The Rambo Trilogy: Revisiting Stallone's Bone-Crunching Saga

Are you telling me that 200 men against your boy is a no-win situation for us? You send that man, he don't forget one thing. What? A good supply of body bags. When you manage to strike it big as a movie star, you're exceedingly lucky if you can get that one iconic role that everyone will remember you for. But to many, it's both a blessing and a curse. Some actors have bristled at typecasting, and many struggle to follow up such a role. Such a thing happened to Sylvester Stallone in the wake of Rocky, but for the superstar, something really rare would happen. Lightning would strike twice, as in 1982, his movie First Blood would introduce the world to his second signature character, John Rambo. And just like Rocky, it would be a role he continues playing to this day. But first, let's take a step back. First Blood is based on a novel by David Morrell. An English professor, his book was inspired by the tales many of his Vietnam vet students told him upon their return from the war. Published in 1972, the book tells the story of a shell-shocked veteran gone berserk in a small Kentucky town after a run-in with a local sheriff named Teasel. Eventually, his mentor, Colonel Trotman, arrives in the small town and bears witness to Rambo and Teasel mortally wounding each other, with Trotman finally finishing off his former protege. The book's anti-hero, Rambo, had some similarities to the most decorated war hero of the Second World War, Audie Murphy, a Kentucky boy who became a household name and eventually a bona fide Hollywood star in westerns. Yet, he also had undiagnosed PTSD and couldn't sleep without a gun under his pillow. First Blood was quickly optioned for the movies and went through many iterations. Everyone from Steve McQueen to James Caan to Paul Newman were considered for the role of Rambo, while Teasel was earmarked for an actor like Gene Hackman or Charles Durning. Everyone wanted George C. Scott coming off of Patton to play Trotman. The film languished in development hell, but it came close to being made by John Frankenheimer with Midnight Express star Brad Davis in the lead. Eventually, it fell into the hands of fledgling producers Andrew Vajna and Mario Kassar and their company Keralco. It was to be independently financed that director Ted Kotcheff was hired. Kotcheff was an interesting choice as he was best known for the Canadian classic The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and the Jane Fonda comedy Fun with Dick and Jane. Yet, he had branched out with the football satire North Dallas 40, as well as the intense cult-deprogramming film Split Image, which would actually hit theaters the same month as First Blood. Eventually, Sylvester Stallone secured the lead role, with him also co-writing the finished screenplay. Together with writers Michael Cazale and William Sackheim, he would flesh out the character, giving him the first name John. In the original novel, Rambo kills many of his pursuers. In the film, Rambo would be much more sympathetic, being a tragic victim of circumstance and bigotry. Who avoids killing, only indirectly causing the death of one cop, who, in a crazed moment, tries to murder Rambo from a helicopter and falls to his death. Notably, the screenplay also called for Rambo to live, although both versions of the ending were in fact shot, one in which he lives, one in which he dies. The choice to make Rambo live changed up the cast, with Kirk Douglas having initially been signed on to play Trotman. A mock-up poster was made emphasizing his role, but he quit because he wanted the film to end with Trotman killing Rambo. A certain degree of competitiveness, when the former He-Man action star may have played a role too, with Stallone himself telling an illuminating anecdote years later, saying that the plan to include Kirk Douglas snowballed into something he never expected. He said to Sly, here's what I want. At the very end of the movie, I should kill you. The audience sees a cop car driving away, and as it disappears into the fog, a hand reaches up to the rear-view mirror. The camera turns up, and we see me, and it turns a bit higher, and I'm wearing your headband. I don't think it would have worked. Rock Hudson would have likely taken over the role of Trotman, but suffered a heart attack before shooting. Hence, the part went to Richard Crenna, who'd had a long career as a character actor, but for whom Colonel Trotman would turn into a signature role. Crenna's casting was so last minute, he basically had to learn his entire role on the plane to the set, which was in Hope, British Columbia, Dublin, for the fictional Hope, Washington. The choice of Brian Dennehy to play Teasel was another strong creative choice, as the late character actor plays Teasel as far more intolerant and cruel than perhaps someone like Gene Hackman would, even if he's actually far from a stock villain. Once his deputies start getting killed or wounded, he realizes in how over his head he is, but his ego