Rocky IV (Episode 9) - Drago’s Ring Reveal & James Brown Performance

Welcome to The Rocky Series Podcast: Going the Distance — Episode 9 of our Rocky IV coverage!

Ryan and Ruban break down the iconic exhibition fight entrance between Apollo Creed and Ivan Drago — the dramatic ring reveal, James Brown’s legendary “Living in America” performance, the over-the-top Las Vegas dancers, Drago’s stunned reaction, and Apollo’s show-stopping entrance.

We discuss the symbolism (King Kong vibes, golden calf), the crowd’s excitement vs. the audience’s dread, Rocky’s growing concern, and why this sequence is pure 80s spectacle.

If you love Rocky IV deep dives, 80s movie analysis, and brotherly banter, this one’s for you.

0:00 – Intro, housekeeping & listener story (Cobra Kai fan)
3:24 – Drago’s underground entrance & Russian trainer pep talk
6:52 – Arena reveal & “Living in America” buildup
9:18 – James Brown performance & Las Vegas dancers
14:20 – Apollo’s grand entrance & golden calf symbolism
19:30 – Rocky, Tony & Paulie’s reactions
22:45 – Apollo vs. Drago stare-down & tension
27:50 – Final thoughts & “Ding ding” sign-off

Creators and Guests

Host

Ruban Rebalkin

Host

Ryan Rebalkin

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 9.mp3
Welcome, everyone.
Welcome, everyone, to the Rocky Series podcast, Going the Distance.
I'm your host, Ryan, and with me, almost, sort of, always, Ruben, my brother.
Yo, yo, yo.
So, Ruben, today we're recording in Ryan's studios.
We're in the garage studios right now.
Just, you know, how's the setup?
It's great.
We have a couch now.
So, we're on a couch.
We're just, you know, slouching on a couch, ready to talk about Rocky.
And I'm really excited about this episode because let's get right down to it.
This is the exhibition fight.
You know, just a friendly exhibition fight between Apollo Creed and Yvonne, the Siberian train, Drago.
Let's not get right into it.
I had a very cool moment at work today.
Do tell.
So, what happened at work today, Ruben?
As has ever happened to you, brother, when you are living your life, you're with civilians, non-Rocky fans that you know of.
Somehow, Rocky comes up.
And it turns out they're a huge fan.
Amazing.
Yeah.
So, that's what happened at work.
At a regular customer.
Right.
He comes in.
He's wearing a Cobra Kai shirt.
Sure.
If you are Cobra Kai slash Karate Kid fan, chances are you've watched Rocky.
Yeah.
So, I was like, oh, Cobra Kai.
I didn't know I was letting such riffraff into the shop.
And he just laughs.
And he's like, are you like a Karate Kid fan?
Or are you just like the, you know, the shirt?
So, I'm a fan.
I'm like, oh, did you watch the sequel thing on YouTube Red?
And he's like, yeah.
And I was like, okay.
Anyways, talked for a bit about that.
Said, we had a guest on here.
Derek, the Wayne Johnson.
Yeah, we had Derek Wayne Johnson, the documentarian, who did King of the Underdogs, the documentary about John G. Appleton.
I can't recommend that more.
Yeah.
I said, well, I have a Rocky podcast with my brother.
He interviewed this guy that made a documentary on John G. Appleton.
He's like, huh, what?
And I thought, okay, I've talked out of my element.
And so, he's like, you have what?
I said, I have a Rocky podcast.
He's like, you have a Rocky podcast?
And I was like, yeah, so it's my brother.
He's kind of driving the train.
But he's like, wow.
And while we're talking, he had to leave and other customers coming in.
He's like, we'll talk more.
You are my spirit animal.
Oh, wow.
It's nice that we're able to connect with other fans.
No, that's awesome.
It is awesome.
Did you at least give him the link to the show?
No, I said, check out Go In The Distance podcast.
But he's a regular.
He'll be in probably tomorrow or the next day.
Anyway, I just thought it was cool.
Because that's what happens when we're talking with each other with this microphone between us.
We're talking to other fans.
Yeah, we hope you guys are listening to Rocky fans.
Can you imagine?
