c.) me urging you not to even try to challenge the claim that this is the greatest action movie of all time<\/p>\n
d.) all of the above? Head down to the comments to sort it out, tough guy.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to separate Rambo<\/a>\u2019s first screen appearance from all of the character\u2019s later movies. It hardly seems like the same person, and the muscle-bound, one-man war machine of those sequels bears virtually no resemblance to the meek, reluctant hero of 1982\u2019s First Blood. Those other movies are among the worst action movies ever made, if only because they became so progressively cartoonish. But the first one, based on the melancholy 1972 novel by David Morrell, is among the best action films. I\u2019m arguing the very best.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because the Rambo of that story, and the way Sylvester Stallone played him\u2014before the sequels turned him into Randy \u201cMacho Man\u201d Savage crossed with an M1 Abrams tank\u2014was fraught with humanity, frailty, and believability.<\/p>\n First Blood Is A Classic David vs. Goliath Conflict<\/p>\n The story involves a wandering Vietnam War veteran, struggling to adjust to life back home after seeing the most bloody, corrosive conflict imaginable. While passing through a small town in the Pacific Northwest, Rambo is hassled by a local sheriff (Brian Dennehy) and his deputies, who see him as nothing but a vagrant.<\/p>\n They push him around, and Rambo quietly absorbs it, but he doesn\u2019t leave. So, they arrest him, and after abusing him with a firehose shower, and an unsettling shave with a straight razor, Rambo snaps\u2014plagued by flashbacks to when he was a POW tortured by the Viet Cong. He lashes out reflexively, and then it\u2019s over for him. He\u2019s no longer up on charges of loitering; he has hurt an officer of the law. So he runs, steals a motorbike, and heads into the woods, without even the shirt on his back.<\/p>\n The sheriff and his deputies pursue, but they aren\u2019t equipped for survival the way Rambo is. The conflict continues to escalate until one of them dies in an accident, the victim of his own aggression, and Rambo must stave off their attack with home-made woodland traps and purloined weapons. The authorities won\u2019t back down, and the manhunt soon involves the National Guard. Rambo\u2019s own country has turned against him. He\u2019s used to that, too.<\/p>\n What makes this the greatest action movie? He was a hero stripped of everything, even his clothes, but especially his dignity. (He does have a knife with a compass in the stock.) Otherwise, caveman rules apply.<\/p>\n Despite having little but his own will, wiles, and strength, the Rambo of First Blood was able to not only survive impossible conditions, but strike back against foes who were armed with everything except a conscience.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a classic David vs. Goliath story, and although Rambo later became a right-wing fairy tale and a symbol of herculean might, the original story was about how our country too often disregards our fighting men and women when they are no longer of use to us. It is, ultimately, a patriotic movie, but not in the nationalistic sense. It begs for respect for the people whose blood and sacrifice secure our freedom and comfort. It asks us to use them honorably, and heal the wounds\u2014seen and unseen\u2014that they endure. The villains are the authority figures who\u2019d rather sweep him out of sight. The hero is an everyman.<\/p>\n First Blood is thrilling, but it\u2019s also about something. It has a beating but broken heart, and yet it remains rousing, inspiring, and downright beautiful between the shootouts, explosions, and fist-fights. Beyond that, its profound influence on subsequent action movies is nearly immeasurable.<\/p>\n Vulnerability Actually Gives First Blood Its Impressive Strength<\/p>\n When trying to pick my champion for this ScreenRant debate series, I thought about Terminator 2: Judgment Day as another possible contender. It\u2019s no doubt, one of the all-time greats, and I remember reading a review that compared the endless brawling between Arnold Schwarzenegger\u2019s monster-turned-hero T-800 and Robert Patrick\u2019s shapeshifting silver T-1000 to Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner. It\u2019s actually more like Itchy & Scratchy, but the point was the same: these two could pulverize each other non-stop and keep going like the squash and stretch invincibility of cartoons.<\/p>\n That shares some powerhouse DNA with the later Rambo sequels, when Stallone also became like a flesh-and-blood Terminator, but the lack of vulnerability also diminishes the stakes compared to First Blood. Stallone was a fit motherfucker in that film, but he had more of a lean swimmer\u2019s physique than a brawny bodybuilder. Dennehy\u2019s Sheriff Teasle was heavyset and middle-aged, huffing and puffing through the woods like he might be felled by a heart attack before Rambo could get him. Both of these men were eminently kill-able. That elevates the tension above any action movie where the hero and antagonist are indestructible brawl-busters, fun as that obviously may be.