Rambo (franchise)

Last updated
Rambo
Rambo franchise logo.png
Created by David Morrell
Original work First Blood (1972)
OwnersMovies 1–3
Vivendi
(via StudioCanal)
Movies 4 and 5
Lionsgate
Years1972–present
Print publications
Novel(s)
  • First Blood (1972)
  • Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
  • Rambo III (1988)
Comics
  • Rambo Adventures (1986)
  • Rambo III (1988)
  • Rambo (1989)
  • First Kill (2022)
Films and television
Film(s)
Animated series Rambo: The Force of Freedom (1986)
Games
Video game(s)
Audio
Soundtrack(s)
Miscellaneous
Character(s) List of characters

Rambo is an American media franchise centered on a series of action films featuring John J. Rambo. The five films are First Blood (1982), Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Rambo III (1988), Rambo (2008), and Rambo: Last Blood (2019). Rambo is a United States Army Special Forces veteran played by Sylvester Stallone, whose Vietnam War experience traumatized him but also gave him superior military skills, which he has used to fight corrupt police officers, enemy troops and drug cartels. First Blood is an adaptation of the 1972 novel First Blood by David Morrell.

Contents

The film series has grossed $819 million in total, $300 million of which is from the most successful film, Rambo: First Blood Part II. Stallone co-wrote the screenplays of all five films, and directed Rambo. The franchise also spawned an animated television series, Rambo: The Force of Freedom , and comic books, novels, and video games. Sylvester Stallone is the only actor to have appeared in all five films.

Films

FilmU.S. release dateDirector(s)Screenwriter(s)Story byProducer(s)
First Blood October 22, 1982 Ted Kotcheff Michael Kozoll, William Sackheim & Sylvester Stallone Buzz Feitshans
Rambo: First Blood Part II May 22, 1985 George P. Cosmatos James Cameron & Sylvester Stallone Kevin Jarre
Rambo III May 25, 1988 Peter MacDonald Sheldon Lettich & Sylvester Stallone
Rambo January 25, 2008Sylvester StalloneArt Monterastelli & Sylvester Stallone Avi Lerner, John Thompson & Kevin King Templeton
Rambo: Last Blood September 20, 2019 Adrian Grünberg Matthew Cirulnick & Sylvester Stallone Dan Gordon & Sylvester StalloneAvi Lerner, Les Weldon, Yariv Lerner & Kevin King-Templeton

First Blood (1982)

Upon returning to the United States, Vietnam veteran John Rambo has difficulty adjusting to civilian life and wanders the country as a drifter for almost a decade. In December 1981, Rambo travels to a small town in rural Washington (filmed in Hope, British Columbia, Canada), in search of a fellow U.S. Army Green Beret buddy. He learns that his friend died from cancer the previous summer due to exposure to Agent Orange.

He attempts to find a diner in town, and maybe a temporary job. The overconfident town sheriff Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy) does not welcome Rambo, judging the military hero negatively because of his long hair and scruffy look. Rambo disobeys the sheriff's order to stay away from town, as he has done nothing wrong and believes such banishment to be a violation of his freedom of movement, and most of all he is hungry. Rambo returns to town soon afterwards and is promptly charged with vagrancy and subject to harassment and brutality from the deputies.

The police brutality triggers flashbacks of Rambo's memories of his torture at the hands of the North Vietnamese when he was a prisoner of war. Rambo fights his way out of the sheriff's department with his bare hands and makes his way into the wilderness. A manhunt ensues, with the sheriff and his deputies all badly wounded. Rambo chooses not to kill any of them, but unintentionally kills a police officer in self-defense by throwing a rock at a helicopter, causing the pilot to lose control and an officer to fall out. The State Police and National Guard are called in.

Colonel Samuel Trautman (Richard Crenna), Rambo's former commanding officer, arrives. He suggests giving Rambo a chance to escape; if Rambo is allowed to slip away, he'll be given time to calm down and he can be arrested without incident. Teasle allows Trautman to contact Rambo through a stolen police radio, but Rambo refuses to surrender, stating that "They (the deputies) drew first blood, not me" and then hanging up.