won't allow him to pull out, even when essentially given an out by Trotman. I do my own work. I don't figure the best way to do that is to close my eyes and then hope he gets picked up in Seattle. In a strange side note, Dennehy eventually got into hot water with Vietnam vets for passing himself off as one. He was indeed a Marine, but was out of the service by 1963, and he apologized years later. The shoot, by all accounts, was physically grueling, with Stallone doing about 75% of his own stunts. The film was plagued with injuries, with Stallone and Brian Dennehy both breaking their ribs during the shoot. Stallone broke a rib and bruised his spleen on the fourth take of the famous cliff jump scene. He did the second half of the stunt. Stuntman Benny E. Dobbins also suffered major back damage, a compression lumbar fracture. In other words, he broke his back and shortened his spine. This happened during a scene where the cop car slides down, which was an accident, but they of course kept it in the film as it looked so damn cool. And finally, Stallone broke the nose of Alf Humphreys, who plays Lester the cop during the jail escape scene by elbowing him in the face. He wears a band-aid the rest of the movie. Coincidentally, this is actually what Rambo does to the policeman in the novel during the exact same scene. So, I suppose it was meant to be. Stallone and Kochev also had some battles during production, with Stallone apparently forced to do the scene where he's whipped with a rubber hose over and over, because he wasn't happy with the way David Caruso delivered the line. The thing is, Caruso nailed the line in every take, and eventually Stallone almost came to blows at the director after being told to shut up after complaining. He was tackled by security guards before he could sort the director out, resulting in yet another cracked rib. That said, Stallone held no ill will against the director and said they eventually both apologized and moved on. First Blood would eventually emerge as one of Stallone's most important vehicles, as it was the first time he had been able to escape the typecasting of Rocky. He made a lot of movies that cast him in a variety of roles, but none of them had been successful. Nevertheless, First Blood would be a hit, although the shoot was a fraught experience, and no one, Stallone included, thought this violent thriller would launch a billion-dollar franchise. The first cut was over three hours long, and Stallone famously wanted to buy the film and burn it. Yet in the end, Kotcheff whittled it down to just over 90 minutes, and the end result, as Stallone himself would say years later, was perfect, noting that he wouldn't change a thing. One of the big changes was that much of Rambo's dialogue was removed, making him much more of a purely physical presence. So why is First Blood so good? I think much of it comes down to the creative collaboration between Stallone and Kotcheff, who's never really gotten his due as a director. I grew up watching First Blood on ratty VHS copies, which hampered the 2.35 to 1 scope of the film, but watching it on beautiful 4K is night and day, and it's never been clear to me before I'd watch it this way what a beautiful, evocative film Kotcheff had made. Shot on location in British Columbia, the movie has a lush green look, and you can almost smell the forest Rambo's being pursued through. The action is much lower key than in the sequels, and in some ways that makes the big stunt sequence all the more exciting. Another key creative element in the film was the score by Jerry Goldsmith, which ranks as one of his best, and the way it complements the action scenes, such as Rambo's initial escape from the police station and his infamous cliff jump, gives me goosebumps every time. Stallone's performance is also one of his best. He's never gotten his proper due as an actor, and it's striking to me just to see how good he is in First Blood, although his performance was never actually considered for any awards back in 1982. You get the sense that Rambo is traumatized but trying to fit back into civilized society. The opening scene is heartbreaking as he goes to visit the family of a former comrade, only to realize he's dead as the result of Agent Orange. His final monologue to Trotman is masterful, and probably the single best piece of screen acting he ever did. The rest of the cast is terrific too. While ostensibly playing a scumbag, Dennehy has moments that reveal Tiesel's humanity. While Crenna is iconic as Trotman, with his delivery of the line, he was trained to kill, period, a classic. Another subtle element I didn't pick up on until years later was that the film actually takes place at Christmas time. You can see decorations in the office and around town, and I think by setting at Christmas, a hopeful time of year, actually increases the sense of tragedy and hopelessness. It's a time of peace and joy for everybody but John Rambo. The film itself is a sizable hit grossing $47 million domestically and topping out at $125 