Now, since having been converted to the faith of Rocky Balboa over this past Thanksgiving break (saying that I like Rocky is a gross understatement. I mean, the Rocky theme song is now my ringtone) I was informed by the prestigious Captain that the next step would be to meet Rambo. So, as we sat down to celebrate all things American (like freedom, and weapons) by watching First Blood. What I expected was a movie with big guns, lots of killing, little story and a lot of blood. While I was correct about the big guns part, what I got was something far more meaningful.
Now, instead of a breakdown of highlights like the last film, I'm going to take more of an overall approach to this film. Buckle up.
Of course, being me, one of the first things I noticed in the film was Sly's wonderful head of hair, and gloriously period haircut. He was looking good.
After commenting as such, my brother said to me "Yes. This movie is a product of the times, in more ways than one". Boy was he right.
Rambo's not a man of many words, and after learning that his last remaining war buddy died from cancer (To which Rambo later comments, "Poor Berry, he was killed in Vietnam and didn't even know it". Darn you Agent Orange!) He proceeds to just start walking. And my heart went out to him. Poor guy. He just wants to get something to eat.
Enter small town cop, who harasses him for no good reason, calls him a vagrant, and drives him to the edge of town where he tells him that "30 miles north" there's a place he can eat.
We hate him.
Rambo is like "screw this, I'm hungry" and jerk cop arrests him for "resisting arrest" aka "for no good reason other than he's a Vietnam vet and I don't like him".
Next we witness a deeply disturbing sequence of police brutality at its finest. They start out simple with verbal abuse and forcing Rambo to put his fingerprints down on paper (Captain Cheesebeard's favorite scene). However the real trouble begins when our friendly neighborhood bad cop decides it's time to"clean him [Rambo] up"
They hose him down with a fire hose.
They beat him into submission
And they choke him out in order to "give him a shave", just to name a few.
After being terrible human beings, the police's brutal treatment of Rambo causes him to have PTSD flashbacks of being a POW in Vietnam (Poor Rambo!)
He then proceeds tear up all the cops in the whole police station and make a run for it.
And so it begins.
*Side Note*
First off, this should have been their first clue. Not only is the guy covered in scars that one can only assume he acquired during the war (by torture), the man's a beast. I MEAN LOOK AT HIM.
The chase takes us into the woods, and we still don't know anything about Rambo except that he's scared, traumatized and probably able to kill all of these cops by looking at them sideways but he's shown massive restraint and chosen not to. Now at this point, I'm royally upset. I mean - talk about injustice! Rambo is a freakin' hero (or so I assume since he's the only surviving member of his company) and these cops just won't give him a chance. They won't stop and listen to him or talk to him. Once again, my brother reminds me, a sign of the times. People back then were anti-war and anti-war mean anti-government and anti-government meant anti-soldier. While today it's hard for us to follow such logic, that doesn't mean it wasn't real. Many of the protestors had no idea that a majority of those soldiers were drafted, and had no choice in what they were required to do once they got to Vietnam. They fought because they had to, and when they came back home not only were they treated like dirt by civilians, but by other veterans too. People didn't understand that they weren't government puppets in a war they didn't support, but human beings trying to do right by their country.
See any similarities to today's world? Something to think about.
This brings us to the first, and might I add ONLY, death in the whole film. (In fact, Rambo states multiple times that he doesn't want to hurt anybody, and it's not his fault what's happening) Rambo has been forced onto a cliff, and crazy angry cop is pursuing him in a helicopter. The pilot says it's unsteady and that he should calm down, but crazy angry cop doesn't listen.
And he falls to his death in the ravine below. And once again, everyone blames Rambo (THE INJUSTICE!!)
They refuse to listen to him (again) and THEN we learn that not only is Rambo a soldier, but he's a former green beret who was recently awarded the congressional medal of honor for services to they country for what he did it Vietnam. Basically it means, to quote the Captain, "Rambo knows what he's doing in the jungle"
Rambo proceeds to seriously injury every single member of the police force that is sent after him. Until he comes face to face with jerk cop (remember him? Guy from the start of the film? Well he's the sheriff in charge of calling all of these terrible shots) Then we have my favorite line from the film:
Rambo: I could have killed 'em all, I could've killed you. In town you're the law, our 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!
They don't let it go.
Now, there's a lot of chasing. And a lot of shooting. And a lot of rats. Rambo's former commanding officer from Vietnam, Col. Trautman, even shows up and attempts to talk to both Rambo and the cops ( who don't know what they're doing). SURPRISE nobody listens to him either and, eventually, Rambo makes it back into town and it's time for the final showdown between him and jerk cop. Remember the big guns I was talking about?
Yeah.
So, Rambo obviously gets the upper hand and is about to kill jerk cop when the Colonel shows up and convinces him not to. And finally, for the first time in this WHOLE FILM, someone stops and actually TALKS to Rambo.
And this is what they get.
Colonel Trautman: It's over Johnny! It's over!
Rambo: 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! Then I come back to the world, and I see all those maggots at the airport, protestin' me and spittin', callin' me baby killer and all kinds of vile crap! Who are they to protest me?! Huh?! Who are they?! Unless they been me and been there and know what the hell they yellin' about!
Colonel Trautman: It was a bad time for everyone, Rambo. It's all in the past now.
Rambo: 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... I can't get it out of my head. I -- I dream of seven years. Everyday I have this. And sometimes I wake up and I don't know where I am. I don't talk to anybody. Sometimes a day--a week. I can't put it out of my mind...I can't...."
And with a freeze frame, it's over.
So what do we take from all of this? First Blood raises all kinds of questions about the morality of war, the ethical treatment of others, and plain old humanity in general. I certainly did a lot more thinking about myself, my morals, the current state of the union, and how I treat others than I was planning to. I would encourage all of you, if you haven't already, to take to the hour and half out of you summer and watch First Blood. (For my more conservative readers, it is rated R for language so keep that in mind) If you do, I'd love to hear what the movie made you think about in the comment section below. Or if you have any thoughts in this same vein from other movies that you'd like to share leave those too! Active participation in movies is what this blog is all about!
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