During shooting, John G. Avildsen felt that cinematographer Steven Poster was over-lighting many scenes. He told Poster he wanted the film to look more like Rocky (1976), in which James Crabe often used a single spotlight to light an entire scene (such as the opening boxing match). Poster told Avildsen that the original film "looked like a cheap documentary". Avildsen smiled and said, "Exactly".
Paulie:
He says he wants to fight. I told him to get married.
Rocky Balboa:
Why?
Paulie:
That's gym humor, Rocko.
The large house Rocky is forced to leave is not the same house as in Rocky IV and III. However many years pass between Rocky becoming rich and losing his fortune, so it is entirely possible the family moved at some point during the height of Rocky's popularity.
In the closing credits Elton John's "The Measure Of A Man" plays while it shows stills from all five Rocky movies.
In 2002, director John G. Avildsen released a work-print version of the film online, under the title "Rocky V: Director's Cut". In this version, the opening credits are completely different, with different music. Additionally, the music throughout the film is decidedly different then that used in the final version of the film; in particular, there is a lot more Bill Conti music rather than the songs used in the theatrical cut (although Michael Bolton's "When I'm Back On My Feet Again" plays in this cut when Rocky visits Mighty Mick's). Several scenes are edited differently in the Director's Cut, and often with different dialogue. There are also a number of deleted scenes in the film, including a scene of Rocky getting drunk at the bar prior to visiting Mighty Mick's Boxing, and a scene where Rocky meets Marie from Rocky (1976) to find that she is a prostitute and has just become homeless. Additionally, the Director's Cut has a completely different edit of the street fight, with new music, and also includes the Mickey hallucination scene.
English, Italian
$42,000,000 (estimated)
$14,073,170 18 November 1990
$40,946,358
$119,946,358