The authorities reject Trautman's recommendation for a wait-and-see attitude and continue the manhunt, and Rambo's subsequent rampage culminates in him returning to town with guns and bombs from a commandeered Army truck. This results in the destruction of the sheriff's office and more of the town's main street. Rambo stands poised to eliminate the sheriff, but Trautman finally confronts Rambo face to face, and ultimately convinces his former soldier to surrender to the authorities.

Between the first and second films, Rambo is convicted and remanded to a civilian maximum-security prison where hard labor is the norm. Despite being a convict, the rigid routine and discipline of prison life provides Rambo with some measure of much-needed stability, as it reminds him of his past in the military and its own rigid hierarchy.

Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

The film opens with Colonel Samuel Trautman (Richard Crenna) offering Rambo his freedom if Rambo will return to Vietnam to search for American prisoners of war remaining in Vietnamese captivity. Marshall Murdock (Charles Napier), the official in charge of the mission, is portrayed as a corrupt political figure who doesn't want to expose the truth. Rambo is not to engage the enemy and instead is ordered to take photographs of a North Vietnamese camp, the same camp he himself had been held prisoner in, to prove to the American public there are no more POWs in Vietnam, although Murdock knows that there are.

Rambo is flown into the country with the purpose of parachuting into the jungle, but a malfunction during his exit from the plane causes him to have to cut away much of his equipment. He then meets his in-country contact, anti-communist Vietnamese rebel Co Bao (Julia Nickson), who is serving as an intelligence agent. Rambo discovers that there are POWs being held in the camp where he was dropped and that POWs were rotated between camps. Rambo breaks one POW out of the camp and attempts to escape, only to be abandoned at the moment of a pick up by helicopter on a hilltop on the orders of Murdock, after which both he and the POW are recaptured by the Vietnamese soldiers. Rambo is immobilized in a pit of sewage and leeches, then tortured by Soviet soldiers, who are allied with the Vietnamese and training Vietnamese soldiers. Co enters the base under the guise of a prostitute for hire, where she aids Rambo in escaping. After Rambo expresses his deepest gratitude for his rescue, the two share a kiss, after Co implores him to take her back to America with him. As they prepare to move on, Co is shot by surprise gunfire.

Enraged, Rambo then acts on his own initiative and starts a one-man war, hunting the Vietnamese and Soviet soldiers searching for him in the jungle and stealing a Soviet-captured helicopter. He flies the helicopter back to the camp, destroying it and killing the remaining Vietnamese and Soviet soldiers in the camp. He frees all the POWs and is pursued by a Soviet Mi-24 Hind helicopter. After destroying the Hind with an RPG, he returns to the US base in Thailand with all the POWs. Rambo is enraged at how the United States government has ignored the existence of surviving soldiers being held captive, and grabs an M-60 machine gun and proceeds into the headquarters building, destroying all of the electronic gear within. Rambo then threatens Murdock and tells him to be forthright with the American public regarding the truth of the POWs and to spare no expense in rescuing them all, or else he will return for Murdock. When Trautman says Rambo will be honored once again, he declines, saying the POWs deserve the accolades more. For his actions in Vietnam, Rambo is granted a presidential pardon and decides to remain in Thailand.

Rambo III (1988)

Stallone in Rambo III sylbstr stlvnh.jpg
Stallone in Rambo III

The film opens with Colonel Samuel Trautman (Richard Crenna) returning to Thailand to once again enlist Rambo's help. After witnessing Rambo's victory in a stick-fighting match, Trautman visits the temple Rambo is helping to build and asks him to join him on a mission to Afghanistan. This brings Rambo into the realm of the CIA's Special Activities Division which primarily hires Army Special Forces soldiers. The mission is meant to supply weapons, including FIM-92 Stinger missiles, to Afghan freedom fighters, the Mujahideen, who are fighting the Soviets. Despite having been shown photos of civilians suffering under Soviet rule, Rambo refuses and Trautman chooses to go on his own.