Somebody listening to this podcast that's not a Rocky fan?
I don't like Rocky.
I hate it, but I sure love Ryan Rubin talking about Rocky.
All right.
So, Rubin, let's get into it.
This is...
This sequence right now starts off with Drago in the basement of this arena somehow.
He somehow...
There's this huge subsection of flooring underneath the ring.
Yeah.
So, we're led to believe that this ring, where it's situated in the arena, is above this whole sub-layered domain.
Sure.
And you see in the backdrop here, there are hundreds of, like, security and personnel.
Almost like Drago himself is a bomb.
Almost like he could detonate at any moment.
Keep a close eye on this Russian boxer.
Sure, yeah.
The distrust they have.
The height of the Cold War.
Yeah.
And then the trainer is shouting Russian pep talk at him.
Something like, you're the best.
No one can beat the Siberian train.
He's the Russian Anthony Robbins.
That's right.
And I love the music cue again.
The nod to Vince DeCola.
The musical cue here that we have of the menacing sound of Drago as his trainer is giving him whatever kind of pep talk and prep that he has before this fight.
And unbeknownst to Drago, he has no idea what's about to happen.
All he knows is he's standing in the middle of this ring underground.
Like, what do they tell him?
Don't worry.
Very drab.
Like, what do they tell Drago before he, hey, just step in this ring.
I know it doesn't make sense.
Did they give him any indication the ring's about to rise up?
And there's a great sequence there where the trainer calls for Ivan.
He goes, Ivan.
So the Russian trainer pounds his fists together.
He goes, Ivan.
And he goes, clunk, clunk with his fists.
Drago does a quick sideways glance.
Like, acknowledging.
Because the whole time he's looking forward, not even looking at his trainer, but at the very end when the trainer said, Ivan, pound, pound with his fists.
Is that an early indication that they did mean to really, truly destroy Apollo?
Why would they not mean that?
I guess there's a small hope of a small part of me that hope that, yeah, they might humiliate Apollo.
But there's this really, like, you want me to do that type look on his face?
It's really, like, we're going to do that, eh?
Yeah, yeah.
This has been authorized.
I've been authorized to kill.
The rules of engagement are saying, do what you got to do.
Okay, Russia's not Switzerland.
No?
No.
They will kill their own kind.
I thought Russia was the nice people.
Oh, please.
Aren't they good to their people?
Please.
To all our Russian listeners.
Well, the Russian people, but the government is obviously corrupt.
Hey, by the way, Drago right here reminds me of growing up when we used suntanning lotion.
What's that brand?
That brown bottle?
You lotion yourself up to get a really dark tan.
Right.
I don't know, but some sort of suntan.
Tropicana, tropical, yeah, yeah.
He is greased right up here.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, they put Vaseline, as we've talked about this before in our show, where they Vaseline the face and the eyes so the skin doesn't tear.
But he's greased right up.
He looks good to go.
So now we cut to this arena.
And that's kind of like an arena, Ruben, but I guess it's more like a theater.
Because they have people sitting at tables where it looks like they have candlelight.
The crowd is dressed in their best attire.
It's never said if this exhibition was a fundraiser or not, but it almost looks like some sort of fundraising type event.
People are dressed in shirt and ties.
We have a police escort for Adrienne to her seat.
We have evening gowns and seating arrangements.
It looks very fancy.
But they're all surrounding or in front of what will eventually be the ring that comes up.
But that's the sequence we're looking at now.
Adrienne's looking very pretty in her pink dress.
I love during the sequence, Ruben, that sound, that music and that hissing.
And that electronic sound.
Very foreboding.
Yeah, thank you.
It's very foreboding.
Because this audience, they're all laughing and smiling.
Oh, it's going to be a fun exhibition fight.
But we as an audience, of course, are led to believe, and rightfully so, that this is not going to be fun.
Sure.
This is going to be a disaster.
It's kind of like when you're watching like a Vietnam movie, and then they have like cheery CCR music playing, where everything's exploding.
Right.
There's a word for that, like in movie lingo.
I don't know what it is.
I haven't done my homework.
When something cheerful is happening, but you have menacing music, it's the opposite.
