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First Blood poster

First Blood

year 1982decade 80sdirector Ted Kotcheffgenre Actiongenre Thriller

93 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Sylvester Stallone John Rambo
Richard Crenna Colonel Sam Trautman
Brian Dennehy Sheriff Will Teasle
Bill McKinney Captain Dave Kern
Jack Starrett Deputy Sergeant Art Galt
Michael Talbott Deputy Balford
Chris Mulkey Deputy Ward
John McLiam Orval Kellerman
Alf Humphreys Deputy Lester
David Caruso Deputy Mitch Rogers
David L. Crowley Deputy Shingleton
Don MacKay Deputy Preston
Patrick Stack Lieutenant Clinton Morgen

First Blood | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Brian Koppelman
Explore episodeClose episode

Producer credits not yet identified.

What’s Aged the Best?

Hero survives ending; premise; score; PTSD theme; early David Caruso; police brutality; original John Rambo; Teasle rising in his office; National Guard photo; Clinton Morgen character; "They drew first blood"; Kassar and Vajna credits; real-life touches

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:24:14Read transcript
  • Pulled forward from What's Aged the Best: not having Rambo kill himself, as in the script, after test audiences disliked it may be the smartest action-movie decision ever; don't kill your hero.
  • The premise is unassailable and the score is great, including when he plows through the cars near the end.
  • A hero with PTSD was still new; it is how one host learned about PTSD at 13.
  • Objection: the PTSD flashbacks as a filmmaking technique did not age well; Spike's Five Bloods did them better.
  • Early Caruso, sneering with a terrible haircut, was somebody to watch.
  • Police brutality, cops treating someone like dirt for no reason, was new in a popular movie; original John Rambo has aged well.
  • Teasle slowly standing in his office when told Rambo is alive, and the weekend National Guard guys posing for a picture ("back to the drugstore on Monday") are singled out.
  • The actor playing Clinton Morgen, named as Timothy Stack's brother, is hilarious and should have been in Bill Murray movies.
  • "They drew first blood, not me" says the title in the dialogue and has aged perfectly; Rounders should have done the same.
  • The producer credits for Mario Casar and Andrew G. Vajna sound almost fictional, marking a movie friends would watch and act out.
  • Small real-life touches add credibility: the jail being painted and a radio monitor reading a magazine in the command tent.

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:27:04Read transcript
  • Reviews were mixed and lukewarm, but Roger Ebert was not lukewarm: three stars.
  • Ebert did not like the ending but said Stallone wrote a very good, well-paced movie, well acted by Stallone, Crenna and Dennehy.
  • Ebert also wrote that almost all of the film is implausible but audiences buy it because it is Stallone on screen.
  • The hosts disagree that it is implausible and think it could have happened, apart from the neatly contained explosions.
  • Stallone's physicality makes the cliff fall believable, which is offered as what Ebert was getting at.

Most Rewatchable Scene

Jail escape to the cliff; Trautman's entrance

In the discussion (16)
Approx. transcript time · 00:29:35Read transcript
  • The jail escape is the first pick; a son watching found the first ten minutes slow until the shaving scene, when Rambo cleans house.
  • Taking the motorcycle, including Stallone's little happy-feet dance compared to Jared Goff, is the greatest part.
  • Per the research, the bike-and-car jump over a bump went too high on the first take and the stunt driver hurt his back.
  • Stallone's wordless actor instincts in the sequence bond the audience to Rambo; Stallone is called underrated, and Caruso helps.
  • From the arrest to the motorcycle is as good as action filmmaking gets; the stretch from the shaving to the cliff runs about 30 minutes.
  • Stallone took real punishment, as when Ernie Shavers sent him to the hospital.
  • The cliff scene: Art threatens Rambo from the helicopter, Rambo jumps into the tree; Stallone did the bottom third of the fall himself and broke a rib.
  • The jump has been ripped off for 40 years; unlike Butch and Sundance, Stallone looks like a war machine hanging from the cliff.
  • The perfectly timed rock hitting the helicopter glass is compared to a throw from deep left field.
  • The night hunt, with the "We ain't hunting him, he's hunting us" line, has Rambo taking out the deputies one by one.
  • Troutman's first scene ("God didn't build Rambo. I made him") and Teasle's disgust are another pick.
  • The rats play better on a theater screen; Stallone reportedly got bitten and needed a tetanus shot.
  • Rambo taking the Jeep ("That's how accidents happen") and blowing up the gas station are two more rewatchable moments.
  • The "Nothing is over" ending is shockingly good acting, but it is flagged as not rewatchable because it is so emotional.
  • The final pick is the jail escape through the cliff, about a 30-minute stretch; kept to one scene it is jail to motorcycle, with Troutman's entrance also named.
  • Crenna is praised along with The Flamingo Kid; someone else reportedly had the Troutman part until the day before.