While in Afghanistan, Trautman's troops are ambushed by Soviet troops while passing through the mountains at night. Trautman is imprisoned in a Soviet base and tortured for information by commanding officer Zaysen (Marc de Jonge) and his henchman Kourov (Randy Raney). Rambo learns of the incident from embassy field officer Robert Griggs (Kurtwood Smith) and immediately flies to Pakistan where he meets up with Mousa (Sasson Gabai), a weapons supplier who agrees to take him to a village deep in the Afghan desert, close to the Soviet base where Trautman is kept. The Mujahideen in the village are already hesitant to help Rambo in the first place, but are convinced not to help him when their village is attacked by Soviet helicopters after one of Mousa's shop assistants informed the Russians of Rambo's presence. Aided only by Mousa and a young boy named Hamid (Doudi Shoua), Rambo makes his way to the Soviet base and starts his attempts to free Trautman. The first attempt is unsuccessful and results in Hamid getting shot in the leg, and Rambo himself getting hit by wooden shrapnel. After escaping from the base, Rambo tends to Hamid's wounds and sends him and Mousa away to safety.

The next day, Rambo returns to the base once again, just in time to rescue Trautman from being tortured with a flamethrower. After rescuing several other prisoners, Rambo steals a helicopter and escapes from the base. The helicopter crashes and Rambo and Trautman are forced to continue on foot. After a confrontation in a cave, where Rambo and Trautman kill several Russian soldiers including Kourov, they are confronted by an entire army of Russian tanks, headed by Zaysen. Just as they are about to be overwhelmed by the might of the Soviet Army, the Mujahideen warriors, together with Mousa and Hamid, ride onto the battlefield in a cavalry charge, overwhelming the Russians despite their numerical and technological superiority. In the ensuing battle, in which both Trautman and Rambo are wounded, Rambo manages to kill Zaysen by driving a tank into the helicopter in which Zaysen is flying.

At the end of the battle Rambo and Trautman say goodbye to their Mujahideen friends and leave Afghanistan to go home.

Rambo (2008)

The film opens with news footage of the crisis in Burma. Burma (also known as Myanmar) is under the iron fist rule of Than Shwe and takes harsher stances against the nation's pro-democracy movement. Rebels are thrown into a mine-infested marsh and then gunned down by a Burmese army unit, overseen by Major Pa Tee Tint.

Former U.S. soldier John Rambo still lives in Thailand, now residing in a village near the Burmese border and makes a living capturing snakes and selling them in a nearby village. A missionary, Michael Burnett (Paul Schulze), asks Rambo to take him and his associates down the Salween River to Burma on a humanitarian mission to help the Karen people. Rambo initially refuses but is convinced by another missionary in the group, Sarah Miller (Julie Benz), to take them.

The boat is stopped by pirates who demand Sarah in exchange for passage. After taking advantage of the pirates' complacency, Rambo kills them all. Although his actions save the missionaries, it greatly disturbs them. Upon arrival, Michael says that they will travel by road and will not need Rambo's help for the return trip. The mission goes well until the Burmese army, led by Major Tint, attacks the village, killing most of the villagers and two missionaries, and capturing the rest. When the missionaries fail to come back after ten days, their pastor, Arthur Marsh (Ken Howard), comes to Rambo to ask for his help in guiding hired mercenaries to the village where the missionaries were last seen.

Troubled by Sarah's potential fate, Rambo decides to accompany the soldiers. After seeing the destroyed village filled with mutilated humans and animals, the mercenaries spot some soldiers forcing several surviving villagers to run through a minefield. The mercenaries are hesitant to rescue the villagers, but not Rambo, who shoots the soldiers with a bow and arrow. Rambo reminds his colleagues of the rescue mission and encourages the team to move on. Hijacking a truck, they create a plan to save the hostages at the P.O.W. camp, doing so within fifteen minutes to avoid alerting the army. Rambo helps Sarah and the others to escape.