million worldwide. That said, Mike Medavoy, who'd been running Orion Pictures at the time, who distributed the film, maintained that if Orion had put more money into marketing it, it would have likely been an even bigger hit. A similar claim he made about another sleeper Orion picked up two years later, The Terminator. He also said that Orion's lack of marketing muscle led to the sequel's going to TriStar, and indeed Rambo 2 would make three times what First Blood did. No matter, for the first time, First Blood proved that Stallone was bankable outside of the just how massive the franchise would be. Sadly, Ted Kochev would not return, opting instead to make the thematically similar action flick Uncommon Valor, coincidentally with Gene Hackman, which is well worth checking out if you get the chance. Nevertheless, First Blood still stands as one of the greatest action films of the 80s and a masterful work of its genre. I give this one 10 out of 10 Stallones. Flashback to the early 80s, and Sylvester Stallone was having a bit of a Rocky patch, While Rocky and Rocky 2 had been huge hits in the 70s, the decade didn't start out all that strongly for Stallone. He had a soccer movie called Victory, which didn't do particularly well, and then the really underrated cop movie Nighthawks, which, despite some actually positive reviews, didn't do very well at the box office. But in 1982, he had the comeback of all comebacks, when Rocky 3 and First Blood came out and were both blockbuster successes. Stallone's career was on fire, but then he hit to what one might call speed bumps. He directed the sequel, The Saturday Night Fever, Staying Alive, in 1983, and it was not a critical success. Now, the film did relatively well at the box office, I think a lot better than most people remember. It wasn't anywhere near as big of a hit as the film, but hey, it made $127 million worldwide, which is pretty huge, right? It actually had one of the biggest opening weekends of all time, and it made $65 million at the US box office, that's pretty impressive for 1983. It also had a pretty big hit song, Far From Over, which was performed by Stallone's own brother, Frank Stallone, and it made it pretty high on the all the way to number 10. But as I said, it was not a critical success, and I don't think audiences particularly caught into it either. The next year would prove to be kind of disastrous for Stallone. He turned down both Beverly Hills Cop and Romancing a Stone to do Rhinestone, opposite Dolly Parton. Yes, a country singing musical. Now that one tanked. That was not a hit, although, you know, it's not that bad, to be honest. So what's a man on a mission to conquer Hollywood to do? Get back to what connected with his audience before, that's what. Now, Rocky had already had three follow-up films, but John Rambo, who, at Stallone's assistance, thankfully was not killed off at the end of First Blood, was due for another war party. Nobody, though, nobody could have anticipated the impact Rambo First Blood Part 2 would have on audiences around the world and 80s pop culture in general, with it even being name-checked by then-President Reagan. So let's face it, the one-man army action subgenre, which Arnold Schwarzenegger went on to quasi-spoof with Commando, was created by Sylvester Stallone. Don't believe me? Check this out. Commando director Mark L. Lester admitted in a 2012 Empire Magazine interview that he saw Rambo 2 and changed the last act of Commando to try and rival what Stallone had pulled off. I rest my case. I mean, it invented the genre. So Rambo 2 followed up where First Blood left off. Incarcerated for his previous crimes, crimes, you know, he did what he had to do, really, John Rambo was sprung out of jail by his old colonel and mentor, once again played by the late and great Richard Crenna, for a special covert mission in Vietnam. Your name was dug out by the computer as one of three most able to complete the mission. Thank you so much for watching Sylvester Stallone Revisited. If you like this type of content, make sure to click on the like button, as well as the bell to receive notifications for all of our latest videos. Now, back to the show. His task? Search for missing American POWs. And if found, take pictures. Photographs? Just photographs. Under no circumstances are you to engage the enemy. I'm supposed to leave them there? Sure, sure. Yeah, yeah. You sent in the right guy. He said Rambo in to take pictures and, you know, not kill any guys. I mean, yeah, that's gonna happen. This is Rambo we're talking about, you know, not Mr. Rogers. POWs are of course found, and with his sharpened hunting knife, his bow, explosive arrows, and a truckload of muscle oil, Rambo mows down most of the country on his own. Alongside Stallone, the film also starred Stephen Berkoff as the cruel yet kind of charming Colonel Padowski, which Dolph Lundgren was up for, apparently, until Stallone realized he was the same dude auditioning for Rocky IV, and he couldn't have Lundgren play the bad guy in both of his