First Blood

First Blood (Acorralado in Spain and Rambo: First Blood in Latin America) is a 1982 American film directed by Ted Kotcheff and starring Sylvester Stallone, Brian Dennehy and Richard Crenna. It is the first part of the Rambo saga. It is based on the novel First Blood (1972), by David Morrell.

The production of the film had a modest budget of 14 million dollars. Shortly after its release it became a great success, generating some 47 million dollars in the United States and 78 million in the rest of the world. The film consolidated the career of Sylvester Stallone and spawned four sequels, of which the last one, Rambo: Last Blood, was released in September 2019.

Plot

John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone), a Vietnam War veteran and Special Forces recipient who received the Congressional Medal of Honor, has trouble adjusting to civilian life as he wanders across America..

Rambo discovers that one of his former unit members, whom he is going to visit, has died of cancer, caused by exposures to Agent Orange, which leaves him very hurt, even deep down knowing that he is the one. last man alive in his unit. Continuing the journey, he arrives in a small town in the state of Washington, Hope (fictitious name, since the real Hope, where the film was shot, is in British Columbia, Canada).

As soon as he arrives, he runs into trouble with the local sheriff, Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy), who, out of prejudice towards poor people like him, tells him to leave. Rambo refuses and the sheriff arrests him for loitering and resisting authority. Checking it out, he is surprised to discover that he is carrying a military combat knife and asks what he needs it for, to which Rambo replies that it is for hunting. Teasle does not want to believe him and takes him to the police station.

Once there, he is searched and beaten by several agents. During the beatings and the forced shower, Rambo experiences very vivid memories of his time as a prisoner of war. When the cops try to shave him dry, Rambo breaks down remembering a passage from his torture, in which he received a physical injury with a knife; he beats up the officers, steals a motorcycle, and heads into the mountains to hide.

A small group of policemen goes looking for him to capture him, but they are all neutralized by Rambo (without causing any deaths, with the exception of one of the policemen who has tried to kill him in revenge for the humiliation), being a specialist in guerrilla techniques. So, Sheriff Teasle, humiliated by the defeat, decides to call in the National Guard.

Rambo's former commanding officer, Colonel Samuel Trautman (Richard Crenna), warns the authorities of the risk of trying to capture Rambo, since, given his combat experience, he can kill them all and advises to calm down., but Teasle ignores him, because he is actually pursuing Rambo's death out of prejudice and in revenge for the defeat and death of the policeman.

The National Guard find Rambo's hideout, a mine entrance, and try to stop him. Because they start shooting at him, Rambo tries to repel them with shots as well and the Guard decides to attack him with an M72 LAW rocket launcher. Rambo, knowing that his pursuers believe him dead, sneaks through the tunnels and finds another exit near the town's main road. He steals a National Guard truck and returns to town determined to exact revenge for what happened, where he destroys a gas station, telephone poles, and a local gun store in order to divert attention from law enforcement.

Rambo spots Teasle, his target, on the roof of the police station. A confrontation arises between them, which Teasle loses. As Rambo is about to end Teasle's life, goaded on by him, Colonel Trautman shows up to tell Rambo to stop and end the "mini war" for Rambo. that he had started in that town. Rambo talks to the colonel between wails and sobs, venting his anger and hidden sorrows for the way in which, upon returning from the war, he has been mistreated by society and forgotten by the army. Trautman understands Rambo's words and his internal request for help, and full of pain and sadness he decides to hug him.

Rambo agrees to surrender and walks out of the station with Trautman, while Teasle is taken to the hospital with scornful looks from Rambo and Trautman.

Cast and dubbing

Actor	Character	Spain	Mexico
Sylvester Stallone	John Rambo	Ricardo Solans	Pedro D'Aguillón Jr.
Richard Crenna	Colonel Samuel Trautman	Luis Fenton	Victor Guajardo
Brian Dennehy	Sheriff Will Teasle	Fernando Ulloa	Ruben Moya
Jack Starrett	Sergeant Arthur Gault	Camilo Garcia	Emilio Guerrero
Alf Humphreys	Assistant Lester	Antonio Inchausti	Jorge Santos
Bill McKinney	Captain Dave Kern	Mariano Fraile	Carlos Magaña
David Caruso	Assistant Mitch	Alberto Mieza	Martin Soto
Patrick Stack	Lieutenant Clinton Morgan	Antonio Villar	Emilio Guerrero
John McLiam	Orval	Alejandro Albaiceta	Moses Palaces
Danny Vozna	Boy	Juan Antonio Bernal	?