The Burmese Army (Tatmadaw) unit finds their hostages missing and organizes a massive manhunt. Everyone except for Rambo, Sarah, and "School Boy" (Matthew Marsden), the mercenary team's sniper, is captured. Just as the group is to be executed, Rambo hijacks a truck-mounted .50-caliber machine gun and engages the Burmese army. A group of Karen rebels joins the fight to help Rambo and the mercenaries defeat the Burmese unit. Seeing that the battle is lost, Major Tint decides to flee, only to run into Rambo's machete, which Rambo then uses to disembowel the Major.

Encouraged by Sarah's words, Rambo returns to the United States. The last scene shows him walking along a rural highway, past a horse farm and a rusted mailbox with the name "R. Rambo" on it. He makes his way down the gravel driveway as the credits roll.

Rambo: Last Blood (2019)

Eleven years after the events in Burma, Vietnam War veteran John Rambo lives in Bowie, Arizona at his deceased father's horse ranch, which he manages with his old friend, Maria Beltran, and her granddaughter, Gabriela. Gabriela tells Rambo that a friend of hers, Gizelle, has found Gabriela's biological father, Miguel, in Mexico. Both Rambo and Maria tell her not to go to Mexico, but Gabriela secretly drives there to ask Miguel why he abandoned her and her mother years ago. Gizelle leads Gabriela to Miguel's apartment, where he coldly tells her that he never really cared for Gabriela or her mother.

Gizelle takes a heartbroken Gabriela to a nearby club, where Gabriela is drugged and kidnapped by the enforcers of a Mexican cartel. Meanwhile, Maria informs Rambo of Gabriela's disappearance in Mexico. Rambo rushes to Mexico and interrogates both Miguel and Gizelle about Gabriela's whereabouts. Gizelle reluctantly leads Rambo to the club where Gabriela was last seen and confronts El Flaco, the man who last spoke with Gabriela. A mysterious woman, Carmen Delgado, tails Rambo as El Flaco leads him to Gabriela's location. Rambo is immediately confronted, beaten and marked by the cartel, led by the brothers Hugo and Victor Martinez. They take his driver's license with the location of Rambo's ranch and a photo of Gabriela, whom Victor recognizes. The cartel vow to mistreat Gabriela further due to Rambo's actions.

Carmen takes Rambo back to her home where she cares for him until he fully recovers after four days. While Rambo is cared for by Carmen, Gabriela is stripped and consistently dosed with heroin and sold to be raped repeatedly. Carmen says she is an independent journalist who has been investigating the Martinez brothers, who kidnapped and murdered her sister. Rambo later raids one of the brothels, killing several men until he finds a drugged Gabriela. While driving back home in his pickup, Rambo thanks Gabriela for giving him hope for ten years but she dies from the forced overdose. An enraged Rambo sends Maria away and rigs the ranch with traps for a confrontation, and later returns to Mexico to ask Carmen's help in finding Victor. Carmen initially refuses and tells Rambo that it will solve nothing, but is convinced after he appeals to her grief and frustration.

Rambo raids Victor's home, killing several guards and decapitating Victor. In retaliation, Hugo leads a large train of 7 SUVs filled with hitmen to Rambo's ranch, but each eventually falls victim to Rambo's rigged traps. Saving Hugo for the last, Rambo mutilates him and rips his heart out, killing him instantly. In the aftermath, a weakened Rambo sits on the porch of his father's house, vowing to continue fighting and keep the memories of his loved ones alive. During the credits, flashbacks to scenes from the first four movies in the franchise are shown, with Rambo finally saddling up his horse and riding off into the sunset.

Future

In June 2019 at Cannes, Stallone stated he would continue portraying John Rambo if the fifth film succeeds. [1] Grunberg, however, said that Rambo: Last Blood "closes the circle" and concludes the film series. [2] In September 2019, Stallone expressed interest in a sixth Rambo film, where the character takes refuge at a Native American reservation. [3] Stallone later elaborated that the story would explore Rambo's return to the reservation where he had grown up. [4]

Television

SeriesSeasonEpisodesFirst releasedLast releasedShowrunner(s)Network(s)
Rambo: The Force of Freedom 165September 15, 1986December 26, 1986TBA Broadcast syndication

Rambo: The Force of Freedom (1986)

