’s Plaid Suitcase
09:29 Paulie & the Robot Scenes
15:48 Rocky’s Bedroom Talk with Son
24:00 Iconic “One More Round” Speech
36:00 Survivor Burning Heart Russia Arrival
42:10 Paulie in the Snow & Complaints
52:50 Training Setup & Final Thoughts

Creators and Guests

Host

Ryan Rebalkin

Guest

Doug Greenberg

He has Big Guns

What is Going The Distance: The Rocky Series Podcast?

Step into the ring with *Going The Distance: The Rocky Series Podcast*, the ultimate celebration of Sylvester Stallone's iconic underdog saga. Hosted by passionate Rocky superfan Ryan Rebalkin, this dedicated feed dives deep into every punch, montage, and heartfelt moment of the *Rocky* franchise—one film at a time, in glorious chronological order.

Whether you're reliving the gritty streets of Philadelphia in the original *Rocky* or breaking down the epic family legacy in *Rocky Balboa*, Ryan brings the energy of a champion. Joined by his brother Ruban, fellow superfans, amateur boxers and even musicians behind the films' anthems (shoutout to Robert Tepper's "No Easy Way Out"), each episode unpacks scenes with infectious enthusiasm, behind-the-scenes trivia, and personal stories that capture why *Rocky* still inspires millions to "go the distance."

From dissecting the legendary training montages and rematches, this podcast isn't just analysis—it's a knockout conversation that honors the heart, humor, and hustle of the Italian Stallion. It's perfect for die-hard fans, casual viewers, and anyone chasing their own eye-of-the-tiger moment.

Tune in for laughs, insights, and motivation that hits harder than Apollo Creed's left hook. Lace up your boots—it's time to go the distance!

Going The Distance - Rocky IV - Episode 12.mp3
So I was just saying that I'm not a big fan of the Blu-ray.
Why are you not a fan of the Blu-ray of the Rocky series?
I have a box set where there's the first six movies.
Yeah.
And the first one is the only one that has a commentary track.
Right.
None of the other ones do.
And that was the reason why I bought that series, that whole set,
because I wanted the commentary tracks for all the movies when I started to do the Rocky Minute.
Right.
And it doesn't have it.
Is there audio commentaries for the other movies on other DVD versions?
I never had them.
The only other version I had before I got this set was the five-part box set of the VHS tapes.
Right.
I had that too, man.
I had that too.
In the American flag box?
Yes, of course.
That's great.
Of course.
I mean, I bought that at the time before there was Rocky Balboa, of course.
Yeah, yeah.
I never owned a copy of Rocky Balboa.
On VHS?
On VHS or DVD until I bought this box set to get ready for my podcast.
Oh, okay, yeah.
So do you have the Blu-ray box set that it's kind of bluish?
Yeah.
Yeah.
A blue cover.
Ladies and gentlemen and gentlemen and ladies.
You know, it's funny.
Even back in the day, they actually said ladies and gentlemen.
So even back before women's rights, we always said ladies and gentlemen first, didn't we?
Ladies first, yeah.
Yeah.
All right.
What happened to that?
I don't know.
I think it's coming back around.
Yeah.
Why are they so upset?
They got ladies first.
Nothing else ever went wrong for ladies.
I know.
They got that the whole day.
Anytime they're at an event, they got introduced first.
Come on.
That's something.
Yeah.
Wow.
If you did have any female listeners, they're gone now.
Yeah.
I don't have any.
I don't have any listeners, let alone female listeners.
We want to say welcome again to our celebrity guest host.
Oh, my God.
I'm not the one featured in Sports Illustrated, my friend.
Yeah.
So when this episode comes out, thanks, Doug.
When this episode comes out, the issue that Ruben and I got interviewed for, Sports Illustrated,
it may be out by now, by the time this episode is released.
Did they give you a date on that?
Yeah.
He said beginning of December after the Creed II movie release.
So I don't know if that's when the magazine will be available or if it's like the beginning.
You know how sometimes they release December's issue before November ends type thing?
So I don't know.
Trust me.
You'll see on social media.
I'm going to plow it all over social media.
Don't you worry.
Oh, heck yeah.
When that thing comes out.
Yeah.
So Doug is from, sorry, Big Gun Doug is from the Rocky Minute podcast.
It's a daily Monday to Friday podcast.
You guys are just like just owning it right now.
I'm really proud of you guys.
Oh, thanks, man.
Owning it, I think, is a stretch.
But we're working hard.
You are hard working.
Putting out a daily show is a lot of work.
Yeah.
I don't know how your wife allows that.
Oh, that's a touchy subject in this house right now, my friend.
Save my wife.
Like, I'll just say, because my wife never listens to the show.
So my wife is out shopping right now.
And I've got like this window.
So I messaged Doug last night.
I said, hey, my wife's going out for a few hours.
No, she's at the museum right now with one of the kids.
And I'm like, I got a few hours.
Let's record an episode.
Because this, it's like a freebie.
I don't have to ask permission.
I don't have to.
Oh, it's terrible.
I love my wife.
But they think they're a hobby.
Maybe it's a little bit too much.
I don't know.
Just the other day, you said it's like a second full-time job.
You do all the editing on your show, right?
Yeah.
And I do all the editing of mine.
So I can only imagine.
So bravo to you, man.
Bravo to you.
So it's the Rocky Minute Podcast.
They're available on all podcast formats.
It's the easiest way to say it.
You just punch in Rocky Minute Podcast.
Even on Google, it'll show up wherever you're available.
I'm going to put that to the test.
I'm going to go to Google right now and see.
Yeah, sure.
We've got time.
I do that for my show.
So our show, of course, is the Rocky Series Podcast.
And it's the same thing.
Once you put that into Google, it should show.
At least it'll show your Facebook, Twitter.
It should show.
Yeah.
And then you can just kind of spiderweb from there.
Yeah, yeah.
It all pops up.
I kind of started not really babysitting people's listening of the show.
It's almost like if you know how to listen to podcasts, you know how to find a show.
If that makes sense.
Pretty much, yeah.
It's like telling us, hey, did you watch that TV show last night?
I don't know.
How do you operate a TV?
Right.
If you're hearing Ryan right now, you can find Rocky Minute.
There you go.
Perfect.
If you know how to listen to my show, you know how to find Rocky Minute on your podcast app.
Okay.
All right.
So, Doug, welcome.
We are going to talk about the sequence of events that takes place right after the Robert
Tepper montage of No Easy Way Out.
Is there any thoughts that you have on that montage before we segue into the events after
that montage?
One of the funniest things that I heard about that montage.
First of all, I love the song.
I personally love the montage.
I love the montage.
Even though they show like the same four or five clips over and over again.
Right.
But one of the guests that we had on Rocky Minute last season, he said his nephew, who was, I think, 10 years old at the time, at the time that he saw that, said, hey, Uncle Paul, why are they showing montage clips of something that happened five minutes ago?
Yeah.
It's a valid question.
It's because this is awesome.
That's why.
Oh, yes.
Yes.
Here's a trivia for you.
We talked about it on an episode previous to this one that you haven't heard yet.
That hasn't been released yet at the time of this recording.
But what new sequence was filmed for that montage?
The new sequence, what, that was filmed five minutes ago?
No, like there's scenes in that montage that Rocky's reflecting or thinking about that haven't taken place in the movie that we've seen.
You're going to make me go back and watch the montage.
It's Drago, the silhouette of the white light behind Drago's.
Oh, the strobe lights?
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
So I think it's kind of cool.
So that is new footage that they filmed, you know, specifically for, yeah, that's showing in Rocky's mind his fear, you know, the menacing beast that will be approaching him shortly.
Something he's got to face.
The first scene right away is a shot of the trunk of a car.
We have this luggage called Tummy.
