Although 'Rocky IV' isn't the best of the franchise - that honour goes to the first one - it does hold a place in people's hearts for lots of reasons.
Dolph Lundgren's monosyllabic performance as Ivan Drago is up there with the most recognisable screen villains of the '80s. You've also got the most ridiculous training montage of the franchise in there, with Rocky lifting a horsecart while Drago does a circuit in Darth Vader's gym.
However, one scene and one character that sticks out like a sore thumb in 'Rocky IV' is undoubtedly the introduction of Paulie's birthday gift, the robot. It's so truly out of place, so wacky and weird, that you'd think it was taken out of another movie and spliced into this one. Even 'Family Guy' took the piss out of it at one point, it's that specifically weird.
Here's the scene in question, and the later scene where Paulie has turned the robot into a female companion whom he now loves with an unnatural passion. Note the fact that only person who thinks it's kind of tapped is Apollo Creed.
Anyway, the reason why we bring this up is it's been announced that Sylvester Stallone is currently working on a new cut of 'Rocky IV' for the upcoming 35th anniversary of the movie. More specifically, Stallone also confirmed that he's cut the birthday scene with Paulie receiving his robot. "The robot is going to the junkyard forever, no more robot," Stallone announced during a Q&A session on his Instagram.
Sylvester Stallone, if you or your people are reading this, please reconsider. Look, yes, it's a very '80s gimmick to introduce a robot and have it take up some 30 seconds of the movie just so you can see how cool it is. You know what else is a very '80s gimmick that's now outmoded and weird? Two gym montages side by side, one set to 'Hearts On Fire' and the other set to an instrumental track.
If you're going to start pulling apart a movie and removing some scenes because they don't necessarily flow together as they should, that's fine. But Sly, come on - that robot is the heart of the movie. Paulie found love with that robot. Are you going to take away the emotional arc of Paulie?
