Sylvester Stallone has teased bits and pieces of his director’s cut of Rocky IV, saying that it would be “amazing”and that he was cutting Paulie’s strange, rolling robot.
Sly responded to some fans’ queries about the bot, and he says, “The robot is going to the junkyard forever. No more robot,” while adding to another fan, “I don’t like the robot anymore.”
SYLVESTER STALLONE: I’M SCRAPPING PAULIE’S ROBOT From New ‘Rocky IV’ Cut
I never quite understood how the robot fit the story anyway (was it supposed to show how we were in modern times and give Paulie something else to do besides be a flunkie friend?) and apparently Sly doesn’t groove on it any more either. Granted, a convenient prop for when Apollo calls to say he wants to come out that Rocky can break from washing his car and take the call directly from the robot.
Maybe an edit to the Rocky washes his car scene, telling his son that he fights so his son doesn’t have to fight, then cut to Apollo showing up at the house to talk over the Drago exhibition fight with Rocky, Adrian and Paulie. Again, to cut the robot out of there is fairly easy. Paulie won’t get to say that uber cheesy line about the robot, “She loves me!” or maybe have the kid spraying him with whipped cream and the robot answering, “I’ll clean it up for you, Paulie.”
Cut the camp, it probably makes the immediacy of the exhibition fight between Apollo and Drago more dramatized. I like the idea.
But what else will be cut in Rocky IV?
While Stallone has been largely silent about progress on the director’s cut thus far, he did promise in an Instagram reply to a fan that this new version of Rocky IV will be “amazing.” Even if there’s not much to go off, Stallone’s comment was still eagerly received by fans, many of whom are ready to see Rocky step back into the ring.
Rocky 4 Director’s Cut Fan Poster Highlights Balboa’s Fight With Ivan Drago
Will the awesome video montage from Robert Tepper’s “No Easy Way Out” be cut? Loved that song, as it serves as a good way for Rocky to relive the past few movies. My guess is Sly leaves that in.
Over 35 million views on YouTube of this video:
Here’s another video of a much older Robert Tepper performing “No Easy Way Out” live at the Whisky A Go Go in 2016:
I think Stallone really wanted to push music in Rocky in this film. There is also the “Burning Heart” by Survivor sequence when he gets off the plane in Russia. Perhaps he was trying to rekindle the Rocky III magic of “Eye of the Tiger” also by Survivor, but that’s just a much better song. Also, that movie has Mr. T as Clubber Lang which is a better antagonist than the barely speaking, mountain of a man, Ivan Drago (Dolph Lungren).
If you’re wondering how we rank the Rocky films, see: Ranking Stallone’s Rocky and Creed Films
What would you cut in Rocky IV? Is there anything you’d add, assuming there is extra footage available? Perhaps a longer final fight or exhibition fight? Scrapping between Drago and Rocky at the press conference? A longer — or shorter — training montage? Less Paulie and Adrian? More?
Ahh, the possibilities! It’s fun thinking about how to retool classic movies. It would be cool if they put up all the footage and let fans cut the film. #ReleaseTheFanCut. I bet fans cutting films would make for some very interesting and perhaps endlessly watchable versions of films. Someday, maybe.
Movies, Movies, Movies 
2 thoughts on “Rocky 4 Director’s Cut Will Not Have Paulie’s Funky Robot”