So, if they're doing something brutal, like a Vietnam War fight, but they kind of have upbeat music, it's kind of a reverse type music.
Yeah.
Oh, interesting.
We should look that up.
You can Google it if you want.
I like to bing.
I'm going to bing this first.
And then I'll ask Jeeves.
So, here we have the actress.
I forget her name.
I don't have it in front of me, but she plays Paula's wife.
And I think she was in part two as well.
She's sitting down.
She's looking okay.
She doesn't seem too stressed.
And in walks Lyudmila Drago.
She's a very formidable woman, Bridget Nilsson, in her prime here.
You know, tall, beautiful, but strong.
You can just tell she does have a presence about her that she carries on the screen.
I don't know about you, but I think she's a really, she seems to have a real charisma on screen.
I think she's still in her prime.
She's 54.
I know.
I think she's 55.
Yeah.
Not bad.
Yeah.
Said a baby.
Grats.
Good luck.
I hope after we can be friends.
I hope so.
Soundtrack dissonance.
That's what it's called.
Soundtrack dissonance.
Yes.
Thanks, Ruben.
Did we explain it well enough or do we have to re-explain it for the audience?
In literary terms, it poses a juxtaposition.
Juxtaposition, excuse me.
The intent of making thematic statement and or widening our emotional distance to the events before us.
Thus allowing to view the piece more removed in an intellectual manner.
We're trying to have the audience in the crowd thinks they're about to have a pleasant moment, but we, the audience, know that this is going to be bad.
Yes.
So that is soundtrack dissonance.
So here LaMilla comes up to Apoll's wife and says, I hope after this that we can be friends.
Apoll's wife goes, I hope so too.
Of course.
They're sportsmen, not soldiers.
And then she says something kind of funny here.
She says, of course they're sportsmen and not shoulders.
And then they shake hands.
Pardon me?
You're going to replay this back.
Yeah.
You're going to listen to what you just said.
Oh, what did I say?
And then you're going to hear what you said.
Say it again.
LaMilla says to Apoll's wife.
Uh-huh.
Remember, they are sportsmen and not soldiers.
You said shoulders.
Did I say shoulders?
I'm just tongue tired.
They are sportsmen and well, and they're not shoulders too.
They have shoulders.
You're correct.
You're correct with both statements.
But they're not soldiers.
No.
But this is funny because Drago is.
He's a captain in the army.
Yeah.
Now granted, the role they're playing in the ring at this time is not one of combat arms.
Well, we're like to believe it's not.
True.
Yeah.
He's under a military thing.
He's a soldier.
That's a very good point.
He is actually right now under military command on a military mission.
Yeah.
And his arms are truly lethal weapons.
I don't want to spoil anything.
But to anyone who's actually watching this movie as we talk about it.
He's in the lethal weapon movies.
No?
Not funny?
He said his arms are lethal weapons.
You don't want to spoil anything.
No, he's not in the lethal weapon.
He's in the lethal weapons movies.
You might confuse some of our listeners.
No, I believe we have smart listeners.
Okay.
And then the trainer, Drago's trainer comes up to her and shakes her hand and says, enjoy the fight.
I missed that.
He said, enjoy the fight.
So here's a great sequence that's coming up, of course.
The ceiling above Drago is now opening.
There's that light that shines down on Drago.
He looks up.
And the menacing music fades away.
Because the only one that can break the moment.
The only person in the world at this moment that can break the tension.
There's only one person that can do this, Ruben.
Who?
The life is on YouTube.
Okay.
This music kicks in.
Of course, it's James Brown living in America.
And Drago's hearing this cacophonia sound as the ring is being raised up.
It's almost like you have this audience here, Ruben, as you can see.
So Drago is seeing this that we're seeing on the screen right now.
There's an audience in a theater looking out at the stage.
You know what this reminds me of?
King Kong.
When King Kong was brought from the jungle and he was brought on the stage to all the rich people in chains.
And he was brought forward to the people and said, look at this beast from the east.
Look at this creature that has come into our soil.
And that's exactly what Drago is.
He comes up on some sort of like monstrous display.
And he's on display for all these American people.
Many of whom are, you know, rich white people looking at this beast.