Picking Nits

Mud and tree-climbing continuity; quick trap and boar; local cops running the manhunt; Teasle not recognizing a veteran; using the walkie-talkie; convenient supplies; timeline since Vietnam; day-night continuity

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:36:32Read transcript
  • The stake trap was built very quickly and the boar was dealt with fast; this was on the Picking Nits list.
  • Rambo is covered in mud one moment and not the next, and somehow scales a 15-foot tree.
  • The local cops keep running the manhunt though nearly all are hospitalized; a state cop yields to Teasle when the FBI would take over.
  • Teasle, an army veteran, should have recognized Rambo's veteran jacket.
  • Rambo is too smart to answer the walkie-talkie when he hears Crenna.
  • Whatever Rambo needs turns up conveniently, such as gasoline on the third try and the one Army truck carrying the weapon he needs.
  • If set around 1981, what was he doing for six years since the war? Setting it around 1977 would make more sense.
  • Not quite a nit: Rambo's refusal to kill innocents is his flaw, since killing the Jeep driver would let him escape.
  • Day and night flip within the last 20 minutes; as a filmmaker, those are spots where long-cut scenes were lost, and color correction could not fix it then.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Trautman–Teasle bar scene; unused Korea–Vietnam veteran tension; Dan Hill's end song "It's a Long Road"

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:45:57Read transcript
  • Research: the first rough cut ran over three hours, Stallone wanted to buy and destroy it, and it was recut to 93 minutes.
  • The 93-minute cut is fine, though ten more minutes in the woods would be welcome.
  • The cuts show, as when Teasle is told the deputies were rough on Rambo and a state cop just says "those assholes."
  • The Troutman–Teasle drink at the bar feels forced.
  • The long version probably had Teasle's war service; the book's Korea-versus-Vietnam veteran tension was an easy thing the film did not use.
  • Counterpoint: the bar scene is loved for putting the two actors together.
  • There are almost no women and the one woman is also the only person of color, raised explicitly as an interesting point rather than an aged-worst pick.
  • The number-one aged-worst pick is the Dan Hill end song "It's a Long Road," which is played on air.
  • Dan Hill, of "Sometimes When We Touch," is defended; the other side wishes for a band like Foreigner.
  • Partial concession: there is no reason an American movie should have a Canadian singing the end song.

Casting What-Ifs

Steve McQueen; Kris Kristofferson; Gene Hackman; Robert Duvall; Lee Marvin; Kirk Douglas

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:53:46Read transcript
  • The film was nearly made in 1975; producers wanted Steve McQueen, then judged him too old, and considered Chris Christopherson before it went into turnaround.
  • Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall turned down the Teasle role.
  • Hackman would lift the movie a level, but then he might not do Unforgiven; Dennehy is judged the better outcome.
  • Duvall would have been good, but Dennehy's use of his body mattered.
  • Lee Marvin turned down Troutman; Kirk Douglas was hired and quit over a script dispute, with an uncertain story that he wanted Troutman to become Rambo.
  • Crenna, hired within 24 hours, is preferred to Douglas for enjoying every line.

