Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 13, 2022 8:59:12 GMT -8
One of the strengths of HBO Max is they have a lot of good movies. Most of them I've seen, including the Rambo series. But many are good enough to revisit after a number of years.
I think Rambo III is my favorite, and I just watched that two days ago. That's the one where Rambo goes up against the bad Russians and sides with the "good" Afghans. Well, times change, as they say. The movie is a little dated in this regard.
But the Russians were indeed bastards and remain so. Can we look forward to a Rambo IV set in Ukraine?
Actually, I was totally unaware that there already was a Rambo IV and a Rambo V. You can find info on this list. Maybe I should seek them out. But they don't appear to be on HBO Max.
In the first Rambo, we meet the misunderstood, wrecked, abused, and somewhat abandoned John Rambo. His country calls him a "baby killer." And in a Northwest town called Hope (supposedly near Bellingham, Washington, but actually filmed in a real town called Hope in British Columbia), he runs into one of the meanest sons of bitches ever put on film. Brian Dennehy plays the local sheriff. Here's an interesting factoid that speaks to the reason for has bad attitude:
Artler might like this additional bit of trivia:
The Rambo in movies two and three is unambiguously good. But in Rambo: First Blood, he definitely skirts the line. He could have walked away from these rednecks but instead seems to be looking for a fight. But his character might have been much darker according to this additional factoid:
And an interesting insight from Stallone:
After reading IMDB's trivia section, it's apparent that making such movies can be very dangerous. A stuntman broke his back. Stallone accidentally broke a guy's nose in the fight scene in the jail, and Stallone himself cracked in rib in the scene where he was being beaten by a rubber hose in the jail cell. Such stories, of course, can be exaggerated.
What probably isn't an exaggeration is that this 1982 movie helped to define and launch the current action hero movie craze. Schwarzenegger's Conan the Barbarian debuted in the same year. He and Stallone basically created the modern industry in which a lot of also-ran, no talent (Jason Statham) actors have made a fortune copying.
But Rambo is the original. This is the guy we want to root for. He became much less morally ambiguous in later films. But this first film is the better for it.
I think Rambo III is my favorite, and I just watched that two days ago. That's the one where Rambo goes up against the bad Russians and sides with the "good" Afghans. Well, times change, as they say. The movie is a little dated in this regard.
But the Russians were indeed bastards and remain so. Can we look forward to a Rambo IV set in Ukraine?
Actually, I was totally unaware that there already was a Rambo IV and a Rambo V. You can find info on this list. Maybe I should seek them out. But they don't appear to be on HBO Max.
In the first Rambo, we meet the misunderstood, wrecked, abused, and somewhat abandoned John Rambo. His country calls him a "baby killer." And in a Northwest town called Hope (supposedly near Bellingham, Washington, but actually filmed in a real town called Hope in British Columbia), he runs into one of the meanest sons of bitches ever put on film. Brian Dennehy plays the local sheriff. Here's an interesting factoid that speaks to the reason for has bad attitude:
A plot point that was present in the novel but absent from the film was the primary reason behind Teasle's resentment and contempt toward Rambo, which was that Rambo was a veteran of the Vietnam War, which gained a lot of attention, whereas Teasle was a veteran of the Korean War, which most people had all-but-completely-forgotten at this point in time.
Artler might like this additional bit of trivia:
Rambo's trademark combat knife was custom designed by the late Arkansas knife maker Jimmy Lile. The movie popularized knock-off hollow handled survival knives with compasses in the pommel.
The Rambo in movies two and three is unambiguously good. But in Rambo: First Blood, he definitely skirts the line. He could have walked away from these rednecks but instead seems to be looking for a fight. But his character might have been much darker according to this additional factoid:
Sylvester Stallone and the producers wanted to make Rambo a different character in the film that he was in the book. They didn't want him to be a psychotic cold blooded killer like he was in the book, and decided to make him a man who was lost, and didn't know what to do with his life, and was a victim of circumstance.
And an interesting insight from Stallone:
In the DVD commentary, Sylvester Stallone compares Rambo to the monster of Dr. Frankenstein and Colonel Trautman as the doctor, in the respect that Rambo is a war machine monster created by America to do its bidding, but then he escapes and runs amok, but also wanting to fit into a society who shuns him, and Colonel Trautman basically was instrumental in making Rambo into what he is and feels remorse for how he turned out and does what he can to help make things right.
After reading IMDB's trivia section, it's apparent that making such movies can be very dangerous. A stuntman broke his back. Stallone accidentally broke a guy's nose in the fight scene in the jail, and Stallone himself cracked in rib in the scene where he was being beaten by a rubber hose in the jail cell. Such stories, of course, can be exaggerated.
What probably isn't an exaggeration is that this 1982 movie helped to define and launch the current action hero movie craze. Schwarzenegger's Conan the Barbarian debuted in the same year. He and Stallone basically created the modern industry in which a lot of also-ran, no talent (Jason Statham) actors have made a fortune copying.
But Rambo is the original. This is the guy we want to root for. He became much less morally ambiguous in later films. But this first film is the better for it.