And they, you know, they're in awe and they're fearful.
But they're safe behind the velvet rope.
Just like King Kong broke his chains and made the audience in fear and chaos.
Drago does the same at the end of the fight.
Interesting.
Is this your own?
Yeah.
I just literally thought of it.
As I'm looking at Drago coming up, looking at the audience.
It's beautiful.
It's King Kong.
It is.
You're right.
It is.
You're right.
Derek, if you're listening, I got another question for you to ask Sly that if you ever made the King Kong reference here.
So the groups are dancing.
You got these guys who have been wearing blue and white leotard outfits.
And they got these little American hats on doing choreography.
Now, we can argue that Sloan, he directed this film, of course, part two.
He also directed Staying Alive, which was the Saturday Night Fever part two.
Very familiar with that.
I could argue that his dance routine directing probably came in handy when he had to direct this.
Sure, he's able to pull that feather of his hat, apply it to this.
So Drago is just looking around absolutely bewildered.
If there was a time for Apollo to punch out Drago, it would be now.
He's completely off his guard, has no idea what is going on.
And Drago does a great job here, or Dolph Lundgren, acting the scene of like what in the world is happening.
And I remember Ruben seeing this movie as a kid in the theater.
Yeah, me too.
I vividly remember seeing these Las Vegas dancers in their outfits.
Their bikini outfits.
I recall thinking, gee, that's a lot of skin for a Rocky film.
And I would have been 10 years old.
I was used to just seeing the skin of Sly and Apollo.
That's right.
It would be double standard to say that these girls are covering just as much of their private parts as the boxers are.
And they're boxer shorts.
Yeah.
I love these headdresses.
They have these big feathers on top of their heads.
And check out this girl's fingernails, Ruben.
Absolute talons.
But they all have them because they're birds.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So they have these long fingered talons.
I do not like long fingernails.
No, not like that.
Well, I mean like those are...
So there's dancers up in the bleachers above people on these like suspended catwalks with illustrious costumes and full white suits and white type hats.
So quite the costumes design here.
And we have a lot of American paraphernalia.
American flags, both on their outfits in the air.
And then we have shots of these like World War II and biplanes flying around in the air.
Very glamorous, very...
They spared no expense with this exhibition fight.
Every female dancer is basically in a bikini with big, huge feather caps.
They're as long as their body.
It's insane.
Of course, everyone's seen this, but when you really break down just how much is going on here, there's a lot happening.
And I would be interested to know if Sly could ever tell us how long, how many days or weeks this took to...
Oh, I'm sure this took a very long time.
...choreographer and to dance.
And how much was James Brown involved with the shooting and in the setup?
Did he just come on stage and do his little thing, his little lip sync and then leave?
Or how long was he there for?
Can you actually get his age ribbon for that?
How old he was in 85?
So James Brown turns around and he starts singing ribbon and his hair...
Boy, his hair is so wavy and thick.
It's beautiful.
Is that real?
Is it real?
I think it is.
Have you seen his mugshot photos?
No.
You haven't?
No, I guess so.
James Brown mugshot photo.
Stop.
Okay.
Now that you've seen his mugshot photo, do you think that's real?
Stop.
Oh, I wish there was a visual.
Okay.
Just Google it now.
Keep listening.
Keep listening to the show.
But after you're done Googling James Brown's mugshot...
His 2004 mugshot.
Yeah, make sure it's your 2004 mugshot.
Okay.
Please tell me you're doing it, people.
I'll give you one second to pause the podcast.
Google James Brown mugshot.
Oh, he's got a few.
Make sure it's the 2004.
He's got a few.
He's got a few, bless his heart.
The younger ones, he's got a bigger smile.
Yeah.
His whole life's ahead of him.
So to argue, that could very well be his hair.
And after you're done Googling that...
After you're done Googling that, Google Burt Reynolds on a bear rug while you're at it.
Just while you're at it.
Just to balance the two of them.
Just to see the kind of hair that people have.
So he was in his early 50s here.
All right.
And he's doing his little shuffle.
He's doing his little shuffle across the stage.
Yeah.
Yeah.
