First Blood (1982)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Ted Kotcheff

Writers:

David Morrell (novel)
Michael Kozoll (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

22 October 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

One war against one man.

Plot:

A mentally unstable Vietnam war vet, when abused with a small town's police force, begins a one man war with it.

Plot Keywords:

Rambo | Sheriff | Colonel | Escape | Small Town

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Sylvester Stallone	...	John J. Rambo
Richard Crenna	...	Col. Samuel Trautman
Brian Dennehy	...	Hope Sheriff Will Teasle
Bill McKinney	...	State Police Capt. Dave Kern
Jack Starrett	...	Deputy Sgt. Arthur Galt
Michael Talbott	...	Deputy Balford
Chris Mulkey	...	Deputy Ward
John McLiam	...	Orval the Dog Man
Alf Humphreys	...	Deputy Lester
David Caruso	...	Deputy Mitch
David L. Crowley	...	Deputy Shingleton (as David Crowley)
Don MacKay	...	Preston (as Don Mackay)
Charles A. Tamburro	...	Pilot (as Chuck Tamburro)
David Petersen	...	Trooper
Craig Huston	...	Radio operator (as Craig Wright Huston)

Also Known As:

Rambo (USA) (TV title)
Rambo: First Blood
Rambo (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Rambo (Argentina) (Venezuela) [es]
A Fúria do Herói (Portugal) [pt]
Acorralado (Spain) [es]
First Blood (Denmark) [da]
Ilk kan (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Krigaren (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Pirveli siskhli (Georgia) [ka]
Rambo (Japan: English title) [en]
Rambo (Portugal) [pt]
Rambo (France) [fr]
Rambo (Hungary) [hu]
Rambo (Italy) [it]
Rambo (Poland) [pl]
Rambo - Programado Para Matar (Brazil) [pt]
Rambo - To proto aima (Greece) [el]
Rambo I (France) [fr]
Rambo-Prva Krv (Serbia) [sr]
Rambo: Le dévastateur (Canada: French title) [fr]
Taistelija (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 | Finland:K-16 (video release) (1998) | Finland:K-18 (original rating) (1983) | Malaysia:18SG | Brazil:14 | Canada:14A (re-rating) | USA:R (certificate #26816) | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:18 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A | Chile:18 | France:-12 | New Zealand:M (DVD rating) | New Zealand:R16 (VHS rating) | Norway:18 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Golden Ears Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Anabasis N.V.

Trivia:

Warner Bros. had considered to make the story with Clint Eastwood, Steve McQueen, Al Pacino, and Dustin Hoffman.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Rambo is driving the truck and pushes the cop car into the path of the broken down car, the explosion starts the second the cars make contact. In the next shot during the fireball, the two cables that held the static vehicle in place are visible.

Quotes:

Trautman: Teasle, you and all your men couldn't handle him before what makes you think you can handle him now? Only God knows what damage he's prepared to do.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Innocent Sleep (1996)

Soundtrack:

IT'S A LONG ROAD

In war, a hero, in peace, forsaken.

This is a truly unique movie that quickly became obscured due to the later sequels. It tells the story of a man who survived one hell, only to return home despised and forsaken because of it. There was a time when America didn't quite know what to think of the lost war, and so it was forgotten - and the men who came out of it as well. Rambo finds he cannot survive this war, because it is still going on within him.

Finally, pushed too far by a small town sheriff, Rambo returns to the only thing he can relate to. War. Yet it is a war he almost mercifully wages on the macho egotistical deputies and week end warriors that pursue. To potentially misquote Rambo :

"I coulda killed them all, I could have killed you. In town you're the law, out here it's me. Let it go..."