movies in 1985, right? I must break you. Hot to trot, Julian Nixon was put in her first role. She was a model who was discovered in Honolulu, Hawaii. Steve Williams is in it in his only film credit. He's the dude with the blonde hair and the sunglasses that you just kind of hate when you take a look at him right away. Then, of course, there's Martin Cove from The Karate Kid and, of course, Cobra Kai as Erickson, and Martin Cove actually did his own kind of Rambo knockoff a couple years later called Steel Justice, which is kind of a fun, if dumb, 80s action flick. And then there's the always awesome Charles Napier as the ultimate slimeball Murdoch, who was originally gonna be played by Lee Marvin, of all people, until he had a change of heart. I guess he didn't want to play a scumbag. Murdoch, Murdoch, I'm gonna get you. Classic. Now, the original title for the film was actually First Blood 2, The Mission, and the first draft of the script was written by none other than that mad genius behind Aliens and The Terminator, James Cameron. Cameron's script had the same basic structure as the finished film, but in Cameron's version, Rambo was a patient in a mental hospital, and he was eventually tagged with a comic relief sidekick for The Mission, and the latter was actually to be played by John Travolta, because remember, Travolta was all muscle-oiled up and greasy and sweaty and strong and muscular after staying alive. Stallone had kind of transformed his body to kind of turn him into a Stallone-esque hero. It didn't really take, though, and it didn't work out in the end. But Stallone eventually ended up rewriting the script, starting with the title. He wanted the series to be named after the character, just like his Rocky movies, so First Blood Part 2, The Mission became Rambo, First Blood Part 2, ah yes, Rambo. It's funny, I always think of First Blood as just Rambo, even though it's actually called First Blood. He changed the mental ward, which Cameron wound up using in Terminator 2, come with me if you want to live, and thankfully he elbow-dropped the comic relief sidekick out of there. Funnily enough, Trotman would become the wisecracking buddy in Rambo 3, one of that sequel's biggest flaws in my useless opinion, but that's for another episode. When the smoke cleared, Cameron pretty much disowned the final script, saying, I only wrote the action, Stallone wrote the politics. On his end, Stallone had this to say to Ain't It Cool News about Cameron's draft, I thought the politics were important, such as a right-wing stance coming from Trotman and his nemesis Murdoch contrasted with Rambo's obvious neutrality, which I believe is explained in Rambo's final speech. Also, in his original draft, it took nearly 30-40 pages to have any action initiated, and Rambo was partnered with a techie sidekick, so it was more than just the politics that were cut out of the script, there was actually a simple storyline that was going. In a rare move, author Dave Morell, who penned the first Blood novel on which the original film was based, wound up writing the novelization for First Blood Part 2. Kinda crazy, isn't it? And it's largely based on Cameron's unedited script. Morell said, In the end, my novelization was one-third original material for me, one-third adaptation of James Cameron, and one-third the final script. A copy of that book could be worth a mint today, so eBay, here I come. And there you have it, the script was done and dusted, and it was go time. One element from the finished film that stood out was Stallone's crazy bod, which he achieved via 8 months of intense training, 4 hours a day. SWAT combat courses, archery courses, survivalist courses, the works. Stallone went all out, and man does it ever show. I'd argue that this is kinda the first movie that really displays his insane action hero body. He looks sane in this movie though. The cast and crew were actually floored by Sly's work ethics, with co-star Richard Cranmer saying, You can't imagine what he put himself through. We'd get up at 5 o'clock in the morning and he would go and work out, heavy weights, free weights, with all kinds of exercises. We'd finish the day's work, a very hard day's work, and he'd be back in the gym again to work out again. Kinda like that sounds like Trotman Knight explaining Rambo. You would believe what he did. And I have to say, all that hard work paid off. Stallone, in the end, looked fantastic. A freaking Adonis, if one might say. The film went into production under the helm of director George P. Cosmatos, who reunited with Sly in 1986 for Cobra. However, it has since been heavily suggested by Kurt Russell that Stallone pretty much ghost directed the picture. I don't know, I wasn't there. When screenwriter Kevin Jarre was fired as the director of Tombstone, Russell was looking for a director that would let him direct the film without putting his name on it. And he asked Sly if he knew anybody like that, and Stallone actually recommended Cosmatos, because this was, as Russell says, the deal they apparently had on Rambo 2. Allow me to let Russell clarify. They wanted me to take over the movie, Tombstone. And I said I'll do it, but I don't want my name on it. I go to George's room, give him the shot list for the next day, I got him from Sly Stallone. Sly did the same thing with Rambo 2 with George, and I said to George, while you're alive George, I won't say a goddamn thing. Now, Stallone himself never confirmed this, so who's to say if it's true or not. I'm also wondering what this revealed if Sly himself actually ghost directed Cobra. I don't know. It does seem very Stallone-esque, doesn't it? So Rambo 2 entered production in 1984, and was shot mostly in Mexico with some second unit in Thailand. Stallone put himself through hell for the stunt-heavy picture, doing most of his own stunts as usual. Although he came out of it unscathed, an explosion that went off ahead of time killed special effects consultant Cliff Wenger Jr. Another production woe was that Hurricane Odile was hitting the region where they were shooting hard and destroying the sets. Thankfully, nobody was harmed during that shitshow. The finished film was a technical marvel, and then some. Rambo 2 took action, set pieces, violence, and explosions to the next level for 1985. The more this movie forged forward, the more ambitious the mayhem became. This movie showcased astounding jungle scenery, carnage galore, and a gripping montage of Rambo killing all kinds of soldiers in novel ways that shamed Jason Voorhees. Plus an astounding helicopter western-esque standoff with M16 party favors up the wazoo. Basically, the freaking fireworks of all played out to Jerry Goldsmith's pulse-pounding score. Oh, and let's not forget about the uber patriotic end credits song, Peace In Our Life, which is performed by Frank Stallone. Of course, always Frank Stallone. And you know what? Call me a jerk, but it's a pretty good song, right? Now, upon its release, critics panned the film and it eventually got worst picture, worst screenplay, worst original song, and worst actor for Stallone at the 1985 Golden Raspberry Awards. But you know what? All that doesn't really matter. The magic was done. Audiences loved it. I even heard that it was shown to Vietnam vets and they cheered madly. The film was cathartic for them and I could totally understand why. Now, Rambo 2's immense success spawned countless imitators, with Missing in Action even hitting theaters before Rambo 2 came out, because apparently, it was loosely based on the Cameron script that was already floating around at the time. It was the most financially viable entry in the franchise so far, and when Ronald Reagan, the US president at the time, starts quoting a movie character when he said, I know what to do the next time this happens, you know that the cultural impact was immense. The flick was loud, brash, and improbable, but totally fun as hell. Dirty Harry was the iconic male figure of the 70s, and Rambo 2 made John Rambo the staple of the 1980s. The movie was insanely popular. In fact, it was the number two highest grossing movie of 1985. You know what number one was? Back to the Future. So Rambo 2 made almost as much money as Back to the Future. I mean, isn't that insane? Made over 300 million dollars worldwide. Crazy. You know what number three happened to be that year, kids? Rocky IV, the movie we're gonna talk about on our next episode. So, I don't think any actor ended 1985 as big of a star as Sylvester Stallone was. The character was so popular, it even spawned a cartoon called Rambo the Force of Freedom, plus countless video games and a toy line. I actually had a couple of these toys. Just like that, Rambo became a cinematic icon, and of course, he was referenced in Gremlins 2 in 1990, Lampoon in Hot Shots Pardue in 1993, and you know, the list would just be too long. Not everybody loves the Rambo movies though, but everybody, everybody on earth knows who Rambo is. So, enough said. You can dislike the Rambo movies if you want, but you know who he is. Watching the film again today in 2021, the way I see it, Rambo 2 was my generation's Hercules or Tarzan. The aim for relative realism that First Blood had adopted was dropped in favor of wham bang borderline comic book-ish vibe that went all out, and I mean, all ******* out. Here, John Rambo was turned into a bigger-than-life classic mythological type figure. The hero is lives in a man's world where any woman that enters it unfortunately doesn't last very long. He knows no fear, has no equal, and is defined by his actions as opposed to his words. Personally, if I had to pick one movie to bring with me to a deserted island, it would be Rambo 2. The film is an outstanding achievement that delivers the goods every time I see it. It's kind of a masterpiece. I give it 10 Stallones on 10 Stallones. If winning means he has to die, he'll die. And if you like this kind of content, make sure to click on the bell to receive notifications for all of our latest videos. We're an independent company, and we appreciate all