Category: First Blood

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week

Craig / / 1985, 2020, Celebs, Cobra, Daylight, Demolition Man, Driven, Family, First Blood, Jennifer Flavin-Stallone, Lock Up, Nighthawks, Over the Top, Rambo, Rambo II, Rambo III, Rhinestone, Rocky, Rocky IV, Staying Alive, The Specialist

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week:

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week

Craig / / 2020, Celebs, Cliffhanger, Cop Land, Demolition Man 2, Escape Plan 2, Escape Plan 3, First Blood, Nighthawks, Rambo III, Rocky, Sly's Art, Tango & Cash

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week:

“First Blood” Prequel, Anyone? (Updated)

Craig / / 2020, Books, First Blood, Rambo

Paolo Cubadda created the very cool art above.  I saw it at Sylvester Stallone’s Official Sly Stallone Shop on Instagram.  Here’s what they said about the art…

Amazing fan art of what a FIRST BLOOD prequel look like called Baker Team. Who would love to see the origins of John Rambo?

I think a First Blood prequel could work under the right conditions.  It would be easier as a novel but I would want to see David Morrell return to his creation.  A movie would be tougher since Sly Stallone is so associated with the character.  One thing I’ve learned over the years though is never say never.

Thanks to SZoner, Bruno Leon for providing Bruno’s name!

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week

Craig / / 2020, Celebs, Family, First Blood

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week:

Sly Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s All-Time Best Performances

Craig / / 2020, Celebs, Cobra, Cop Land, First Blood, FIST, Get Carter, Nighthawks, Rambo

Ben Sherlock at ScreenRant posted his choices for Sylvester Stallone Vs Arnold Schwarzenegger: Each Actor’s 5 Best Performances.  I thought I’d compare Sherlock’s Top 5 for Sly and Arnold to mine (using just his five best) and then what I’d include from all of each actor’s filmography.

First up: Sherlock’s choices and both of our ratings…

Sherlock’
Sly Picks

Zablo’s
Sly Picks

Sherlock’s
Arnold Picks

Zablo’s
Arnold Picks
5. John Rambo In First Blood 5. Lt. Marion Cobretti In Cobra 5. Wade Vogel In Maggie 5. Wade Vogel In Maggie
4. Johnny D. Kovak In F.I.S.T. 4. John Rambo In First Blood 4. Sheriff Ray Owens In The Last Stand 4. Sheriff Ray Owens In The Last Stand
3. Lt. Marion Cobretti In Cobra 3. Johnny D. Kovak In F.I.S.T. 3. Dutch In Predator 3. Doug Quaid In Total Recall
2. Sheriff Freddy Heflin In Cop Land 2. Sheriff Freddy Heflin In Cop Land 2. Doug Quaid In Total Recall 2. Dutch In Predator
1. Rocky Balboa In Rocky 1. Rocky Balboa In Rocky 1. The T-800 In The Terminator 1. The T-800 In The Terminator

Now what I would’ve included from each actor’s filmography.

Zablo’s Sly All Films

Zablo’s Arnold All Films
5. Deke DaSilva in Nighthawks 5. Harry Trasker in True Lies
4. John Rambo In First Blood 4. John Matrix in Commando
3. Sheriff Freddy Heflin In Cop Land 3. John ‘Breacher’ Wharton in Sabotage
2. Jack Carter in Get Carter 2. Dutch In Predator
1. Rocky Balboa in Rocky 1. The T-800 In The Terminator

How About Behind-the-Scenes Facts from the “Rambo” Movies?

Craig / / 2020, Celebs, First Blood, Rambo, Rambo 5, Rambo II, Rambo III, Rambo IV

Ben Sherlock, at ScreenRant, posted They Drew First Blood: 10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The Rambo Movies.   Before you click over, here are three of my favorite facts and my comments on each…

The Fifth Movie Had A Ton Of Unused Scripts.
…A script called Rambo 5: Savage Hunt was a horror movie in which Rambo led a Special Forces team into the Arctic Circle to track down a flesh-eating mutant creature.

…Another script called Rambo 5: Last Stand pitted Rambo against a band of meth dealers who were terrorizing a small town. There were also a few drafts about Rambo saving a kidnapped girl from a Mexican cartel before the final script was written.

