I saw this movie for the first time when my mother was becoming psychotic, and asking me why I was watching "all this violence, and why the TV was watching us". I was in my 20s and had rented it on VHS... The minimalist dialog, the action, the fantastic one liners "A good supply of body bags...they drew first blood, not me...". The story of someone that just wants to be left alone, doesn't want to burden others with the problems that are compounding themselves resonates with all of us. This type of stripped down movie - Pulp Fiction was similar in that both movies could have been plays - is something I come back to every couple of years. I know this is a long bow to draw - but John's plea to his mentor at the end, and Julia Robert's scene at the end of Steel Magnolias are the few times i've teared up in a movie every time i see it.... Life not fair, it craps on people like Rambo...and my mother. If i could only take 10 movies to an island, there's a good chance this would be one of them (I'd have a USB with a few hundred crap movies too, but you know what I mean)....Thanks Mr Stallone - good job...

First BloodAmidst the action movies of the 80's First Blood is one of the greatest. Not for the action or the explosions but for the stand out performance by Sylvester Stallone. An underrated actor who is as much to blame for the negativity that is often bestowed upon him. He has made some poor movie choices throughout his career but First Blood certainly isn't one of them. The film is based on the novel by the same name written by David Morrell and tells the tale of John Rambo. A Vietnam war veteran who on his return home finds that his country doesn't want to accommodate him anymore. He wanders from state to state, a drifter with no purpose. All his friends have been consumed by the war either on the field or by the chemicals sprayed on to the fields. The opening scene of the film describes this to heart wrenching effect. Alone in the world Rambo stumbles upon a small town where all he wants is to get something to eat. He is bullied and made unwelcome by the towns sheriff played by Brian Dennehy. From here on the story unfolds as local law enforcement mistreat the drifter causing him to retaliate. Stallones performance here is at first subdued before over boiling with fury. He looks gaunt, undernourished and tormented. The fear is apparent in his eyes. But there's also a rage there too. A fire that still burns, a war that wages within him. He was extracted from a war he was told he wasn't able to win. He was returned home to a country that seemed to not care for him. A country that he had sworn to serve. A country that he loved but didn't love him back. When the switch in Rambos head is flipped and he goes off like a land mine all those around him, all those who crossed him will pay. Stallone doesn't have much dialogue in the film except right at the end where a broken man finally breaks down, confiding in the only friend he has left. Colonel Trautman played brilliantly by Richard Crenna. In the novel Rambo dies. Killed by his only friend. In the movie obviously he survives as several silly inferior sequels followed. First Blood should be judged as a stand-alone film and not have the cartoon like sequels tarnish its brilliance. The movie is wonderfully shot and has a fantastic score by Jerry Goldsmith. With a strong cast and a career best performance by Stallone this film has stood the test of time. A character study of a man broken by war and it's aftermath.

This is one of those films that was hugely popular back in the eighties but for some reason simply fell by the wayside and has effectively been forgotten about. Okay, while it isn't the movie that catapulted Stallone into stardom (that was Rocky), it certainly helped. Mind you, it is also one of the movies that also Stallone as a stereotypical tough guy that speaks more with his fists than with his mouth. However, as a film it is quite good, and certainly much better than the three sequels that came after it. In fact the sequels seemed to toss the whole purpose of this film to simply turn Rambo into your typical action hero whose job is to go out and rescue people.Anyway, the movie is about a former special forces officer who served in Vietnam but upon returning to America has simply become a drifter. In fact everybody who he knew as a family have simply died leaving him effectively alone in the world. So, he simply drifts from place to place, however one of those places happens to be a small town called Hope, and the Sheriff decides that he doesn't particularly want people like Rambo wandering through his town so he forcefully has him removed, and when Rambo doesn't comply he arrests him, takes him to the station and roughs him up a bit.Well, that happens to be a bad move because not only does it trigger a number of flash backs, but it also causes him to snap, beat up all of the occupants of the police station, and then flee into the mountains. Well, being the cocky small town police that they are they decide to go after Rambo alone, but pretty quickly discovered that that is definitely not a good idea since he takes out each and every one of them. Then, when the cavalry is called in, he not only manages to escape their trap, but takes the fight into town where we come to the dramatic conclusion.First Blood isn't your typical action movie by a long shot. Okay, you do technically have the bad guys in the form of the police, but the thing is that these police aren't corrupt in the sense that some police officers are but rather they are simply protective of their town to the point that they will push strangers around and politely ask them to leave if it seems as if they are going to cause trouble. Well, the problem is that when you push the wrong person around it has the potential to come back and bite you.The thing with this film is that it is about how the Vietnam Vets were treated when they returned home from war. It wasn't the heroes welcome that the WWII vets received, but rather they were ignored, and in some sense blamed, for the failure in Vietnam. This was America and they don't lose wars, but Vietnam was an effective loss, so it must have been the troops who were the reason that they lost. The thing is that this was a different type of war, and one that they Americans didn't adapt to at the time (though past experiences have demonstrated that they can fight a guerrilla war). However, that is not the issue in the film, it is the treatment of the vets that is.In a way they were left on the trash heap of society, and when they were able to pick themselves up out of it they were once again blamed for where they landed up. In many cases it was the World War II vets that were looking down on them because they too had been to war, and they had managed to transition back into civilian life, so if the Vietnam Vets weren't able to then maybe they weren't trying hard enough. However, as mentioned, Vietnam was a different type of war and as such the experiences that the Vets had over there were different to those that the WWII vets faced.Some people simply label First Blood as a mindless action film, but I would say that it is much, much more than that. It doesn't end the way a mindless action film ends, but rather confronts us with the alienation that Vietnam Vets face in the United States. It also confronts us with the bigotry of small town America, though you are no doubt going to find that in many small communities the world over. It challenges us to how we should look at working with our vets, and attempting to seek solutions to these problems than simply sweeping them under the rug. The thing is that no doubt there are going to be similar issues in relation to the vets of the Iraq War, and things no doubt have the potential to be much worse for them due to the hypercapitalist nature of the modern world.

First Blood is the first in a great series of movies.John Rambo is a Vietnam veteran still haunted by the demons of the war the soldiers weren't allowed to win. The transient Rambo goes to see one of his former friends and fellow soldier only to find out he died from exposure to agent orange.While passing through a small town, the local sheriff spots him and decides their quiet community isn't the place for people like Rambo. After refusing to leave, Rambo is arrested, tortured, and ultimately escapes into the dense forest.The rest of the movie is a cat and mouse game between the local sheriff's department, state police, national guard, and Rambo, with Rambo ultimately becoming the cat and the police the mice.Rambo is fast paced with action and the last several minutes of the movie are unforgettable, as Rambo breaks down and perfectly gets across the demons that still haunt him.