They drew first blood…not me…
As a child of the ’80s and ’90s, I was always at least vaguely aware of the character of Rambo. I knew very little about him, or the movies, just that he ran around without a shirt on and a really gun. I remember seeing commercials on TV for action figures from the animated series inspired by the films (what is it about violent ’80s movies that inspired so many kids’ TV shows and toys?!).
But it wasn’t until I got to college that I started to dive into the world of John Rambo. As I’ve rambled about in previous posts, I used to listen exclusively to film scores. This started in high school, I think. I was becoming a huge James Bond fan, and you can’t become a big Bond fan without at least a small appreciation for the music. It’s true. It’s a rule. So after exploring the musical world of 007, I started to expand on my interest in scores, eventually finding my way to one of the great film composers, Jerry Goldsmith. An uncle of mine is a film and film score fan, especially of Goldsmith and pointed me in the direction of some of his best scores, including Rambo: First Blood Part II.
This score is an amazing action score, and possibly one of the best action scores ever written, with some amazing themes, melodies, and outstanding action cues. It took me a little while to really get into it, but once I did, I was hooked. And soon after, my curiosity got the best of me and I wanted to see the movie, skipping right over the first one.
Despite my recollection of the Rambo movies being big, dumb action movies, I enjoyed it. Is it the most subtle intellectual movie out there? No, no way. But it’s solid entertainment, and well made for what it is.
So I wanted more. I explored the other Rambo scores — this is before the fourth and fifth installments of the series, so there only the two, both also written by Goldsmith, and both excellent. The first one, like the film, is not wall-to-wall action, but still a great listening experience, introducing one of the great themes that Goldsmith would later expand on in Part II. The score for Rambo III was more like Part II, although the quality of the orchestra’s performance was kind of lacking. It’s just kind of…flat, and lacks the energy of the first two scores.
That said, I became of the fan of the movies. First Blood is a classic, and I truly mean that. It’s a lot more than what people give it credit for. While the two sequels are certainly more dumbed down, the first film is suspenseful, exciting, well-acted (yes, even from Stallone — his performance is mostly physical, and this is where he shines — he supposedly hated the original cut of the movie so much that he had it recut to focus more on the other characters), and just generally well-made. Part II, as I said before, is a fun popcorn movie. And III is…just a guilty pleasure. It’s not a good movie. But I enjoy it all the same. The fourth film, the simply titled Rambo, was a step up and a bit more character-driven, but still lacks a certain something. And as of now, I still have not seen the film, the cleverly titled Rambo: Last Blood. I own it, I got it cheap on Blu-ray, but still haven’t taken the time to actually watch it. One day.
But to bring this topic back on-course, becoming a fan of these movies brought me to the source novel, First Blood, by David Morrell. In the making-of features for the first film, Morrell is interviewed several times and it got me very interested in checking out the novel. I was able to find a copy and dove right in.
The story here is mostly the same. Vietnam vet Rambo (no first name given in the novel) wants to pass through a town, but the local sheriff, fearing a drifter/hippy invasion, runs him out. But he doesn’t realize who he’s pushing, and Rambo fights back. In a nutshell. Yeah, okay, I probably won’t be getting a job as dust jacket book summary person any time soon. But I’m not really trying, I guess. ANYway…
Where the movie deviates from the novel is in the tone. This book is dark. I mean DARK. First off, unlike in the movie, Rambo is not necessarily the “good guy”. Morrell tells a more morally ambiguous story here, alternating between Rambo and the sheriff, Teasle, on each chapter, giving each man’s perspective and changing your sympathies just as you find yourself siding with one or the other.
Secondly, coming off of that point, the Rambo of the novel does not pull any punches. Whereas the filmmakers reigned in the wake of his destruction and mayhem for the movie in order to make him a more sympathetic character, in the novel, Rambo is a killing machine. He kills without hesitation or mercy.
And as a young college student with an interest in writing, this really resonated with me. In my writing, I had begun to toy with the idea of moral ambiguity, playing with the conventions of “good” and “bad” guys in a thriller type story. But it wasn’t until I read First Blood that I fully realized how far I could go with it. It made me want to challenge that concept of good and evil even further.
This book had essentially become my writer’s bible.
(Too melodramatic?)
And I read the rest of Morrell’s novels. I enjoyed them all, but what I find so funny is how that book, his first novel, was so original and how there really hadn’t been anything before or since that was like it. And yet, most of the rest of his novels were quite formulaic and generic. I’m not saying this to bash the man’s work — again, I really enjoyed all of them, and most of his books did have some great ideas. They just lacked the raw ferocity and originality of that book.
Maybe I ought to give the book another read. Maybe it could job my creative memory…so’s to speak.