Is that right?
T-U-M-I.
Have we Googled that?
What kind of luggage that might be?
I didn't Google it.
And, you know, me, the over-prepare.
I missed that one.
Well, to be honest, you're coming on short notice, and I didn't Google it either.
We have time.
I can...
Oh, it's right here.
Tummy luggage.
Are you looking for this plaid print?
No, the Tummy luggage, that's Rocky's luggage.
Oh, the one underneath it.
Yeah.
Oh, the plaid one is Paulie's.
The plaid one is Paulie's, of course.
It is a real luggage company.
It's a New Jersey-based manufacturer of high-end...
Yeah, from your neck of the woods.
You can follow them on Twitter.
So they're still around.
It's a South Plainfield, New Jersey-based manufacturer of high-end suitcases and bags for travel.
Founded in 75, so the company was only about 10 years old at the filming of this...
Oh, shit.
Yeah, so they were a new company, like 10 years old.
The company is named after a Peruvian ceremonial knife used for sacrifices.
A tummy knife?
A tummy knife?
Yeah.
Sounds like a Harry Caray kind of thing, huh?
No kidding, eh?
Their parent company is Samsonite.
Okay, that makes sense.
Their products are known for their black-on-black ballistic nylon.
Tummy is available at department stores and specialty stores, as well as over 120 tummy stores and 200 shops around the world.
So there you go.
This company is still around.
And they're based out of your local neck of the woods.
Yeah, I'm pretty familiar with South Plainfield.
It's not too far from where I grew up.
So it's kind of funny that we see that shot of Tommy.
So, of course, that's, you know, Rocky's luggage.
He's got the...
Now, if you had money, Doug, how expensive would you go for luggage?
Like, how important is it to you to have expensive luggage?
Not at all.
Just give me a suitcase of wheels and I'm good.
Yeah, and I've always wondered about this.
Like, you and I will never be rich.
Oh, you may be rich.
I'll never be rich.
I've always thought to myself, there's things that even if I was a millionaire, billionaire,
whatever the amount, like where money wasn't an issue, I still wouldn't buy things just because they were expensive.
Yeah.
Does that make sense?
Yeah, of course.
I mean, but to people that are that rich, expensive luggage is like pennies out of their pocket.
But you're right.
Like, why would you even concern yourself with that?
I don't know.
I guess you would be concerned about it.
But if I was at a store and they said, would you like some tummy luggage for $1,500 a piece or this Walmart brand luggage for $200 a piece, I'd be like, what, does both of them zip up and hold my clothes?
I would just take the Walmart.
I mean, how rugged are you with your luggage where you've got to worry about what's inside?
It's just clothes inside, right?
It might be a status symbol also.
Like, if you're a well-known rich person, you don't want to be seen walking around with Walmart luggage.
It's garbage.
Who cares about that kind of stuff?
Can you imagine?
We're cut from a different cloth, man.
We're simple guys.
We just like simple things.
Yeah, I was going to say.
So, Pauly, he's a simple guy.
I love his luggage.
It's awesome.
It's just plaid luggage.
And it's got a lock combo on it, by the way.
It's got a what?
A little, like, rotation lock combination on his luggage.
Oh.
He's got to keep those adult comics locked up.
Oh, that's...
Yeah, he doesn't want them going through, uh...
What's it called?
Customs.
He doesn't want them going through his luggage.
Now we've got a shot here of outside the house.
Okay.
Pauly's watching The Help.
I don't know how else to say it.
It's just...
Yeah.
He's The Help, I guess.
And he's putting in the luggage.
The car is a...
I can't tell what kind of car it is.
The name's right there.
I can't tell.
Let's see if I can see it on my copy.
Fremont?
Is that right?
No.
Hang on.
You would think with this Blu-ray we could get this, but...
The guy's throwing the luggage, and he got Seiko the robot up on the balcony there.
Barking orders.
Okay.
Like a nagging wife.
Yes.
Well, she is, or he is the nagging wife.
And if you haven't listened, folks, already, go check out the interview we did with the Seiko,
the robot, the Rocky robot creator.
We actually got an interview with him.
I don't know if you listened to it.
Yes, I did.
Yeah, so to our other listeners, and those who've come over in this episode because of Doug,
check out that interview with Robert Dornick.
It's a previous episode on the series.
It's the Rocky robot creator.
We actually interviewed him.
It's pretty cool.
But what I find interesting here is how high tech this robot is in this world.
We're supposed to believe that the robot is aware of this guy chucking in the luggage.
The robot sees these actions taking place, and she goes here.
Be careful with those plaids.
They belong to the boss.
So she recognizes those belong to the boss.
Oh, man.
And that sultry voice.
Yes, and of course it's the sultry voice.
And the guy looks over at the robot and then looks at Pauly like, are you serious right now?
Look.
I think he makes that face because of what Pauly says, right?
I'm going to have a wire tied when I get back.
Yeah.
I'm not quite there yet.
Then she nags, continues.
She nags again and says,
Pauly, did you pack your toothbrush?
Oh.
You know how tobacco stains your teeth.
Hell yeah.
Oh, I love it.
True story.
It does.
If I told you once, I told you a thousand times.
Hey.
She's very nagging.
And Pauly's like, stop busting my chops.
The robot's really off-put by this.
She goes, Pauly.
Wait, hold on.
Did she say that?
Yeah.
She goes, Pauly.
And looks up in the air, kind of like forlorn or upset that he kind of barked at her.
Adrian has that reaction after Pauly throws the turkey into the alley.
I was just going to say, he modeled this robot after his sister.
There's something weird going on here.
I don't know, man.
And then, of course, Pauly says to the driver,
I'm going to have a wire tied when I get back.
Okay.
Okay.
So now we understand what that means in a human world, right?
Like she can't have kids.
Yeah.
So is Pauly having relations?
Like, oh, and here's the other thing is if he has her wires tied,
how does that, does that change a woman's behavior?
Like if your wife is fixed, is she now more docile?
Hell yeah.
You know, is she less nagging because she can't have children?
Aren't we supposed to believe that Pauly programmed the robot to be this way?
Yes.
And Robert Dornick, the creator of the robot,
said that the robot comes equipped with that ability,
that you can change its voice.
Okay.
So Pauly programmed, he changed the voice,
he programmed it to be this naggy kind of wife.
And now all of a sudden he wants to change her personality.
I think we're led to believe that he created a female persona in the robot,
but the robot's taken on its personality of its own.
Or what's the name of that robot from 2001, the computer from 2001?
Hal.
Hal.
Yeah.
So it's turned into like a hell version or, you know, it's become sentient and...
Self-aware.
Yeah, self-aware.
She's taken over.
That's one of the most contentious viewpoints about the robot is Pauly sleeping with the robot.
I don't think he's physically doing anything.
I hope not with the robot, but he's definitely created a romantic...
Life-like?
...taika.
Yeah, like a partnership.
And again, for those who maybe haven't heard that episode with Robert Dornick,
he said that Stallone had filmed scenes with additional scenes with Pauly and the robot,
where they did have household disputes and she nagged at Pauly.
So there was actually almost like a 20 minutes of scenes of them having a relationship in the movie.
Wow.
But more like the odd couple, but like an odd couple type relationship type behavior.
Yeah.
Apparently Stallone loved it, but the studio did not.
So Studio One, Stallone Zero, I don't know.
Yeah, I guess.
Even Stallone, he might be as stiff about his positions on how he wants to do the movies,
but I guess the studio still does have some stay.
I find this interesting, and maybe you can help me out here.
This has come up a couple times in our podcast.
Sly created this.
He's like the George Lucas of Rocky.
Like, this is his creation.
This is his world.
These are his characters.
But I find it interesting how beholden even he is to the studio.