Rambo: The Force of Freedom was an animated series that ran in 1986 in which John Rambo leads a team called The Force of Freedom to fight an evil organization called S.A.V.A.G.E. (short for Specialist-Administrators of Vengeance, Anarchy and Global Extortion). 65 episodes were aired. Rambo and the Forces of Freedom spawned a line of toys. [5]

Future

In August 2013, it was announced that a Rambo television series was in development. The project was stated to include Avi Lerner and Sylvester Stallone in creative capacities. Stallone was contractually in negotiations to reprise his role from the film series, with John Morayniss and Lerner serving as executive producers. Lerner described the project as "the next phase of the Rambo legacy." The series was stated to be a joint-venture production between Nu Image, Millennium Media and eOne, while being shopped around to various television networks. [6] By December 2015, the series was ordered by FOX Network and was officially titled Rambo: New Blood. Written by Jeb Stuart, the series would center around the complex relationship between John Rambo and an ex-Navy SEAL named J.R., his estranged son. Stallone and Stuart joined the production as additional executive producers. [7] Later that month, Stallone stated that he would pass on reprising his role. [8]

By October 2016, the project was temporarily repurposed as a described reboot film with the same title. Ariel Vromen joined the production as director, with a script written by Brooks McLaren. [9] The project never materialized, in favor of Rambo: Last Blood . In November 2018, David Morrell revealed that he was commissioned by Stallone to write the script for the television series, after the previous attempts at launching the project had not succeeded. Morrell stated that the reason it had never been filmed, is that creatives had a difficult time completing the story on the story; reiterating that Rambo's son was an ex-Navy SEAL civilian, and comparing the character to The Equalizer . Miramax Television was attached to the project during his involvement. [10] [11]

In September 2019, Stallone announced plans for a prequel project. Though he would not reprise the title role, he would like to explore who Rambo was before the war: "the perfect guy", a Jim Thorpe-type super athlete captain of the sports team, and popular kid at school. Stallone stated that the series would explore the juxtaposition that took place, to show that joining the military and involved in war, completely changed John Rambo. [12] Stallone later teamed with author Chuck Dixon to tell this story in the form of a graphic novel entitled "First Kill". [13]

In November 2021, Head of Millennium Media Jeffrey Greenstein announced that the studio is once again actively developing a Rambo television series. [14] By November 2022, Stallone stated that development on the prequel series is ongoing. He said that he would like the project to resemble a Vietnam documentary, with the series showing how war changes a person. The plot has John Rambo change from being popular athlete, to what he became in the film series. He also stated that the project may end in modern-day, where he "pass[es] the torch", which may resemble the original New Blood project. [15]

Cast and crew

Cast

CharacterFilmsAnimated series
First Blood Rambo:
First Blood Part II
Rambo III Rambo Rambo:
Last Blood
Rambo:
The Force of Freedom
198219851988200820191986
John J. Rambo Sylvester Stallone Neil Ross
Colonel Samuel R. "Sam" Trautman Richard Crenna Richard Crenna
(archival footage)
Alan Oppenheimer
Sheriff William "Will" Teasle Brian Dennehy Brian Dennehy
(archival footage)
Deputy Sergeant Arthur "Art" Galt Jack Starrett Jack Starrett
(archival footage)
Deputy Mitch Rogers David Caruso
Deputy Lester Alf Humphreys
Captain Dave Kern Bill McKinney
Lieutenant Clinton MorgenPatrick Stack
Agent Co Phuong Bao Julia Nickson
BanksAndy WoodAndy Wood
(archival footage)
Major Marshall Roger T. Murdock Charles Napier
Michael Reed Ericson Martin Kove
LiferSteve Williams
Lieutenant Colonel Sergei T. Podovsky Steven Berkoff
Sergeant YushinVoyo Goric
Lieutenant Tay George Cheung George Cheung
(archival footage)
Captain VinhWilliam Ghent
Robert Griggs Kurtwood Smith
Mousa Ghani Sasson Gabai
Masoud Spiros Focás
HamidDoudi ShouaDoudi Shoua
(archival footage)
Colonel Alexei Zaysen Marc de Jonge
Sergeant KourovRandy Raney
Sarah Miller Julie Benz
Michael Burnett Paul Schulze
School Boy Matthew Marsden
Lewis Graham McTavish
Reese Jake La Botz
DiazRey Gallegos
En-Joo Tim Kang
Father Arthur Marsh Ken Howard
Major Pa Tee TintMaung Maung KhinMaung Maung Khin
(archival footage)
Lieutenant AyeAung Aay Noi
Gabriela Beltran Yvette Monreal
Maria Beltran Adriana Barraza
Carmen Delgado Paz Vega
Hugo Martinez Sergio Peris-Mencheta
Victor Martinez Óscar Jaenada

