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| Sylvester Stallone, a star so great at the time that his first name is simply left out on the top of this poster, poses with a machine gun against a thundering sky on this dramatic poster for Ted Kotcheff's First Blood |
John J. Rambo, a Green Beret veteran of the Vietnam War, gets into a deadly fix back in his own country, when an uncouth sheriff targets him, and his survival skills and commanding officer get involved in the affair.
First Blood, written by Michael Kozoll (Hill Street Blues (1981-87)), William Sackheim (The Competition (1980)) and co-writer and star, great New-Yorker filmmaker Sylvester Stallone (Zookeeper (2011)), based on the same-titled 1972 novel by David Morell (The Naked Edge (2010)), and directed by great Canadian filmmaker Ted Kotcheff (Life at the Top (1965)), is an excellent Vietnam War movie. I esteem it at level in quality with Michael Cimino's great The Deer Hunter (1978), only whereas Deer Hunter is a war drama, First Blood is a war actioner.
Stallone is terrific as Rambo, a character who experiences getting treated as trash in the country he went to war for, and one that allows him to react by striking a proper punch again; (First Blood was released after his three first, wildly successful Rocky boxing movies, which came out in 1976, 1979 and 1982.) First Blood is gripping because it portrays so forcefully how completely inefficiently society treated, - and in some cases still treat, - returned war veterans.
In First Blood's supporting parts, Richard Crenna (Joshua's World (1980)) plays Rambo's colonel with subtle refinement, and Brian Dennehy (Welcome to Paradise (2007)) is good as the mean sheriff.
First Blood is a true classic.
Related posts:
Ted Kotcheff: Weekend at Bernie's (1989) - Kotcheff's morbid gaga silliness
Mentioned movie: The Deer Hunter (1978) - Cimino's great, colossal Vietnam epic
Play this video to listen to a great piece from Jerry Goldsmith's score for the film
Cost: 15 mil. $
Box office: 125.2 mil. $
= Mega-hit
[First Blood was released 22 October (USA) and runs 93 minutes. Morell's novel's rights were sold for 75k $ in '72, and several big names tried to put together a film of it, before Stallone and Kotcheff began filming, among them Richard Brooks, Martin Ritt, Sydney Pollack, John Badham, John Frankenheimer, countless stars and writers, and reportedly 18 script versions. Stallone decided that Rambo must survive at the end of the film. Shooting took place in British Colombia, Canada from November 1981 - ?. More than 50 of the firearms that were imported into Canada for the shoot were reportedly stolen from the set. The film opened #1 to a 6.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed #1 for 3 consecutive weeks and spent a further 4 weeks in the top 5 (#2-#2-#3-#3) and grossed 47.2 mil. $ (37.7 % of the total gross). It was the 13th highest-grossing film in North America of the year. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this one. It was neglected completely in terms of awards. Kotcheff returned with Uncommon Valor (1983), and Stallone with an uncredited walk-on in Staying Alive (1983) and a starring part in Rhinestone (1984). First Blood started the Rambo franchise that continued with Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Rambo III (1988) and Rambo (2008), all with Stallone, who canceled a 5th Rambo film in 2016 and said that he was retiring the character. An animated series, Rambo: The Force of Freedom, was released and canceled in 1986, and an Indian remake is in the makes for a late 2018 release. First Blood is certified fresh at 88 % with a 7.1 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of First Blood?
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