It’s been forty years since John James Rambo, portrayed by Sylvester Stallone, wandered into the small town of Hope, Washington, setting off a chain of violence and retribution that changed the face of action films as we knew them and created a film franchise that would last for decades. Fans are celebrating the anniversary of the series’ original film but are also sadly pointing out that many of the issues it addressed are still concerns in 2022.
Rambo’s name has become an icon for American Jingoism and hawklike foreign policy, making it easy to forget that the original film, First Blood, was actually an exploration of the plight of returning U.S. veterans of the conflict in Vietnam. Before any inciting incident occurs in the film, Rambo seeks out a foreign comrade only to find that he has succumbed to cancer due to exposure to Agent Orange, a defoliant used in the war. Over the course of the film, it is revealed that Rambo, and his commanding officer Colonel Sam Trautman, are the only two surviving members of his unit.
The film ends when Rambo is convinced to turn himself in by Trautman, but only after Rambo rages about the horrors of the war, his PTSD, and his treatment at the hands of his fellow citizens.
Reddit user SecretDracula recently posted that upon rewatching the movie in 2022, it seems “as politically relevant today as it was in 1982.”
Some newer fans admitted surprise upon seeing the original movie, noticing how different it is tonally from other entries in the franchise.
Most poignantly, users pointed out that many veterans are still facing the same neglect o this day.
Although the last movie in the franchise, Rambo: Last Blood came out in 2018, there is still a chance that new entries will continue into the 2020s. A series focussing on Rambo’s son was under consideration, and Stallone has not ruled out a future TV series.