(The Rambo 5: Savage Hunt script was based on James Byron Huggins’ Hunter novel.  While this would have made an interesting Rambo movie, it might have been too much of a genre change.  I hope that someday Sly will turn Hunter into the film it deserves.  Rambo 5: Last Stand sounds a lot like Arnold’s Last Stand movie. – Craig)

Dolph Lundgren Was Initially Cast As The Villain In First Blood Part II. The role of Russian Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Podovsky, the only villain in Rambo: First Blood Part II with any lines in English, was originally offered to Dolph Lundgren. Lundgren even accepted the part and signed a contract.

(I did not know this. – Craig)

…Burmese Freedom Fighters even adopted some dialogue from the movie to use as battle cries. In particular, they were known to say, “Live for nothing, or die for something.” When he heard about this, Sylvester Stallone said, “That, to me, is one of the proudest moments I’ve ever had in film.”

(And we thought people only quoted Rocky for inspiration!  – Craig)

First Blood: Differences Between the Book & Movie!

Craig / / 2020, First Blood

Phillip Etemesi at ScreenRant posted an article that should appeal to a lot of folks who check in here.  First Blood: 10 Differences Between The Movie & The Book takes a look at, well you read the title.  Here are three of my favorite differences and my comments on each…

Escape From Jail.
In the film, the deputy sheriff decides to beat him up… The officers keep on brutalizing him… one of them comes with a razor to shave hi(m), it triggers memories of his torture in a POW camp in Vietnam. He thus fights his way out of the station while still clothes… No one dies in the process.

In the book, Rambo is not abused. He is simply locked in a cell. When Teasle shows up to cut his hair, he begins to panic. And when the deputy comes with another straight razor, he loses his mind completely. He takes the razor and slices through the deputy’s abdomen before escaping while naked. He steals a motorcycle and manages to hide from the police for the night after a good samaritan offers him shelter.

(One of the reasons that First Blood was hard to get made as a movie is because Rambo in the book killed police officers and wasn’t as sympathetic or heroic as he ultimately became in the movie.   – Craig)

Guerilla Tactics
In the book…
Rambo in the novel doesn’t value the lives of law enforcement officers. He kills most of them together with their dogs before cornering Teasle and giving him a warning.
In the movie…
Rambo takes out the entire town’s police force by himself. Using guerilla tactics, he attacks one at a time until they are all wounded. It’s important to note that he only wounds the officers in the movie and doesn’t kill them.

(Again, the book made it harder for audiences to sympathize or empathize with Rambo.  Killing a dog in a movie is perhaps the ultimate downer.  – Craig)

Fleeing From The Cave
In Morell’s book,
Rambo keeps up with his murderous ways and goes on to kill plenty of the members of the state police who had been brought in after he decimated the local police. A couple of civilians and national guard members also ned up being casualties.
In the movie,
Rambo damages plenty of property in the town but doesn’t kill anyone.

(First Blood had been floating around Hollywood for years before Sly become attached.  No one prior was able to get a handle on the character. Under Sly, Rambo became more heroic, sympathetic and less of a killer… at least until Last Blood.   – Craig)

If you’ve read this far I encourage you to click over to get the full story!

“Rocky” vs “First Blood” in Joblo’s Face/Off!

Craig / / 2020, First Blood, Rocky

Joblo.com brings Rocky and First Blood to their Face/Off feature where they rate each movie in several categories and determine a winner.  Do you agree with their outcome?

Sylvester Stallone’s two most popular cinematic characters, Rocky Balboa and John Rambo, debuted in between 1976 (Rocky) and 1982 (First Blood) and went on to generate a number of sequels (and even spinoffs in Rocky’s case with the Creed films) that have lasted for decades. But, one of the most common debates is which was the best of the original iterations of these characters, Rocky or First Blood?

In this series we explore the pros and cons of each, while taking a look at things like box office, awards accolades, most-quotable lines, supporting cast and so much more to determine which film is the winner in the never-ending debate when two movies Face/Off!

Edited by Damion Damaske

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week

Craig / / 2019, Balboa Productions, Celebs, Cobra, Escape Plan 2, Escape Plan 3, First Blood, Rambo III, Rambo: Last Blood, Rhinestone, Sly's Art

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week: