Alan Spencer on FIRST BLOOD

As battle-scarred John Rambo, star and screenwriter Sylvester Stallone uses the post war traumas of real-life war veterans as fuel for a jingoistic revenge fantasy in the mode of Death Wish and Walking Tall. Efficiently directed by Ted Kotcheff (The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, North Dallas Forty), 1982’s First Blood is the quintessential Reagan era action film; the beleaguered Rambo takes up arms against a corrupt Washington state police department and essentially goes to war with his own government. Andrew Lazlo’s (Southern Comfort, Innerspace) beautiful cinematography (utilizing the lush landscapes of British Columbia) recalls Vilmos Zsigmond’s work on The Deer Hunter and Jerry Goldsmith’s thoughtful score conveys an appropriately manly but melancholy mood.

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