I guess you have to be, because they're the ones that are funding the movie, so you have to...
But you could almost argue these movies have made the studio so much more.
I don't know.
Like, I wonder how much leeway they have given him, or how much we don't know, or maybe it's
just the robot sequences were cut out, or...
I'd be interested to know what the studios have cut out, or what they have changed.
I know for Rocky V, they changed Rocky from dying, and that I will give the studio another...
That's Studio 2, Stallone 0.
Because originally Stallone wanted Rocky to die, and if Rocky was dead, we would not have
the Creed movies, for better or for worse.
However you feel about the Creed movies, we would not have them had Rocky character died.
Well, you know what, though?
In...
Just like in any negotiations, with the studio getting their way there, I'm sure Stallone
got his way other places where the studio didn't like it.
Fair enough.
So...
We could count tallies that we know about, but there's probably a hundred tallies that we
don't.
Right.
The driver, when he hears about the wires being cut, he's not laughing, he doesn't think
it's funny.
That's what I thought you were referring to when you said the driver's face.
Again, this is weird writing and directing.
I know this, we're psychoanalyzing, this is what we do on our show too, is...
You gotta.
You have to.
Like, I wonder why Sly would just write, driver chuckles.
It's weird that he almost seems offended.
I would even write, like, it's crazy that she talks.
How'd you get her to do that?
Exactly.
Something like that.
This driver is living in the world that is normal that robots talk.
It's kind of like an eye roll, like, you gotta be shitting me with this.
Right.
Alright, the next sequence here is, I always loved this.
I remember loving this as a kid because we got the sequence here of Rocky Jr., also known
as Robert Jr., lying in his bed, I guess early in the first thing in the morning.
Father Rocky is in the bed with him, talking to him.
And if you take a look at the room here, he's got toys on the bed, he's got his bicycle in the bedroom.
Yeah, that's odd to me.
The bike in the bedroom.
It's to show that this kid's rich.
The name of the bike is Amonarch Bicycles.
It's even gold.
Like, the handlebars are gold.
Yeah, the handlebars are gold.
Now, when I was a kid, at this time, bikes that were big when I was a kid that were expensive were the Kuaharas.
You ever heard that?
No, I don't know that one.
So, Monarch Bikes, they're real.
We had mongooses when I was a kid.
Monarch Bike, yeah, it's still a company.
I just found one at Kijiji.
It's like Craigslist.
Someone's selling their Monarch mountain bike.
Anyways, when I was a kid, the stylish bike, the bikes that were, I would say, kind of like high-end, like the Nike of bikes, were bikes called Kuahara BMX bikes.
I think they were Japanese-made or something like that.
Rocky's sitting on the bed here talking to his son.
I've got to get this kid on the show one day.
I've got to track him down.
His real name's Rocky.
Oh, the kid that plays?
Yeah, it's Rocky Krakow.
That's right.
That's right.
I've looked him up, of course.
I tried to interview his son from Rocky 3, and you guys will talk about this on your season 3, but the child actor that played his kid in Rocky 3 is now a woman.
Really?
Yeah.
Huh.
Yeah, and I actually reached out to her on Twitter and no response.
Okay.
Yeah, that's fine.
That's fair.
Might be a chapter in her life she wants to forget.
Well, no, she's very open about it.
That's her, oh, maybe the movie itself.
Sorry.
Oh, maybe she doesn't like the film.
Yeah, who knows?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Not the fact.
Not her transition, but yeah.
She's open about the transition, but yeah, and I thought that would be interesting to talk about her time on the set.
But this kid here, you said, what was his name?
Oh, yeah, Rocky Krakow.
What a funny, that's interesting.
Interesting enough, the kid's name is Rocky.
I wonder if he was named after the first film.
Wow, that's a good call.
It might be.
I didn't even...
Because he's probably 9 here, and the film came out 9 years ago.
Yeah, next week he'll be 14.
That's right.
So...
Sorry.
Rocky 5.
Rocky Sun AIDS jumped from Rocky 4 to 5.
I do not know why they just didn't do the press conference without the Sun, and then after that press conference...
We're going to talk about this in our Season 5 coverage, but for our listeners who aren't going to stick with us...
I don't know why they just didn't do the press conference, as is.
The press conference had nothing to do with the kid being there.
And why they didn't just say, after the press conference, 10 years later, or 6 years later.
Everything would have been... made sense.
All they had to do was write 6 years later.
The kids age, they lose their money, and everything still happens.
Right.
I don't know.
I haven't seen Rocky 5 in a long time, but...
Trust me.
That would have fixed that.
And they could have just said that Rocky had retired, and just like everything else he'd been...
You know, Rocky, he's been retired for 6 years.
You can't go back to the ring.
And that still would have been a fair argument for Adrian to say, not only do you have brain damage...
You know, your head's been damaged, been out of the ring for 6 years.
Just stop it.
We'll be fine with living here.
It would have all still worked.
Easy script fixes.
And I don't know why they don't do that.
And I'm not even a script writer.
I don't know why they can't do that.
I find it hard to believe that nobody picked up on it, though.
I did right away when I saw it in the theaters.
Not you.
I mean the screenwriters.
The producers.
Well, Stallone wrote it.
That's what I mean.
How much control does Sly have?
He obviously wanted his son to be in the movie.
That's fine.
That's great.
That's his call, man.
This is his fifth Rocky movie.
He wants his kid to play his kid in real life.
Then why does he just make it work?
Yeah.
Just by saying, six years later.
Done.
Yeah.
Just some indication that time has passed.
I don't know.
It's weird to me.
Because it literally takes place right after the film.
Like he's in the shower.
Unless he was in Russia for...
Well, that's what I say.
It's the longest layover in airplane history.
Six year layover.
Yeah.
I've had some long layovers.
Yeah.
No kidding.
The snow was bad in Russia.
Where's the kid?
I don't see the kid.
Where's the kid?
Oh, Rocky 5.
I cannot wait to cover Rocky 5.
We may have listeners waiting for us just to cover Rocky 5.
Yeah.
I bet.
All right.
So he's on the bed and the kid asks...
The kid.
The kid.
The kid asks...
When will you be back?
In eight years.
Yeah.
In eight years.
That's awesome.
Oh, pretty soon.
Are you scared?
Nah.
Yes, you are.
A little maybe?
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
And of course...
The big giant man wanted to beat me up.
Yeah.
It's horrible acting.
I know this is a child actor, but it's hard to find good child actors.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's true.
Nothing against the kid.
No, nothing against the kid.
He's, you know...
I probably couldn't do better, and I'm much, much older, of course.
Oh, wouldn't you be?
If a big giant man wanted to beat me up, I'd be real scared.
But even him, like the kid, Ivan Drago is very much in his consciousness.
Like, he knows exactly what Drago can do, and I don't know.
Does he know that Drago's responsible for Apollo's death?
The child?
Yeah.
I would assume something, you know...
Uncle Apollo died in the ring.
The giant beat up Apollo.
That's very traumatic for a child, if you think about it.
This guy was just at your house the other day, sitting at your dinner room table, and now he's dead.
Yeah.
And then your father.
Yeah, your father's gonna face the same guy.
Yeah.
Yeah, so this kid shouldn't be smiling.
He should be terrified for his father.
It should have been written...
Yeah.
If I was gonna fight a big giant that just killed my best friend, I'd be real scared, too.
Yeah.
Well, you know, like you mentioned earlier, in the montage, the strobe shots of Drago, it's kind of like straight out of a monster movie or something, right?
Sure.
Like, that is what should be going through the kid's head, not Rocky's.
The kid.
The giant monster wants to beat my dad up.
Wants to kill my dad.
Again, a little bit of poor writing.
Rocky IV, I love Rocky IV.
It's my second favorite Rocky film.
Nice.
