gridlore: Doug looking off camera with a grin (Army - Infantry)
Douglas Berry ([personal profile] gridlore) wrote2006-02-12 06:38 pm
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First Blood

AMC is showing First Blood. Sadly, this film gets lumped in with the other two Rambo films, which were over the top, jingoistic, and pretty fucking awful.

This film is different. It's far more a character study, both of the characters (John Rambo and Sheriff Will Teasle in p-articular) and of America. The small Washington town of Hope is a microcosm of what America is supposed to be. Peaceful, friendly, open. But its protector goes to far to maintain the status quo, and his fear sets off another facet of America.. its military.

I remember watching this at my recruiter's office with a bunch of other recruits. The sergeants made sure we knew that most of this was pure BS, but the one Special Forces type in the group kept pointing out where Rambo used actual tricks of the trade.

The most amazing thing about this film is Stallone acting, and doing a decent job of it.

Good film. If you haven't seen it, give it a shot.

[identity profile] lostwanderfound.livejournal.com 2006-02-13 02:52 am (UTC)(link)
A Vietnam-vet ex-boyf of my Mum's was a huge fan of the book (no idea what he thought of the movie, though). Susan Faludi spends a fair bit of time talking to David Morrell in Stiffed; he seems an interesting bloke.

[identity profile] kat-box.livejournal.com 2006-02-13 04:03 am (UTC)(link)
The small Washington town of Hope

Which was actually the small British Columbia town of Hope, as I recall. ;) It doesn't look much different now. :D