From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

First Blood
Theatrical poster for First Blood
Directed by	Ted Kotcheff
Produced by	Buzz Feitshans
Written by	Novel: David Morrell Screenplay: Michael Kozoll William Sackheim Sylvester Stallone
Starring	Sylvester Stallone Richard Crenna Brian Dennehy David Caruso Jack Starrett
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography	Andrew Laszlo
Editing by	Joan E. Chapman
Distributed by	Orion Pictures Corporation
Release date(s)	October 22, 1982
Running time	97 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$14 million
Followed by	Rambo: First Blood Part II
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

First Blood is the first film featuring the character of troubled Vietnam War veteran John Rambo. It starred Sylvester Stallone as Rambo, Brian Dennehy as Sheriff Will Teasle, and Richard Crenna as Col. Samuel Trautman.

Based on a 1972 David Morrell book of the same name, the film (which differs from the book in many areas) was directed by Ted Kotcheff, produced by Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna, and released on Friday, October 22, 1982.

Taglines:

• This time he's fighting for his life.
• A one man war.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Adaptation issues 3 Critics' views 4 Production 5 The Rambo series 6 DVD 7 Trivia 8 See also 9 External links

The film centers on John Rambo, a former member of an elite Special Forces unit in Vietnam and Medal of Honor recipient. Rambo has difficulty adjusting to civilian life and wanders the country as a drifter. The film begins as he is seeking out his friend Barry, apparently the only other Special Forces member to make it out of Vietnam alive.

Rambo finds out from Barry's family that he died from cancer due to Agent Orange exposure. Left to continue drifting, Rambo runs afoul of Will Teasle, the sheriff of a small Washington State mountain resort town called Hope (set in Hope, WA. - filmed in Hope, British Columbia). Teasle drives Rambo out of town while telling him the people of Hope don't appreciate people of his kind- Rambo's attire clearly defines him as an army vet. Rambo is dropped outside of town but heads back, refusing to be forced out. Teasle becomes very angry and orders Rambo to be searched. Rambo is searched and has a large hunting knife found on him, which he claims to hunt 'The Enemy' with.

Teasle arrests Rambo for vagrancy, resisting arrest and carrying a concealed weapon and brings him back to the station, where he is beaten and talked down to by Art Gault, the sheriff's sadistic head deputy. Some of the officers are sympathetic, but ignorant or meek. During the beatings, Rambo has flashbacks to his time as a prisoner of war. The sight of a straight razor brings to mind horrible torture and causes Rambo to freak out. He violently dispatches the officers with nothing but his hands, runs upstairs, steals his knife, escapes from the police station and heads into the mountains on a stolen motorcycle. Teasle gives pursuit in his police car, which is overturned after an extended chase. Rambo's motorcycle flips over as well, and he flees into the hills.

The deputies go after Rambo on foot, aided by a pack of Doberman pinschers, forcing him to climb down a steep cliff overlooking a river gorge to elude capture. Deputy Gault, ignoring Teasle's orders to capture Rambo, attempts to murder Rambo from a passing helicopter while he is trapped on a ledge. Rambo drops into a mass of trees, badly cutting himself, and is cornered by the helicopter again. He throws a rock at it, causing it to pitch heavily and dropping Gault into the gorge, killing him (despite the film's reputation of being overly violent, this is the only person who is clearly killed in the entire movie). Teasle is enraged at his friend's death, and vows to stop Rambo.

Teasle leads his deputies into the woods in an attempt to capture Rambo. The deputies are inexperienced and fight amongst each other, making themselves easy targets. Rambo disables the deputies using guerrilla war tactics but kills none. Rambo then confronts Teasle, knife to his throat and says that in town, he is law, out here it is Rambo. Rambo than leaves suddenley. Teasle calls in the National Guard and the State Police. TV news on the incident attracts the attention of Rambo's former commanding officer, Colonel Samuel Trautman, who warns the searchers that trying to capture Rambo borders on being suicidal, due to his combat training and experience.

When the United States National Guard unit finds Rambo holed up in a mine entrance, they fire a M72 LAW (shoulder-fired rocket launcher) at him. Teasle is furious, as he wanted Rambo alive, but eventually accepts that his nemesis is dead. Unbeknownst to his pursuers, Rambo survives the explosion and cave-in. He crawls through tunnels in the mine where he faces challenges such as finding light and fighting off biting rats. Eventually he finds an exit near a main road. Rambo steals an M60 Machine gun from the National Guardsmen and returns to Hope, where he destroys a gas station, telephone junction boxes, power lines, and a local firearms store.

Rambo finds Teasle on the roof of the police station. He manages to badly wound him and bring him down through a skylight. As Rambo moves towards Teasle to kill him, Colonel Trautman tells him that his mini-war is over. Rambo, after furiously shouting "nothing is over!" and raging how what was important in the field is nothing in the world, breaks down sobbing and tells a story how his friend and fellow soldier Danforth died in a kamikaze explosion in Saigon during the Vietnam War. Trautman shows a little sorrow on this story, but convinces Rambo to surrender to the authorities. The film ends with Rambo being led away.

