Apollo was a disgrace
Had a wife and children. Seemingly developed a death wish after seeing Drago on television. Ridiculous.
shareA MAN DRIVEN BY EGO AND UNWILLING TO ADMIT DEFEAT IN AGE...PRETTY COMMON PROBLEM.
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MovieChat Forums > Rocky IV (1985) Discussion > Apollo was a disgrace
Not sure that makes him a "disgrace" but certainly foolhardy. I'd argue what's worse is arguably his team of enablers (including Rocky) who allowed him to go into a fight blind, completely ignorant of his opponent & allowing him to assume it would be a cakewalk. As bad as they prepared him for the fight, allowing him to enter the 2nd round after being pulverized into a bloody mess & barely able to stand was borderline criminal negligence.
shareRocky wasn't an enabler. He warned Creed that the fight was: you against you. Creed got defensive and guilted Rocky: "as a friend, stand by me one last time." Rocky still tried to convince Apollo to postpone the fight.
Allowed Creed to enter the 2nd round? Rocky begged Apollo to allow him to stop the fight. Creed not only refused but had Rocky promise him not to stop the fight.
It's a corner man's responsibility to protect his idiot boxer from himself. In real life the fight likely wouldn't have happened in the first place but zero chance a man's corner lets him continue in that condition. A good friend & corner man would tell Appolo to kiss his ass, immediately throw the towel & let him be mad later, not decide to listen to Appolo's nonsense in his brain rattled, delusional state of mind, all because he made him pinky swear not to stop the fight.
shareApollo and Rocky were simply sacrificial pawns to something much more important than themselves: ending the Cold War.
Apollo understood that he and Rocky were involved in powerful circumstances:
"Stallion, maybe you don't know..what I'm talking about now...but you will when it's over. Believe me."
There would be no Rocky movies if the cornerman threw in the towel when his guy was getting beaten to death. It happens several times in every film.
shareApollo was an all-American. He knew the geo-political stakes and there was no way he was going to embarrass the USA by quitting on that stage. He was absolutely not a disgrace. He was a hero
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^that^
Carl Weathers was interviewed about Apollo’s death scene in Rocky IV and he talked about the character’s refusal to ever give up. He said he carried this through to the end of the fight with Drago: “It’s when Apollo Creed twitches on the ground after the fight,” said Weathers. “It worked so perfect to book-end the life of Apollo Creed — in the end, a guy who has already left, but there is still that fighter in him and that muscle memory in him where he is still trying to fight.”
shareit was a plot device to get rocky to fight dragon.
she should just have him in coma or disable like in Kickboxer.