Why did Rambo become a franchise?

[kcbbq]

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.

There's a part of me that really likes those kinds of films. The stupid gratuitousness of it is kind of charming. It's the same reason I like cheesy 80s slasher films.

He took that recipe to beyond the absurd with The Expendables and I love that film. Yeah, it's terrible if you want any depth out of a film, but sometimes you just want to see some of those actors bro it up, shoot lots of guns, and say stupid one liners like Jet Li demanding more money because he's smaller and has to work harder. Everything blowing up when Chuck Norris walks by in the second one is glorious in its idiocy.

 

[L50LasPak]

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.)

One of the odd tragedies of that movie is that plotline is almost totally lost in the version of First Blood we got. Originally Kirk Douglas was going to play Trautman and play him as a much more cynical character. Douglas got pissed and walked off the set when he learned Rambo was going to be humanized and much more sympathetic than the gorefest that the book was. They flew in Richard Crenna to replace him, who was basically told that they didn't have time for rehearsals and adlibbed like half of his dialogue. Crenna obviously played a way more likeable Trautman than Douglas and the script had intended so that plotline kind of gets overlooked now.

I'd wager even that is an ingredient in Rambo becoming a franchise, since Trautman plays a supporting role in both Rambo 2 and 3, even if he does stand around for like half the movie in both cases. If he was just some arrogant jerkoff officer, he'd have melted into obscurity as another Evil Military Guy character and probably not have shown up in the sequels at all.

 

[Vampirella]

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.

They made a Rambo cartoon. Why did they do that? They made a lot of Saturday morning cartoons based off of movies that aren't aimed at kids. As much as people complain about how everything gets made it too cinematic universes now a days, the 80s were just as weird, turning everything in to cartoons and toy lines.

 

[White Devil]

They made a Rambo cartoon. Why did they do that? They made a lot of Saturday morning cartoons based off of movies that aren't aimed at kids. As much as people complain about how everything gets made it too cinematic universes now a days, the 80s were just as weird, turning everything in to cartoons and toy lines.

Yup, I used to watch it and had some of the toyline. They made a toyline for Terminator and Aliens too.

 

[ZMOT]

They made a Rambo cartoon. Why did they do that? They made a lot of Saturday morning cartoons based off of movies that aren't aimed at kids. As much as people complain about how everything gets made it too cinematic universes now a days, the 80s were just as weird, turning everything in to cartoons and toy lines.

kids might not have seen rambo, maybe 2 since 1 is probably to boring for them, but pretty sure lot of them have seen rocky, aliens, predator, terminator 2 etc long before they reached the age they were rated for. heck around the time I was a teen you still had 8 year olds run around aping "rocky balboa" and "ivan drago" and stuff (and credit where credits due, those names have the simple "oomph" kids went crazy over)

they were kinda like capeshit long before anyone even thought of the concept, good guy defeating bad guy with lots of explosions and dakka. works for pretty much every age.

 

[Gaear Grimsrud]

The sequels are unnecessary, but I find them highly enjoyable action flicks.

The original First Blood novel is pretty good too. It reads like the grim and gritty version of the movie. Rambo is MUCH more violent, and much less sympathetic.

 

[Michael Jacks0n]

British film snob Georg Rockall-Schmidt does a pretty good video explaining how the movies changed over time. It went from a blatant anti-war thriller about the mistreatment of veterans into a series of blockbuster action popcorn flicks involving machine guns and explosions:

 

[Duncan Hills Coffee]

The original First Blood novel is pretty good too. It reads like the grim and gritty version of the movie. Rambo is MUCH more violent, and much less sympathetic.

I like that the book's conflict isn't so clear-cut. Both Rambo and Teasle are at fault for allowing things to escalate the way they did. Rambo is driven out of town like in the movie, but unlike the movie he re-enters two more times specifically to fuck with Teasle. Both parties keep pushing at each other, whereas in the movie the blame is largely on Teasle.

The book also humanizes Teasle to a far greater extent, and I like that the book opts for the reader to try and root for both characters.

 

[ZMOT]

I like that the book's conflict isn't so clear-cut. Both Rambo and Teasle are at fault for allowing things to escalate the way they did. Rambo is driven out of town like in the movie, but unlike the movie he re-enters two more times specifically to fuck with Teasle. Both parties keep pushing at each other, whereas in the movie the blame is largely on Teasle.

The book also humanizes Teasle to a far greater extent, and I like that the book opts for the reader to try and root for both characters.

usually not a fan of an adaption changing the tone too much, but sometimes if they do it can be great. least it gave us this:

 

[Duncan Hills Coffee]

usually not a fan of an adaption changing the tone too much, but sometimes if they do it can be great. least it gave us this:

Oh for sure. One of the advantages the movie has over the book is that since Rambo is a lot more sympathetic, it makes the overall theme of the struggles of PTSD-afflicted soldiers hit that much harder. It's still there in the book, but outside of a few scenes like Trautman pointing out that Rambo's skillset in the military couldn't apply to a civilian job or Rambo reflecting on why everything went the way it did, it's not as potent. Plus if Rambo was as psychopathic as he was in the book I don't think this scene would hit nearly as hard as it does.

What I take away from the changes made in the movie is that you can go in a different tonal direction when adapting from a book so long as that direction is emotionally satisfying and thematically appropriate. It's difficult, but as First Blood shows, it's not impossible.