of your support. You know there's more men out there. You know where they are. You're not with military. You're not mercenary. What are you? Lost tourist? I'm no tourist. In the year 1987, Sylvester Stallone's arm-wrestling canon camp classic Over the Top was a box office bomb. This was a shock, as Sylvester Stallone had had the number two and three highest grossing movies of the year in 1985, and had Cobra in 1986, which was a blockbuster. You know what the trouble with you is? You're too violent. His box office power seemed impossible to challenge. I mean, the man survived Rhinestone. Alas, a flop is a flop, so for his follow-up, Stallone returned to one of his most popular characters ever, John Rambo. I don't believe this. Rambo is often looked down at as the silliest film in the franchise. Boasting a story that perhaps hasn't aged very well, with Rambo making his way to Afghanistan to help the Afghan rebels fight the Russians, post 9-11, the movie was suddenly a lot more controversial than it had ever been intended to be. But the same could be said about a lot of other 80s action movies, with the James Bond outing, The Living Daylights, having a very similar plot. It's worth noting, though, that by the time Rambo III actually hit theatres, the Russians had withdrawn from Afghanistan, so that war was kind of over. Indeed, the road to Rambo III was a tough one. Originally Highlander's Russell Mulcahy was set to direct, but he was fired after two weeks of filming in Israel, when apparently, or according to Stallone at least, his choices for vicious-looking Russian troops seemed, in Stallone's words, to be two dozen blonde blue-eyed pre-boys that resembled rejects from a surfing contest, not exactly the kind of guys to make your blood run cold. The film would also go through three cinematographers. Instead, Peter MacDonald, who was the second unit director of Rambo I Blood Part II, was hired to direct, which meant that the action, of course, would be impeccable, as this was one area MacDonald excelled, with him shooting the iconic opening stick-fighting sequence with a handheld rig. The movie would end up being shot in Israel, Arizona, and Thailand. Thank you so much for watching Sylvester Stallone Revisited. If you like this type of content, make sure to click on the like button, as well as the bell to receive notifications for all of our latest videos. Now, back to the show. Now, the problem with Rambo III, compared to the rest of the series, is this. It was somewhat dated before it hit theaters, and that definitely affected the reception for the movie. The late 80s, of course, were a period of glasnost, with the Cold War coming to an end, and audiences suddenly seeming tired of a war which was simmering down. They didn't want to see the Cold War play out on the big screen. They were sick of it, and it seemed to be over at the time. With the risk of being political, how little we knew. If anything, though, in my opinion anyway, Rambo III would emerge to be a surprisingly potent depiction of the war in Afghanistan, including the US's relationship with the Mujahideen, and more. When it came out in 1988, it was derided as ultra-violent right-wing pulp, which I guess in kinda some ways it may be, but I think there's more to this movie than meets the eye. For me, though, Rambo III is first and foremost about Rambo coming full circle as a character. The series really could have ended here, and actually did for about 20 years. When we first meet John Rambo in First Blood, he's a broken man. He's a shell-shocked mess and that ending when he's taken to jail is a tragedy. Rambo First Blood Part II turns Rambo into a hero and gives him a redemptive arc, but it still ends with him basically being a man without a country. When Rambo III starts, he's found some measure of peace working at a local monastery in Thailand, while still satisfying his more primal side with a series of brutal stick-fighting battles, which to me stands as the movie's highlight. Of course, Richard Krennis Trotman, who's the Dr. Frankenstein to his creature, can never leave him alone and tries to bring Rambo in to help him fight the war in Afghanistan, with Rambo memorably telling him that, Before leaving, in an often mocked but kinda brilliant scene, Trotman compares him to a saying, Trotman of course is doomed without Rambo, leading to his pal going back on his desire to remain in the monastery and going to war once again. Up until the fourth installment, Rambo, this was considered the most violent entry of the series, with it briefly holding a Guinness World Record for the most violent acts in a film. I think that record was actually broken probably by the next Rambo movie, which makes this look like almost G-rated in comparison. It all ends on kind of a hopeful note, with Rambo going off with Trotman and seemingly having found some measure of peace. I always thought after watching this movie that Rambo was going to return to the US, but alas, by watching Rambo, which was the fourth film in the series, we know