The reason why it frustrates me, though, and I've said this before in this season of Season 4,
there's so much that could have been added without taking anything away from the film.
More oomph could have been added.
Scenes could have been fleshed out a little bit more.
It feels rushed when there was no need to rush it.
Yeah.
The way they jump from the Apollo in the swimming pool to Rocky's house to the press conference to the fight to the funeral to another press conference.
Like, it's all, it's just too jumpy.
There's no smooth transition to any of these scenes from one to the next.
Let's get to the next scene.
Let's move on.
Let's get to that last fight.
It's almost like we got to watch Rocky fight Drago.
Yeah.
Too rushed.
It's way cut down on time, right?
This is a 90-minute movie.
Maybe even a couple minutes less.
Yeah, barely.
But you could have extended it out to almost two hours and added some of that stuff.
You wouldn't even have to sacrifice any of your precious montages.
No, you wouldn't.
The montage is going to stay.
Absolutely.
Again, like you, I love this movie.
Not ironically.
I truly love this movie.
Yeah, I do too.
I really do.
Where does it rank for you?
Is it in the top three?
I would say, yeah, it's definitely in the top three.
Man, I used to put it even above Rocky 1.
A lot of people do.
Because it was the one that was most in my consciousness, especially as a kid.
It's the one that I saw the most.
You know, you love the action aspects of it.
Where as I grew older, I got to appreciate Rocky 1 for the story and the character.
And Rocky 1 represents what Rocky himself represents.
When I was a kid, I was seven years old when this came out.
All I wanted was the action, the fight.
And I got two fights and a ton of montages.
You're right.
So I used to put it above Rocky 1, but I would put it right below Rocky 1 for me.
Oh yeah, me too.
So you were on the same page.
Awesome.
Well, the truth is, you know, sometimes I do get a little scared, you know.
I love...
Anyway, I'll say this to you.
I don't know if I'll keep this in the episode.
Sly, you know, he's balding, eh?
Like, he's got that hair kind of feathered out in the front.
Mm-hmm.
Where underneath it, it's pretty thin.
Yeah.
Oh, man.
When did the plug start?
Is that a fact?
I don't know.
His hair is, you know, he's 72, but his hair...
Maybe Italians, they just have thick hair, but Italians bald.
Come on.
Look, you ever watch the Sopranos?
They're all bald.
Well, every time I look, I want to look up a Rocky character.
Obviously, when I put it in IMDb, his IMDb picture is the first thing that pops up.
Yeah.
Because, like, you know, he's wearing a suit with a shirt, a high collar on it, and he's got some sunglasses and that teased, that feathered...
They don't put those in, I don't think.
I don't think it's the actors that put those in.
Because I see some really weird IMDb pictures.
Yeah, I can imagine.
I know IMDb, people on IMDb can edit their own page, but it's probably...
I'm sure he doesn't give a shit enough.
Right.
All right, so...
I love the speech that he gives this kid.
Okay.
But I'm in that ring, and I'm really getting hit on.
And my arm has hurt so much, I can't even lift him.
And I'm thinking, God, I wish this guy would hit me on the chin so I don't feel nothing anymore.
Then there's another side that comes out that isn't so scary.
There's another side that, like, wants to take more.
Wants to go that one more round.
Because I go in that one more round when you don't think you can.
That's what makes all the difference in your life.
You know what I mean?
When you don't think you can.
That's what winning is done.
That's what makes all the difference in your life.
I'm noticing a theme.
He doesn't.
Yeah, you know what I mean?
I know.
Go in the distance of part one.
You know, it's funny.
He has these little speeches, right?
And then he's got fear in part three.
Yeah.
For the first time in my life, I'm afraid, okay?
I'm a fighter, and...
What you married, Adrian?
I would love it if I could say it to my wife in an argument.
Hey, Becky, it's what you married.
And you got to say it in your Rocky impression.
Yeah, man.
My impressions are terrible, I know.
I like how the kid's just looking at him like,
Dad, what the hell are you talking about, face?
Yeah.
I don't know.
You think the kid kind of gets what Rocky is saying?
Going that one more round when you don't think you can.
That's what makes all the difference in your life.
I love that.
That's a great quote.
It is a good little speech.
We know we're kind of making fun of it.
But it actually is a really good speech.
And when it does come on, it's one of those ones I always forget that's there until I hear it.
No matter how many times I see this movie, I'm like,
Well, yeah, he has a good little moment here with his son.
Just before he ditches him at Christmas time.
In all of the movies, I know where the great speeches are.
I just can't ever say them word for word.
Right.
The one from Rocky Balboa.
That's the one that...
And we remember one more thing.
We remember that...
Daddy thinks you're the best boy in the world.
Hmm?
Aw.
Can you say that to my kids?
Yeah, I say that to my kids too.
Best boy in the world.
Oh, this kid's got a cavity on his tooth.
Check it out.
Right now he says you're the best daddy in the world.
He smiles.
He's got a cavity on his front tooth there.
And then he says...
That daddy loves you.
No matter what.
Hmm.
Oh, yeah, he does.
He's got something on his tooth.
Why does it have to be a cavity?
Maybe it's just a puppy seed.
No, I think it's a cavity.
My kids have one there too.
It's pretty common.
It's probably his baby tooth still.
Especially if they're bottle drinkers.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
But my kids got theirs fixed.
So my kids look better than this kid.
He's a haircut too.
You're never going to get him on the show that way.
I'm just joking.
Rocky, crack off.
I'm just joking.
I know Rocky, crack off.
Listen to this show.
He's a faithful listener.
Just don't forget to feed your robot.
Is that what he says here?
Don't forget to feed your robot.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
As he's walking out.
Oh, the robot.
This poor robot is getting food fed.
And it's going to get wires tied.
And it used to be a male.
Now it's a female.
I ain't no robot.
Now Pauly's outside.
He's got a cigar ready to go to smoke in the car ride.
He goes...
Come on.
The meter's running.
Guy always...
Yeah.
He's such a crotchy old bastard.
I love how Rocky walks out here.
Now he's just had this heart to heart with his son.
He said goodbye to his son.
And he's looking really stoic and forlorn.
And his face has changed.
He's put on kind of a brave, fun face for his child.
But now that seriousness, almost fear and pain has come back on his face.
And he's got the jacket over one shoulder.
What a study.
The way he's dressed right now with the sweater, gold chain, and the way his hair is.
This seems like every other 90s character Rocky played to me.
I mean, not Rocky.
Stallone.
Right here, he doesn't look like Rocky to me.
Rocky?
Well, you guys talked about it in the Rocky Minute in season two.
But it was shopping.
This guy likes to spend money.
He likes to have nice things.
I guess that was always in his being.
You know, when he had the money, he bought nice things.
The sweater that he's wearing.
That gold cufflink, that's what Mickey gave him, right?
Yeah, that's the Mickey one.
Trivia.
When did Mickey give that to him?
Before the first Apollo fight or before the second Apollo fight?
I thought it was before the first one.
That whole thing from Rocky V?
That flashback scene took place before an Apollo fight.
Yeah, I thought it was the first one.
I didn't know that was a question.
I think it's before the second one.
Oh, you know, he didn't even have the cufflink, the boxing glove cufflink.
Well, I don't think he wore it part one and two.
I don't think we saw it.
He didn't wear it in two?
Well, I don't know.
When did he first wear it?
That's a good question.
Does he have it in three?
But he's wearing it now.
That's it on his neck right now, isn't it?
Let me tell you something that I noticed in the middle.
Like, we're covering Rocky II now, right?
Right.
When Apollo Creed is in his house looking at the hate mail before he
flings the letters?
Yeah, those are the early day mean tweets.
Yeah, yeah.
Apollo Creed is wearing that boxing glove chain link, chain charm around his neck.
Oh, really?
I don't know if it's that one.