After he went to prison, speaking of those mugshots there,
apparently he was at his prime.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
I was listening to Jeff Garland being interviewed.
And he saw him there.
And it was a life changer.
Oh, wow.
So prison helped him out.
Prison helped him out.
Awesome.
That looks like the scene from Kiss, Paul Stanley, if he was doing blackface.
Yeah.
That's Paul Stanley in blackface.
So if you go to minute 2414 of the film,
you'll see the four backup singers or the three backup saxophone and trumpet player.
And the backup singer there has a beautiful set of hair.
Paul Stanley like hair from Kiss.
And the crowd is just digging James Brown.
They love it.
Waving their flags.
This is a pro-American exhibition fight.
Absolutely.
They are all behind their country.
And as they have every right to be.
Then we have this great outfit ribbon.
We got Apollo coming down, wearing the American shorts,
the American long trench coat type vest, white boxing gloves,
and the American top hat.
U.S. flag, I mean, like U.S. flag design.
Absolutely amazing.
And behind them is this big elaborate devil bowl.
I don't know how to describe it.
It's a golden calf.
Yeah, yeah, golden calf.
With huge horns and like red demonic eyes.
And it's blowing smoke out of its nostrils.
It's actually an amazing set piece.
And Drago's looking at it.
And Apollo's pointing down at Drago.
And Drago's looking up at Apollo.
And this is interesting.
Because throughout the beginning part of this performance,
Drago's looking around at the planes flying in the air,
the dancers, James Brown singing.
He's never seen that before in Russia.
I don't think there's any black superstars in Russia.
It's probably less than America.
Yeah.
Coming down now is Apollo.
And Drago has changed his look of awe and wonder
to now absolute focus.
This is my enemy.
I have them in my sights.
And everything around me I don't care about.
So here's a little trivia.
I just kind of Googled the golden calf.
What it symbolizes.
Like why did they choose a golden calf?
Okay.
Returning to the Israelites in great anger,
Moses asked Aaron why he had not stopped the Israelites
when they had seen them worshiping the golden calf.
So perhaps nobody stopped Apollo.
So Apollo's worshipping what though?
His own pride?
Maybe just lost sight.
Oh, he lost sight of the true goal.
Yeah.
What's important is like.
He's dancing, you know, in front of a golden calf.
There is probably something to that.
Absolutely.
Yeah, he's a Catholic.
Sly is.
So he's a writer.
So, you know, your background is going to affect your writing.
Yeah, he is religious and that is his background.
That's symbolic of maybe Apollo's downfall.
The ring itself has red, white, and blue.
Blue canvas with white stars going in a circle.
Pretty cool.
This is a great shot here.
James Brown sings to Apollo.
Apollo does the I want you type gesture with his gloves at James Brown.
Great little moment there.
Now, you know, Apollo's wife is digging the sounds, the dancing.
And Carl Weathers, you know, he really can move and groove.
He's got that real swagger.
He does.
He does.
It's a real genuine swagger.
Does he have a swagger that's really prominent in boxers?
Well, I guess they dance.
Oh, okay.
People.
Well, yes.
I mean, we actually, we learned about in part three,
when Apollo trained Rocky,
he did tell Rocky,
I'm going to train you basically like a colored fighter.
I'm going to teach you how to move and groove.
Because Rocky, though he punched hard,
he wasn't graceful.
It's, there's something about, I guess,
Apollo and the way he was raised in his upbringing of a boxer.
He wanted to instill that into Rocky.
I guess you could argue that's just that style and grace
and be able to move.
And Rocky, because he'd just come head on and wouldn't move.
And so he learned how to move because of Apollo,
to do that kind of dance and moving.
So Adrienne's kind of looking around.
She's taking this event in quite tentatively.
She's not that thrilled about it.
I think she's sensing that music that we heard at the beginning.
she's hyper aware of the danger that's in the atmosphere, in the area.
And as the golden calf bull head comes down, it starts to fall apart.
It becomes, if, you know, the horns fall off, the face falls apart.
I found that very interesting.
What transformers was huge back then?
Then we have this, yes, sorry.
You're all business, eh?
I sometimes, I, I, Paul, yes.
Transformers was big back in the 80s.
Thank you for validating.
Though the head doesn't transform into anything.
It just falls apart.
That's it.
It'd be the worst type of transformer, Riven, if Optimus Prime,
when he transformed, just like fell apart.
I think those are GoBots.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The GoBots fell apart.
By the way, they were the original ones.
Well, that's fine.
Transformers better to product.
Yeah.
Yeah, they did.
I love how they come out here.
You have Tony, the trainer, Tony, Tony Duke coming out with Rocky Balboa and Pauly,
and they're all wearing boss outfit shirts.
How much did boss pay to get their name in this film like this?
I'm sure it paid some bills.
Like, I wonder what the amount was, because that's pretty prominent.
Three boss outfits.
Pauly's wearing blue.
Tony's wearing red.
And Rocky's wearing white.
They're all the same design.
Boss, boss, boss.
Maybe they're just Bruce Springsteen fans.
They might be Bruce Springsteen fans.
Oh, wearing the boss shirt.
Hey, let's plug our other podcasts.
We don't do that enough.
Ruben and I have another podcast.
Ha ha, we got you.
You're in the middle of our show.
If you like what Ruben and Ryan do when it comes to podcasting,
check us out on our other podcast called The Worst of the Best Podcast.
What's that called?
The Worst of the Best.
Not the best of the worst.
That's true.
It's not the best of the worst.
Do not listen to them.
Listen to us.
Ryan and Ruben on every podcast app.
Every podcast format.
And on Facebook.
The Worst of the Best Podcast.
Where Ryan and Ruben discuss the worst of the best things in life.
And we have an upcoming episode on Bruce Springsteen.
Speaking of the boss.
That's why we brought it up, Ruben.
That's all.
It came up naturally.
It came up naturally.
Very organically.
Listen to us, you idiots.
Okay, so here we go.
They come out in their boss outfits.
And they're now looking around for the first time.
I wondered about this.
Why weren't they out at the beginning?
It's kind of funny how they've come in late.
James Brown has already.
Like, you would think you'd want to be out there when James Brown starts the singing.
Apollo's already come down.
The bowl's already falling apart.
And now the three of them decide, oh, maybe we should come out and see the event.
They're not even at a ring side yet.
Their guy is already halfway down to the ring in the bowl.
What were they doing?
That's what I mean.
Maybe coordinating their outfits.
Maybe.
They're like, do you want to wear the red one?
I'll wear the black one.
Okay, that's a little bit too big on me, Paul.
Yeah.
Tony should have been at the edge.
So they walk out.
Of course, the first thing the men notice, Ruben, is the females.
They notice the scantily clad Las Vegas woman, right?
There's an edit where it cuts to the girls dancing.
And you get a quick string bikini butt shot.
And Rocky, you know, he catches, of course, what the audience caught.
You know, we, the viewing audience, saw this.
We see Rocky's expression when he sees this.
And he's like, oh, what do we have here?
This has never happened to any of my fights, look.
They're pretty excited by this.
I know it's juvenile.
It's 1985.
It's so basic.
But it's like Tony's gritting like a fat kid in a candy store.
He's just happy as can be.
Sure, yeah, yeah.
He's like, well, what have we got here?
Now, in the world of the Me Too movement, this...
It doesn't age well.
Because what are they thinking?
Okay, so there is scantily clad women doing a dance routine.
Fair enough.
But what is it they can do about it?
But they almost have this look of like, well, here we go.
The smorgasbord is open.
Go to the buffet line.
Dig in.
Well, I guess about 30 years ago, that was the...
Because their reaction is of such of that.
Like, here we go.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We're good to go.
Now, Tony, he's probably single.
So he's genuinely quite happy here with the prospects.
Pauly, though, seems to be indifferent about the girls that are around him dancing.
He chooses instead to pick up a staff that happens to be beside him that is a skull.
Half of the top half of a human skull with a party hat on top of it.
And he's taking that as his friend.
So he has a robot at home as a friend.
And now he's got...
He's a creature of comfort.
But he's enthralled by the skull.
He's like, yeah, I think I'll keep this.
And he looks around to see if anyone would be bothered that he took it.
You know, he's part of Rocky's entourage.