Additional crew and production details

FilmCrew/Detail
ComposerCinematographerEditorProduction companiesDistributing companyRunning time
First Blood Jerry Goldsmith Andrew Laszlo Joan E. Chapman Carolco Pictures
Anabasis Investments, N. V.
Orion Pictures 93 min
Rambo:
First Blood Part II
Jack Cardiff Mark Helfrich
Mark Goldblatt
Carolco Pictures
Estudios Churubusco
Anabasis Investments, N. V.
TriStar Pictures 96 min
Rambo III John StanierJames Symons
Andrew London
O. Nicholas Brown
Carolco Pictures101 min
Rambo Brian Tyler Glen MacPherson Sean Albertson Nu Image
Equity Pictures
Medienfonds GmbH & Co. KG IV
Lionsgate
The Weinstein Company
91 min
Extended Cut:
99 min
Rambo:
Last Blood
Brendan GalvinTodd E. Miller
Carsten Kurpanek
Templeton Media
Millennium Media
Balboa Productions
Lionsgate89 min
International:
101 min

Reception

Box office performance

FilmU.S. release dateBudgetBox office revenue
United StatesInternationalWorldwide
First Blood [16] October 22, 1982$15 million$47,212,904$78,000,000$125,212,904
Rambo: First Blood Part II [17] May 22, 1985$25 million$150,415,432$149,985,000$300,400,432
Rambo III [18] May 25, 1988$58 million$53,715,611$135,300,000$189,015,611
Rambo [19] January 25, 2008$50 million$42,754,105$70,490,185$113,244,290
Rambo: Last Blood [20] September 20, 2019$50 million$44,819,352$46,671,001$91,490,353
Total [21] $198 million$338,906,479$480,446,186$819,363,590

Critical and public response

Film Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic CinemaScore [22]
First Blood 86% (49 reviews) [23] 61 (15 reviews) [24]
Rambo: First Blood Part II 33% (45 reviews) [25] 47 (15 reviews) [26]
Rambo III 41% (37 reviews) [27] 36 (15 reviews) [28] B+
Rambo 37% (153 reviews) [29] 46 (26 reviews) [30] A−
Rambo: Last Blood 26% (175 reviews) [31] 26 (31 reviews) [32] B

Cultural impact

Among the Kamula of Wawoi Falls in Western Province, Papua New Guinea, Rambo was very popular in the late 1990s. His figure was imported into local legends. For example, Rambo is rumored to have de-escalated the Bougainville conflict. Rambo is also said to have had sex with the daughter of Queen Elizabeth II. When threatened with execution, a Papua New Guinea lawyer pleaded in his favor, so Rambo promised to help Papua New Guinea in the Third World War. [33]

Music

Soundtracks

TitleU.S. release dateLengthComposer(s)Label
First Blood: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 1982 Jerry Goldsmith
Rambo: First Blood Part II (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) 1985Jerry Goldsmith
Rambo III: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 1988Jerry Goldsmith
Rambo: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack January 22, 200875:59 Brian Tyler Lionsgate
Rambo: Last Blood (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) September 20, 201975:03Brian Tyler Lakeshore

The original scores for the first three films were composed and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith. The music from the first and second films was performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra and the music from the third by the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra. Goldsmith's main theme for Rambo was the basis for the end title song "It's a Long Road", performed by Dan Hill, part of the First Blood soundtrack.