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

Miami Vice deputy hit by the stake trap

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:57:06Read transcript
  • Chris Malky, also in 48 Hours two months later, is considered, though it is unclear he qualifies as a That Guy.
  • The award goes to the deputy hit by the stake trap, a Miami Vice sidekick cop (Zito or Switek) for five years.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Knife and Blade magazine; real canvas coat; broken nose on set; stuntman injury; Frankenstein comparison; salary; Dennehy's Vietnam claims; deleted flashback scene

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:00:01Read transcript
  • Knife fans love the film; a 2011 Blade magazine article credited Rambo with revitalizing the cutlery industry, and the knife was picked out with great care.
  • The canvas for Rambo's coat was real rotten canvas found by the crew; Stallone still has it.
  • Stallone broke Lester's actor's nose in the jail escape, so the bandage later is real.
  • The stuntman doubling Teasle broke his back when the first take of the car jump went too high.
  • In the DVD commentary Stallone compares Rambo to Frankenstein's monster, with Troutman as the doctor.
  • Stallone asked for $3.5 million; Kassar and Vajna gave him $2 million plus TV sales.
  • Dennehy implied he served in Vietnam but finished his Marines service before U.S. forces deployed.
  • A deleted flashback with a Pet of the Month model is on the special-edition DVD; deleted scenes are usually cut for a reason.

Apex Mountain

Richard Crenna; David Morrell; Vietnam action movies; hunting knives; early-'80s movie graphics; exploding ammo

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:58Read transcript
  • Stallone is not yet at Apex; 1985, with Rambo II and Rocky IV, was his apex.
  • Dennehy, the number-two star of a major hit, is a case that can be made either way.
  • Crenna definitely, since he kept playing Troutman in sequels and a parody.
  • David Morel too, since all his books became bestsellers afterward.
  • Crenna's many TV movies and the high-difficulty exposition role he made look easy are discussed.
  • Vietnam action movies are accepted, and hunting knives are called a great call.
  • Early-'80s movie graphics and opening credits are added.
  • The deleted-scene Pet of the Month model could maybe go in too, said hesitantly.
  • Exploding ammo is the last addition.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Teasle's future; whether Rambo would have snapped anyway; Trautman's quick arrival; the cave; Trautman's hat; Rambo guy or Rocky guy

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:09:02Read transcript
  • Whether Rambo had snapped before is saved as an unanswerable question.
  • Does Teasle work again or retire, and does he realize it was his fault? His "take a shower" shout at a townsperson is odd.
  • Would Rambo have blown eventually without Teasle? Yes, someone would have pushed him, though Teasle did 99.9% of the work.
  • Rambo II is comically bad in parts.
  • How did Troutman arrive so quickly, and do caves like that exist? Why spend the first night instead of leaving?
  • Why Troutman's beret-style colonel hat and trench coat?
  • Rambo guy or Rocky guy: Rocky, because the Rocky universe through Creed matters and only this Rambo film does.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

Ten-episode series with an Iraq veteran; Michael B. Jordan as Rambo; Russell Crowe as Teasle; Kevin Costner as Trautman

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:10:45Read transcript
  • A 2021 version could star an Iraq veteran in a small town, working as a short-order cook who snaps early and drifts town to town like Bruce Banner.
  • For a 2021 First Blood on Netflix, Michael B. Jordan as Rambo is not even a conversation.
  • For Teasle, Vin or the Rock would be amazing if they would do it; John Ham is floated then set aside.
  • Russell Crowe is the choice for a 50-to-55-year-old Teasle.
  • Ben Affleck could also play Teasle if he wanted to.
  • Rambo would have to be Black to give it a 2020s layer, since Vietnam and PTSD would not land the same way.
  • Charlize Theron as a female Teasle who fought in the first Iraq war is another option.
  • Kevin Costner as Troutman, who trained Jordan's Rambo, is a good call.