Nobody's going to stop him.
Sorry.
I just...
There's so much going on here.
Again, Drago has not released his stare from Apollo since Apollo has made his entrance.
That's Mike Tyson's what he would do when he was boxing.
Oh, yeah?
Yeah, he would say that he would stare at the person until they broke.
And once they broke eye contact, that's when he knew he'd beat them.
Wow.
Like, he would build a gauge of how long it took to break the eye contact,
of how long it would take to break him in the ring.
I wouldn't want to fight Mike Tyson in the ring.
Or no.
No.
I bet you he could still punch and hurt you.
Oh, yeah.
Are you kidding?
Let's think of, like, her dad.
Her dad's 70.
Yeah.
I wouldn't want to tussle with him.
No, not yet.
80?
82?
So, Adrienne now is looking at Rocky, and she's kind of got this expression.
I'm not too sure.
It seems to be like, this isn't so bad, or is it, well, here we go.
This is what he asked for.
I think it's more of that.
Just, yep, here we are.
What are you going to do about it?
Because Rocky's response seems to be like, yeah, this is it.
This is all Paul.
This isn't me, honey.
This is all Paul's doing.
Adrienne looks really great here, by the way.
Yeah, yeah.
I kind of preferred her when she was working at the pet shop.
You prefer pet shop, Adrienne?
Yeah, yeah.
You could dominate her.
Now, I had a friend.
I want to give a shout out to an online friend.
His name, he goes by Rocky, and he hosts the YouTube show called The Super Ugly Show.
And he's commented a few times on his show, so I give full credit to him.
Where he feels that Paul may have won this fight had he not danced for half an hour before the fight started.
Dang it!
I wish I said something.
Oh.
Sorry.
But I wanted the eye contact.
No, no, no.
The eye contact thing.
I was going to go.
Okay.
Eye contact comment, or I was going to say, man, he's probably already tired out by the time he gets to Drago.
I believe you.
I trust me.
I believe you.
I could tell by your expression, Ruben, that that was on your mind.
But I never caught them before.
Like, I never even thought about that.
But yeah, he has been dancing, doing cardio for this whole song.
Second in driving.
And he's dancing right now in the front, joining the ranks, joining James Brown.
I wonder how much direction Carl Weathers got to dance with the group.
Did Stallone tell him, just do what you want to do.
Just shuck and jive.
Just dance around.
Let loose.
I think so.
Probably.
It would have been pretty cool for Carl Weathers, I'm sure.
Or for anybody.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm sure it was a cool moment for Carl Weathers to dance on stage with James Brown.
It's on screen forever.
Yeah.
But I think that's on screen forever, is James Brown's mugshots.
Yeah, if you're having a chance at it, again, pause the podcast.
Google James Brown mugshot.
2004 is a good one.
And when you're done that, Burt Reynolds and the Bear Rug.
Both are just beautiful, beautiful men with beautiful hair.
In the part of the music here, when James Brown sings Eye to Eye, Apollo does a double fist bump to Drago, Eye to Eye.
And Drago does look away.
Check it out.
He's almost like annoyed or embarrassed, I think is what it is.
Not afraid.
You tell me what you think of that expression.
I think he's questioning some feelings that he had staring inside.
He might have had some feelings, yeah.
Everybody's all oiled up.
Nobody's wearing anything.
I don't think so.
So now he's looking back at Apollo.
I think he's actually...
Wearing silk robes.
Yeah.
But he's looking at Apollo here.
It's an interesting look.
He looked away and then when Apollo turned back, he kind of looked back at Apollo.
I just wondered what the direction was from Sly.
Because he did look away and he looks back at Apollo and he kind of seemed like, almost like, you've got to be kidding me.
Well, I think everybody's thinking that.
If you're there watching this, you go, okay, this is a little much.
You know what I mean?
It's like a halftime show without the halftime.
Well, we're about to have a show.
Even Rocky here at this point, near the end of this singing, he puts his hand into his face, kind of like, okay.
All right, let's...
This is getting a little bit much.
Does anybody...
Okay.
Does anybody actually enjoy this type of dancing?
Vegas hasn't.
I know that they have, but it's like shtick.
