First Blood. 1982.
Classic early 80s film with Sly playing John J. Rambo, a Vietnam vet passing through a small town and victimised by the local authority Sheriff Brian Dennehy and his corrupt deputies that leads to a full scale search of the backwoods when Rambo escapes.
There came a time when soldiers returned home and really not celebrated for the Vietnam war and protested on how the Americans lost. Rambo has seen the horror and still lives with it and forced to go "Gorilla War Fare" on the pursuers. Richard Crenna plays Colonel Trautman who trained Rambo on survival and tells the great Sheriff to back off and let him cool down....yeah reallly great advice to ignore especiially when there is little body bags around. With less guns and explosions till the finale shootout, director Ted Kotcheff competently builds the tension and suspense and you get the feeling Rambo may not make it till the end. The locations are wonderfully atmospheric foggy, earth capturing the true outdoors of a good battle ground and home made bear traps.
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