Rocky Climbed a Mountain (Rocky IV filming locations)

[Music] many years ago i made a documentary visiting all the philadelphia locations from the rocky films the most famous of course is the art museum steps which everyone calls the rocky steps we all know it's a tradition to run those steps and pose next to the statue so we've been there done that but what about rocky iv in that movie he gets even stronger and climbs a mountain have you ever wondered where that is everybody knows the art museum steps but shouldn't the mountain be just as iconic when it comes to rocky of course it's kind of difficult because the rocky iv locations are more elusive and sometimes dangerous well i've been wanting to do this for a long time and i'm finally making the trip i'm gonna find that mountain [Music] the movie takes place in russia so that's where i'm heading nope actually they filmed in jackson hole wyoming much easier [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] as i touched down i realized the mission had begun just as it had for rocky as he steps out into a rugged unfamiliar place that will challenge him where he'll be thinking of nothing but drago [Music] this is russia don't look so tough rock for my crew i brought derek wayne johnson who's directed a number of rocky related documentaries many years ago i interviewed him on cinemassacre regarding his film king of the underdogs which is all about john avelson the director of rocky and karate kid derek also edited a documentary about the making of the rocky iv director's cut and has worked with stallone quite a bit it's cool i actually uh i told sly that we were gonna do this so he when you approached me about it i told him and then that was kind of a while ago and then i told him the other day so he's very aware of what we're doing you're telling me that sylvester stallone knows that we're doing this yes that is correct the locations of rocky iv are very cryptic there's some info on the old internet sites like total rocky.com helped us find the general vicinity but we wanted to pinpoint the exact spots if possible remember the cabin and the little village area where he trains where was that well in the jackson hole valley within grand teton national park somewhere between the towns of moose and kelly there's an area known as antelope flats where lies a historic district called mormon row settlers arrived here in 1890 and many of those historic cabins are still around [Music] to the west you can see the grand teton mountain range the same mountains you see in the film it's no wonder why they chose this area for filming because it's absolutely gorgeous but does it look like siberia sure why not yeah we'll just accept it we'll accept that this is what siberia looks like yeah hey why not one of my favorite lines uh which didn't make it into the re-edit unfortunately is uh when paulie says we'll crack out here we'll crack out here other movies were filmed here such as the classic western shane we explored the area and found many remains of old structures wondering if this could be from any of those old movies or even rocky iv we also saw plenty of prairie dogs so cute the cabins all look very familiar to rocky iv but when comparing to the film none of them match many of them are older than the film so you'd think they'd be in the shots well the angle of the mountains is not exact because in the film there's another peak that's sticking out to get this precise angle you'd have to go north a bit so we followed the path until we saw this sign here is telling us that if we go past this point we're trespassing so we're not going to do that so we can say confidently that those cabins once existed somewhere out there so the cabins are gone but i think we've gotten as close as possible [Music] i like that scene where he's running by and he helps somebody out who's got a horse stuck in the snow it's always cool [Music] what's up with that one guy that's always following rocky around we actually see the shot where the guy brings up the binoculars yep those hills match pretty well [Music] i like how they do the multiple takes of him like bringing them up gets in closer [Music] and this kind of makes sense because it's creating like a trail of where they filmed like all the spots so we're kind of moving closer to the area where we suspect the cabin might have been [Music] the main cabin where rocky stayed was only a facade built for the movie and probably struck down immediately after we still wanted to see if we could find the spot it's supposed to be in mormon row and the mountains match all the same if you're looking west but there's one problem there's a hill in the way and if you're standing in mormon row there's no hill there [Music] the only contender we saw was slightly to the west near the intersection of antelope's flat road and the highway which google maps calls highway 191 89 and 26 so which is it i don't know we unfortunately couldn't get too close to the hill because the area is home to private residences but just on the other side as you're passing the hill there's a little hiking area so i climbed up to try to get a view but there wasn't much to see i think rocky's cabin would have been right on the other side this hill here so this is as close as i can possibly get without being able to get closer to look at the hill from the correct angle and line up the mountains properly we couldn't confirm this spot so the rocky cabin may have to stay a mystery [Music] we weren't quick enough to capture it on video but a coyote just ran across the street boy the stair that thing gave me i'm glad we weren't out of the car when we saw that thing here's a question do you think of rocky iv as a christmas movie because it takes place the fight takes place on christmas i've never thought of that i've never seen anyone write about that everyone's always talking about die hard and let the weapon yeah christmas movies i i think you're right i think and there's that chipmunks christmas song yeah yeah i think now rocky 4 is a christmas movie rocky is a christmas movie there you go you know what i do got to say it's pretty messed up that he chooses christmas to have the fight yeah like hey why don't