Why did Rambo become a franchise?

[Screw Danlon]

I watched First Blood for the first time the other day. I really liked it, too, especially considering how much of that movie has basically become culturally osmosised. I was surprised that I still found parts of it surprising and genuinely sad.

But after watching it, I’m left with the question of... why are there more movies about Rambo? I feel like the thing that made the character and story interesting was showing me, as a person who never experienced it, what it would be liked to be broken man who was extremely skilled as a fighter but unable to adapt to life once their raison d’etre is gone.

People talk about how the Star Wars prequels were unneccesary, because no one cares about how any of the characters came to be who they are. And I feel the same about Rambo’s experiences as a solider.

But, since I’ve only seen the first movie, and I’m obviously a johnny-come-lately, I can admit that I’m speaking purely out of ignorance. So, is there a good reason for the other movies, or am I good with just enjoying First Blood for what it is?

 

[mr.moon1488]

Same thing with the other 80s classics they resurrected. They have zero ability to make anything other than shity Marvel copypasta, so they keep necroing old stories that did well in order to make a quick shekel.

 

[Pixy]

Same thing with the other 80s classics they resurrected. They have zero ability to make anything other than shity Marvel copypasta, so they keep necroing old stories that did well in order to make a quick shekel.

Maybe he likes playing the role, too.

 

[White Devil]

Because after they changed the ending to Rambo surviving, it made a shit load of money hence the usual logic of franchising it. Keep in mind First Blood was based off a (arguably better) book.

 

[OfficerBagget]

Because killing gooks is awesome.

 

[verissimus]

Because killing gooks is awesome.

What do you call Rambo 3 and 5 then?

 

[RollerGator]

Rambo part 2 was integral to film history as it brought us scores of Rambo ripoffs too numerous to count

 

[ShortBusDriver]

What do you call Rambo 3 and 5 then?

Well they didn't show Rambo 3 on TV for a solid 15 years after the invasion of Afghanistan

Only the past few years has it started airing again.

And of course this:

 

[White Devil]

What do you call Rambo 3 and 5 then?

Instructional videos.

 

[I Love Beef]

To be honest, politics that actually mattered to the human condition. John Rambo was a man not unaffected by the disillusionment of Nam, and the movies and the book were not that far off from the public consciousness. He was a man steeled by war, and in a time after that war, he was just as important as the main man who saw to it to clean up. Plus, no one could had ever foretold the end of the Cold War back then in the 1980s. Sure, he is depicted as purely a "warhawk hero", but his stories weren't all about "black and white kill the baddies save the day and get laid". He had just as much mixed feelings and resentment towards cushy bureaucrat generals-in-name on his side and those who constantly thirst for conflict and reign hell on innocents on the antagonist's side. Hell, the first movie, he fucking destroyed a small town full of assholes out in Oregon just because they treated him like shit. If that doesn't set the tone down for Rambo's morality, I don't know what else to say.

I did an entire senior year thesis on the aftermaths of the Vietnam War and how the war was being portrayed back at home through film and popular media, and I got an A- on it. So if you're wondering how I am like this, there.

 

[XYZpdq]

there's something to be said for a culture going back in fiction and fighting That War, but this time we win, and we're not going to get into the parts where maybe us fighting That War was probably a really fucking bad idea and something that shouldn't have happened to begin with
for The South it's Civil War Re-Enactments, for Japan it's WWII stuff like zeonwank gundam and Space Battleship Yamato, for the USA it's Rambo

 

[Idiotron]

You don't need to watch the sequels, the first one is a self contained story that was meant to be a self contained story... but it also made $125 million on a $15 million budget (in 1982, which translates to $337 million today) and made even more on VHS.
It was also Stallone's only profitable movie aside from the Rocky movies at the time and those were already dipping in popularity (Rocky 3 came out the same year).
He did the smart thing business wise and capitalized on the only thing he could.
Chances are, he wouldn't be a household name today if he never made sequels.

 

[kadoink]

Because we needed that winning saturday morning cartoon show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sacAWE4mPbg

 

[I can't imagine]

Maybe he likes playing the role, too.

Considering he co-wrote all the movies in the series, I'd assume so. Or it's just easier for him to get those types of stories greenlit if he just makes the character John Rambo.

