First Blood (Rambo: First Blood)

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  October 27, 2009

  lewiskendell

  Like a lot of other reviewers have said, First Blood wasn't at all what I expected to be. This isn't a typical 80's action movie. It has a heart and a message that elevates it beyond its explosions and gunshots.
  
  Who knew that Sly Stalone had this kind of a performance in him? M...( read more)aybe his breakdown scene could have been done a little better, but for the rest of the movie he does a great job of portraying Rambo well, as neither a hero or a villian. He's a man who has scene a lot of terrible things, done some himself, and seen his friends die in front of him.
  
  First Blood was the very best kind of surprise; a good one. I really want to see the other Rambo movies to see if they continued to be as good as the first.

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  October 1, 2009

  SirPant

  I saw it for the very first time last night and I have to say, it?s not what I expected, it?s much better! It?s quite a sad and moving story really. There is also a lot of butt kicking in it and sticking it to the man, he just wanted something to eat damn it! Rambo is cool!

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  September 6, 2009

  DrZeek

  Teasle: Whatever possessed God in heaven to make a man like Rambo?
  Trautman: God didn't make Rambo. I made him!
  
  A finely made 80s action film. It has a good premise and Stallone does a great job in the lead both physically and as an actor.
  
  Stallone stars as John Rambo, a ...( read more)highly decorated, but mentally unstable Vietnam vet who has wandered into a small town only to become a problem for the local police. Rambo is immediately spotted by the sheriff, played by Brian Dennehy, who tries to run him out of town, only to have Rambo walk back in. Rambo is then placed under arrest for vagrancy, only to freak out and escape the police station, heading out of town into the woods. Now, with all the police trying to hunt Rambo down, he will now wage a one man war to keep himself together.
  
  Rambo: I could have killed 'em all, I could kill you. In town you're the law, out here it's me. Don't push it. Don't push it or I'll give you a war you won't believe. Let it go. Let it go.
  
  The story is simple and doesn't take much time to get going. Both Stallone and Dennehy, and Richard Crenna as Rambo's old Colonel are all good in this movie. Stallone in particular has to go through a number of physically challenging scenes and has an emotional breakdown towards the end, which I thought was quite good.
  
  Unlike the sequels, this isn't a movie about massive body counts, even if it has a confused reputation for being so. Its just more of a hyper real version of a vet facing unlawful treatment for serving in that war.
  
  Good flick.
  
  Teasle: He was just another drifter who broke the law!
  Trautman: Vagrancy wasn't it? That's gonna look real good on his grave stone in Arlington: Here lies John Rambo, winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor, survivor of countless incursions behind enemy lines. Killed for vagrancy in Jerkwater, USA.
  Teasle: Now don't give me any of that crap Trautman. Do you think Rambo was the only guy who had a tough time in Vietnam? He killed a police officer for Christ's sake!
  Trautman: You're goddamn lucky he didn't kill all of you.

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  April 5, 2009

  76Majikat

  The first film my parents ever hired when we bought our first Video recorder. I can?t help thinking; if only they had let him have something to eat?
  
  Such an escalation of events for something that begins so trivial, yet a thoroughly entertaining film, even all these years lat...( read more)er. Very typical of the 80?s Action genre, but one to be reflected on with enjoyment, I?m not and never have been a huge fan of Stallone and yet this film somehow works.

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  March 6, 2009

  FangsFirst

  Rambo is now a veritable cultural institution, the name given to any one-man army in action films, or anyone who thinks they are one in reality. A cartoon, action figures, four movies, cultural references down to (my favourite) Gizmo the mogwai in Gremlins 2, who dons a he...( read more)adband and makes a bow from a butterfly paperclip, and everyone knows exactly who and what it is a reference to. However many films Sylvester Stallone has done, he is unlikely to escape Rocky and Rambo, the two characters that are inseparable from Sly. Remembered as a gung ho, militaristic, ultra-violent celebration of black-and-white morality, xenophobic sensibilities and ridiculous odds overcome by a single man via ridiculous circumstances, it's hard to imagine how this image was spawned from First Blood.*
  
  John J. Rambo (Stallone) is a Green Beret Vietnam veteran who is wandering the state of Washington in an attempt to track down the other surviving members of Baker Company, all of them returning to civilian life after the end of American involvement in Vietnam. He discovers that the friend in this area, Delmar Barry, has died from Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam, being finally taken in by cancer a year prior. Now aimless in his wanderings, Sheriff Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy) pulls up in his vehicle and suggests that the long-haired Rambo may want to reconsider his green Army jacket and haircut to be considered acceptable in the area, and offers him a ride. Rambo accepts grudgingly and asks if there is anywhere to eat, to which Will responds that there is a diner 30 miles away. Rambo is let out beyond the town's limits and Will expresses his hope that their conversation was helpful. Rambo ignores it all, instead, and wanders back into town, incurring the wrath of Teasle. Arresting him for vagrancy and resisting arrest, Will returns him to his own station. There the psychopathic Deputy Arthur Galt (Jack Starrett) takes it on himself to add a few extra instructions to his treatment of their new prisoner. A few violent blows, a hose-down and an attempt at shaving Rambo result in the PTSD-induced flashback that causes Rambo to break free from their custody and take to the nearby woods. The angered Will, Galt, and various other deputies--including sole voice of reason, Mitch (David Caruso)--pursue him, with Galt's complete disavowal of his duties leading him to fire on Rambo, who retaliates in the interest of self defense, causing the helicopter Galt is firing from to become unsteady, which causes Galt to fall to his death. Now Teasle refuses to back down and vows to pursue and put down Rambo, eventually enlisting the help of the National Guard and State Police. The only man to come out with any understanding of Rambo is Col. Sam Trautman (Richard Crenna), who trained and commanded Rambo, and knows far better just how dangerous he can be.
  
  This film, despite the beliefs of some (and marketing that suggests it), is not soaked in machismo for its own sake, violence for prurient reasons or mind-bogglingly ridiculous action, or at least not obviously or visibly so. Catching the perfect crest of action movie methodology, director Ted Kotcheff takes the script of Michael Kozoll, William Sackheim and Stallone himself (who apparently infused the more sympathetic aspects of Rambo) as adapted from David Morrell's novel and melds the action mentality of the 70s with the new techniques that would overtake the rest of the 80s. A clumsy authenticity is mixed with just a pinch of spectacle-oriented massive stunts, giving us a feeling of simultaneous believability and contrived creation, the mix serving to enhance the overall acceptability of the action that occurs, little of it then standing out as an orchestrated stunt or unreasonable happenstance. First Blood's Rambo is a master of guerrilla warfare and survivalist technique, able to survive in the woods easily, hunting and building traps to attempt to preserve his life and well-being, all shown with a sense of Stallone himself being trained in these arts, with no ridiculous tools or methods coming across as unbelievable, but all appearing to take an instinctual sort of knowledge and understanding of environment.
  
  The idea that the film is obsessed with guns, violence and the military is unsurprising in light of the fact that there are some who decry the existence of the military or who are offended by the presence of any kind of gunplay in fiction. There's not much other reason for it, as this is not a film that suggests any of these things are great, good, wonderful or even particularly acceptable. It's a fact of life and one that can't be avoided, especially in a conflict between a soldier and hot-headed police officers. Rambo sews himself up when wounded not to focus on gore, blood or violence, but to show what kind of a man he is: one trained to deal with pain enough to get the job done, to accept or ignore it enough that he can survive and continue to deal with outside threats. The use of an M60 might be considered overkill in Rambo's final standoff, but it's a matter of availability and likely also reflects Rambo's interest in causing maximum damage, as well as the decreased need for constant reloading that would otherwise be much higher with a clip-based rifle. Still, those who want to see this will see it regardless. And of course there is the flipside where folks inevitably decry this as unrealistic because they have the opposite prejudice in their mind, and refuse to believe that any police officer (in their minds intrinsically a paragon of honour and respect, regardless of the human factor) would mistreat a soldier (who falls into that same magical box of inhuman perfection). Both of these viewpoints are, frankly, stupid and naïve.
  
  Instead, this film is about the effects of the military experience, especially the ingrained training received and how poorly it meshes with civilian life. No one is right or wrong throughout, with Rambo being a bit too belligerent for his own good (however unfair his treatment may be, he certainly didn't help much of it), and certainly the Sheriff and most of his deputies going way too far in the interest of their own petty boredom, cruelty and pride. Trautman is occasionally considered cartoonish, with doom and gloom statements about Rambo's skill and the allegedly inevitable death of everyone sent after him, probably most notably his comment about a "good supply of bodybags." I felt the same when I first watched it, but this time I was surprised when he appeared and it all made perfect sense. He's not making hyperbolic statements out of keeping with the attempt at "realism" in the film, he's making hyperbolic statements to make a point. He's proud, too, but reserved and cautious with it, knowing what to say when, and what not to say. His bodybag comment is a frustrated offhand remark intended to show that he is not relenting in his belief in Rambo's skill, and almost wants to see Will fail and see he's right--one last statement about Rambo's superhuman skill to both prick at Will and show that he realizes he's wasting his time doing it, and knows what will result from it.
  
  This isn't a cartoon of a film or a cartoon of a character; the original ending would have been perfectly fitting for all that it would have been a downer, and it would definitely be interesting to see the full-fledged psychopath form of Rambo who does not stop short with any enemies and does whatever he feels the need to.
  
  *Actually, no it isn't--king of ruining films with unimaginative, macho and moronic sequels that eclipse superior originals in popularity, James Cameron is responsible for this image.

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  November 20, 2009

  Yelverton

  Never really liked this film.

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  November 18, 2009

  ythelastman89

  By no means is it a bad movie, but it does often fall under the category of action for the sake of action. Sylvester Stallone makes a great shell-shocked Nam vet, but you don't really get to see a character moment until the last ten minutes of the movie. It does have a lot to enj...( read more)oy and there's a lot of great ruthless guerrilla tactics.

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  November 15, 2009

  21rclemente

  Great way to start the series.

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  November 5, 2009

  jetty2728

  Nice story about how a veteran struggle to re-integrate into the society....
  The psychological portrayal is very good, but Stallone cant really act....
  The beginning of the movie is very boring and slow....
  Anyway, this is still a classic!

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  November 3, 2009

  blacksheepboy

  The ending is too preachy, but altogether it is a nice action film that makes us care about its character, mostly thanks to Stallone's convincing performance.

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• 
  February 18, 2008

  Rossjm

  just watched this tonight on ITV1. brilliant film.
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  June 27, 2007

  ChrisHewittAKACream

  I want to see this again, soon!
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  March 13, 2007

  samjohnstone

  First blood was no joke-the other Rambo movies were a waste of time,avoid them
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  January 22, 2007

  wasimrock

  The way stallone bursted out of prison was great.Galt thinks he was it but he got killed bya rock.weren't so tough were you galt.Remember the name JOHN RAMBO
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  January 4, 2007

  tamandocomando

  as an avid action movie fan, ive had more then my fair share of good and bad movies. this is one of the greatest action movie i ever saw. it does a nice job of balancing the drama and gratuitious violence. ive seen all 3 rambo movies, and this one sticks out as being the best. shame they dont make movies like this anymore.

• Sylvester Stallone
• Richard Crenna
• Brian Dennehy
• David Caruso
• Jack Starrett
• Bill McKinney
• Chris Mulkey

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• First Blood Trailer [1982]
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