First Blood

**_Action/adventure masterpiece about a one-man-army_** Vietnam vet John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) drifts into a Rocky Mountain town looking for a war buddy, only to learn that he died due to exposure to Agent Orange the prior summer. The town's sheriff (Brian Dennehy) tries to steer Rambo out of town and winds up arresting him. Big mistake because Rambo is an ex-Green beret, a virtual one-man-army, who takes on both the police and the National Guard using jungle warfare tactics. "First Blood" (1982) is an action/adventure of the first order. It's easy to lose sight of this in light of the two comic book sequels that made a caricature of John Rambo: "Rambo: First Blood Part II" (1985) and "Rambo III" (1988). Thankfully, the series made up for it with the outstanding "Rambo" in 2008, which is grim, gritty and deep. The Great Northwest locations are picturesque, albeit drizzly and dreary, while Dennehy is perfect as the arrogant, pushy sheriff. He essentially plays the same role in the Western "Silverado" (1985) albeit his character in that film is even worse. Stallone is in his physically prime here, although he's not quite as bulked-up as in the two sequels. His waist is only about 27-28 inches and his chest isn't all that big, although his arms and shoulders are certainly impressive. Anyway, one good byproduct of seeing "First Blood" is that it'll inspire guys to get back in shape or get in better shape. Stallone is outstanding in the role of Rambo. He doesn't have many lines; most of his acting is non-verbal. At the end Rambo finally lets out all his pent-up rage by screaming out: "Over there (in Vietnam) I was in charge of million dollar equipment, over here I can't even hold a job PARKING CAAAARRRRRRSSSSS!!!" I'm not normally into DVD commentaries and rarely blow the time to listen to them, but the one featured on the Special Edition DVD by writer David Morrell is very worthwhile. Morrell talks the entire 90-minute length of the film and offers a wealth of information, like the differences between the film and his novel, how the movie set many precedents in the action/adventure genre, the incredible way he came up with the name Rambo, the 3-Act story structure of motion pictures, etc. Make no mistake, David Morrell is a genius. It doesn't matter how many times you've seen "First Blood." The film has such a captivating anointing you'll be spellbound from start to finish every time. If you’re a sucker for lost-in-the-woods/survival pictures "First Blood" is a must. The film runs 1 hour, 33 minutes, and was shot in beautiful Hope and Golden Ears Provincial Park, British Columbia. GRADE: A

Sylvester Stallone Is "John Rambo", a Vietnam War veteran who is shocked to learn that the only other survivor from his crack team of Green Berets has died of a pretty pernicious cancer. He wanders aimlessly looking for a cheeseburger when he is escorted out of town by the sheriff "Will Teasle" (Brian Dennehy), who takes him for a vagrant. When he tries to come back into town, he is arrested and that sets off a chain of events that ends up pitting him against not just a rather brutal collection of local law enforcement, but ultimately the pretty useless national guard and his old CO "Trautman" (Richard Crenna). There is certainly a serious message here. This man has served his country at no small risk to himself, he even has a Congressional Medal of Honour, but has been pretty much abandoned by his government. We learn fairly early on that he has clearly been traumatised by his wartime experiences and the hostile behaviour of the local cops serves to rekindle his serious ninja skills in self-defence that quickly - though reluctantly - became self-offence. The action scenes set amongst the cold, wet and dense forest are tautly directed and quite compelling to watch, but I am afraid the acting is pretty poor. Crenna is about as wooden as one of the stakes "Rambo" uses to impale his pursuers, and the "Teasle" character just doesn't add up. We start the film with him behaving in a friendly and neighbourly way as might befit a local policeman, but after the most minimal exposure to his visitor, he turns into a violently obsessed man. Why? There is no backstory to this - and as the manhunt proceeds, and concludes, the story itself makes less and less sense. It's quite short and the first half is good, but afterwards it just slips into the ridiculous with an ending full of impressive pyrotechnics but little more substantial than a warning that we ought to expect a sequel.

Am I the only one that thought that Rambo was supposed to be Native American? Or at least partially so? Anywho... this is NOTHING like the sequels. The basic plot was that a small town tries to bully a Vietnam Vet and gets a little more than they bargained for. it was more dramatic, it had more character, and had a better story than just about anything that followed. And it worked as a survivalist action movie as well.