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It is often reviled as the bastard creation that demeans the Rocky saga, but Rocky V is not entirely without its merits.

What we have here is an alternate take on the end fight from the film, complete with different lines, a different sequence of events, and some entirely fresh footage of Burgess Meredith (Mickey Goldmill) in one of his final film performances.

I can only say that had they put together the ideal combination of footage from the theatrical release and footage from this discarded workprint scene, they would have had a damn good end sequence, more than fully worthy of a Rocky film.

And, of course, they would have had to discard some crap from both versions…

This particular underrated actor has given a string of good performances, but in some ways, hasn’t done himself any favors by giving them in a string of terrible movies.

Richard Gant may be best remembered as the Don-King-inspired ruthless promoter, George Washington Duke, from Rocky V. As the man who turned rookie actor Tommy Morrison against Sylvester Stallone, while Sylvester was trying to win back the affection of his son (rookie actor Sage Stallone), Gant put in a colorful and interesting turn with his performance…but much like the handful of underappreciated actors in the film, turned out to be bailing water on the Titanic as the film sank.

As it turns out, however, the much maligned fifth installment of the Rocky series was actually one of the better films in which you can see Gant play a notable role. He may perhaps have scraped the absolute bottom of the barrel for a working actor of significant ability by appearing in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, the 9th chapter of the Friday the 13th franchise, in which the spirit of Jason escapes his body and possesses various people, starting with Gant.

Along with William Forsythe and Lance Henriksen, who gave an incredibly strong performance for such a film, Gant was again left to scoop out water in the sinking ship that was the Brian Bosworth-fueled undercover cop film Stone Cold.

Gant was also entertaining as Baa Baa Ack, an African political figure in the Chris Rock comedy CB4 and has also actually appeared in some quality films such as City Hall and The Big Lebowski.

Richard Gant also sports a long resume of guest appearances on memorable television series, among them: Miami Vice, The Cosby Show, Beverly Hills 90210, How I Met Your Mother, Deadwood, Smallville, NYPD Blue, ER, Friends, Chicago Hope, Seinfeld, Murphy Brown and L.A. Law.

BACK TO: The Wall of Underappreciated Actors

To this day, Sylvester Stallone is pretty hard on himself for inflicting Rocky V upon the world. Undoubtedly, it was the weakest film in the series. It had some downright awful and laughable moments. But it also had its winning moments, though they were not as frequent as one would have liked. Still, he was a bit harsh when he gave the film a “0 out of 10.” It at least had some decent montages.

In one of the better choices in the film, Elton John was brought on board for the end credits and contributed Measure of a Man to play over the titles, which featured a still collage of the key moments from Rocky through Rocky V.

Present through the sequence are all of the notable opponents, from Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) to Thunderlips (Hulk Hogan), from Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) to Clubber Lang (Mr. T). And this sequence also goes to prove that you can even end a movie with a montage.

In a related vein, an avid Arnold Schwarzenegger fan took the same song and put together some of the key stills (and video) of his bodybuilding career. In much the same way that the end credits of Rocky V told the story of that character, so does this collage provide some highlights of the earlier career of “the Austrian Oak.”