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In Rocky IV (1985), Balboa gifts Paulie a talking and moving robot which could do following things:

  • Talk and act like humans.

  • Patch up to phone lines in house.

  • Voice modulation according to needs. Paulie teaches it to talk in girl's voice.

  • Provide household service.

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It's almost like an combination of Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things in today's time.

But it did not have any significance to the plot. Why was it included ?

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    I think the presence of the robot in the film is an additional indicator that Rocky's fortune is being systematically squandered.
    – PCARR
    Jan 8, 2018 at 17:32
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    @PCARR: If you are referring to his loss of fortune then that's story of 5th part. Also the reasons are different.
    – Rahul
    Jan 8, 2018 at 17:44
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    @PCARR Any reservations to fleshing that out into a proper answer?
    – Napoleon Wilson ♦
    Jan 9, 2018 at 14:07
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    @SiXandSeven8ths Any reservations to fleshing that out into a proper answer?
    – Napoleon Wilson ♦
    Jan 9, 2018 at 14:07
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    @SiXandSeven8ths You seem to have a reasonable explanation to back it up. Backing things up isn't just about Wikipedia quotes.
    – Napoleon Wilson ♦
    Jan 9, 2018 at 15:28

1 Answer 1

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Some interesting info can be found here.

Basically, to summarize the article, Stallone discovered the company that produced the robot was using it as a tool to help autistic children. One of Stallone's children is autistic, so he became enamored with the robot and offered to write a part for it in the next Rocky movie. Apparently there was more scripted around building the relationship between Paulie and the robot, but it was scrapped.

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    This is an incredibly wholesome answer, especially when contrasted against the comments on the question.
    – Engineer Toast
    Jan 8, 2018 at 21:10
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    Does that mean within the film they are comparing Paulie to an autistic child?
    – Skooba
    Jan 8, 2018 at 21:30
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    No, because the autism angle isn't known within the Rockyverse. It's just a companion. Think of it as free ad placements.
    – Johnny Bones
    Jan 8, 2018 at 23:19
  • @JohnnyBones Sounds like a pretty, shiny example of product placement. Interesting, whether company has actually paid for this ad or whether it was Stallone's decision: "Either this robot or I'm not playing in this damn movie!"?
    – trejder
    Jan 9, 2018 at 13:35
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    @trejder - You can do that when a) you're the main actor, and b) you write the script. ;o)
    – Johnny Bones
    Jan 9, 2018 at 17:12

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