Various screenplays adapted from Morrell's book had been pitched to studios in the years since its release, but it was only when Stallone, who at the time had limited success outside of the Rocky franchise (most of his non-Rocky films either barely broke even or were flops altogether), decided to become involved with the project.

Stallone’s star power after the success of the Rocky films enabled him to suggest changes to the script, to make the character of John Rambo more sympathetic. While Morrell's book has the Rambo character kill many of his pursuers, in the movie version, Rambo does not directly cause the death of any police or national guardsmen.

Prior to Stallone taking the role, Steve McQueen was interested in the role. Just before shooting began, Kirk Douglas quit the role of Col. Trautman over a script dispute. Douglas wanted the film to end as the book did, with the death of the Rambo character. Richard Crenna was quickly hired as a replacement; the role of Trautman became the veteran character actor's most famous role. A suicide scene was filmed, but ultimately, Kotcheff and Stallone opted to have Rambo turn himself in at Trautman's urging.

A 1972 TIME review of the novel is believed to have been the first use of the word "carnography".

Film reviewer Chuck O'Leary (from FULVUEDRIVE-IN.COM) lauds First Blood as “...a gripping survival adventure with an emotional ending that's downright moving.” O’Leary also praises composer Jerry Goldsmith’s “excellent musical score." Film critic Almar Haflidason (BBC) notes that Stallone’s training in survival skills and hand-to-hand combat “...helped give the film such a raw and authentic edge that excited the audiences of the time.”

Film reviewer Brian Webster, from the Apollo film site, calls First Blood “...an embarrassingly sloppy production” with a weak script. Film critic Jeremiah Kipp (from filmcritic.com) had a more positive view of the film, which he gave two stars out of four. While Kipp criticised some of the “comic book” dialogue and “macho...mindless escapism” of the film, he acknowledges that it also “...reflect[ed] a new compassion towards traumatized veterans of the Vietnam conflict. As well, Kipp praised Stallone’s acting in the finale, stating that the actor ”...hits his climactic breakdown monologue out of the park” with a performance that was “sweet and moving and mildly incomprehensible.”

In general, the film was criticized by many at the time for its violent scenes and for its seeming glorification of weapons (such as the M60 which featured prominently in advertising).^{[citation needed]} Interestingly, though, its violence and gore pales in comparison to modern day action and war films (or even current prime time TV dramas), with only one on screen death, a possible three other deaths only suggested by a car crash and a handful of non-lethal attacks.

First Blood, which had a modest shooting budget of $14 million, became a major hit, going on to earn an estimated $47 million in North America and $78 million overseas. This success helped to solidify Stallone's career. First Blood also spawned two sequels, with a fourth film expected to be released in 2008.

The town scenes in the movie were shot in Hope, British Columbia, Canada. The rest of the movie was shot in Golden Ears Provincial Park.

Main article: Rambo

John Rambo's iconic stature was not attained until the popular sequel, Rambo: First Blood Part II was released in 1985^{[citation needed]}. Often viewed as much more of an action film than a drama^{[citation needed]}, as the original had been, Rambo was panned by most critics^{[citation needed]}. But that did not stop the film from being the second-highest grossing film of the year, trailing only Robert Zemeckis' Back to the Future [1]. President Ronald Reagan set off a minor controversy when he admitted he admired Rambo III (thus gaining a nickname "Ronbo").^{[citation needed]}. A fourth Rambo film, John Rambo is scheduled for a mid-2008 release.

Author David Morrell recorded an audio commentary track for the First Blood Special Edition DVD released in 2002.

Actor Sylvester Stallone recorded an audio commentary track for the First Blood Ultimate Edition DVD released in 2004. This edition also includes a "never-before-seen" alternate ending in which Rambo commits suicide.

• The screams of Sgt. Arthur Galt when he falls from the helicopter and some of the screams of Deputy Mitch, heard when Rambo cuts his leg with a knife (in the woods), can be also heard in the arcade game Golden Axe.

• In the scene where Rambo falls through the trees, Stallone did the stunt work himself. In the process he broke three ribs and punctured a lung.

• The part of Deputy Mitch, the less violent police officer, is played by David Caruso was also in An Officer and a Gentleman, released the same year as First Blood. He has gone on to play such famous TV roles as Lieutenant Horatio Caine in CSI: Miami and Detective John Kelly in NYPD Blue.

• Police brutality
• Vietnam veteran
• Combat stress reaction
• Survivalism

• Sylvester Stallone Official Website
• First Blood at the Internet Movie Database
• DVD Comparison
• Detailed synopsis of First Blood at moviecheat.com
• [2]Official Photo scan Rambo First blood

Rambo films
First Blood | Rambo: First Blood Part II | Rambo III | John Rambo