THE BEST OF RAMBO

RAMBO SERIES
****** - EXCELLENT
***** - VERY GOOD
**** - WATCHABLE
*** - AVERAGE
** - POOR
*- AWFUL
FIRST BLOOD – *******First Blood is a 1982 American psychological thriller and action film directed by Ted Kotcheff, co-written by and starring Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, a troubled and misunderstood veteran. Brian Dennehy and Richard Crenna appeared in supporting roles. It was released on October 22, 1982. Based on David Morrell's 1972 novel of the same name, it was the first of the Rambo series.Despite initial mixed reviews, the film was a commercial success. Since its release, First Blood became seen as an underrated, cult and influential film in the action genre. It spawned three sequels, all written by and starring Stallone, who also directed the fourth installment. John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is a former member of an elite United States Army Special Forces unit, who has been awarded the Medal of Honor for his service in the Vietnam War. In December 1982, Rambo is searching for one of his friends from his unit, Delmar Berry, and soon learns that he has died from cancer due to Agent Orange exposure. Although not yet revealed to the audience, Rambo knows he is now the last surviving member of his unit. Soon after, Rambo tries to enter the fictional small town of Hope, Washington. With his long hair and army jacket, he is quickly spotted by the town's arrogant and abusive sheriff, Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy), who decides that Rambo is a "drifter" and escorts him out of town. Rambo immediately heads back towards town, angering Teasle, who arrests him.At the station, Rambo stays silent and refuses to cooperate with the deputies. Led by Art Galt (Jack Starrett), Teasle's cruel head deputy, they respond by bullying and harassing him. The brutal harassment triggers a flashback to Rambo's torture in the war; he breaks loose, overpowers three officers and fights his way out of the station, stealing a motorcycle and fleeing into the nearby mountains. After spotting Rambo from a helicopter, Galt disregards Teasle's orders and attempts to shoot him in cold blood. Rambo, while cornered and under fire, throws a rock at the helicopter. The helicopter pitches, and Galt falls to his death. Teasle vows to avenge his friend's death.Rambo is unable to persuade the deputies that Galt's death was an accident, and Teasle leads his deputies into the woods in an attempt to capture him. The deputies are inexperienced and bicker. Rambo quickly disables the small, disorganized team using guerrilla tactics and booby traps, severely wounding but not killing the deputies. In the chaos, Rambo isolates and confronts Teasle with a knife to the throat, warning him that he could have killed the deputies and that he will fight back harder if provoked further, before disappearing into the woods.A base camp is assembled near the site, and the State Patrol and National Guard are called in. United States Special Forces Colonel Sam Trautman (Richard Crenna) arrives, explaining that he trained Rambo, and that the Army sent him to "rescue" them. He makes them aware of Rambo's capabilities as an expert in guerrilla warfare, survivalism, and "[disposing] of enemy personnel." He urges Teasle to let Rambo go and find him again once the situation has calmed down; Teasle refuses.Rambo is eventually cornered by the National Guard at a mine entrance. Against Teasle's orders, the novice guardsmen fire a M72 LAW rocket at Rambo, collapsing the entrance and trapping him inside. They assume Rambo is dead, leaving an angry and humiliated Teasle to berate the guardsmen for disobeying his orders. Unbeknownst to his pursuers, Rambo has avoided death by moving deeper into the mine, and escapes the mine through an air vent.Rambo hijacks a passing National Guard cargo truck and crashes through a roadblock set up by state troopers. Rambo returns to town in the truck, knocking over the gas pump of a gas station and igniting the spilled fuel. With police and firefighters preoccupied with fighting the conflagration, Rambo goes through the town undetected and shoots out utility lines to cut the power. Armed with an M60 machine gun from the truck, Rambo destroys several businesses in an attempt to confuse Teasle and locate his position, ultimately spotting him on the roof of the police station.Aware that Teasle is on the roof, Rambo darts under the skylight to draw fire so as to reveal Teasle's exact location. Teasle immediately fires at Rambo and Rambo returns fire through the ceiling, injuring Teasle, who then falls through the skylight onto the floor. Rambo steps over him, prepared to kill him. Before Rambo can shoot Teasle, Colonel Trautman appears and tells him that there is no hope of escaping alive.Rambo, now surrounded by the police, snaps and rages about the horrors of war. Realizing he has nothing left to fight for, Rambo then turns himself in to Trautman and is arrested while Teasle is taken to the hospital.