i just leave my wife and kid and just go fight for free no money in siberia yeah no big deal there's a scene where the guy watches rocky cross the river we wanted to find that bridge so we went to tieden pass highway where it crosses snake river by the way jumping from bridge is prohibited i'll keep that in mind if you face south the position of the hill matches and the bridge itself is spot on it could have been like hey stand right there so he's standing in front of us probably because if you count the screenshot one two three and then a thick one it matches oh yeah that was pretty lucky [Music] this would also mean the river below is probably where rocky ran but we weren't able to confirm but the most important spot without a doubt is rocky iv's equivalent of the art museum steps the ever elusive and daunting mountaintop what's the mountain called well the rocky mountains it's not a joke it really is part of the rocky mountain range the internet has suggested rendezvous mountain but i haven't seen anyone match up a shot or confirm so that's why we're going how much climb are you up to doing i think uh i think we should climb about 10 000 feet what do you say 10 700 feet that's how high it is well yeah i think we should do it i never thought about that like okay what do i do if a hang glider comes into the road well i'm obviously going to swerve out of the way but that's not a thought that ever entered my brain he's really he's getting pretty close to the road here we arrived in teton village home of the jackson hole mound resort i'm pretty sure it's up there this is where we'd make our ascent up the mountain to a height of 10 450 feet this is it we're on our way up now in the movie it seems rocky just runs from the base all the way up the mountain running all the way up there knee-deep in snow yeah it would be pretty crazy but not us we're gonna take the lazy way we're gonna take the aerial tram [Music] [Music] the aerial tram gives a spectacular view to say the least it's truly amazing it's like sailing through a bob ross painting and it's my belief this is how the rocky iv crew made it to the top the sign confirms the tram access was here since 1966 so this would be the most likely way for them to bring up their camera tripod etc it takes you right up to an area called top of the world this is an excellent tourist spot gives a breathtaking view and makes for plenty of great pictures immediately we began scanning the mountains for any match-ups and soon enough came our first sign of success they got him running up the side now oh yeah oh yeah those trees match perfectly yeah no it's whoa yeah there's there's no question about it it's a perfect match it's dead on we've confirmed without a doubt sylvester stallone was right over there he ran up this slope which is very steep and impressive and his final mark must have been somewhere over there this is where he raised his arms and yelled drago unfortunately we couldn't get any closer it was roped off so i think the spot where he was standing was somewhere past these ropes which we can't get to unfortunately because there's some construction going on it's not safe basically the boundaries are here for a reason there's a full body shot that's not in the movie but you can find it all over google i don't know if it's a promo shot or a behind-the-scenes photo or what but the angle of the mountains matches perfectly [Music] it seems like he's standing on ground that really matches that over there so i think that's where he would have been this is about as close as i could replicate the shot in the picture the mountains appeared much closer because they used a telephoto lens for dramatic effect in the film if you look at the side viewer rocky you can see the mounds from this angle also match this would mean rocky is facing west and if you look at the next shot of his backside sure enough that's where the sun's setting this completely matches so there's like this little sloping line in the trees here and then these little line of trees here that's broken in the middle there that little gap the geography of this scene is perfectly correct and by using all these shots we've triangulated his position we've confirmed the rocky mountain did we see anyone else screaming drago no it felt weird to be standing at such a major rocky location without anyone else seeming to be aware of it there's even a waffle house right near the spot called corbett's cabin man it smells amazing you just picture rocky running up here and you know getting all in shape and everything it's just like pouring syrup on waffles we went inside curious if there was any acknowledgement a single picture piece of memorabilia or merchandise anywhere not a single thing maybe teton village likes to keep their town simple it's a quiet little town in fact you might say it's boring boring so anyway we found the spot but there's more to it you might have noticed if you look at the distant shots and compare it to where we were just at the surface he's standing on doesn't match it also seems like it was shot separately the film stock has a different grain and color the clouds and sun are in a different place it all suggests the close-ups and the helicopter shots were filmed separately at two different mountaintops the nearest point at ten thousand seven hundred feet is cody peak popular among skiers a daredevil's delight a hundred percent detached from civilization it's not even labeled on google maps in fact google maps will take you to a different cody peak in east yellowstone park so it's very confusing it's the same situation where some have suggested cody peak as the location but none have ever matched up shots at least not to my knowledge and i looked all over but it makes perfect sense they would want to film all the way down there because it's away from the tourists and everything because they want to film somewhere where you don't see that aerial tram it's supposed to look like it's out in the middle of nowhere in siberia so that's what i think you can count on rocky to make it up a big scary mountain like that us well it's quite a hike um well i think we should maybe [Music] yeah i don't know we're here you want to do it