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First Blood (1982) (aka Rambo: First
Blood)
In director Ted Kotcheff's action thriller - the first
and best of the Rambo series, adapted from the 1972 novel
by David Morrell - noted for its early examination of the 'Vietnam
Vet Syndrome" (later known as PTSD):
- the scenes of ex-Green Beret Vietnam vet "John"
Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) hassled by prejudiced Hope, Washington's
town Sheriff Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy), being apprehended (unjustly)
as an unshaven vagrant, driven to the edge of town, and ordered
to leave
- the subsequent scene of Rambo walking back to cross
a bridge into town, causing Sheriff Teasle to arrest him when he
resisted; in the police station, he was treated abusively in jail
by police officers, beaten, sprayed with a hose, and subjected to
being dry-shaved with a straight-edged razor - amidst triggered horrifying
flashbacks of torture he had experienced as a POW during the war
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Beaten
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Hosed Down
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Abused by Deputies in Police Station
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- Rambo's incredible escape from the police station
after subduing multiple officers and fleeing on a motorcycle; the
action sequence of Rambo's pursuit by Chief Deputy Art Galt (Jack
Starrett) - who shot at Rambo from a hovering helicopter as Rambo
clung to a rock cliff; after he jumped free (but seriously injured
his arm), Rambo threw a rock at the chopper's windshield, causing
the pilot to suddenly pitch around - leading to Galt's loss of
balance and deadly fall onto rocks below/ Rambo attempted to surrender
himself and admitted to Galt's accidental death (he held up Galt's
bloodied body)
Assault by Helicopter on Fugitive Rambo
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- and the sequences of Rambo's tactical defense and
use of guerrilla-warfare survival skills against a search party
of pursuers in Northwest woods outside the small hostile town;
he threatened to become a one-man army to the deputies that were
allied against him ("We ain't huntin' him, he's huntin' us!")
- the sequence of Rambo popping up out of nowhere and
holding a large knife to the throat of the Sheriff - the last one
to be disabled: "I could have killed them all. I could have
killed you. In town you're the law, out here, it's me. Don't push
it. Don't push it, or I'll give you a war you won't believe. Let
it go. Let it go"
- Rambo's final confrontation with Green Beret Col.
Samuel Trautman (Richard Crenna), his former commander and mentor,
who saved Rambo from killing the Sheriff after he fell through a
building's skylight - Rambo delivered an impassioned, preachy speech
to Trautman about his hostile, unjust reception as a returning Vietnam
War Vet: ("Nothing is over! Nothing! You just don't turn it
off! It wasn't my war! You asked me, I didn't ask you! And I did
what I had to do to win! But somebody wouldn't let us win! And I
come back to the world and I see all those maggots at the airport,
protestin' me, spittin'. Calling me baby killer and all kinds of
vile crap! Who are they to protest me, huh? Who are they? Unless
they've been me and been there and know what the hell they're yelling
about!...For me, civilian life is nothin'! In the field, we had a
code of honor: You watch my back, I watch yours. Back here, there's
nothin'!...Back there, I could fly a gunship, I could drive a tank,
I was in charge of million dollar equipment. Back here, I can't even
hold a job parking cars! Where is everybody? Gosh. I had a friend
who was there for us. There were all these guys, man. Back there
were all these f-kin' guys who were my friends. But back here, there's
nothin'!")
Rambo's Confrontation and Breakdown
with Green Beret Col. Trautman
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- the concluding scene of Rambo collapsing to the
floor in tears, breaking down and then surrendering while suffering
from a PTSD breakdown; Rambo's horrifying account (the film's final
words) of the death of his friend Dan Forest during the war, whose
body was blown up with the entrails covering Rambo: ("I can't
get it out of my head. lt was seven years. Every day it hurts.
Sometimes I wake up and don't know where I am. I don't talk to
anybody. Sometimes a day. Sometimes a week. I can't put it out
of my mind")
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Arrival in Hope, WA
Rambo's Arrest and Abuse - Triggering Memories of Torture
During Vietnam War
Search for Rambo
Rambo Holding Knife to Throat of Sheriff
Rambo's Ultimate Surrender - Taken into Custody
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