FIRST BLOOD PART 2 RAMBO - ***** Rambo: First Blood Part II (also known as Rambo II or First Blood II) is a 1985 American action film directed by George P. Cosmatos and starring Sylvester Stallone. The screenplay was by Stallone and James Cameron. A sequel to 1982's First Blood, it is the second installment in the Rambo series, with Stallone reprising his role as Vietnam veteran John Rambo. Picking up where the first film left, the sequel is set in the context of the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue; it sees Rambo released from prison by federal order to document the possible existence of POWs in Vietnam, under the belief that he will find nothing, thus enabling the government to sweep the issue under the rug.Despite negative reviews, First Blood Part II was a major box office success, as well as the most recognized and memorable installment in the series, having inspired countless rip-offs, parodies, video games, and imitations.The film was on the ballot for the American Film Institute's 100 Years... 100 Cheers, a list of America's most inspiring movies.[4] Entertainment Weekly ranked the movie number 23 on its list of The Best Rock-'em, Sock-'em Movies of the Past 25 Years.[5] John Rambo, having been sentenced to hard labor, is working in a labor camp prison when he gets a visit from his former commander, Colonel Sam Trautman. Trautman offers Rambo the chance to be released from prison after the events of the first film and given full clemency on condition of him going back to Vietnam to search for POWs. Rambo meets Marshal Murdock, an American bureaucrat who is in charge of the operation, and he tells Rambo that the public is demanding knowledge about the POWs and they want a trained commando to search for them. Rambo is briefed that he is only to photograph the POWs and not to rescue them, nor is he to engage any enemy soldiers. Rambo reluctantly agrees and is told that an agent of the US government will receive him in the jungles of Vietnam.Rambo parachutes into the Vietnamese jungles but loses most of his equipment because his parachute line gets caught on the plane on exit. He is left only with his knives and his bow and arrows. He meets the agent, a local woman named Co-Bao, who wants to go to the US and who arranges for her and Rambo to go upstream with a group of river pirates. Rambo comes to the camp, and in contradiction to his briefing, he finds the POWs there and rescues one of them from torture. Later at the camp, a patrol discovers a dead sentry whom Rambo eliminated with a throwing knife. In response, a large patrol goes into the jungles in search of the (unknown to them) intruder. Rambo, Co and the POW escape with the pirates but are attacked by a Vietnam People's Navy gunboat and are betrayed by the pirates; Rambo sends Co and the POW to safety and destroys the gunboat with an RPG-7 and kills all the pirates. When Rambo calls for extraction, the helicopter comes but goes back as Murdock fears what will happen to him and his party if the public come to know about it. Rambo and the POW are recaptured and sent back to the POW camp. Rambo's wrists are bound to an oxen yoke and he is lowered partially naked into a leech-infested cesspit. Later, Rambo learns that the Soviet Army is aiding the Vietnamese and training them, and is tortured badly by a Soviet officer, Lt. Col. Podovsky and his silent, robust henchman, Sergeant Yushin. After a transcript of earlier communications is read to him, Rambo is ordered to contact the military and tell them that they should not send any more commandos for rescue operations in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Co infiltrates the camp in the disguise of a prostitute and comes to the hut in which Rambo is held captive. Rambo at first refuses to cooperate, but to protect the POW that he saved previously he seemingly agrees to Podovsky's condition. However, when he is given the microphone he instead threatens Murdock on the radio. With that, Rambo takes Podovsky and Yushin by surprise and escapes, with Co bursting on the scene and firing at the Vietcong. He escapes from captivity into a nearby jungle with Co's help. Co tends to Rambo's wounds and implores him to take her to the US. Rambo agrees, and they kiss; however, they are then attacked by Vietnamese soldiers, and Co is killed. Rambo kills them and buries Co's body in the jungle.Following his escape, the camp's Vietnamese soldiers and Soviet commandos look for him. Rambo assembles his weapons, and using guerrilla warfare tactics, kills a large number of enemy troops. He proceeds to a small enemy camp and destroys it and several vehicles with explosive arrows.[6] He hijacks a helicopter from the Soviets after throwing Sergeant Yushin out and proceeds towards the POW camp. He destroys most of the camp with the helicopter, then lands and arms himself with the machine gun that is mounted on the Huey, kills the remaining soldiers, and rescues all the POWs. They get to the helicopter and head towards the US camp in Thailand. Lt. Col. Podovsky chases them in his Mil Mi-24 helicopter gunship. Although Rambo's helicopter is heavily damaged by Podovsky's helicopter, he lands on a river, then fakes his death. When Podovsky comes near him and gets careless, Rambo fires a rocket at Podovsky's chopper, destroying it.Rambo then returns to the base and wrecks Murdock's command center using the helicopter's machine gun. He confronts the terrified Murdock with his knife, demanding that Murdock rescue the remaining POWs in Vietnam. Trautman then comforts Rambo and tries to pacify him. An angry Rambo responds that he only wants his country to love its soldiers as much as its soldiers love it. The film credits roll as Rambo walks off into the distance while his mentor watches him.
