Word: drago
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...much like WrestleMania's archvillain Nikolai Volkoff, whose technique consists of grappling his opponent to the mat and sitting on him. With Gromyko kicked upstairs to the largely ceremonial post of President and Gorbachev's protege Eduard Shevardnadze in charge of the Foreign Ministry, Soviet diplomacy now resembles Ivan Drago, the sleek and powerful Soviet boxer portrayed in the movie Rocky...
...Soviets are back in the ring, Drago-like, mixing jabs with diplomatic bobbing and weaving. Gorbachev tried before last year's summit to hold progress in all areas of the superpower relationship hostage to American concessions on Star Wars. Yet when Reagan stood his ground, Gorbachev shifted his. In January the Soviet leader put Reagan on the public relations defensive with a headline-grabbing scheme to eliminate nuclear weapons from the face of the earth by the year 2000. While the proposal was as cynical as it was utopian, it included an intriguing and far more practical offer that eases...
This letter is in reply to Jeff Chase's review of Rocky V in the Friday, December 6 edition of The Crimson. Neither his use of the word Gesamtkunstwerk (which I did not understand) nor his characterization of the theater-goers who reacted hostilely to the Russian boxer Drago as "alleged human beings" is what particularly upsets me. What I do find disconcerting is his political mindset, particularly his characterization of the nation's current political mood as "reasonless xenophobia." This mindset sees improper jingoism in such movies as Rocky IV and Rambo. It views them as irrational...
Stallone further pares down the film by eliminating all the interesting characters. Creed of course is dead, as is his manager Micky Goldmill, who bought it in Rocky III. Adrian Balboa (Talia Shire) has approximately five lines and the dreaded Drago even less. In place of the grimy hodgepodge that peopled the now primitive Rocky I, Stallone gives us a talking robot maid, droves of stony-faced KGB agents and a shadowy figure in the royal box who bcars marked resemblence to current Soviet Premier Gorbachev...
After this brief interruption, the crowd returns to its normal level of participation. Rocky is by now starting to punish the seemingly invincible Drago, and various cries of "Kill him!" escape from alleged human beings. Rocky (and Stallone), I think, is no longer "da bum from Philly who don't talk too good." The audience really believes this cartoon of men named after Greek myths who have superhuman strengths and superhuman purposes. Stallone/Rocky no longer plays the aspiring Sigfried. He is no Wotan himself entering the Valhalla of mass popularity...