Category: Rambo II

Rocky and Rambo PodCasts

Craig / / 2014, First Blood, Rambo, Rambo II, Rambo III, Rocky, Rocky Balboa, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, Rocky V, Rocky VI

Earlier this week, I received the following e-mail:

Hi Mr. Zablo,
I’m Mat Bradley-Tschirgi, Producer of the Sequelcast, a podcast looking at movie franchises. I’d thought you and your StalloneZone readers would be interested in checking out the podcasts we did of the Rocky films this past month. We also covered the Rambo films a few years ago. The podcasts might contain brief moments of explicit language.
Here are the links:
ROCKY III (Guest Paul Goebel of Beat The Geeks): http://traffic.libsyn.com/sequelcast/sequelcast170.mp3
ROCKY IV (Guest Eric Lichtenfeld of The Ultimate Stallone Reader): http://traffic.libsyn.com/sequelcast/sequelcast171.mp3
ROCKY V (Guest Ryan Hoss of the Super Mario Bros. The Movie Archive): http://traffic.libsyn.com/sequelcast/sequelcast172.mp3
ROCKY BALBOA (Guest West Anthony of The Auteurcast): http://traffic.libsyn.com/sequelcast/sequelcast173.mp3
FIRST BLOOD (Guest David Morrell [author of the original First Blood novel]): http://traffic.libsyn.com/sequelcast/sequelcast31.mp3
RAMBO (Guest Eric Lichtenfeld [author of Action Speaks Louder]): http://traffic.libsyn.com/sequelcast/sequelcast34.mp3
Keep up the good work with StalloneZone. The Expendables 3 looks to have a mightier cast than the second. I’m just wondering where Barney’s goatee went in all the promo shots for the film.
Thanks,
Mat Bradley-Tschirgi
***
Thanks Mat for the kind words and the links to the Stallone-related podcasts! – Craig

Sylvester Stallone: 5 Awesome Performances and 5 That Sucked.

Craig / / 2013, Cliffhanger, Cobra, Cop Land, Demolition Man, Get Carter, John Rambo, Judge Dredd, Nighthawks, Rambo, Rambo II, Rambo III, Rhinestone, Rocky, Rocky Balboa, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, Rocky V, Rocky VI, Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot

On February 1, 2013, WhatCulture! posted Sylvester Stallone: 5 Awesome Performances and 5 That Sucked.

  • According to WhatCulture! 5 that were Awesome: Rambo [First Blood and sequels], John Spartan [Demolition Man], Gabe Walker [Cliffhanger], Freddy Heflin [Cop Land], and Rocky Balboa [Rocky and sequels].
  • Their Choices for Not-So-Awesome: Judge Dredd [same name], Ray Quick [The Specialist], Marion Cobretti [Cobra], Jack Carter [Get Carter], and Joe Bomoski [Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!].

To Awesome I would delete Spartan and Walker to make room for Jack Carter and Deke Dasilva [Nighthawks].  To Not-So-Awesome I would delete Carter and add Nick from Rhinestone. – Craig

David Morrell and Rambo

Craig / / 2012, Celebs, First Blood, Rambo, Rambo II, Rambo III

One of the best things about creating and running the StalloneZone is the people I “meet” because of it.  This week I received an e-mail from one of my all-time favorite authors, David Morrell.  Mr. Morrell is probably best known to fans here for creating Rambo in his novel First Blood.  [Mr. Morrell has written over 30 books in a wide range of genres and all are excellent.] 

Mr. Morrell wants Stallone fans to know that his newly designed website has a Rambo page and that he recently finished up revisions of his novelizations of Rambo, First Blood Part II and Rambo III [both of which will contain lengthy introductions]. 

Check out Mr. Morrell’s site and if your interested in some of his other novels, pick any of them because you can not go wrong!


Top Five Stallone Eighties Movies

Craig / / 2011, Cobra, First Blood, Rambo II, Rocky III, Rocky IV

AMC recently posted their choices for the Top Five Stallone Eighties Movies.  Here’s a taste of the piece:

1. Rocky III (1982)
The third movie in the saga changes the pace, and Sly deftly walks a fine line between the Oscar-worthy drama of the movie’s predecessors and straight-up action… Rocky III is bigger, better, and more exciting than any sports movie that came before (or after)…

2. Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
… one of the greatest action flicks of all time.

3. First Blood (1982)
…First Blood has a realism that is lacking from many eighties action movies…

4. Cobra (1986)
… Cobra is like Dirty Harry after five shots, three Red Bulls, and a trip to a military arsenal.

5. Rocky IV (1985)
The Rocky formula is taken to a whole new level with better training scenes and musical montages, bigger opponents (the truly monstrous Russian, Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren), and Cold War themes…

You can read the whole article here.

Why Rambo Matters

Craig / / 2010, Rambo, Rambo II

On June 2, 2010, Winona 360 posted a piece titled, “Why Rambo Matters’ written by Nathan Wardinski.  Here are a few excerpts from the well written article:

First Blood Part II didn’t win any Academy Awards; the Best Picture Oscar for films of 1985 went to Out of Africa. But First Blood Part II did take Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Picture, Actor, and Screenplay. With the amount of effort and emphasis placed on the Hollywood awards circuit, we would expect the Oscar winner to be enshrined in cultural immortality and the Razzie “winner” to sink into obscurity. But, 25 years later, nothing could be further from the truth.

Is First Blood Part II a good movie? Perhaps, in its own way it is. But that’s really beside the point, which is that First Blood Part II is an important movie. I would go so far as to argue it is among the most important movies of the last 25 years.

First Blood Part II stands out in several ways, not the least of which is its impact on filmmaking itself… Later action films like Die Hard, Bad Boys, Braveheart, Black Hawk Down and even Avatar owe their style in whole or in part to First Blood Part II.

You can read the rest of Nathan Wardinski’s piece here.

Rambo #1 Again!

Craig / / 2009, Honors, Rambo, Rambo 5, Rambo II, Rambo III

EmpireOnLine.com recently posted their list of The Top 25 Best One Man Armies in the Movies. Of course, Rambo came in at #1. Who could argue with that? The rest of the list can [and should] be debated. Isn’t that the purpose of lists? Here are my suggestions for the top ten:

  1. Rambo played by SYLVESTER STALLONE in FIRST BLOOD, RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD, PART II, RAMBO III, RAMBO
  2. Lee played by BRUCE LEE in ENTER THE DRAGON
  3. Bryan Mills played by LIAM NEESON in TAKEN
  4. Geno Felino played by STEVEN SEAGAL in OUT FOR JUSTICE
  5. Creasy played by DENZEL WASHINGTON in MAN ON FIRE
  6. Walker played by LEE MARVIN in POINT BLANK
  7. El Mariachi played by ANTONIO BANDERAS in DESPERADO, ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO
  8. John Matrix played by ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER in COMMANDO
  9. Blade played by WESLEY SNIPES in BLADE, BLADE II, BLADE TRINITY
  10. John Preston played by CHRISTIAN BALE in EQUILIBRIUM

To see the full list, click here.