Home media

All five existing films in the Rambo franchise are available from Lionsgate by virtue of the studio's output deal with StudioCanal (the company that currently holds the underlying rights to the first three films) and Lionsgate itself co-producing the latter film (in partnership with The Weinstein Company). Paramount Pictures (via Paramount Worldwide Television Licensing & Distribution and Trifecta Entertainment & Media) holds the television rights to the first three films, while Debmar-Mercury handles television distribution for the latter film on behalf of parent company Lionsgate.

TitleFormatRelease dateFilmsReference
Rambo Collector's PackDVDJuly 24, 2001First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo III
Rambo: The Complete Collector's SetDVD, Blu-rayJuly 27, 2010First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo III, Rambo
Ultimate Rambo CollectionBlu-rayOctober 28, 2013First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo III, Rambo
Rambo Classic Trilogy CollectionDVDJanuary 1, 2014First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo III
Rambo: Trilogy – The Ultimate EditionBlu-raySeptember 28, 2015First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo III
Rambo Complete CollectionDVDMarch 1, 2016First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo III, Rambo
Rambo: TrilogyDVD, Blu-rayNovember 15, 2018First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo III
Rambo: 5-Film CollectionBlu-rayFebruary 11, 2020First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo III, Rambo, Rambo: Last Blood

Other media

Novelizations

First Blood , Rambo: First Blood Part II and Rambo III; David Morrell, author of the original First Blood novel, wrote novelizations (book adaptations) for the first two Rambo sequels. Morrell has said that he wrote the novelizations because he wanted to include characterization that is not in Rambo: First Blood Part II and Rambo III. Morrell did not write a novelization for the 2008 film, Rambo, as he said the film's characterization matched that of the original First Blood novel. [34] [35]

Comic books

Video games

Various licensed video games for various arcade and home console systems have been released:

Bollywood remake

In May 2013, Original Entertainment confirmed to have sealed a five-picture deal with Millennium Films to produce Bollywood remakes of First Blood , The Expendables , 16 Blocks , 88 Minutes , and Brooklyn's Finest , with the productions for First Blood and The Expendables expected to start at the end of that year. [36]

In early 2016, Siddharth Anand was announced as the director [37] and the film will be co-produced by Anand, Daljit DJ Parmar, Samir Gupta, Hunt Lowry, Saurabh Gupta and Gulzar Inder Chahal. [38] The film will specifically remake First Blood and will follow the last member of an elite unit in the Indian Armed forces returning home only to discover a different war waiting for him, forcing Rambo to the jungles and mountains of the Himalayas and unleash mayhem and destruction. [38]

In May 2017, Tiger Shroff was cast in the role of Rambo while production was scheduled for a late 2018 release date. [38] By October 2017, the film was placed on hold while Shroff and Anand completed other projects. [39]

The film was scheduled to be released in October 2020, with Shroff expected to star in Hindi remakes of all five films in the Rambo franchise. [40] Release has been pushed back to 2025 and Rohit Dhawan is slated to direct the film. [41]

Other appearances

See also

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Mario F. Kassar is a Lebanese-American film producer and industry executive who produced the first three films of the Rambo series, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Total Recall, The Doors, Angel Heart, Jacob's Ladder, Rambling Rose, Basic Instinct, Universal Soldier, Chaplin, Showgirls, and Stargate, among other films.

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Missing in Action is a 1984 American action film directed by Joseph Zito and starring Chuck Norris. It is set in the context of the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue. Colonel Braddock, who escaped a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp ten years earlier, returns to Vietnam to find American soldiers listed as missing in action during the Vietnam War. The film was followed by a prequel, Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985), and a sequel, Braddock: Missing in Action III (1988). The first two Missing in Action installments had been filmed back-to-back with the intent to have the first film involve the POW years of Braddock be the first film. However, it was determined that the commercial prospects were stronger with the film directed by Zito involving the POW rescue. As such, Hool's film was turned into Missing in Action 2 and labeled as a prequel that detailed events before those in Missing in Action.

Rambo: The Force of Freedom is a 1986 American animated series based on the character of John Rambo from David Morrell's book First Blood and the subsequent films First Blood (1982) and Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985). This series was adapted for television by story editor/head writer Michael Chain and also spawned a toy line.