And I brought it up on the show and Jay kind of made fun of me.
He's like, you don't think that every boxer has one of those?
No.
So that's interesting.
So maybe, you know what's funny?
Maybe he's wearing it in this because part five hasn't been made yet.
And so part four, we're to believe that he took it from Apollo.
After he died.
Yeah.
Oh, man.
Weird.
Incontinuity is what it's called.
Boy, now you're going to watch the whole Rocky series again.
This is, hey, I'm going to put this out on Twitter and on our Facebook after this recording
and say, when did Rocky first wear the boxing glove cuff link around his neck?
And what did Mickey give it to him before the first Apollo fight or before the second Apollo fight?
And what are your reasons why you know this?
What I'm going to do is I'm going to send you the minute that shows Apollo Creed wearing it.
And I want you to kind of take a look at it yourself.
Okay.
So Rocky's now going to the car.
Would you like to be driven by another person if you're rich, Doug?
Would you like someone else to drive?
Drive you around to the airport and stuff?
Is that something that you would like, your own personal driver?
No.
I've always thought the same thing.
I find it odd.
I don't know how comfortable I am about other people driving.
Isn't that weird?
No.
I wouldn't like to be driven around.
Yeah, it's kind of weird.
I like to drive.
I'm the same way, but you see this a lot in movies, right?
How many times the characters get driven by other people.
And I guess it is a rich person thing.
Yeah, totally a rich person thing.
I like to feel like I'm in control.
I'm the driver.
Now, we see here Rocky looking up at the window.
And Adrian looking out through the window at Rocky leaving.
She doesn't look very happy.
He doesn't look very happy.
Are we led to believe that he didn't even say goodbye to her inside the house?
He said goodbye to the kid, but it almost feels like we're led to believe that they're not
speaking to each other right now.
Yeah.
The country to go to Russia to possibly die at the hands of Ivan Drago and he doesn't say goodbye to his wife.
I know.
This is the worst we've seen the couple in this series so far up to this point.
Not only does Adrian always eventually come around, but Rocky never does anything without her saying it's okay first.
Yes and no.
To be fair, he did fight Apollo the second time without her permission.
This is basically a larger version of part two.
She was not on board.
She walked up those stairs.
Remember when he answered the door at Mickey's...
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ironically, she was on the stairs again.
This is all that stair scene again.
She was on the stairs in Rocky 2 and 4 showing her disapproval of Rocky doing this.
If you were a fighter, how much of your wife's approval would you need to be a better boxer?
Would that matter to you?
See, I like to compare fighting to podcasting because I feel like I'm fighting.
And I do a lot of that without her.
Not approval because she approves, but I know she doesn't totally...
She's not totally on board with it.
Yeah.
But I do it anyway, so I guess there's your answer.
Yeah, it's...
I'm assuming my wife is giving me permission but not approval.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There you go.
Oh, man.
Hey, if this Sports Illustrated gets us a sponsor, if we get enough listeners, maybe she'll approve of it then or something.
Yeah, maybe.
Oh, maybe.
Maybe.
Yeah, if money was rolling in.
Sure.
Yeah, but nothing's rolling in.
It's rolling out.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, we got a t-shirt website.
Oh, yeah.
Look at you guys.
We get the big bucks with the t-shirts.
Yeah, we've sold exactly three t-shirts and I bought them all.
To me.
Oh, man.
Ruben and I have talked about doing t-shirts and we originally...
Again, for those faithful listeners of our show, Ruben and I had a promotion a while back where if we could just get five reviews on iTunes, we'd give away five free t-shirts to the first five reviewers.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
We've since have had 18 reviews now.
And we've sent out no t-shirts.
But I think some of those...
Some of those...
Well, they had...
I think we had about two or three people legitimately send us a screenshot and say we did the review.
So there's two things here.
To our listeners, A, thank you so much for the reviews.
B, Ruben and I will still probably do the t-shirt giveaway contest type thing.
Because I think it might be better just to do it as a promotional giveaway than to actually expect people to buy any.
I don't know if people ever would.
Yeah, that's a good point.
But it's kind of a good way to promote the show.
To our listeners, our faithful listeners, to those who did the reviews thinking to get a t-shirt, stand by for further promotion.
We'll do something.
Look, I'm poor, okay?
What do you want from me?
Jeez.
We're just a bunch of ham and egger podcasters.
Man, we are so ham and egger, man.
We don't have our wife's approval.
We don't have any money.
We have terrible equipment.
What do you want from us?
Oh, man.
My studio right now is my dining room.
Yeah, I'm in the garage, freezing my butt off.
Yeah.
My kids are probably destroying the house right now.
Okay.
Adrian and Rocky are doing like a stare down.
And I love how the driver is also staring at Adrian like, yo, woman, let this guy go.
What?
You notice that?
Yeah, the driver's looking up there, too.
Oh, my God, you're right.
He is.
He's probably like these crazy white people.
He's looking hard at Rocky, too, when he walks by him.
Yeah, because you don't abandon your woman, eh?
That's, you know.
Oh, man.
And then he looks back up at Adrian and looks back at Rocky and then he looks at the car like,
as long as I get paid, I don't care.
Yeah.
The meter's running.
I don't care.
So we literally just had about, what, two to three minutes between the Robert Tepper song, No Easy Way Out, and now we got Burning Heart playing right away.
Yep.
It's insane to me.
It's like Rocky the musical.
But there's no dancing.
There's no diegetics music.
It's just all montage, man.
It's all montage.
Like, when you say it like that, it makes it sound like you don't like it.
I do love it.
No.
We love it.
Every note of music in this movie.
I love it.
It's a combination of, like, ragging on it for why people don't like it, but we love it all the same.
You know, people criticize the movie for its montage and songs.
It's so easy to digest.
It's, it's.
Yeah.
So this is, again, Survivor singing this song.
They're the same band that sang and wrote Eye of the Tiger.
Correct.
I don't know the history of this song, Burning Heart, but I would bet that it was written specifically for this film, where Eye of the Tiger I don't think was.
Well, you know, that's a good question about Eye of the Tiger, but Burning Heart was written specifically for this.
Because the first line's here, two worlds collide, rival nations.
Two worlds collide, rival nations.
That's pretty spot on.
Mm-hmm.
And so the sequence is a plane flying into a snowy Russia.
And then we have a shot here of a Russian soldier on his guard.
Or two of them, sorry.
And it says here, it's a primitive clash, venting years of frustration.
Are we actually talking about Russia and U.S.?
Yeah, that's exactly what it's about.
I looked up the Wikipedia for the song, and they go into that.
It was written for Rocky IV, but specifically to illustrate the tensions between Russia and the U.S.
It's a good thing here in 2018 that Russia and the U.S. don't have any issues anymore.
I'm waiting for that.
Yeah.
All right.
All right.
Bravely we hope against all hope.
There is so much at stake.
Seems our freedom's up against the ropes.
Bravely we hope against all hope.
There is so much at stake.
Seems our freedom's up against the ropes.
They're using the...
Boxing.
Yeah.
The boxing metaphors are being kind of tied in into this international clash between the Americans and U.S.
And there's hope against hope.
So even the singer of the song is like saying, will Rocky, will he be the one that can bind these two nations together?
They might as well just put Rocky in the words.
The name Rocky.
Can Rocky do it?
Yeah.
There's not much, you know, meaning behind the lyrics.
I mean, not much, you know what I'm trying to say, like a mystery there.
I'm going to take a picture of this airplane coming in.
The Russian words, because I want to know what it says.
Oh, hold on a second.
I actually saw that too.
Okay.
And then it goes here.
Does the crowd understand?
Does the crowd understand?
No.
So he's just giving...
East versus West.
Yeah, it's East versus West.
Rival nations.
Hope against hope.
