Series

First Blood - First Blood
Action, Thriller, War
Artisan (1982) 96 mins R

7.3 (43,455 votes)

John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is a Vietnam Veteran searching for life back in USA after seeing horrors of war in Vietnam. He searches for an old war buddy just to find that he died from cancer. He now knows his whole platoon has died. Yet, he finds a sadistic sheriff who seems to go out of his way to make his life miserable. The Sheriff arrests him and shortly afterwards Rambo escapes and the battle of wills begins for the both of them. The sheriff starts a search for the escaped John Rambo but he shortly finds out that the skills that Rambo learned in Vietnam far surpass him and his deputies and they find themselves not the hunters anymore but the hunted....

Sylvester Stallone ...... John J. Rambo

Richard Crenna ...... Colonel Samuel Trautman

Brian Dennehy ...... Hope Sheriff Will Teasle

Bill McKinney ...... Capt. Dave Kern State Police

Jack Starrett ...... Deputy Sergeant Arthur Gault

Michael Talbott ...... Deputy Balford

Director ..... Ted Kotcheff

Producer ..... Mario Kassar; Buzz Feitshans

Writer ..... Sylvester Stallone; David Morrell; Michael Kozoll; William Sackheim

Cinematography ..... Andrew Laszlo

Musician ..... Jerry Goldsmith

Goofs:
Factual errors: The medal is frequently, albeit incorrectly, called the Congressional Medal of Honor, stemming from its award by the Department of Defense "in the name of Congress". It is correctly the "Medal of Honor". (more)

Trivia:
For the scene where Rambo jumps from the cliff and falls through the trees, Sylvester Stallone opted to do the last part of the stunt himself, much to the concern of director Ted Kotcheff. His concerns were apparently well founded, as the stunt didn't go as planned and Stallone broke three ribs. This apparently took place on camera and the shot is in the movie. The rest of the stunt fall, was performed by Bobby Sargent. (more)

Filming Locations:
Golden Ears Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada (more)

Quotes:
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.
(more)

Awards:
2 nominations (more)