<\/p>\n In First Blood, restraint makes the story even more gripping. Rambo doesn\u2019t kill \u2026 anybody. In his \u201cLet it go\u201d speech to Dennehy, he even notes how easily he could have slain him and his deputies, but he chose to spare them. Rambo doesn\u2019t want this fight; he wants peace. It\u2019s the aggressors who are wrong. Rambo certainly defends himself, but if they had just left him alone, none of this bloodshed would have happened. The title itself refers to this: \u201cAll I wanted was something to eat,\u201d Rambo tells his former commander, Richard Crenna\u2019s Col. Trautman. \u201cThey drew first blood, not me.\u201d<\/p>\n First Blood puts you fully on Rambo\u2019s side. He\u2019s easy to cheer for, and to root for. You want him to be treated fairly and honorably. In the climax of the movie\u2014astoundingly\u2014he doesn\u2019t destroy his enemies and escape. He breaks down. In a rambling monologue, and a stunning performance from Stallone (who, let\u2019s face it, isn\u2019t known for being Olivier), Rambo unspools before our eyes. It\u2019s hard to understand what he\u2019s saying, but these are all the cruelties, humiliations, and pains he has been holding inside, ever since he was sent overseas to fight and possibly die in a war that no one back home believed in. His life had no meaning then, and it still doesn\u2019t. Not to the people of his own country.<\/p>\n Those who know Rambo only by reputation as a relentless super-soldier might be shocked to realize that the tough-guy icon ends First Blood in tears. Again, this Rambo is a real man, a real human. It makes this action story even more powerful, to conclude in a moment of quiet.<\/p>\n First Blood Dominates Because It Influenced So Many More Films<\/p>\n The action genre is among the most popular in moviemaking, so there are countless other options when trying to choose the best of all time. Before First Blood, there were many gangster pictures, Westerns, and shoot-\u2019em-ups. After this, there was still more of the same. But action movies changed as a result of this movie.<\/p>\n Consider 1988\u2019s Die Hard<\/a>, probably my favorite action flick. Bruce Willis\u2019 John McClane notoriously spawned endless imitators (Die Hard in an airplane, Die Hard in a submarine \u2026 Legend has it that Willis was once pitched Die Hard in a skyscraper<\/a> and had to tell the producer: \u201cI think they already did that.\u201d) But what is the Die Hard story arc, fundamentally? It\u2019s a lone hero, trapped, alone, and struggling with no resources to overcome impossible enemies. Let\u2019s face it: Great as it is, Die Hard is actually \u201cFirst Blood in a skyscraper.\u201d<\/p>\n Schwarzenegger\u2019s Predator<\/a> from 1987 is basically First Blood with a killer alien. Schwarzenegger starts out with his own share of weaponry, not to mention a full platoon of muscle-bound hardasses, including Carl Weathers, Bill Duke, Sonny Landham, and Jesse \u201cI Ain\u2019t Got Time To Bleed\u201d Ventura. But he loses everything, including his men, as he faces down the crab-faced hunter, who is also armed to the fangs with lasers, missiles, and invisibility. Like Rambo in First Blood, Schwarzenegger must rely on his instincts and ability to blend in with nature (like so many prey in the natural world) to overcome this all-powerful enemy.<\/p>\n When I first discovered First Blood, I was around 7 years old, and I was introduced to Rambo by my best friend, Joey Mitchell, who would put on camouflage facepaint with me and run through the woods surrounding our neighborhood, swinging from vines, rolling down hills, and imagining ourselves as Rambo-esque survivors. Kids are drawn to power because they have none whatsoever.<\/p>\n Kids also know unfairness when they see it, and are drawn to underdogs. First Blood suggested that, against all odds, you can stand up for yourself and what\u2019s right if you are smart, capable, and contain an inner strength. That\u2019s what we were playing at as we tumbled around the brush. There is a hilarious 2007 coming-of-age film called Son of Rambow<\/a> that is about this very thing.<\/p>\n![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/greatest-action-movie-goliath.jpg\"\/)
\n John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) gets a talking to from Sheriff Will Teasle (Brain Dennehy).Joe O’Shea<\/p>\n![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/greatest-action-movie-strength.jpg\"\/)
\n John Rambo, with dried blood on his face, stalks through the woods in First Blood.Joe O’Shea<\/p>\n![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/greatest-action-movie-let-it-go.jpg\"\/)
\n John Rambo holds a knife to Sheriff Teasle’s throat in First Blood.Joe O’Shea<\/p>\n