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Actor Sylvester Stallone changed his fate when he wrote and starred in the sports dramaRocky. The Best Picture winner spawned a franchise that has included five more sequels and a spinoff trilogy on Adonis Creed. While theRockyfranchise may have put Stallone on the map, it was his role in theRambofranchise that made him an action star.
He starred as the Vietnam War veteran John Rambo in Ted Kotcheff’sFirst Blood. Contrary to the high-adrenaline action extravaganza that was the sequels, the first film was a poignant exploration of Vietnam War veterans’ struggle to integrate back into society while also dealing with their trauma. This reportedly ended darkly for John Rambo in the film originally.
First BloodDirector Revealed The Original Ending Which Would Have Killed The Rambo Franchise
Based on David Morrell’s novel of the same name,First Bloodsaw a war veteran named Rambo take on the police department after returning from the Vietnam War. The theme of the film was the exploration of how veterans who fought in Vietnam were treated by Americans after they returned.
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The film reportedly went through many hands before landing on Ted Kotcheff’s lap andSylvester Stallone’sinvolvement boosted the production timeline. Stallone reportedly also requested to do some rewrites on the script after he read through it over a weekend and loved the story. Kotcheff reportedly allowed it after he proved himself withRocky.
While theRambofranchise has five films, an animated series, and a prequel series in development, none of it would have materialized if Ted Kotcheff had gone with his original ending. In the dark ending originally conceived by Kotcheff, he mentioned that Rambo was going to die as it was the natural way to go for a war vet with PTSD. He said toEW,
That’s why I conceived of First Blood as Rambo’s s*icide mission. The film was basically conceived as Rambo’s tragedy, which mirrored the tragedy of so many of the veterans that I talked to. I met guys that actually later on killed themselves. His tragedy mirrored their tragedy, and how they came to this sad conclusion to kill themselves.
The scene reportedly saw Rambo in the police station after being apprehended with Colonel Sam Trautman threatening to kill him. However, when the Colonel hesitates to pull the trigger, the original ending sees Rambo reach out and pull it himself.
Sylvester Stallone Changed The Ending OfFirst Blood
InFirst Blood, not only does John Rambo experience the Vietnam War and return to a society not willing to accept him, but also faces a police department, the National Guard, and the state patrol pursuing and torturing him after he investigates a fellow soldier’s death. He undergoes various methods of torture throughout the film while also suffering from PTSD.
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While director Ted Kotcheff intended the film to be Rambo’s s*icide mission and crafted the ending to be true to the bad experience of some Vietnam war vets, Sylvester Stallone reportedly requested that the ending be changed after filming it. Kotcheff told EW,
Sylvester got up and said, ‘Ted, can I talk to you for a second?’ He said, ‘You know, Ted, we put this character through so much. The police abuse him. He’s pursued endlessly. Dogs are sent after him. He jumps off cliffs. He runs through freezing water. He’s shot in the arm and he has to sew it up himself. All this, and now we’re gonna kill him?’
Kotcheff reportedly then filmed the ending that was kept in the film and despite the producers’ insistence to wrap for the day and stick to the original ending, test audience’s preference for the happier ending reportedly convinced them.
First Bloodis available to stream on AMC+.
Nishanth A
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2416
Nishanth A is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, majorly focusing on TV shows with over 2,000 articles published. He has been an entertainment journalist for the past two years and a scriptwriter at various corporations before that, working on educational content. With a Communications, English Literature, and Psychology triple major, Nishanth usually covers news and analyses on Star Trek, particularly Strange New Worlds and The Next Generation; Doctor Who, the DCU, and more.A Nolan fan, Nishanth spends his time exploring the filmographies of various directors with an auteurial style or can be found making short movies of his own. He has also contributed as a feature writer for Film Companion, focusing on the South division.
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Rambo: First BloodSylvester Stallone
