First Blood (novel)
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First Blood is a 1972 novel by David Morrell, on which the eponymous movie franchise was based.
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[edit] Plot
The book features the character Rambo, a Vietnam War veteran, who becomes the focus of a manhunt that results in the deaths of many police officers and National Guardsmen in the process. The theme of the book is one that condemns the war in Vietnam and asserts that it had many adverse effects on soldiers who served during the war. It focuses very much on the acts of violence that Rambo commits and calls attention to the instinctive nature of these acts.
[edit] Development
Morrell has acknowledged in several interviews that his book was influenced by the writing of British novelist Geoffrey Household, including: "When I started First Blood back in 1968, I was deeply influenced by Geoffrey Household's Rogue Male"[1]
[edit] Film changes
The movie First Blood severely alters the theme of the book by making Rambo more sympathetic and demonizing the police and national guard. By never having Rambo directly kill any of the police officers and their deaths being brought about by their own maniacal desire to capture Rambo, there is a complete role reversal. This reversal propels Rambo into the seat of hero instead of that of the cold blooded killer that he was in the novel. In the film, he is given the first name John. The ending is also changed; in the novel, Trautman kills Rambo, while in the film, Rambo surrenders to Trautman. The film also has an alternate ending which shows Rambo telling Trautman to kill him. Trautman is hesitant and Rambo is shot and killed as he grabs the gun in Trautmans hand. In the book Trautman knows Rambo will not escape and chooses to kill Rambo himself and stop the damage he is causing(he has killed dozens of police officers and blown up half the town). Rambo considers killing himself near the end but decides on one final showdown against Teasle the head deputy. Both men are fatally wounded and unable to aim. As Rambo fires one badly aimed shot at Teasle who collapses, Trautman sneaks up behind him and blows his head of with a shotgun. Teasle dies soon after Trautman tells him it's over.
[edit] References
- ^ interview in The Book Reporter. Retrieved on 2007-10-10.
[edit] Further Reading
- Stiffed by Susan Faludi (1999). Chapter 7 (pp. 359–406) offers a fuller treatment of the genesis and metamorphosis of First Blood from book to theater, including the screenplay's radical and reactionary swings in development and the alternate movie ending.
[edit] External links
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