 

[L50LasPak]

In addition to the money, the main reason is that Stallone really likes playing the character. He's always brought a unique characterization to Rambo in each movie. Even hilariously dated shit like Rambo 3 still has some jaw-droppingly great character scenes in it because Stallone takes the role that seriously. He basically wrote Rambo 4 and Rambo 5 himself, and both of those movies go their own directions and tell unique stories. As someone who is unreasonably attached to the franchise I can tell you Rambo 5 is the weakest, but even that movie still manages to be engaging and entertaining and bring a new dynamic to the character.

Stallone never once turns Rambo into a cheeseball character who grins and makes cracks at the camera. He's dead fucking serious as Rambo in every movie, even when he's hip-firing an M60 and mowing down commies or screaming while he rams a tank into a helicopter. If Rambo says something funny, its usually sarcastic, and every movie has at least several small contemplative scenes where Rambo calms down and there's no screaming or gunfire or anything going on. And Stallone is totaly capable of doing that kind of wisecracking badass cheeseball character, he's done it in plenty of movies, but Rambo is always the serious role.

Short version, Stallone knows the character and plays him well, plus the money is always good. I have yet to be actually disappointed by a Rambo movie, and if Stallone makes Rambo 6 in his 80s or 90s you can bet I'm still gonna go to the theater (if there are any) on opening night for it.

 

[Duncan Hills Coffee]

The Rambo series is certainly fascinating in its evolution. The first one is just as much a potent tragedy about the hell soldiers went through in Vietnam and how their country let them down when they returned as it is a thrilling action movie. The ending itself is basically the antithesis of the action movie; how many action movies do you know where the hero breaks down in tears and gives himself up to the police? That's why the movie's held up decades after it came out.

2 and 3 meanwhile are quintessential dumb 80s action movies. Rambo is straight up invincible and the movies veer more towards spectacle as opposed to human drama. They do try to discuss contemporary politics like the possibility of POWs stuck in 'Nam and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but the themes ring hollow when Rambo takes a massive machine gun and single-handedly murders everyone. They're fun if you forget that the first movie wasn't like this at all, plus a lot of the pyrotechnics are genuinely impressive when you consider that none of it was CGI (3's easily the most spectacular movie out of the series in that regard). When you consider their role as sequels though, they aren't very good

4 and 5 are fucking grim movies. They're tonally closer to the first one and they do bring Rambo a bit closer to his roots. There's a great moment in the extended cut of the 4th one where Rambo goes on a cynical rant about how humanity is predisposed towards war and how peace is something that doesn't come naturally. Rambo feels like the same person from the first one, just older and more world-weary. The violence is also less cartoonish and there's far more brutality, such as the climax in 4 where Rambo hijacks a 50 caliber turret and liquefies a platoon of soldiers. They're still sequels to a story that didn't need one, but they're far more appropriate than the direction 2 and 3 went in.

I still love these movies though. There's no denying that the sequels are some of the most finely crafted action movies out there, and the central conflict Rambo faces with himself is still potent even when the movies focus less on it.

 

[Some JERK]

Rambo's "NOTHING IS OVER!!!" speech at the end of First Blood is probably the finest acting Stallone has ever done. The story is solid. It's a warning about treating young men as disposable heroes and then abandoning them when they're no longer useful.

As much as they villify Sheriff Teasle in the movie, he's not really the villain. He's just a small town Sheriff who's trying to keep the peace in his sleepy little town when some dangerous, scruffy drifter shows up. He handles it poorly, and obviously everything goes to shit, but Rambo pretty much confirms all of Teasle's initial fears by the end of the movie.

The real villain in First Blood is Colonel Trautman, who "made" Rambo into a killing machine and then abandons him when the war is over (He admits this.) Rambo even says that he tried to get in contact with Trauman after the war (possibly to seek help with his problems adjusting to the free world) but he basically gets told to fuck off. (He says the Army said they never knew where to find Trautman, which is absurd. The army doesn't lose track of special forces officers.)

 

[Red Hood]

It was surprisingly popular, relatively cheap to make, and made a shitload of money. In Hollywood that means sequels. See also: Friday the 13th.

 

[Screw Danlon]

The ending itself is basically the antithesis of the action movie; how many action movies do you know where the hero breaks down in tears and gives himself up to the police? That's why the movie's held up decades after it came out.

Yeah, I have to admit that scene got to me, and I finally understood what it must have been like for people like that, even though it’s completely alien to anything I’ve gone through. It was a really powerful moment.

It’s also an excellent counterexample for all the people who talk about how they can’t get invested in a character who isn’t like them.

 

[KeepHopeAlive]

I loved First Blood. Still do.