Talk:First Blood

I am pretty sure the weapon used by Brian Dennehy's character (the Sheriff) was an HK 33 or 93 given the curved nature of the magazine on the weapon.

Yes, you are correct...HK93.

Widescreen

I'm sorry this page has widescreen pics but I made this page before I knew to crop out the black bars. It is a real pain to crop out the bars by resaving and uploading them. I ought to know, I did it for the Quigley Down Under page. -GM

Thanks for fixing the widescreen bars AQ11, I was acutally going to do this just after I did TRK for MT2008 but you beat me to it. - Gunmaster45

Rambo's M16

Where does Rambo get his M16? First he's laying in the Rocks watching the National Guardsmen go by, then he's got one slung over his back when he finds the civilian out hunting.

- Probably stole one from one of Teasle's deputies when he ambushed them. I thought he did have it slung when he came out of the water (but just hard to see). If not, him not having it on his back in one shot and having it in another is probably just continuity error. StanTheMan 19:54, 18 June 2010 (UTC)

Title

Isn't the title of the movie just "First Blood?" That's how it's listed in IMDB. --funkychinaman 12:34, 18 June 2010 (UTC)
Yes it is, but I think it's called Rambo: First Blood internationally.

That may be true, but aren't we supposed to go by however it is in IMDb? --funkychinaman 04:46, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

If you type First Blood in the search box, you'll be redirected to this movie page. The title is explained in the summary on the actual movie page. --Ben41 08:19, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Alternate Ending

Anyone who's read David Morrell's novel "First Blood" knows of the changes in this movie from the novel. The alternate ending is not far off from the ending of the novel, where Trautman kills a wounded Rambo who also has a broken rib from a cliff fall into a tree; although Trautman's shot is from a shotgun a few feet away and blows John Rambo's head off. But virtually everything else has been changed or reversed; the location, characters living and dying, personalities. Trautman is asked at the end of the novel how he feels about killing his friend, and he replies "better than knowing he was suffering".

They apparently wanted to make the movie into a statement for Vietnam Vets as well as try to create a franchise, because in the book not only does John Rambo die at the end, so does Sheriff Teasel who was shot similtaneously by Rambo. And not only do both of them die, but Rambo kills all the deputies, the dog handler, and all the dogs and severely wounds one of the town's people who comes out with a gun. The location is changed from Kentucky to Washington State, so the scene in the book where Rambo meets a moonshiner and his son who gives him shoes, clothes and a .30-30 Winchester is gone (because in Rambo's escape from the jail basement and the sadistic cop he eventually shoots out of the helicopter, spraying blood and brains on the pilot and freaking him out so much he crashes at the low level in the canyon he's flying). In the novel, Rambo guts a deputy in the basement after beating the snot out of the sadistic one. His only crime is being an apparent "vagrant" in the Kentucky town and trying to get something to eat, and not liking being run out of town before he gets it. The only survivor in the woods is Sheriff Teasel who survives by crawling on hands and knees through thick sticker bushes, and who, as written by David Morrell, is not the arrogant, violence prone red-neck that Brian Dennehy portrays him as, but is a decent guy who is a Korean War veteran (the book was published in 1972), who's father was killed mistakenly in a hunting accident and the dog handler had become a surrogate father to him as a child. Rambo is not the "I don't want to kill anyone so don't make me do it" guy of the film, he is a hardened Special Forces operative who suffered terribly for a short time as a POW, and a flashback to that due to the brutality inflicted on him in the jail basement is what sets him off. He kills without emotion, without remorse; screw with him and you die--sometimes quicky and somtimes painfully, but you die. Also in the movie, along with the Model 94 Winchester the moonshiner gives him, Rambo is carrying a Colt Python that he recovers off the deputy's body that he shot from the helicopter door; and Sheriff Teasel is not armed with a Model 66 but with a Browning Hi-Power, which he shoots Rambo with at the end of the book as Rambo shoots him with the .357 Magnum. He dies seconds after Rambo, watching Trautman's ejected shotgun shell twirl through the air and hit the ground. There's almost a metaphysical bond that develops, where Teasel can get inside Rambo's head and "see what he's thinking" in anticipating his moves. Harleyguy 30 July 2010 16:38

Minus the wierd metaphysical bond, that sounds better than the actual movie. Is it written well? Because if it is I just might have to pick it up.