Our freedom is on the ropes.
Does the crowd understand?
Is it East versus West or man against man?
Is it East versus West or man against man?
Can any nation stand alone?
Now what crowd is he talking about?
The crowd in the theater?
The boxing crowd.
I know, I know, but he's thinking about an event that hasn't happened yet, you know?
Yeah.
I love it, I love it.
Is it East versus West?
Yeah.
Or man against man?
Like, come on.
Settle down.
I don't want to know.
Can any nation stand alone?
I don't know.
China's doing pretty good.
One of the powerhouses.
No kidding.
The airplane is a Douglas DC-3.
Right.
DC-3.
With fake Soviet markings.
A-V-I-A-I-N-I-J-A.
Rossija.
R-O-S-S-I-J-A.
So they're fake markings, but that's, I guess, what it's the translation.
Avianja Rossija.
Okay.
Beats me.
Alright.
So then the chorus kicks in.
In the Burning Heart.
Just about to burst.
There's a quest for answers.
An unquenchable thirst.
In the Burning Heart.
Just about to burst.
There's a quest for answers.
An unquenchable thirst.
Hmm.
It ends there.
And Pauly comes out.
Here's a question for my American friend.
What do you call the thing that you wear on your head to keep your head warm?
Earmuffs.
Oh, wait.
The thing on top of your head.
Sorry.
I just got the Pauly.
A wool hat.
A scully.
Winter hat.
You know, Canada has one word for it, and it's one syllable.
What is it?
See, you just gave me three different versions of the same thing.
It's called a toque.
Toque?
Jeez, it made your dog angry.
That's his trigger word, toque.
Pauly comes out of the flight first.
What a horrendous flight.
He says.
Yeah, just pessimistic Pauly.
Well, you got to be fair.
There's probably no in-flight snacks.
That is a horrendous flight.
Oh, yeah.
You're on toque.
That's what you call a hat, huh?
Yeah, toque.
Wool caps.
Doesn't that make sense to you?
Isn't that nice to have one word, one syllable that describes exactly what I...
Like, I had to tell you what it is that I was trying to get a word for, and there
is a word for it.
It's called the toque.
Yeah.
I never heard that.
I never heard that.
Yeah, and all my American listeners are like, what?
But you'll wear them.
Oh, yeah.
You guys have more snow in the U.S. than we have sometimes.
Like, you guys act like kind of something like tundra.
Now, we understand that north of us, like even north of where I live, of course.
Go figure, the more north you go, the colder it gets.
But you're a...
You get more, like, Pacific Northwest weather, right?
Yeah, right now, like, it was 15 degrees Celsius out yesterday where I live, which is
like 45, 50 for you guys.
Okay.
That's similar to what we've been experiencing, although today it's in the 30s, and it's rain
slash snow.
Yeah, we're not there yet, bro.
Awesome.
You like that?
I did.
I was waiting for you to respond, like, oh, wait, maybe that's normal.
Maybe that's normal for you fellow cops who call each other, brah.
No, not normal.
So, Paulie goes, this is Russia?
Well, actually, no, it's not.
I think it's Wyoming, but...
Yeah, that's right.
All of this.
All of the snow scenes were Wyoming, right?
I think so.
I haven't checked.
Before Seiko, before you messaged me on Facebook.
What's his name?
Seiko?
Seiko?
The guy?
Seiko, yeah.
Seiko.
We love you, brother.
Seiko.
Seiko.
We always know we get it wrong.
So, anyone that wants to message me on Facebook, I know.
I don't do any prep work.
Our Sports Illustrated interview guy, it was really cool.
He asked me and my brother, he goes, how do you guys prep for your show?
And both my brother and I laugh.
Prep?
Adorable.
We used to.
We used to.
I used to take notes and everything, but I don't anymore.
You should see my notes for my show.
Maybe.
Well, I do for our crossover episode.
I like to give that proper prep work, because when you're reviewing a movie in an hour and
a half, it's weird.
Oddly, I find there's more notes to take, where if you break it down, see my scene, it's
a little bit easier to talk about, especially when it's right in front of you.
So, it's the same idea.
That's true.
And then Pauly goes, don't look so tough, Rock.
Like, okay, it's snow, buddy.
Yeah, he's basing all of Russia on just this airstrip.
The idea that Rock is setting foot into this tundra, that something's going to happen to
him.
Like, he's in some sort of worn, torn, landmine field.
Yeah, yeah.
Like it's a DMZ.
Right.
But the way they illustrate how badass Russia is, you slap some guy.
Guys with beards and babushka hats.
Right.
They're not called babushkas, and they're called something else.
Toogs?
No, maybe.
They're called, well, babushka is actually grandmother in Russia.
Oh, is it?
Yeah.
I'm actually a quarter Russian myself.
Ukrainian.
Oh, I have some of that myself, too.
I think we talked about this.
That's why we're like best friends.
Yeah, we're like brothers.
We're pretty much brothers.
We have the same parents.
All right.
So, Tony comes out, and he looks at the Russian flag.
So, he notices, like, oh, man, we're in Russia.
This is real.
He looks at the flag, you know.
Yeah.
It's like these guys have never been to a foreign country before.
I guess they haven't been to a foreign country, maybe.
Pauly definitely has not.
After they all step off the plane, and they show this shot of the car driving up, you see
their legs, right?
Is Tony wearing Ugg boots?
Let me check it out.
Of course, Sly walks out last, and he's looking totally studly, you know?
Oh, yeah.
I will say, and I've said this before, and I have no shame in saying it, Sylvester Stallone
looked his best in Rocky IV.
Mm-hmm.
I love that hat, too.
Yeah.
It suits him.
I can't pull it off, but it suits him.
I wear hats similar to that.
I can see that.
Like the Irish newsboy cap, those kind of things.
I wear those.
He is, like you said, studly.
I like the 5 o'clock shadow he's rocking, and then the beard later on.
Oh, yeah.
I think it was a fake beard, mind you, but it still looked good.
Oh, that's disappointing.
Yeah, sorry.
There you go.
Did you see Tony Duke's Ugg boots yet?
No.
And then there's a Russian soldier, like, eyeing up Rocky.
Oh, that's what they call the American champion.
Ah, we shall see.
Your Russian accent is no better than your Rocky impression.
Sorry.
Sorry to break it to you, buddy.
I'm trying, man.
I don't know what to do.
I know you are.
I know you are.
And that's, you know, A+.
I do readings out of the Rocky 2 novel in a Rocky impression, and it's awful.
So, I feel you, man.
No, you do a good job.
The little piano in the background is nice.
That's right.
It's mood music.
Those who want to watch this on YouTube or on their DVDs, yes, Tony's wearing Uggs.
Thought so.
Adorable.
Adorable.
So, this car pulls up.
Of course, these are the Russian handlers that are going to follow Rocky.
Wherever you go, take it.
Mr. Balboa, we take you to Fortress now.
Mm-hmm.
And, of course, Pauly asks,
Hey, when does the sun come up?
Yeah, I like the guy's response.
He's like,
Better changes.
Hour to hour.
Get used to it.
You little turd.
Yeah.
This is detrimental to my sinuses.
Yeah.
Oh, Pauly.
I feel that, though.
Cold weather does wreak havoc on my system.
Well, he says here,
Weather changes hour to hour.
Get used to it.
Yeah, to be fair,
There's some scenes where he's running around,
He's playing outside.
It's pretty sunny.
Looks pretty nice.
Looks okay.
Yeah.
Not that cold.
This looks miserable.
Yeah.
That snow looks wet and heavy.
I think that is real snow, I would think.
Yeah, it must be, actually.
Yeah.
Wyoming.
So the Russian guy goes,
Get in the car now.
We have very long.
Pauly says here,
Sounds like Dracula's cousin.
You know what I said?