 

[Jet Fuel Johnny]

One of the things that a lot of people overlook about First Blood Part 2 is that he was NEVER supposed to find any POW's. It was just a fucking CIA fund raiser and something to allow politicians to say "See... we looked. No, really, we TOTALLY CARE ABOUT YOU GUYZ NOW!" while only wasting a single burnout who shot up a town in Oregon and is now doing life with hard labor. The CIA guy lied about who he was with and played Trautman for a fool.

Look at the very end, the impotent rage firing the M60 at the computers and radios. He can lash out with the tools of war, but ultimately, the people behind those radios and computers are shadowy and unaffected while all of Rambo's force and military skill did nothing.

Part 2 is nothing more than "LOL, nothing you did changes anything, sucker!" showing that refighting the Vietnam War was a loser's game, a sucker's bet, and nobody was even going to care anyway.

People that just took straight out "Haha, gun go boom!" from it missed out that even with all the high tech shit, all the fucking explosive micro-arrows and bullshit, they just used Rambo... AGAIN.

Three was largely ruined by the tank scene and history.

Four was good, but I didn't like the last one that much.

 

[HumptiDouji]

As stated, it was an incredibly profitable movie, which means there's more profit to be made.

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.

That scene really gets me good, and I agree that the way the movie is changed to make him more sympathetic is why the ending works as well as it does, I first saw the movie as like a teen, staying up late one night watching TV, and I was really taken by the film, the reputation of the other ones had given me the expectation that it would be more of a dumber action movie, but I found it so thrilling and engaging.
When he breaks down into tears at the end, I was in awe, I had never seen such an emotionally gripping scene of a man before. This was something had never even occurred to me as a lad, the strong and determined action hero falling apart and just bawling like that.

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

Gee, there's a movie which made stupid amounts of money. What were they working with, just about $1 Mil? Then they made something like x50 that on domestic box office sales alone, I think it must have been near x100 in worldwide revenue, it's fucking nuts how profitable that movie was, and it makes me slightly light headed every time I think about it, particularly because I think it's only just kind of ok.

usually not a fan of an adaption changing the tone too much, but sometimes if they do it can be great. least it gave us this:

I think that you can make something very good with an adaption when changing a lot, such as with Jaws, or Starship Troopers, a sheer disrespect for the source material you're working with does not have to be negative or poisonous in all cases.

 

[RumblyTumbly]

The two reasons Rambo became a franchise are:

1) The first one made money
and 2) They didn't kill Rambo at the end like they did in the book.

Rambo was then allowed to become an icon of 80s action. It also helped that it was Stallone in the role as he was tailor made for movies like the Rambo films.

 

[Dyn]

First Blood was kind of ruined by jumping through a million narrative hoops to keep him from killing anybody except that one psychopathic helicopter gunner. Is he supposed to be a brokebrained murdercrazed special ops vet or is he supposed to be a PG-13 disney hero?

Also Death Wish was an incredibly good movie that got turned into a retarded cartoon by the sequels in the same way the Rambo franchise did.

 

[RembrandtCourage]

First Blood was kind of ruined by jumping through a million narrative hoops to keep him from killing anybody except that one psychopathic helicopter gunner. Is he supposed to be a brokebrained murdercrazed special ops vet or is he supposed to be a PG-13 disney hero?

The book and the movie that's based on it are two very different beasts. I know it's already been talked about but I'd like to reiterate it again. In the book Rambo was an unhinged guy on the edge when his bad encounter finally sets him off and he goes psychopathic. The book tries to put the PD in a positive and sympathetic light and in the end Rambo is domed in the head by the Colonel with a shotgun. In fact the movie was supposed to be slated to be more akin to the book but the test audiences HATED that. So they put Rambo as the down and out hero who got dealt a bad hand and they got a hit film for it.

 

[Syaoran Li]

I should rewatch the Rambo movies. It's been years since I seen them

 

[Illuminati Order Official]

But after watching it, I’m left with the question of... why are there more movies about Rambo?

Because, they changed the ending from book the movie is based on and kept John alive, and the movie did well enough to warrant a sequel

 

[Duncan Hills Coffee]

Does anyone remember the songs that played at the end of the first three movies? They're cheesy as all hell but it's funny how they quickly got devalued as the series continued.

The first one ended with It's a Long Road, and to it's credit it does fit the movie's emotional ending. It doesn't measure up to Stallone's final monologue, but it at least feels appropriate.

The second one ended with Peace in Our Life. Thematically, it makes sense what with the movie's focus on the sacrifices American soldiers made in Vietnam, but with the cartoon action movie that Rambo: First Blood Part II is, it comes off as hilariously overwrought. It really doesn't fit.

Rambo III doesn't even end with an original song. Instead, it plays a cover of He's Not Heavy, He's My Brother. Again, it makes sense thematically, with Rambo trying to save Trautman and the whole thing with the Mujahadeen, but it's like, this is the same movie that ends with Rambo crashing a tank into a helicopter.

 

[Trombonista]

You know a movie's ending is iconic when even Pop Team Epic parodies it.

r/PopTeamEpic - First Blood, Last Blood

175 votes and 8 comments so far on Reddit

www.reddit.com

 

[KEKMUHLORD]

Besides Rambo 1. Rambo 4 is my next favorite.

Mainly cause of how real it was about these shithole 3rd world countries and how people think they can change them with "kindness".