First Blood

First Blood (1982)

Director: Ted Kotcheff

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Brian Dennehy, Richard Crenna, Bill McKinney, Jack Starrett, Chris Mulkey, David Caruso

Writers:  David Morell (based on the novel by), Michael Kozoll (screenplay)

Synopsis:
Former Green Beret and Vietnam vet John Rambo (Stallone) wanders into a small town in the Pacific Northwest, where he is arrested for vagrancy by corrupt sheriff Will Teasle (Dennehy). After suffering abuse at the hands of Teasle's deputies, Rambo snaps and escapes custody, injuring several deputies in the process, and flees into the nearby hills. During the manhunt, deputy Art Galt (Starrett) is killed in a helicopter accident. The death pushes Teasle over the edge and he becomes consumed with finding Rambo. Colonel Trautman (Crenna), Rambo's former superior officer, is brought in to help the local authorities bring him to justice. 

First Impressions:

This movie came out in fall of 1982, when I was 6 years old, so obviously and because I had responsible parents, I did not see it in theaters. Growing up in the 80s Rambo was almost a household name but I didn't actually see this film in its entirety, uncut, until I was in my early 20s. Oddly enough, I was more familiar with the over-the-top action of the film's sequels and was quite surprised at how different in tone it was. I remember being initially disappointed that it wasn't as crazy as those later movies. I've seen it a number of times since then and have generally enjoyed it on those viewings.

Story:

 "Don't push it, or I'll give you a war you won't believe"

As I just mentioned, this movie is quite different than those that came after it. While the sequels fit squarely into the action genre, this movie is decidedly not. While the action is a focal point of the film, the story surrounding that action deals with a lot of heavy topics.

When the movie was released, the Vietnam War had only been over for a few years but the anger surrounding it was still pretty fresh. Unfortunately, the soldiers coming home often took the brunt of that anger and the story really digs into that anger in the form of Teasle's immediate distrust of Rambo and his desire to run him out of town.  It also touched on a subject that wasn't talked about yet, namely PTSD. The movie uses hazy flashbacks, which last only a few seconds, to illustrate the torture that Rambo suffered while a prisoner of the Viet Cong and juxtaposes that with the mistreatment he receives at the hands of the deputies.

After his escape, it would have been easy for director Ted Kotcheff to go the route of many other action movies and have Rambo wage a one-man war against his enemies until he brings his aggressor to justice. Instead, Kotcheff takes a different route by having Rambo just want to be left alone. In fact, with the exception of the accidental death of one deputy, I'm pretty sure no one else gets killed in this movie. That's a surprise given that the film's sequel, Rambo: First Blood Part II, was well known for having the world record for highest body count in a movie.

However, I found that the third act devolved somewhat into action movies spectacle, with Rambo laying waste to a large chunk of the town. Despite this, the film still maintains its somber mood and the ending while hopeful, is not the happy ending one would expect from a movie like this.

Acting:

Everybody likes to make fun of Stallone for his acting ability and sometimes that's justified but in this movie, I found him to be quite compelling. Maybe its because he doesn't have a lot of lines but I really connected with his portrayal of Rambo. I think that's because Stallone's facial acting in this movie is terrific. It's subtle but you can see the pain and defeat in his eyes early in the movie when he talking to Teasle, which switches over to sheer unbreakable focus when the trained killer in him gets awakened. Stallone is also often mocked specifically for the last scene of the movie where Rambo breaks down in front of Col. Trautman but again, I don't see this as an overly hammy performance. I see it as a broken man finally confiding in someone who understands what he's going through and it's heartbreaking.

As for the rest of the cast, there's solid performances all around. Dennehy excels in playing overbearing authority figures and in this movie it's no different. We may not agree with Teasle's actions or his methods but in the end, he just a police officer trying to do his job and Dennehy makes it easy for viewers to see his side of things. Crenna does a good job as the arrogant army colonel but he's used mostly to either receive exposition or to give it.

Most of the rest of the cast have relatively minor roles but Jack Starrett stands out as the loathsome Deputy Galt, who starts all of this by abusing Rambo while he was in custody. One final note on the cast, a fresh-faced David Caruso appears in this movie as Mitch, apparently the deputy no one else in the department likes all that much. I don't why, I just found that funny.

Visual/Special Effects:
There's not a ton of visual effects here, save for a few explosions and really, you've seen one movie explosion, you've seen them all. One standout effect though was on the makeup side of things. There's a scene halfway through the movie where Rambo is injured falling off of a cliff and needs to stitch a rather large, gaping wound in his arm. Now, most movies at this time would cut to a close-up of the actor's face and add some "squishing" sounds in post but in this film we see Rambo jamming the needle into his arm and pull the thread through, all while the wound continues to spurt blood. Nowadays, that kind of effect isn't such a big deal but back in 1982, it was pretty impressive. 

Score/Music:

The score was done by the prolific composer Jerry Goldsmith, which I didn't even realize until I just checked. It's certainly not one of his more well-known scores but I think it's pretty effective. The music isn't such that you'll find yourself whistling it in the shower the next day, but it's solid and doesn't take away from the movie, so I like it.

Action:

This movie has a lot of great action beats. One of the really cool things about watching older movies like this, is being able to see some freaking talented stuntmen do some pretty awesome stuff. This movie is no exception, with scenes like the aforementioned cliff-jump, a pretty good car chase through town and across the countryside and an original standoff at the climax. The action feels real and isn't too crazy. Rambo gets put through the wringer and you see all of the physical punishment starts to take its toll, unlike the invincible super-soldier he eventually morphed into in future movies in the series.

Final Verdict:

I like this movie, not as the start of a blockbuster action franchise, but more like a somber cat and mouse game. However, I think it works best on its own, without everything else that came after.