DVD First Blood

The rule of thumb is that a movie succeeds more on the villain than the hero, and that holds true in this case, with Brian Dennehy as Sheriff Will Teasle, who does not take a liking to a the moody, shaggy haired, Rambo when he wanders through town. Teasle take Rambo into custody and tries to show him who is boss, but has a deputy sergeant (Jack Starrett) who takes things to far. Rambo snaps, easily escapes from the police station, and the massive manhunt hunt is on. The only problem is that Teasle and all of his men are no match for an unarmed Rambo, who quickly finds a way to arm himself. Teasle has some understanding of how his men are culpable in what is going on, but stubbornly insists that the rule of law should still apply, even when Colonel Samuel Trautman (Richard Crenna) arrives right behind the National Guard to explain how big of a mistake the locals have made.

The main problem with this film is that there were sequels, which buried the strengths of the original under big budget gloss (a charge that can be leveled against the Rocky series as well). Beyond that the main complain would be that once events have been put into play and we all acknowledge that Rambo has been done wrong, the politics of the situation gives way to the action. As such, the politics become an excuse for the violence, which is one of those things that would be ironic on so many levels. Then, at the end, when the movie becomes political again, it seems rather uncomfortably forced and Rambo's articulation of the very real plight of a lot of Vietnam vets becomes exceedingly forced (actually, at the end of this film, after being moody and silent for most of the film, Rambo talks a LOT). The best of the action sequences is when Teasle and his cops (including a relatively young David Caruso), try to track down Rambo in the woods, mainly because it relies more on stealth and intelligence than big guns and bigger explosions. Against a Green Beret these boys have no chance and when Rambo offers Teasle one last chance to let it go, and when the Sheriff refuses, all of our sympathies go to Rambo.

The message of "First Blood" might be forced, but it is hard to turn in a stern indictment of the film on that basis given what was happening with Vietnam vets in Hollywood. Even in this heavy-handed effort you have to admit there was an attempt at a noble motive. Special mention should be made of the audio commentary on the DVD version by David Morell, who wrote the novel on which the film was based. Morell is an interesting choice simply because he was not really involved in the production of the film, but this has some interesting payoffs, such as the argument that "First Blood" changed the action genre as one of the first movies to feature a brief set-up and then pretty much non-stop action for the rest of the film. There are some tidbits about the film (Kirk Douglas was originally cast as Colonel Trautman) and how the ending was changed when audiences were upset that Rambo was killed.