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First Blood

Rambo: First Blood

1982

Ted Kotcheff

Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Brian Dennehy, David Caruso ...

6.6

73,603

Action Sylvester Stallone stars as ex-Green Beret John Rambo, a shell-shocked Vietnam vet adrift in the Pacific Northwest. Harassment by an unsympathetic small-town sheriff brings on nasty flashbacks of torture at the hands of the Viet Cong; after busting out of the jail where he has been unjustly imprisoned, our psychically-scarred hero vows to get revenge on the ungrateful sheriff. Before blowing the sheriff and his town away, however, Rambo ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Janet Maslin The New York Times	"[It] is ragged and flashy; it ought to be a big success with audiences that value action for its own sake."	POS
United States	James Berardinelli ReelViews	"The darker tone, somber subtext, and generally non-exploitative violence allow viewers to enjoy the film not only as an action/thriller but as something with a degree of intelligence and substance (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"Watchable if entirely preposterous (...) Devotees of old-school 80s action will enjoy this (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
United Kingdom	Adam Smith Empire	"The watershed movie as far as Vietnam and the portrayal of its forgotten victims was concerned. (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Variety	"Director Ted Kotcheff has all sorts of trouble with this mess, aside from credibility"	NEG
United States	Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"Stallone is one of the great physical actors in the movies, (...) Although almost all of 'First Blood' is implausible, because it's Stallone on the screen, we'll buy it (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Dave Kehr Chicago Reader	"[Kotcheff] does a good job with the violence and suspense (...) and he seems fully aware of the dark, subversive implications of the material, even if the screenplay doesn't allow him to resolve them successfully"	NEU
United States	Eric Frederiksen IGN	"'First Blood', however, is not the Rambo movie we initially think of when the character is mentioned. No, it’s much better than that."	POS
United Kingdom	Jason Caro Radio Times	"An involving action drama (...) The warfare is tautly assembled by director Ted Kotcheff and Stallone portrays Rambo with enough wounded conviction to forgive some of his increasingly far-fetched escapes (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Almar Haflidason BBC	"Stallone underwent training in survival skills and hand-to-hand combat that helped give the film such a raw and authentic edge that excited the audiences of the time (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS

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