It's a good book; I'd recommend it. However, it doesn't appear that Morrel knows too much about guns. -SasquatchJim

I didn't read First Blood, but I read the novelization of First Blood Part II, also by David Morrell (who, in the foreward, acknowledges that yeah, Rambo did die in the original, but he's going to write it anyway) and in that book, he had Rambo make a big deal about the weapon he'd take on his mission. Originally, Rambo was issued a modern assault rifle with all the bells and whistles (I don't remember exactly, it was a long time ago) but Rambo specifically asks for an AK, and then cites some very good reasons why (ammo availability, confusing the enemy, etc.) So Morrell must've done a lot of research between these two books. The movie glosses over the whole thing, with Rambo bringing that MP5 without any complaints. --funkychinaman 17:43, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Aside from the odd starlight scope or Colt Combat Scope, what "bells and whistles" were there for rifles in Vietnam? I mean, it obviously wasn't like today where you have everything from vert grips to iPod mounts. Spartan198 04:23, 14 June 2011 (CDT)

I was referring to the novelization of First Blood, Part II, which took place in the eighties. I don't remember exactly what the bells and whistles were, like I said, I read it years ago. I do remember that Murdock was disappointed when Rambo didn't like the new toy. --Funkychinaman 06:18, 14 June 2011 (CDT)

• In Kirk Douglas's autobio he said he was offered the Trautman role but would only do it if Rambo died at the end. As the producers were thinking of sequels, that was not on and they got Richard CrennaFoofbun 08:15, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Really, Funkychinaman? I may have to check it out then. I know, in the original, he sites the .44 as the most powerful handgun in the world, and acts as if the .30-30 is a very powerful magnum round. In my experience, the author that writes guns best is Stephen Hunter. He seems like he knows his stuff. -SJ

Well the .44 magnum thing is just pop culture. (And at the time First Blood was written, it probably still was.) I just don't think Morrell is ESPECIALLY ignorant of guns. (And mind you, I read it like fifteen years ago. That part sticks out though, because it differed from the movie.) According to his webpage, he claims to have been trained in firearms. (That can be taken many way though.) Also keep in mind, First Blood was his first novel, and 13 years passed between that and Part II. --funkychinaman 03:38, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

Found a piece of First Blood: Part 2 in Google Books. It looks like Morrell is still a bit off. [1]--Funkychinaman 12:17, 7 July 2011 (CDT)

I wonder how many future script writers/authors of gun based novels are now getting their GUN education here on IMFDB? ;) We actually aren't a gun encyclopedia per se, since our focus is on identification, however, because we are still CINEMA HISTORY based, there is a LOT of movie history/trivia on this site. A lot of information that could be found NOWHERE else in the world, i.e. gun books. Seriously, how many firearms authors would make the notation that so many MP5s in the 1980s were actually just converted and chopped HK94s? Or the fact that XM177s were actually Colt Sporters with slip over faux flash hiders? Or the Star Model B impersonating the M1911 in so many movies? But we also have TONS of gun information as well. I sure hope script writers use this resource when they write new stories. :) MoviePropMaster2008 19:14, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

'Ultimate Edition' DVD errors

I love this film and my 'Ultimate' DVD for it, but it has some grave errors on the weapon descriptions - It IDs the AR-15/M16A1s as 'M16A2's, complete with describing it as selective-fire with safe-semi-burst, and IDs the M72 LAW as the M136 AT4 launcher. Bah, like MPM said above, maybe these dunderheads should hop a look on this site before setting any of that stuff up. At least they got the M60 right. StanTheMan (talk) 23:41, 29 March 2013 (EDT)

Rambos ammo-belts

Is it just me or is there something peculiar about the ammo carried by Rambo? He carries an M60 MG which fires the 7.62 NATO so its logical to conclude Rambo would be carrying that round. I'm no expert, but it seems the round in the ammo-belts he is carrying is a different round. Am I imagining this?

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Rambo

Dudester32 (talk) 14:32, 18 March 2014 (EDT)

Yes, those look longer than 7.62 NATO rounds. Then again, those are also not crimped blanks, so they wouldn't be going into the gun either way. --Funkychinaman (talk) 15:05, 18 March 2014 (EDT)