| Rambo: First Blood Part II | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | George P. Cosmatos |
| Produced by | Buzz Feitshans |
| Screenplay by | Sylvester Stallone James Cameron |
| Story by | Kevin Jarre |
| Based on | Characters created by David Morrell |
| Starring | Sylvester Stallone Richard Crenna Charles Napier Steven Berkoff Julia Nickson Julian Turner |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith Peter Schless |
| Cinematography | Jack Cardiff |
| Editing by | Larry Bock Mark Goldblatt Mark Helfrich Gib Jaffe Frank E. Jiminez |
| Studio | Anabasis Investments |
| Distributed by | TriStar Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 22, 1985 |
| Running time | 94 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $44,000,000 (est.) |
| Box office | Domestic: $150,415,432 Worldwide: $300,400,432 |
Rambo: First Blood Part II (also known as Rambo II) is a 1985 action film. A sequel to 1982's First Blood, it is the second installment in the Rambo series starring Sylvester Stallone, who reprises his role as Vietnam veteran John Rambo. Picking up where the first film left, the sequel is set in the context of the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue; it sees Rambo released from prison by Federal order to document the possible existence of POWs in Vietnam, under the belief that he will find nothing, thus enabling the government to sweep the issue under the rug.
Despite negative reviews, Rambo: First Blood Part II was a major box office success and became somewhat of a cult classic. Rambo: First Blood Part II is the most recognized and memorable installment in the series. Having inspired and influenced parodies, video games, even rip offs such as Strike Commando and Rampage. Rambo: First Blood Part II embodied the lone wolf-one man army action hero which would subsequently be played with future action heroes in various media such as Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid video games etc. The film was on the ballot for the American Film Institute's 100 Years... 100 Cheers, a list of America's most inspiring movies.[1] Entertainment Weekly ranked the movie number 23 on its list of The Best Rock-'em, Sock-'em Movies of the Past 25 Years.[2]
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John Rambo, having been tried, convicted, and sentenced to time at hard labor, is working in a labor camp prison when he gets a visit from his former commander, Colonel Sam Trautman (Richard Crenna). Trautman offers Rambo the chance to be released from prison after the events of the first film and given full clemency, but on condition of him going into Vietnam to search for American POWs. Rambo meets Marshal Murdock (Charles Napier), an American bureaucrat who is in charge of the operation and he tells Rambo that the American public is demanding knowledge about the POWs and they want a trained commando to go in and search for them. Rambo is briefed that he is only to photograph the POWs and not to rescue them, nor is he to engage any enemy soldiers. Rambo reluctantly agrees and he is then told that an agent of the American government will be there to receive him in the jungles of Vietnam.
Rambo parachutes into the Vietnamese jungles, but loses most of his equipment in the process and is left only with his knives, his bow, and arrows. He meets the agent, a local woman named Co-Bao (Julia Nickson), who wants to go to the United States, and who arranges for her and Rambo to go upstream with a group of river pirates. Rambo comes to the camp, and in contradiction to his briefing, he finds American prisoners there and rescues one of them from a makeshift crucifixion. Later at the camp, a patrol discovers a dead sentry whom Rambo eliminated with a throwing knife. In response, a large patrol goes out into the jungles in search of the (unknown to them) intruder. Rambo, Co and the American POW escape with the pirates, but are attacked by a Vietnam People's Navy gunboat and are promptly betrayed by the pirates, who fear the military's reprisals should they not cooperate; Rambo sends Co and the POW to safety and manages to destroy the gunboat with an RPG-7 and kill all the pirates. When Rambo calls for extraction, he is denied as Murdock fears what will happen to him and his party if the American public come to know about it.
Rambo and the American POW are recaptured. Rambo's wrists are bound to an oxen yoke and he is lowered partially naked into a leech-infested cesspool (or possibly a pit dug especially for the purpose of torture). Later Rambo learns that the Soviet Army is aiding the Vietnamese and training them, and is tortured badly by a Soviet officer, Lt. Col. Podovsky (Steven Berkoff) and his silent, robust henchman Sergeant Yushin. Rambo is ordered to contact the American military and tell them that they should not send any more commandos for rescue operations in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Co enters the camp in the guise of a prostitute and comes to the hut in which Rambo is held captive. Rambo agrees to Podovsky's condition, but instead threatens Murdock on the radio that he is "coming to get you." He then escapes from captivity into a nearby jungle with Co's help. Co then tends to Rambo's wounds and begins to implore him to take her to the United States. Rambo agrees and they kiss; however, they are then attacked by some Vietnamese soldiers and Co is killed. Rambo kills them all (except for their commander, who escapes, but is later killed by one of Rambo's exploding arrows) and then buries Co's body in the jungle.
