First Blood (1982)

Sylvester Stallone achieved amazing heights during the 80's, along with Arnold Schwarzenegger, especially as a movie character synonymous with the muscled guy who is a pure fighting machineÂ…

In Ted Kotcheff's "First Blood," John Rambo (Stallone) is a highly decorated Vietnam veteran who was trained specifically as a killing machineÂ… He has come to a quite little town in Oregon, only to visit one of his platoon buddiesÂ… He was told that his friend has died, last summer, of cancerÂ…

Disheartened, Rambo continues to walk the streets of Hope when he is annoyed by the local Sheriff (Brian Dennehy), and booked for vagrancy and resisting arrestÂ…

Beaten, kicked all over, treated like trash, and pushed too far by the other cops in the Sheriff's office, Rambo is taking back to traumatic flashbacks, to the enduring torture in POW campÂ… Rambo, by that point, fights his way out and wages a one-man war against the police force that escalates out of control... Rambo is seen as a one man army overpowering all the sheriff's deputies and escaping into the surrounding woodsÂ…

"First Blood" communicates the rage, the depression, the frustration and the psychological wounds of one Vietnam soldier that fought for his country and was then hassled by it upon his returnÂ…

But what makes Rambo such a dangerous hero is Brian Dennehy being incredibly efficient as the cruel officer who doesn't like the looks of Stallone... Sure he's the abusive sheriff who is the victim of his environment, but he's also arrogant and incessantly underestimating a man who was 'the best, with guns, with knives, with his bare handsÂ…'

Dennehy got a presence of his own pushing an 'expert in guerrilla warfare' at the breaking pointÂ…

Fmovies: A lot of people know the Rambo series as a ridiculous 80's action series. But what a lot of people tend to forget is that the first movie in this series was not a ridiculous action movie. It's a serious, dark, thriller that has a very somber tone and a sympathetic lead character. Almost everything that Rambo is known for nowadays is completely absent in this movie. From the multitude of explosions to the high body count to the unrealistic action to the ridiculous story line is completely absent. There are only 2 or 3 explosions (not to mention they are realistically done) and only one person dies throughout the whole picture. and the action, while there isn't a lot, it's realistic. Even the story line you believe can actually happen. It's for these reasons that make this my favorite Rambo movie. And not to mention the fantastic and heart breaking performance given by Stallone. Why the Academy didn't nominate him for Best Actor at the Oscars is beyond me. If you didn't like the other Rambo movies because of their ridiculousness and haven't seen this film, I highly recommend seeing it. It's one of my favorite post-war movies if not one of my favorite movies of all time.

Final rating: 9/10

Surprise, a "Rambo" movie that tries to say something profound about the plight of its main character and his mental state. For the most part it succeeds. Not for this movie the ridiculously oiled pectorals of part II, where Rambo is transformed into a grunting, soul-less killing machine. He actually begins the movie as a fairly nice chap, someone we can sympathise with, and it's his unnecessarily rough treatment at the hands of small-town sheriff Dennehey and his crew that is likely to shift audience sympathies firmly in the direction of the 'misunderstood' Vietnam vet.

Here, Rambo is also a character who is reluctant to kill unless he absolutely has to. A far cry from the eventual homicidal maniac he was to become, who is seemingly responsible for more death than World Wars 1 & 2 combined. So, to those expecting bucketloads of gore and senseless killing, you'd probably be better off watching the news. "First Blood" is actually more akin to those 'survival in the wilderness' programs you might see on the Discovery Channel; with Rambo having to rely more on guile and cunning than brawn and an M-16 to get him out of tricky situations.

That's not to imply that this is boring. Far from it. Director Kotcheff shows a keen awareness of pace, it's never by any means certain that Rambo will survive (if you discount the other films, of course!) and the supporting characters are all wonderfully unsympathetic. Even Trautmann, Rambo's supposed mentor, has a touch of the villain about him for being complicit in the ultimate dehumanisation of Rambo during the war. By far the best character here is played by Dennehey; always watchable, but Stallone too is good; nicely restrained, more "Cop Land" than "Cobra"

Not an action film as such, it sits better as suspense. In that sense, it does exactly what it says on the tin; rendering John Rambo a far more interesting character here than his incarnation in the other two films. That is basically just wet-dream material for inadequate, spotty faced adolescent boys everywhere. This Rambo is recognisably human. Having said that, neither should you view expecting a solemn Vietnam protest movie in the vein of "Platoon" or "The Deer Hunter". It's different in tone and style to the both of those movies, but in my view at least, is better than either of them.

First Blood fmovies. 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..."

The character of John Rambo became more popular in films such as "Rambo:First Blood,Part II" and "Rambo III".The character were treated like a comic book hero spawning action figures and a short lived animated series which lasted only a short while.There are not that many people who has heard of the Rambo character.He's well known through out,but today's generation would have been lucky to catch him on VHS or DVD.Back in 1982 when the character of John Rambo was introduced to movie screens,filmgoers were dealing with a character that was not displayed as an action icon,but a man who had a lot of demons within him.The best thing about "First Blood" is that John Rambo is not portrayed as an action hero.He is portrayed more as a man.A man who is haunted by memories of the Vietnam War.Sylvester Stallone plays the character of John Rambo very convincingly and Director Ted Kotcheff brings out the story to an effective scale allowing us to see the action through the character's eyes.Violence in films are the main aspects in film today.Or at least one of.It's fun to watch a violent film,but the violence in this film was not filmed to thrill the audience,but to make us understand what John Rambo is going through.I have these memories of first watching this film twenty years ago when I was twelve."First Blood" doesn't deal with CGI nor does it deal with special effects.It deals or tries to deal really hard on what is real.I like "First Blood" because I understand the character.He feels that society is against him and he is angry.A lot of films there is only one villain where as in this one society is the villain.That is according to Rambo.Actually,there is one villain named Sheriff Teasle played by Brian Dennehy.He and Rambo seemed to clash against each other and Ted Kotcheff let's us experience these two men go at it.I liked how the film shows Rambo trying to survive out in the woods while the guards are in hunting him when in turn he is hunting them creating these traps putting these officers in painful situations.The best thing about "First Blood" is that we know that John Rambo was in the Vietnam War and was trained to kill,yet,he doesn't kill a single human in the film on purpose.The killing of Galt was accidental and was deserving according to my eyes.This film is the best in the Rambo series because I understand the character and I understand why he is acting violent."First Blood" doesn't bring us John Rambo,the action hero but John Rambo,a regular man with a lot of demons he must face."First Blood" is the best of the Rambo series.

The adaptation of this novel to the big screen is a great accomplishment. The film is not only the beginning of one of the greatest action trilogies of all-time, but it charts the developments of its characters, something rarely done by an action movie. "First Blood" is a moving story about the realities of post-Vietnam America and is very underrated as a film.