you want to say we do it we do it yeah hey rocky could do it we can do it well we'll see maybe [Music] [Music] as the ominous mountain got closer a feeling of dread came over us this is where the path ends the next part would involve almost vertical climbing along a giant rocky slope this is crazy yeah the video does not do it justice seeing it in person is the only way to know how risky it is i had underestimated it while i was researching and preparing for this trip i looked at videos taken here by serious mountain climbers and skiers who were more brave than us they made it look so easy and that's a common thing to watch somebody else and think hey i can do that and then you try it yourself and realize there's more to it for one thing we could have used some proper climbing gear it seemed like a good idea to wear my old beat up shoes because hey they get beaten up anyway but the treads were all worn down and i kept slipping and even experienced climbers and skiers have died here before but i don't know about climbing up that and with this wind going on what's up the wind you see i couldn't even hear you because it was so strong wow i'm just holding onto my hat you guys can't tell but it's uh there's a huge draft right here just pushing us back yeah if we get hurt here it's not an option there's just nothing like what are we gonna do so and quite frankly earlier a kid actually fell about 50 feet or so yeah and he's okay he's okay yeah but we didn't witness it but we were there right after it happened and he was getting bandaged up so we're kind of like well what are we gonna do we're gonna turn around and see if there's another path to get there so we went on an excursion looking for a less risky route or any other way to get up that damn mountain [Music] [Music] down by cody bowl is when we realized how high it actually was i tried to fly a drone up there but it reached its maximum height and still wasn't able to get close to the peak but i was sure that's where rocky was and i wanted to prove it so badly it seems so close yet so far away we returned to the cliff from before knowing this was indeed the way up [Music] but the risks were weighing on us some people are more risk-taking than others such as the paragliders we saw earlier and i think we reached our limit we made it pretty far though we did and you know there were a group of hikers who were teenagers and they were they went up a little bit further than us and they but uh they turned back as well everyone got to a certain spot where we were and turned back so we don't feel too bad a lot was going on inside my head right there i truly wanted to get to the top of that mountain for decades i have pushed myself as hard as i could to make videos wanting to always deliver the best product for the fans but how far would i be willing to push myself i just kept looking up there thinking i could make it but i wasn't so sure if i could make it back down we had already slipped countless times slip here i fall on my ass no big deal but i fall up there that's uh something else i scanned the whole ledge thinking how many spots how many chances would there be for it to happen i imagine those red x's like in zelda breath of the wild that mark each spot where you died except here there would be only one chance my thoughts were very complicated that moment but the biggest overriding thought was my children how i had a responsibility to come back home you know before i went on this trip i uh you know the night before i left i was putting my youngest daughter to bed at night and she uh was you know like kind of sad you know like i'm gonna miss you daddy like and i'm like you know don't worry i'm gonna be back in just a few days it's not gonna be that long and you know um you know so i'm letting her know you know don't worry i'm gonna be okay and everything's gonna be fine i'm gonna come back and it reminded me that scene in the movie actually where he's where rocky is talking to his kid you know he's like putting the kid to bed or whatever and uh you know the kid's asking him like are you scared you know if a big giant you know wanted to fight me i'd be scared um [Music] as derek and i turned back i wondered what was the true meaning of this trip was it just to find some rocky locations or was it something more we saw some amazing scenery had some quality times and got a great workout jesus christ we've been going uphill to get back i mean it was so easy going down going down wasn't a problem so we didn't reach that last location but it ain't over yet nothing is over i may not be as skilled at mountain climbing but i guess i am skilled at matching up movie shots so there's this amazing highly professional drone footage you can see on vimeo posted many years ago by photographer tristan gresco it shows two skiers making the impressive climb up mount cody and in the winter i'm not sure whether or not any of them are aware of the rocky iv connection but if you pause the video here and compare the rocks wouldn't you say this is a perfect match and if there's any doubt left compare the face of the cliff and there it is the second rocky peak confirmed at these coordinates [Music] so we cracked the case but we're not going to end without leaving a little mystery behind because there exists a wooden crate which you can see more clearly thanks to this video posted on youtube by jeff prashaw what is the purpose of this crate why is it in the exact spot where rocky stood could it be something left behind by production and what could possibly be inside i hope it's the robot so even though we didn't make it all the way up that mountain we still went the distance we shed light on some of the most mysterious rocky locations making us feel closer to the film and got a better understanding of the area so i'd say we did what we set out to do cheers [Music] you

Channel: Cinemassacre

Views: 253,191

Keywords: rocky balboa, rocky, 80s, training montage, james rolfe, cinemassacre, avgn, angry video game nerd, sylvester stallone, james rolfe rocky, james rolfe rocky locations, james rolfe climbed a mountain

Id: gI0YdGDkxt8

Length: 25min 35sec (1535 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 16 2022