The original: 

First Blood (1982)​

 

Directed by: 

Ted Kotcheff (The Desperate Hours, Switching Channels, Weekend at Bernies, The Shooter)

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Starring: 

Sylvester Stallone, Brian Dennehy, Richard Crenna, Jack Starrett, Chris Mulkey, David Caruso, John McLiam

 

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John Rambo (Stallone), an ex-Green Beret who fought in Vietnam, is pushed, bullied and persecuted by local Sheriff Will Teasle (Dennehy) and his men after wandering into their small town of Hope.

 

Arrested for vagrancy, Rambo’s PTSD is ignited after being finally pushed too far, causing him to attack his captors, flee the jail and disappear into the surrounding woodland of the pacific northwest.

 

Thus starts an epic manhunt, as law enforcement floods the countryside, Rambo’s elite training and skill far out-matching those of his pursuers.

 

First Blood is at once a tight, taut and dramatic action classic, as well as a seething critique of the US Government (and many of its citizens’) treatment of its war veterans; using up and casting aside the countless soldiers it trained, despatched and then abandoned.

 

Stallone has never been better, being stoic and yet emotive, his scarred body housing a churning crucible, the pressure within slowly rising toward inevitable explosion, while Dennehy plays Teasle as both amoral villain and relatably flawed human.

 

The name and perception of Rambo has since become iconic and synonymous with jingoism and 80s masculinity, yet when viewed on its own sterling merits, First Blood transcends these trappings and perversions, remaining a beast all of its own, and a film both heart-poundingly tense and savagely thought-provoking.

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“Nothing is over! Nothing! You just don't turn it off! It wasn't my war! You asked me, I didn't ask you! And I did what I had to do to win! But somebody wouldn't let us win! And I come back to the world and I see all those maggots at the airport, protesting me, spitting. Calling me baby killer and all kinds of vile crap! Who are they to protest me, huh? Who are they? Unless they've been me and been there and know what the hell they're yelling about!”

 

Rambo- “Don’t look at me, look at the road! That’s how accidents happen!”

 

Teasle- “Are you telling me that 200 of our men against your boy is a no-win situation for us?”

Trautman- “You send that many, don't forget one thing.

Teasle- “What?”

Trautman- “A good supply of body bags.”

 

“They drew first blood, sir.”

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