Following his escape, the camp's Vietnamese soldiers and Soviet commandos are sent to look for him. Rambo assembles his weapons, and using guerrilla warfare tactics, is able to kill a large number of enemy troops in the jungle. He proceeds to a small enemy camp and destroys it and several vehicles with explosive arrows.[3]
He hijacks a UH-1N Twin Huey helicopter from the Soviets after throwing Sergeant Yushin out and proceeds towards the POW camp. He destroys most of the camp with the helicopter, then lands and arms himself with the M60 machine gun that is mounted on the Huey, kills the remaining soldiers, and rescues all the POWs. They get to the helicopter and head towards the American camp in Thailand. Lt. Col. Podovsky chases them in his Mil Mi-24 helicopter gunship. Although Rambo's helicopter is heavily damaged by Podovsky's helicopter, he manages to land his helicopter on a river, then fakes his death. When Podovsky comes near him and gets careless, Rambo fires a LAW at Podovsky's chopper, obliterating it.
Rambo then returns to the base and wrecks Murdock's command center. He threatens Murdock with a knife, challenging him to find and rescue the remaining American POWs in Vietnam. Trautman then comforts Rambo and tries to pacify him. An angry Rambo responds that he only wants his country to love its soldiers as much as its soldiers love it. As Rambo leaves, Trautman asks him, "How will you live, John?" To which Rambo replies, "Day by day." The film credits roll as Rambo walks off into the distance while his mentor watches him.
The producers of the movie considered that Rambo would have a partner in the rescue mission of POWs. The producers allegedly wanted John Travolta to play Rambo's partner, but Stallone vetoed the idea.[4] Lee Marvin (who was considered to play Colonel Trautman in the first film) was also originally set to play Marshall Murdock, but declined. James Cameron wrote a first draft under the title First Blood II, which originally had the idea of Travolta as Rambo's partner, but the concept was dropped and Stallone rewrote the script to have Rambo go solo.
The movie was shot between June 1984 and August 1984. According to several members from the set, Stallone directed the majority of the film, despite not receiving co-director credit. The action scenes and political themes in the film were all staged by Stallone.
The movie was shot entirely on location in Mexico. The waterfall explosion scene was shot in Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico and the rest of the movie in Tecoanapa, Guerrero, Mexico.
Overall reactions from critics was generally negative.[5] The film earned a 29% "Rotten" rating in the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.[6] In the 6th Golden Raspberry Awards, the film won the award for Worst Picture, Worst Actor for Sylvester Stallone, Worst Screenplay for the story written by Kevin Jarre, the screenplay written by James Cameron and Sylvester Stallone, and characters created by David Morrell, and Worst Original Song for "Peace in Our Life" by Frank Stallone, lyrics by Stallone, and music by Stallone, Peter Schless and Jerry Goldsmith. The film was nominated for Worst Supporting Actress for Julia Nickson-Soul, the Worst Director for George Cosmatos, and the Worst New Star for Julia Nickson-Soul.
Despite the negative reception, it was very popular among the audience and fans alike and has since become a cult classic, also the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing.[7] and won the Golden Screen in Germany.
Rambo: First Blood Part II opened in the US on May 22, 1985, and was the #1 movie that weekend, taking $20,176,217 on 2,074 screens (which made it the first film in the US to be shown on 2,000+ screens). Overall, in the US, the movie took $150,415,432 and then took $149,985,000 internationally, giving Rambo: First Blood Part II a box office total of $300,400,432. The movie is easily the most successful of the Rambo series, with Rambo III in 2nd place with $189,015,611, First Blood in 3rd place with $125,212,904 and Rambo taking 4th place with $113,244,290. Rambo: First Blood Part II is Stallone's second biggest movie of all time, just slightly behind Rocky IV, which took $300,473,716, also in 1985, making it Stallone's most successful year ever with over $600m for the two movies.
The movie made $78,919,000 in rentals in the US alone. DVD's of each of the first three movies in the series have been released and selling since 1998, but no figures are available for these as of yet. As the movie took $300,400,432 at the box office and $78,919,000 from US rentals, it is estimated that with European/international DVD sales of Rambo: First Blood Part II, the overall take for the movie is somewhere in the region of $400–500m.
The musical score for the movie was done by Jerry Goldsmith, conducting the National Philharmonic Orchestra. The main song in the movie is sung by Stallone's brother, singer/songwriter Frank Stallone. Varèse Sarabande issued the original soundtrack album.
Note: As released in the United Kingdom by That's Entertainment Records (the British licensee for Varèse Sarabande at the time), the UK version placed "Peace In Our Life" between "Betrayed" and "Escape From Torture," thus making "Day By Day" the final track.
In 1999 Silva America released an expanded edition with the cues in film order. Previously unreleased music is in bold.
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