Yeah.
I like that.
That's a great quote.
Yeah.
And the Rock is like,
Always trying to,
Those are real,
That's real snow.
Yeah.
And then the song kicks back in,
And we'll end it after the song sequence,
But the song kicks back in,
It goes,
In the warrior's code,
There's no surrender.
Okay, that's fair.
In the warrior's code,
There's no surrender.
And during that sequence,
Where it says,
In the warrior's code,
There's no surrender,
Rocky and the soldier,
Go eye to eye for a second.
Rocky understands the warrior,
That the soldier is,
And the soldier understands the warrior,
That Rocky is.
Right, but neither of them,
Are going to give an inch.
That's right.
Though his body says stop,
His spirit cries,
Never.
Though his body says stop,
His spirit cries,
Never.
Oh gosh,
I love it.
Deep in our soul,
A quiet ember.
Deep in our soul,
A quiet ember.
Oh, this is very poetic, eh?
Yeah, that one is.
Deep in our soul,
A quiet ember.
Knows it's you against you.
Knows it's you against you.
Now, this is actually a little part,
Can you think of this part,
That Stallone uses again,
In the franchise?
It was earlier on,
When he's telling the power,
It's not you against him,
It's you against you.
Yeah, but even later in the franchise.
Different movie.
Rocky does it?
He talks to Adonis Creed,
In the mirror,
He goes,
The greatest enemy you have is you,
The guy facing you in the mirror.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Good call.
Yeah.
It's the paradox that drives us all.
It's the paradox that drives us all.
I missed that line.
The paradox?
Yeah, the you against you,
Is the paradox that drives us all.
But you don't hear many songs use the word paradox.
No, I wonder how many songs have paradox.
Survivor did it.
Good for them.
They did, yeah.
Wow.
It's a battle of wills,
In the heat of attack,
It's the passion that kills,
The victory is yours alone.
It's a battle of wills,
In the heat of attack,
It's the passion that kills,
The victory is yours alone.
Mm-hmm.
So they gotta throw the word kills in there.
Yeah.
And they go to this house,
We have this father and son chopping wood.
They seem to probably be the caretakers,
Or is this their home?
I wondered that myself.
I don't know if they were neighbors,
Or if that was their barn that they're using,
Their farmhouse.
Yeah, maybe they're renting it out.
They're probably getting some good money
From the Russian government.
Or the Russian government disagreed out to kill them.
Yeah, maybe.
What's the Soviet Union?
All bets were off over there.
Yeah.
And then the chorus kicks back in.
Now the car is pulled up to their lodging here.
Yeah, this is all real snow and everything, obviously.
It's just snow covered.
The icicles on the house.
I love that scenery, though.
It's very pretty.
Yeah, it's great.
It's a great shot.
Rocky comes out, looks around.
Then this guy brings up an interesting...
Like you request.
Yes?
So Rocky's request was,
Find me a Tundra.
Yeah.
In the middle of nowhere.
In the middle of nowhere.
Nothing around me.
Yeah.
And then, of course, Pauly's reaction.
You requested this dumb location?
Yeah.
Now what's on the back of Pauly's jacket there?
You see that?
Let me see.
It's got the Don't Tread On Me snake on the back of it.
Does it?
It's right after he says,
You request, yes?
Getting there.
Yeah, what is that?
I think we see it later on better when he falls.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
But we'll...
From there, I couldn't tell.
It's just a blue, like a satin kind of jacket.
It's interesting.
But yeah, that's the Don't Tread On Me snake on the back, isn't it?
Yeah.
I mean, from that far away, it certainly looked like it.
That coiled up snake.
Yeah.
And then now Pauly's arguing.
What?
You planning to grow reindeer or something?
Nah.
Not your best material, Pauly.
No, that wasn't very good.
Then Rocky's like,
I just wanted to get away from things, you know.
And then he also...
Rocky also requested equipment that's in the barn for him.
Yeah.
I guess what he requested to have a cart that he could lift with people inside of it.
Areas where he could show off his ab work.
A net full of rocks.
A net full of rocks.
A rope that he could duck and weave.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's all in the barn.
A horse plow that he could wear on his back.
That's right.
That's right.
Not a plow.
The horse...
Whatever.
You connect horses to the wagon thing.
And these Russian handlers are sitting behind Rocky in their car in a Mercedes.
Now are those guys government?
Yeah.
And yeah, Rocky asks...
Who is that?
And the guy says...
They are assigned to you.
Official chaperones, yes?
That kind of makes sense.
They go.
Where you go, they go.
And now Paulie says,
Oh, I have a bad dream here.
Oh, I have a bad dream here.
What?
A bad dream?
That's what this caption says.
I have it on mute.
That doesn't make sense.
Maybe he's supposed to say feeling that the captions got it wrong.
Yeah, I gotta turn up the volume for this.
Tell me what you hear.
Oh my god, he does say dream.
Oh, I have a bad dream here.
That's weird, eh?
Yeah.
What does that mean?
I got a bad dream here.
It says it's below...
Yeah, it's weird.
I got a bad dream here.
So yours says it too.
Okay.
That's interesting.
That's what I love about the captions.
You catch dialogue you didn't think you heard before.
Yeah, but I mean, I put the volume all the way up and it's not feeling.
Definitely sounds like dream.
Paulie kills me here.
Well, Rocky says...
Oh, it's okay.
It's okay.
This is below human standards.
This is below human standards.
There's no antennas.
You gotta complain.
Tennis?
For what?
The Rose Bowl game?
I guess so.
And that's what he's...
It's kind of like us saying there's no Wi-Fi today.
Yeah, yeah.
And they go, we'll crack out here.
We'll crack out here.
Oh, man.
Why did Paulie go?
I know.
What's his purpose for being there?
Did he ask to go?
Actually, he gives Rocky some of the best advice in the fight after he says, I see three of them.
That's right.
I mean, maybe that's the one useful thing Paulie does out here.
The Russian guy says, I provided everything you asked and we're finished here and he leaves.
Okay.
You have everything I have been instructed to provide.
We are finished.
Yes?
Let's be done.
Paulie starts complaining a little bit more.
Actually, we can't skip past Sly Stallone's sexy stance.
Did you hear that alliteration?
Sly Stallone's sexy stance.
Nice.
After the car drives away, they pan up and he's doing that like...
I don't even know how to describe it.
He does it later on, too, when Adrian shows up.
Yeah, I know.
I think they do a bum shot, too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yep.
I wonder if they'll do a 4K release of this.
If they do a whole box set, they better put commentary tracks on all the damn discs.
No more Paulie complaining.
No sparring.
That's what he says.
No sparring.
So look at Paulie kind of throwing his little bit of boxing knowledge.
I guess for him, he's been in Rocky's corner since Rocky 1.
So he kind of knows a little bit of the box world.
So he's going to cause a little bit of concern for Rocky.
Like, you got no sparring out here.
How are you going to train without a sparring partner?
It's a good question.
But the Rocky answers it.
Do you see that?
I don't think I need it anymore, Paulie.
I don't need it anymore?
Because I don't think I need it anymore, Paulie.
Yeah.
I don't know.
But, I mean, that's not a good enough answer for Paulie.
It never is.
No sparring.
No TV.
No nothing.
No sparring.
No TV.
No TV.
Nothing.
He looks at Tony for some sort of support of this.
Tony doesn't even give it.
No, he doesn't.
How the heck is he supposed to train around here?
His big concern is the Rose Bowl game.
Yeah, the Rose Bowl game.
No TV.
What about the Rose Bowl game?
So, what is the Rose Bowl, anyways?
The Rose Bowl is a big college football.
Oh, college.
Okay, yeah.
Yeah, college football bowl game.
They call it bowl games at this point.
There's a hundred.
