Trivia / Rocky V

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• Cast the Expert: Tommy Morrison as Tommy Gunn and Michael Williams as Union Cane.
• Creator Backlash: Sylvester Stallone was not happy with the film. When Jonathan Ross asked him to give each of the films a mark out of ten, he gave this one a zero.
  • Stallone seems to have changed his mind, however. During a 2020 Facebook watchalong of the original Rocky, Stallone commented in reference to Rocky V, "I think it’s underrated."
• The Danza: Tommy Morrison as Tommy Gunn.
• Deleted Role: Jodi Letizia, who played street kid Marie in Rocky, was supposed to reprise her role in this film. Her character was shown to have ended up as Rocky predicted she would: a prostitute, who had recently been made homeless. The scene however, ended up on the cutting room floor, although Letizia can briefly be seen during the street-fight at the end of the film. The character would be reintroduced properly in Rocky Balboa, where she would be played by Geraldine Hughes.
• Deleted Scene: Scenes with Mickey were trimmed in the final film when Rocky fights Tommy. Mickey appeared in ghost form on top of the railway bridge, giving words of encouragement. In the final film, this was made into flashbacks.
• Executive Meddling: A rare example in that Stallone himself agreed. United Artists decided not to kill Rocky, and Stallone accepted due to the fear that him dying in an illegal street fight would betray the meaning of the series.
• Franchise Killer: Was thought to be this for the franchise until Stallone returned to right the wrongs of this movie with Rocky Balboa sixteen years later.
• The Other Darrin: Sylvester Stallone's son Sage Stallone takes over from Rocky Krakoff as Rocky's son.
• Reality Subtext: Just as he had done with the first four films, Sylvester Stallone incorporated much biographical material into the plot of the film. Stallone particularly focused on the notion of Rocky's fall from grace. In Rocky III and Rocky IV, Rocky was top of the world, unbeatable and incredibly famous and popular. These two films had coincided with the height of Stallone's own popularity, which had waned decidedly in the years since Rocky IV. As such, when composing the script for Rocky V, he decided to look at the notion of how a man can have it all, only to suddenly lose it.
• Real-Life Relative: Sage Stallone plays Rocky's son.
• Real Life Writes the Hairstyle: Adrian's longer haircut isn't just down to the gap between sequels - Talia Shire was also filming The Godfather Part III.
• Spared by the Cut: The original script and filmmakers had intended the final fight with Gunn to actually end with Rocky dying due to the effort after beating Tommy. United Artists decided otherwise, and Stallone happily agreed to rewrite the ending.
• What Could Have Been:
  • According to his memoirs, heavyweight boxer Frank Bruno (seen here◊ in a bout against Mike Tyson) was offered the role of Union Cane in this film.
  • Stallone originally planned to make the effects of Rocky's brain damage much more visible and painful to see, but altered these plans after watching a few days of footage because the sight of Rocky like that was "like seeing your favorite dog with dysplasia."
  • As mentioned above but the original ending was supposed to end with Rocky dying after his fight with Tommy. However both Stallone and United Artist decided to change the ending when they determined it would be too depressing.
• Word of God: According to Sylvester Stallone, Tommy Gunn later became a third-rate wrestler.
• Written by Cast Member: As with the previous films, Sylvester Stallone was the writer.

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