Did James Brown kill Apollo?
If he didn't agree to do this, James Brown would have been able to dance down the stage.
You know, yeah.
James Brown.
That's what the mugshot is.
He was in a complicit...
I don't know.
I find this type of entertainment not entertaining.
It's fun in this movie.
You know what I mean?
It's about as fun as it gets is this montage of our dancing sequence.
I wouldn't want it any longer.
It's long enough.
It's a pretty...
They do the whole song.
Like, I would not go to Vegas.
Are these the Can-Can Girls?
Is that what they're called?
I think so.
And then the music that they're dancing to?
Yeah.
It's like, oh, please.
So James Brown ends his performance room with the famous, I feel good!
Yes.
And this guy comes on the stage?
That's his trademark.
With the cloak.
And James bows to the crowd for the performance well done.
And I'll listen to that again.
I feel good!
Heavily lip synced.
Yeah.
Heavily...
He's not even remotely near the mic.
No.
He's not near the mic at all.
When he says, I feel good, it echoes throughout the theater, but he's like 30 feet away.
I love how they could have just moved the mic next to him.
Come on.
Just for one shot.
Just pretend you're doing it live.
The crowd is loving this like it's the greatest concert ever.
Would you, though?
No.
I wouldn't be that excited.
Not that excited.
I'd have the nostalgia or like the...
What's the word?
I wish I knew more words, Ryan.
We should have the Wizard of Words with us.
Oh, we should.
We should.
We should.
Wizard!
Wizard of Words!
We need your help!
So before James Brown exits the stage, he gives a glove slap to Apollo, and Apollo's just
loving it.
It's like, boy...
You know, in Apollo's mind, this is like a big bash for him.
This is the Apollo show.
Oh, sure, sure.
Yeah.
He got to dance with James Brown.
James Brown agreed to perform.
If you were in Apollo's shoes there, Ryan, who would be your James Brown?
So if I had my last fight before getting killed by the Siberian Express?
Yeah, yeah.
But you think you're going to be successful.
Right, I understand.
You know, talk about Bruce Springsteen.
That'd be pretty cool.
That's a pretty iconic.
Sure.
Legendary performer.
Yeah.
In the same vein of James Brown.
Uh-huh.
Kind of crosses a lot of generations of people.
But no mugshots for that guy.
No, you won't build a Google Bruce and get a mugshot of him.
No, no.
He's pretty sweet.
Clean here.
Even though his hair is about as real as Bert's.
Well, I think he still grows his, though.
Yeah, I think Bert's still grows his.
I mean, can't grow a toupee after death.
Yeah.
The only thing that Bert's growing is daisies.
I think on our last episode, we were going to give Bert a break.
Not yet.
Rip.
I think off the top of my head, I'm trying to think of something that would be enjoyable by a mass audience that I would also enjoy myself.
I think Bruce is a good pick.
Okay.
No, I would like Bruce.
But if I were to do a contemporary for today, Bruno Mars.
Oh, I see.
I got it.
If they were to film this today, I guess this is more of a different question.
But if they were to film this today, who do you have to get the audience pumped up and going that can just kind of, you know, I would say it's Bruno Mars.
I'd go Kanye.
Not divide the audience.
Google Kanye Trump.
That's all I'm going to say.
Okay.
All right, Ruben.
Well, that is the James Brown Living in America Apollo Entrance episode.
I think I thought we could probably do the fight as well.
There's too much.
There was more in that.
It deserves its own episode.
I guess it truly does.
And next episode, my friends, my Rocky Series podcast listeners, the next episode is going to be the, it's only an exhibition fight between Apollo Creed and Yvonne Drago.
And I wonder how that match will go.
I'm sure we'll have a few things to talk about that match and that sequence of events.
Thanks for joining us.
Remember to go on iTunes and leave us a five-star review.
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You don't have to write a review.
Did you know that, Ruben?
You can actually just give a rating without a review.
Bless your heart.
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We appreciate it, guys.
We appreciate the comments that we've already received from our last week's episode.
Love you guys.
Keep listening.
Keep punching.
And what do you got to say there, Rue?
Ding, ding.
Ding, ding.
Ding, ding.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.