Who Won the Movie?

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:17:39Read transcript
  • Stallone by a landslide; it eventually made him about a billion dollars and started an 11-year battle with Schwarzenegger.
  • The star-power belt passes among Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Eddie and Tom Cruise through the 1980s and early 1990s.
Podcast choices
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Sylvester Stallone

More from the conversation

A 1982 First Blood trailer serves as the cold open.
Approx. transcript time · 00:01:32Read transcript
Koppelman is introduced; the film came out in October 1982 and its 40th anniversary is next year.
Approx. transcript time · 00:01:55Read transcript
The modern action movie is born in late 1982 with First Blood and 48 Hrs.; the show is doing action movies for the next couple of episodes.
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:16Read transcript
First Blood is a transition film tied to 1970s action pictures about something, and it announces Stallone as an action star.
Approx. transcript time · 00:03:05Read transcript
Called the single greatest small action film, a 10 out of 10, serious with only a few funny lines.
Approx. transcript time · 00:04:13Read transcript
It builds on 1970s revenge films and Billy Jack and starts an 11-year run of action movies.
Approx. transcript time · 00:05:02Read transcript
Premise recap: viewers still root for Rambo after he blows up the town.
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:51Read transcript
David Morrell's book is praised; the names of dead friends in the opening pay off in the final scene.
Approx. transcript time · 00:07:31Read transcript
All he wanted was something to eat; Teasle is a great villain.
Approx. transcript time · 00:08:15Read transcript
A college independent study on Vietnam movies with a buddy ended in a 40-page paper.
Approx. transcript time · 00:08:31Read transcript
First Blood is a strong Vietnam film about how veterans were forgotten; Teasle is a Korean War veteran in the book, and Art Galt is the pure villain.
Approx. transcript time · 00:09:10Read transcript
Apocalypse Now ranks first among Vietnam films; Full Metal Jacket, The Deer Hunter and First Blood follow; Deer Hunter and Coming Home are not rewatchable.
Approx. transcript time · 00:11:05Read transcript
Hollywood's commercial Vietnam era is counted as ten movies, including Uncommon Valor, Missing in Action, Platoon and Full Metal Jacket.
Approx. transcript time · 00:14:27Read transcript
Stallone's early-1980s career, bombs included, leads to him being the biggest star in the world by the end of 1982.
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:38Read transcript
Sequel surprise and a story of skipping Phantom of the Opera in England to see First Blood.
Approx. transcript time · 00:18:55Read transcript
First Blood got a second life on HBO; Rambo II had a surprise HBO premiere.
Approx. transcript time · 00:21:30Read transcript
Best Actor for 1982 is reviewed; Stallone had no case; Missing and Kingsley are debated.
Approx. transcript time · 00:22:50Read transcript
The screenplay bounced around for years and was considered a cursed project.
Approx. transcript time · 00:23:59Read transcript
Stated figures: $50 million budget, $125 million domestic, 76 million tickets in China; from Morrell's 1972 novel with three writers including Stallone.
Approx. transcript time · 00:24:42Read transcript
Kotcheff also directed North Dallas Forty and Weekend at Bernie's; kids no longer argue to see R-rated movies.
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:16Read transcript
The Best Adapted Screenplay nominees are reviewed; First Blood is slotted ahead of Victor/Victoria.
Approx. transcript time · 00:26:13Read transcript
In the book Rambo kills many pursuers; the film avoids direct deaths and he turns himself in.
Approx. transcript time · 00:26:41Read transcript
Reviews were mixed; Rocky's Best Picture win caused backlash.
Approx. transcript time · 00:27:33Read transcript
Dennehy is praised as a great actor; one host interviewed him in Winnipeg, and a story says he later acted only sitting down.
Approx. transcript time · 00:49:35Read transcript
Close: Billions will shoot when the pandemic allows; The Terminator episode comes in two days.
Approx. transcript time · 01:21:00Read transcript