RAMBO III - *** Rambo III is a 1988 American action film. The film depicts fictional events during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. It is the third film in the Rambo series following First Blood and Rambo: First Blood Part II. It was in turn followed by Rambo in 2008, making it the last film in the series to feature Richard Crenna as Colonel Sam Trautman before his death in 2003.Sixty-five seconds of the movie were cut in the UK version for theatrical release.[2] Some later video releases almost tripled the cuts.[3] Colonel Sam Trautman (Richard Crenna) returns to Thailand to once again enlist the help of Vietnam veteran John J. Rambo (Sylvester Stallone). After witnessing Rambo win a stick fighting match, Trautman visits Rambo at a Buddhist temple under construction and asks Rambo to join him on a resupply mission for mujahideen rebels in Afghanistan. Despite showing him photos of civilians suffering under Soviet military intervention, Rambo refuses and Trautman proceeds with the mission. Soviet forces ambush Trautman's convoy, capture him, and send him to a mountain base to be interrogated by Colonel Zaysen (Marc de Jonge) and his henchman Kourov.Rambo learns of Trautman's capture from embassy field officer Robert Griggs (Kurtwood Smith) and convinces the official to take him through a clandestine operation, though Griggs warns him that the government will deny of his existence if he is captured or killed. Rambo immediately flies to Peshawar, Pakistan, and has the local arms supplier Mousa Ghani (Sasson Gabai) to bring him to Khost, a town in southern Afghanistan close to the Soviet base where Trautman is jailed. The mujahideen in the village, led by chieftain Masoud, are already hesitant to help Rambo in the first place, but are definitely convinced not to help him when their village is attacked by Soviet helicopters after one of Mousa's shop assistants tips off the Soviets. Aided only by Mousa and a young boy named Hamid, Rambo makes his way to the Soviet base and starts his plan to free Trautman. The first attempt is unsuccessful and Hamid and Rambo are wounded in the process while fighting a number of Russian troops. After escaping from the base, Rambo tends to Hamid's wounds and sends him and Mousa away to safety, before cauterizing his own wound.Rambo recovers and infiltrates the base again the following day, just in time to rescue Trautman from being tortured with a flamethrower. He and Trautman rescue several other prisoners and hijack a Hind helicopter to escape the base. However, the helicopter is damaged as it departs, killing one prisoner and soon crashes, forcing Rambo and Trautman to continue on foot while the other prisoners run off to safety after wishing Rambo and Trautman good luck. After Rambo destroys a Soviet attack helicopter with an explosive-tipped arrow, Zaysen sends Kourov and a Spetsnaz team against the two. Rambo and Trautman easily eliminate the Spetsnaz in an underground cave, but an injured Kourov surprises Rambo as he exits the cave. In the subsequent hand-to-hand fight, Rambo manages to kill Kourov. As Rambo and Trautman make their way to the Pakistani border, Zaysen blocks them with a large mechanized force and orders them to surrender. However, Masoud's mujahideen forces attack the Soviets in a cavalry charge. In the ensuing battle, in which both Trautman and Rambo are wounded, Rambo manages to commandeer a tank and kill Zaysen by machine-gunning him in his helicopter cockpit. Zaysen's helicopter then collides with Rambo's tank but Rambo survives the explosion. At the end of the battle, Rambo and Trautman say goodbye to their mujahideen friends and leave Afghanistan to go home.