Rambo may refer to:

<i>First Blood</i> (novel) 1972 novel by David Morrell

First Blood is a 1972 American action-thriller novel by David Morrell about a troubled homeless Vietnam War veteran, known only by his last name of Rambo, who wages a brutal one-man war against local and state police in Kentucky. It was adapted into the 1982 film First Blood starring Sylvester Stallone, which ended up spawning an entire media franchise around Rambo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Morrell</span> Canadian-American novelist (born 1943)

David Morrell is a Canadian-American author whose debut 1972 novel First Blood, later adapted as the 1982 film of the same name, went on to spawn the successful Rambo franchise starring Sylvester Stallone. He has written 28 novels, and his work has been translated into 30 languages. He also wrote the 2007–2008 Captain America comic book miniseries The Chosen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Rambo</span> Character in Rambo film franchise

John James Rambo is a fictional character in the Rambo franchise. He first appeared in the 1972 novel First Blood by David Morrell, but later became more famous as the protagonist of the film series, in which he was played by Sylvester Stallone. The portrayal of the character earned Stallone widespread acclaim and recognition. The character was nominated for American Film Institute's list 100 Years…100 Heroes and Villains. Following the success of the first movie, the term "Rambo" was occasionally used in media circles to describe a lone wolf who is reckless, disregards orders, uses violence to solve all problems, enters dangerous situations alone, and is exceptionally tough, callous, raw and aggressive.

<i>Rambo</i> (2008 film) Film by Sylvester Stallone

Rambo is a 2008 action film directed and co-written by Sylvester Stallone, based on the character John Rambo created by author David Morrell for his novel First Blood. A sequel to Rambo III (1988), it is the fourth installment in the Rambo franchise and co-stars Julie Benz, Paul Schulze, Matthew Marsden, Graham McTavish, Rey Gallegos, Tim Kang, Jake La Botz, Maung Maung Khin, and Ken Howard. The film is dedicated to the memory of Richard Crenna, who died in 2003. Crenna had played Colonel Sam Trautman in the previous films. In the film, Rambo leads a group of mercenaries into Burma to rescue Christian missionaries, who have been kidnapped by a local infantry unit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Trautman</span> Fictional character in the Rambo franchise

Colonel Samuel Richard "Sam" Trautman is a fictional character in the Rambo novel and film series, and other media in the franchise. His first appearance was in David Morrell's novel First Blood. His character was expanded on in the film series where he was played by Richard Crenna.

First Blood is a 1982 film starring Sylvester Stallone also known as "Rambo 1".

<i>Rambo: The Video Game</i> 2014 video game

Rambo: The Video Game is an arcade-style rail shooter video game developed by Teyon and published by Reef Entertainment. The game is based on the Rambo franchise and puts the player in the role of John Rambo as he journeys through scenes from each of the three films: First Blood (1982), Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Rambo III (1988).

<i>Rambo: Last Blood</i> 2019 American film by Adrian Grunberg

Rambo: Last Blood is a 2019 American action film directed by Adrian Grünberg. The screenplay was co-written by Matthew Cirulnick and Sylvester Stallone, from a story by Dan Gordon and Stallone, and is based on the character John Rambo created by the author David Morrell for his novel First Blood. A sequel to Rambo (2008), it is the fifth installment in the Rambo franchise and stars Stallone as Rambo, alongside Paz Vega, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Adriana Barraza, Yvette Monreal, Genie Kim aka Yenah Han, Joaquín Cosío, and Oscar Jaenada. In the film, Rambo travels to Mexico to save his adopted niece, who has been kidnapped by a Mexican cartel and forced into prostitution.

<i>Rambo</i> (2008 video game) 2008 arcade video game

Rambo is a light gun shooter developed by Sega for the arcades in 2008. The game is based on Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Rambo III (1988), but not First Blood (1982).

Balboa Productions is an American film and television production company founded and led by Sylvester Stallone. The studio is named after his character Rocky Balboa from the Rocky franchise.

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