Production

This is the first film featuring the character of troubled Vietnam War veteran John Rambo. It was released in Spain with the title Acorralado and in Latin America as Rambo: Primera Sangre, although it is usually known as Rambo or Rambo I, to differentiate it from its subsequent sequels. It was shot entirely in the city of Hope, British Columbia (Canada), and had a modest budget of $14 million.

Adaptation

Several screenplays adapted from Morrell's book had been submitted to various film studios years earlier. Only when Sylvester Stallone, who became a big star thanks to the success of his movie Rocky, became interested, did the project see the light of day.

The success of Rocky gave Stallone the ability to make changes to the script to make Rambo's character more noble, sympathetic, and less dark. While in the original novel Rambo kills all the policemen who are chasing him -except Teasle-, in the film he does not directly kill any policeman or member of the National Guard.

Long before Stallone was hired to play Rambo, other actors were considered for the role, including Clint Eastwood, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Paul Newman, Nick Nolte, John Travolta, Dustin Hoffman, James Garner, Kris Kristofferson and Michael Douglas. Terence Hill recently stated that he turned down the role for being too violent. Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta turned down the role for the same reason. When Al Pacino was considered for the role of John Rambo, he turned it down after his request that Rambo be a lunatic was dropped by the producers.

For the role of Sheriff Teasle, producers approached Oscar winners Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall, but both turned down the part. Lee Marvin, another Oscar winner, turned down the role of Colonel Trautman.

On the other hand, before Stallone took on the role, Steve McQueen was interested in him. Kirk Douglas was going to play Colonel Trautman, but dropped out due to script issues. Douglas wanted the movie to end like the book, with Rambo's death. Richard Crenna was called in to replace him, in what would be the veteran actor's most famous role at the time. A suicide scene was filmed, but finally Stallone and Ted Kotcheff decided that Rambo would surrender after speaking with Trautman. They clearly saw that Rambo could have new chapters like Rocky had; the hero was not to die.

Criticism

Film critic Chuck O´Leary (of fulvuedrive-in.com) praised First Blood, describing it as "A harrowing survival film with a very moving and emotional ending." O'Leary also praised composer Jerry Goldsmith for "his excellent score of his." Almar Haflidason (BBC) noted that "Stallone's training in survival techniques and hand-to-hand combat help create such a raw and authentic realism in the film that it excites audiences."

Brian Webster of Apolo Films declared First Blood an embarrassingly sloppy production with a weak script. Jeremiah Kipp (filmcritic.com) had a more positive opinion of the film, which he gave two stars (out of four). He criticized the "comic book-like" dialogue and "macho" type avoidance. and kind of stupid" but also acknowledged that it reflects a new understanding of traumatized veterans of the Vietnam conflict". He also praised Stallone's performance in the final monologue, which he called "sweet and moving." In 2008, First Blood was ranked #253 on the list of the 500 Greatest Movies of All Time published by Empire magazine.

The film is often interpreted as a reinterpretation of the Vietnam War carried out by American society in the Reagan era. If in the 1970s the conflict was resisted by civil society due to its high levels of violence and senselessness, the 1980s tried to settle the trauma of military defeat and restore the category of war heroes to soldiers.

Legacy

The Rambo Saga

Iconic status of John Rambo was achieved with his first sequel, Rambo: First Blood Part II, released in 1985. Considered more of an action movie than as a drama, Rambo II was poorly received by most critics. But this did not stop it from becoming the second highest-grossing film of 1985, after Back to the Future, by Robert Zemeckis. A little controversy was created when Ronald Reagan, at that time the president of the United States, confessed that he admired Rambo . A third Rambo, Rambo III, was released in 1988, with Stallone's character fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan.

In 2008 the fourth part of the saga was released, called simply John Rambo ("Rambo: return to hell" in Latin America), situating John Rambo living in Thailand, near the border with Burma.

2019 saw the release of the fifth and final Rambo film titled "Rambo: Last Blood" where he shows us the iconic character trying to lead a quiet life in Arizona, but the kidnapping of his niece after crossing the Mexican border at the hands of a savage cartel from that country, will make him return to action.

So far there is a Rambo prequel planned, but nothing concrete yet.

DVD

The author of the original novel, David Morrell, recorded an audio commentary for the Special Edition of First Blood on DVD, released in 2002. Sylvester Stallone recorded an audio commentary for the &# 34;Ultimate Edition" from First Blood, released in 2004. This edition includes a never-before-seen alternate ending.