Film Details
Part of the series When Carolco Ruled.
The film that transformed Carolco from a fledgling production outfit into a genuine Hollywood powerhouse, Ted Kotcheff’s First Blood was the runaway success that announced the company’s arrival among the major players of the American film industry. A taut, muscular adaptation of David Morrell’s acclaimed 1972 novel, the picture introduced Sylvester Stallone’s John Rambo: a traumatised Vietnam veteran whose explosive potential lay beneath a haunted, withdrawn exterior. Arriving in the small town of Hope, Washington, after attempting to pay his respects to a former army comrade lost to the long-term effects of Agent Orange exposure, Rambo finds himself targeted by local sheriff Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy), whose casual abuse of authority turns a routine encounter into an act of provocation with devastating consequences. Mistaking a damaged survivor for a drifter and a threat, Teasle unwittingly awakens the combat instincts of one of America’s most formidable cinematic antiheroes. Part survival thriller, part psychological drama, and part reckoning with the unresolved wounds of the Vietnam era, First Blood became not only a landmark action film but the cornerstone of Carolco’s ascent — the breakthrough that proved the company could compete on the biggest stage and paved the way for its future as one of Hollywood’s most ambitious independent studios.
Director: Ted Kotcheff
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Brian Dennehy, Richard Crenna
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 93 minutes