Anybody that's a sponsor that wants to say, okay, I'm going to make the Taco Bell Bowl, they can call it a bowl game.
But the Rose Bowl, I think, is the most famous one.
But the Rose Bowl typically is held in January.
Now, a fight takes place on December, and they'll be gone before January.
So, Paulie, you'll be right back home watching the Rose Bowl game.
Yeah, that's interesting.
Good point.
There you go.
Okay, a little bit of continuity area.
Unless Paulie's absolutely confused, though, just where or what is going on.
Yeah, that's probably it.
Then he says here, no room service, I bet.
No room service, I bet.
Like, you think, Paulie?
That's the one thing you've figured the problem.
Imagine if you walked in and there was a butler waiting to serve him some cheese.
Yeah.
He's like, okay, I was wrong about the room service.
I was wrong about room service.
But still, no Rose Bowl game.
No Rose Bowl.
But I love how he throws in room service.
Why don't you just throw in an adventure?
There's no roller coaster either.
Like, yes, we're...
Yeah.
No spa.
No Swedish massage.
And then he says here, I hope they got my comics here.
I hope they got my comics here.
I always wonder what he meant by that.
You don't know?
Oh, does he have a comic book collector?
No.
Okay.
Only because we do...
You know, we're a little bit ahead of you in the breakdown of the films.
There's a scene at the beginning of Rocky IV where Apollo comes over to recruit Rocky to be in his corner for the fight against Drago.
And Pauly's reading those comics at the table.
And he asks Apollo, have you ever read these comics?
Apollo's like, no, no, man.
Pauly says, well, they keep you fertile.
Oh, my God.
How come I forgot that?
He's talking about adult comics for, you know, nudity.
Yeah, yeah.
Nude comics.
And so...
Now I get it, bro.
Yeah, so these comics keep you fertile.
And that's where Rocky said there goes, oh, come on, Pauly.
Like, it's inappropriate.
Yeah.
To ask Apollo if he reads adult comics.
How could I not know about that?
And now Pauly brings it up again.
I hope they got my comics here.
He wants his porn.
He wants...
Well, I don't think they're selling at the local Russian store that's nowhere to be seen, Pauly.
So you better brought your own in that luggage.
So he went from...
There's no room service.
And, Pauly, I would guarantee you they don't sell nudity comics for you anywhere near this location.
Were those a thing?
Did you look those up?
Nudity comics?
No.
I didn't Google it.
I would assume, yes, I think adult drawings have been around for a very long time.
I would assume 85.
If they had Playboy and all that other stuff, they would probably have cartoons.
Yeah.
Okay.
Fair enough.
And then he says, what a depressing vacation.
What a depressing vacation.
Yeah.
I didn't know this was a vacation.
Hey, there it is.
Don't tread on me.
I was right.
And he walks away.
He's being, like, ultra-American.
Yes.
Now, what is the symbolism of that?
Again, this is the Canadian in me coming out.
I know it's American.
Isn't it something like Civil War before that?
And, you know, you think I should know this, like, offhand.
But it is the Gadsden flag.
It's a historical American flag with a yellow field depicting a rattlesnake coiled and ready to strike.
Positioned, in other words, don't tread on me.
Designed it in 1775 during the American Revolution.
American Revolution.
So, yes, it's a Revolutionary War thing.
So, he's obviously wearing this as a middle finger to the Russians.
Okay.
You know what?
I never caught this till this viewing.
I didn't either.
And I like that touch.
Good for you, Paulie.
Now, he randomly walks into the deepest part of the snow.
I don't know why he left the driveway.
But he started walking towards the mountains.
Yeah.
Where's he going?
And he doesn't...
Me and my brother have been laughing for 30 years about him going...
It's great.
He can't get his footing in the snow.
And he just keeps whining.
Like a child.
He tries to turn himself around.
And we're going to stop there.
Because the next sequence is good.
It's Tony talking to Rocky.
But we'll leave that for another discussion.
Yeah.
Awesome.
Thanks for coming on the show today, Doug.
Yeah, man.
Thanks for having me.
I told you, anytime you need me, I'll be here for you.
I appreciate that.
I really do.
And again, I'm sorry that my brother Ruben couldn't be here.
I know our faithful listeners know that...
Not that I'm the head of the show.
Because I'm not.
That's not what I mean.
But I kind of run the show.
Or I drive the show.
And I love having my brother here, of course, with me.
But it's just...
It's that fine line between...
I want to get episodes out.
And...
Or, you know, scheduling between my brother and I is hard.
You know, he works, like, his butt off.
He's running this business on his own.
He can work up to seven days a week.
I'm in the Navy.
We both have kids.
It's just tough to correlate time to record.
So sometimes days just open up.
I'm not doing anything.
I'm just sitting around the house.
Like, this is when I want to record.
Like, nothing's going on.
Like, why not?
I can do this or play video games.
I think recording an episode is much more productive.
Totally.
So, unfortunately, Ruben works during the daytime.
There's just no way that he can record.
Yeah, so when those days happen, I'm going to call certain people, and you are one of those certain people.
Thanks for coming on again and adding your insight and your humor.
And I really appreciate it.
I really appreciate it.
It's my pleasure, man.
Totally my pleasure.
Thank you.
Plug your show for our listeners.
Yeah.
Look on any social media platform.
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.
We're Rocky Minute.
And we have a listeners group on Facebook called Mighty Mix.
M-I-C-K-S.
It's the gym where Rocky trains and Mickey owns.
So come check out.
We have a lot of fun over there.
Also, I post every episode of Rocky Minute on Rocky Minute and Mighty Mix on all those platforms.
Awesome.
That's awesome.
Well, thanks for everyone for listening.
And, Doug, do you want to take us out?
Absolutely.
Ding, ding.
Ding, ding.
Ding, ding.
Ding, ding.
Nice.
All right.
Download.
All right, brother.
What's good as always?
Agree, man.
I love talking to you.
I love talking Rocky.
And I just love talking to you, man.
It's awesome.
One day, brother, one day we're going to meet up and make out.
I mean.
I mean.
I mean.
Whoa.
3,000 plus miles is a lot.
So we'll pick a spot in the middle.
We'll meet in Minnesota or something.
Well, there's a chance.
My wife and I want to get up to the Rocky Steps before they get torn down.
Because I heard they're getting torn away.
That's the second time I heard that in two days.
Is that a fact?
It's fact enough that Kuna posted it with the links regarding it.
But that being said, if there is a window that opens up in the next two years, I'm going to fly to Philly.
So I don't know how close Philly is to Jersey.
Right next door, buddy.
Well, if I were to go to Philly, you're coming to Philly to meet me.
Yeah.
I wouldn't miss that for anything in the world.
That's awesome.
So that's going to happen.
Because I have to run those steps before the torn out.
That's just.
It's going to have to happen.
Yeah.
My wife and I have never had a proper honeymoon.
So we're going to honeymoon in Philly, I guess.
She kind of rolled her eyes.
There you go.
She rolled her eyes when I told her about it.
She's like, oh, my gosh.
But she knows how much I love Rocky and how much this would mean to me.
There was very little, if any, argument about how much I need to go there and be there.
All right.
Fair enough, man.
It's going to happen.
I'm going to do a live recording on, you know, Facebook recording for the show on the steps.
That was my goal, too.
Well, keep me posted because I would love to be a part of that.
Absolutely.
That'd be amazing.
Me, you, and Kunda recording on the steps, man.
That'd be amazing.
Oh, my God.
Yeah.
We just got to get Craig out there, too.
And that'll be like the.
How close is he?
Oh, he's Vegas.
He's in Vegas.
Yeah.
Yeah, we know Vegas is somewhere I'd probably go again, so.
All right, man.
I'm going to go.
I'm going to take care of my kids.
You got it, brother.
Enjoy.