First Blood
1982 · Directed by Ted Kotcheff
A Vietnam vet goes to a small town to find his only surviving war buddy. The sheriff hassles him. He responds the way he was trained to respond. The town goes up.
Why It's Cult
First Blood is not a war movie. It's a survival movie about a soldier who can't come home, played by Stallone in his second-best performance after Rocky. Brian Dennehy as the sheriff is a tragedy in slow motion. The novel ends with Rambo dying — Stallone changed it because he wanted his audience to root for him. The sequels turned this into a franchise; the original is something else entirely. Watch it on its own and remember what it actually is.
The Plot, Officially
John J. Rambo is a former United States Special Forces soldier who fought in Vietnam and won the Congressional Medal of Honor, but his time in Vietnam still haunts him. As he came to Hope, Washington to visit a friend, he was guided out of town by the Sheriff William Teasel who insults Rambo, but what Teasel does not know that his insult angered Rambo to the point where Rambo became violent and was arrested. As he was at the county jail being cleaned, he escapes and goes on a rampage through the forest to try to escape from the sheriffs who want to kill him. Then, as Rambo's commanding officer, Colonel Samuel Trautman tries to save both the Sheriff's department and Rambo before the situation gets out of hand.
Starring
Sylvester Stallone, Brian Dennehy, Richard Crenna
Where to Watch
via JustWatch →
