I wasn't allowed to watch this film when it was released because I was less than 10 years old and my parents were pretty restrictive about what it is that I was exposed to on a screen. At that time I am sure I complained because I really liked Stallone just like every other kid. Despite not being allowed to see the movie I still emulated the character of Rambo just like everyone else at that time. He was an amazing one-man Army and this film is where that notion all originated.
I think that in many instances that it can be a bad idea to return to watch old movies that you have fond memories of because for many of them, time is not very kind to movies. In 1982 there wasn't a great deal of special effect options available to filmmakers but they were still able to pull off some pretty great stuff given the right level of innovation and camera tricks. I went back to watch First Blood last night to see if it had in fact, stood the test of time and I have to say that other than some repetitious sound effects, the movie does a very good job remaining good even now more than 40 years later.
This film probably needs no plot synopsis recap for almost anyone but if you happen to be a lot younger than me the movie goes something like this: John Rambo returns from the Vietnam war to find an America that doesn't want him back. Even though he is just trying to go about his life he is harassed, ignored, and even bullied by strangers as he makes his way across the country just looking for a life. When he is passing through Hope, Washington towards some unknown destination he gets picked up by the Sheriff who was promising to just give him a ride. When John asks in the middle of the town about a "place to get something to eat" the Sheriff tells him there's a spot 30 miles down the road despite the fact that they are currently in the middle of the city. It is at this point that the Sheriff informs him that John is not welcome in the city and to be on his way. The Sheriff drops him off on the other side of a bridge outside of the city limits and sarcastically and patronizingly tells him to have a nice day but to keep moving because the Sheriff doesn't want "vagrants" in his city.
John ignores the sheriff's orders and returns to the city of Hope simply looking for something to eat. When the sheriff spots him he picks him up and arrests him for vagrancy. John does not resist but things get worse when at the station the other police officers except for a few unnecessarily abuse him while in custody including beating him. This is when John's PTSD from the war starts to come back and we get some really nicely done flashbacks to his time in war that triggers a "fight or flight" reaction and he ends up overpowering all the cops and successfully fleeing from the police station.
He is relentlessly pursued by the Sheriff who calls in all the police help that he can get as Rambo is chased further and further into the woods. This is where we are introduced to how adept Rambo is at survival and how deadly he is to an enemy.
Rambo is able to take on the entire police force with relative ease but kills none of them. The only officer that dies accidentally falls from a helicopter while attempting to shoot John who is at that time hanging from a cliff. When he catches the Sheriff off guard he holds a knife to his throat as pictured above and informs him that he could have killed all of him men and the Sheriff himself. He tells them to leave him alone but of course, the Sheriff returns to town and calls in the National Guard instead. It is at this point that Colonel Sam turns up to intervene and attempt to deescalate the situation.
When the Colonel confronts the Sheriff and advises him to call of the manhunt the Sheriff inquires as to why he is so interested in saving one soldier's life. The Colonel says something along the lines of "I'm not trying to save his life, I'm trying to save all of yours."
Then the film kind of carries out how you would expect with Rambo completely dominating everyone and everything that gets thrown at him. This was something that was obviously going to happen because the film is called "Rambo" after all. It didn't really matter at the time that this is predictable and it doesn't matter today because the action is done so well. Is it completely impractical that one person could take on an entire battalion? Of course it is, but that is what makes it so much fun. It is also really great cinematography and direction because in 1982 we were dealing with extremely limited capabilities as far as on-screen effects were concerned.
The cave scenes in particular are quite impressive because that blazing flame in front of Stallone is real and they were dealing with very tight and cramped areas to shoot these scenes in. Also, most of the combat is realistic enough looking and there aren't any deaths that look extremely fake even watching with eyes 42 years later.
Once Rambo starts his fight against the police and army it is quite evident that he is going to emerge victorious but this was just good action fun and kind of where films like that started to be good. As it turns out the story of Rambo had existed in book form since 1972 and several studios had attempted to make this film already but were unsuccessful in the process. With a budget of $15 million this sort of expense on a film was rather unheard of at the time. I know that today we routinely spend that much on just one of the actor's salary but this was a very different time and the $15 million price tag was still considered a huge risk on the part of the producers.
It all paid off in the end because the film was a massive hit pulling in $125 million at the box office. The character of Rambo ended up becoming globally iconic and remains so to this day. Future films featuring the same character would end up doing very well also although I have to say that they became increasingly ridiculous as they went along. Last Blood was released around 6 years ago and other than this one, I would say that is the only other "good" film in the bunch although it underperformed at the box office and was considered a flop. Whatever man! I liked it!
Should I watch it?
This is one of the most iconic action films of all time and Stallone was a major player in making these sorts of films extremely popular for the next 20 years or so. A rivalry of sorts started between him and Arnold Schwarzenegger in part because of this film. There had been action films before but this was one of the first ones that got the craze going and this extended for a decade-long rivalry between Sly and Arnie. Despite its old age, it really stands out as a piece of cinema history so yeah, go watch this one even if it is for the 10th time.
This movie can be legally streamed on almost any streaming service other than Netflix, which was a surprise