that's not what happened. Apparently in an alternate ending, Rambo actually decided to stay with the Afghan freedom fighters, having finally found the cause to fight for what he always wanted. But alas, I guess that was viewed as too political and it didn't make its way into the movie. Now as pure action, Rambo 3 is pretty tough to beat. It was the most expensive film of all time when it was made, costing anywhere from $58 to $63 million, depending on who you believe. It was one of the first big movies Karolko made independently, which was Adjojee Vajna's company, with Mario Kassar. These guys were behind some of the best action movies of the late 80s and early 90s. I mean the list of movies these guys made is just endless. There's Extreme Prejudice from Walter Hill, there's Red Heat, also from Walter Hill, there's Total Recall, there's Terminator 2 Judgment Day, a movie some of you may have heard of, Basic Instinct of course, and Stallone's own Cliffhanger. Sadly the studio did have a few huge flops like Mountains of the Moon and the infamous Cut the Rhode Island, which I've always thought was underrated, that ended their reign as the greatest action studio out there. Rambo 3, though, was their arrival into the majors. Stallone is perhaps at his physical peak in this movie, with him pumped up beyond belief. I mean the guy is chiseled. However, I still think it comes up short next to Rambo First Blood Part 2 because it feels unfocused and perhaps too reliant on second unit action. The villain Mark DeJong's Alexei is bland next to Steven Berkoff in Rambo 2, and don't even get me started on how much better Brian Dennehy is in First Blood. I mean, they needed a memorable villain with some pathos, and they don't have that here. He's just a boogeyman. The film does, however, benefit from a top shelf score by Jerry Goldsmith, even if much of it was excised for some reason, with the Not sure why they did that, because if you listen to the extended score album, it's really, really good, and they cut some of the best music out of the movie. Very strange. Although, I guess Goldsmith didn't hold much of a grudge because he would become kind of Kuroko's house composer for a while. He even composed the theme music for the studio logo, which I loved. They also included a couple of Giorgio Moroder songs on the soundtrack, only one of which actually made its way into the movie, a cover of He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother by Bill Medley. Now, this of course was the year after Time of My Life, so I imagine they thought they had a huge hit on their hands. They didn't, but you know, a song ain't bad. The best thing about Rambo 3 for me is that Rambo actually shows his more humane side in this film, by having him befriend a local boy named Hamid, who at one point was actually going to return as Rambo's adopted son in another sequel. Richard Crenna also got his biggest part in the series, with him elevated to co-star status, as the whole plot really does center around Trotman's kidnapping. When Rambo 3 came out in May of 1988, it had a pretty major effect on the pop culture. Rambo's Your Worst Nightmare catchphrase became popular in its misquoted I'm Your Worst Nightmare form. The movie would be memorably parodied by Weird Al in UHF and then by Hot Shots Part Deux, which even managed to enlist Richard Crenna as the movie's Trotman figure. It must have been surreal sending up the film that, you know, you were in just a couple of years earlier. There's also a dig at Rambo 3 in Twins, where Arnold Schwarzenegger compares his muscles to Stallone's by looking at the poster and then laughs. At the time, these guys were kind of frenemies. Now they're just friends. Isn't that nice? Oddly though, Rambo 3 was actually not a box office hit. It underperformed domestically by a pretty wide margin, grossing $53 million, which was just over a third of what the previous Rambo film had made. Internationally, it was a bigger hit and it topped out at $189 million worldwide, meaning everybody involved made some money. But it was nowhere near the size of what anyone was expecting. I mean, the last Rambo movie had made $300 million worldwide and this made just over half. Notably, it was outgrossed domestically by a pretty wide margin by the film Paul Hogan's Crocodile Dundee, part two in the duel of the 80s icons. I think Crocodile Dundee won this round. First Lie would be a harbinger of a cool period in his career, with the next year's Tango in Cash his sole hit for a four-year spell that would end with his major return to glory with 1993's Cliffhanger. While movies like Lockup, Rocky 5, Oscar and the infamous Stop or My Mom Will Shoot all at least underperformed at the box office and were more disastrous than not. Alas, there'll be more on those as well as Sly's perhaps ill-advised foray into comedy to come. As it stands though, Rambo 3 is not the best of the Rambo series, but it's definitely not the worst either. In its own way, it's something of an 80s classic and I give it a 7 on 10.