JOHN RAMBO - ****** Rambo (also known as Rambo IV or John Rambo) is a 2008 American-German[1][3] independent[4] action film directed, co-written by and starring Sylvester Stallone reprising his famous role as Cold War/Vietnam veteran John Rambo. It is the fourth installment in the Rambo franchise, twenty years since the previous film Rambo III. This film is dedicated to the memory of Richard Crenna, who played Col. Sam Trautman in the first three films, and who died of heart failure in 2003.The film is about a former United States Army Special Forces soldier, John Rambo, who is hired by a church pastor to help rescue a group of missionaries who were kidnapped by men from a brutal Burmese military regime.The film grossed $113,204,290 during its run at the international box office. After its home video release, it grossed $39,206,346 in DVD sales.[5] The film had its cable television premiere on Spike TV on July 11, 2010. However, it was the extended cut that was broadcast, not the theatrical version. The extended cut was later released on Blu-ray two weeks later. 20 years after the events in Afghanistan, amid the political protests of the crisis in Burma, ruthless military officer Major Pa Tee Tint (Maung Maung Khin) leads an army of Tatmadaw soldiers to pillage small villages in a campaign of fear. He watches with indifference as innocent villagers are forced into mine-infested marshes and orders his men to abduct the teenage boys of the villages to be drafted into his army. Former U.S. soldier John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) now lives in Thailand in a remote village near the Burmese border where he makes a living capturing and selling snakes as well as taxiing people up and down the Salween River in his boat. He is approached by missionary Michael Burnett (Paul Schulze) who requests that he and his group be ferried into Burma on a humanitarian mission to provide aid to Karen tribespeople. Rambo refuses, claiming that without weapons, there will be no changes, but is eventually persuaded by missionary Sarah Miller (Julie Benz) to make the trip.During their trip, the boat is stopped by a trio of pirates driving a gunboat who demand Sarah in exchange for passage. After negotiations fail, Rambo kills the pirates with his cold war-era Colt M1911 and later dumps a single body in the water to conceal the evidence, as well as burning the rest of the bodies on the return trip. Michael is greatly disturbed at Rambo's actions; upon arriving in Burma, he says that the group will travel by road and will not need him for the return trip. The mission goes well until the Tatmadaw, led by Major Tint, suddenly attack, slaughtering most of the villagers and two missionaries and kidnapping the rest, including Michael and Sarah. When the missionaries fail to return after ten days, their pastor (Ken Howard) comes to ask Rambo's help to guide a hired team of five mercenaries, Lewis (Graham McTavish), School Boy (Matthew Marsden), En-Joo (Tim Kang), Reese (Jake La Botz), and Diaz (Reynaldo Galledos), to the village where the missionaries were last seen.Rambo agrees and accompanies the mercenaries to the drop-off. He offers to help but is refused by the team's leader Lewis, an ex-Special Air Service operative, who demands he stay at the boat. As the mercenary team arrives at the village, a squad of Tatmadaw soldiers show up with a group of hostages. The soldiers are playing a game, forcing prisoners to run through a rice paddy with landmines, and betting on the outcome. The team takes cover, planning to stand by and (seemingly reluctantly) let the hostages be killed in order to avoid provoking a response from a much larger group of soldiers. Having disregarded Rambo as a simple boatman, the mercenaries are shocked when he appears and single-handedly wipes out the entire squad of Tatmadaw soldiers with his compound bow, allowing the hostages to escape unscathed.Rambo convinces the team to avenge the massacre and save the hostages at the P.O.W. camp after he witnesses the destroyed village filled with mutilated human and animal corpses. Rambo and the mercenaries stealthily infiltrate the camp and successfully locate and rescue Sarah and the other prisoners and flee with them. Tint quickly learns of the situation and ruthlessly investigates with the help of his army. The Tatmadaw manage to capture everyone except for Rambo, Sarah, and School Boy, the group's sniper. Just as the captured mercenaries and hostages are to be executed, Rambo hijacks a UAZ-469 .50-caliber M2 machine gun and ignites an intense shootout. Tint hides as the firefight escalates and kills one of the missionaries. After this, En-Joo is killed by an M67 grenade. The Tatmadaw, having a large numerical advantage, come close to victory but the Karen rebels show up and join the fight, turning the tide of the battle. Tint, realizing his defeat, attempts to escape the area, but Rambo intercepts and disembowels him.In the final scene, encouraged by Sarah's words Rambo returns to his home in the United States, Rambo is seen walking along an Arizona highway until he sees a horse farm and a rusted mailbox. Reading the name "R. Rambo" Rambo smiles and walks down the gravel driveway as the credits roll.