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.

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.

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.

Recasting Couch

James Garner; William Devane

In the discussion (3)

Approx. transcript time · 00:59:18Read transcript

Roy Scheider is floated for Crenna's part, countered that he would be more intense.
James Garner is proposed for a light comic touch.
William Devane from the Marathon Man era could have done it too.

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.

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.