Rambo: First Blood Part II

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Rambo: First Blood Part II
Rambo: First Blood Part II movie poster
Directed by	George P. Cosmatos
Produced by	Buzz Feitshans
Written by	Characters: David Morrell Story: Kevin Jarre Screenplay: Sylvester Stallone James Cameron
Starring	Sylvester Stallone Richard Crenna Charles Napier Stephen Berkoff Julia Nickson-Soul
Distributed by	TriStar Pictures
Release date(s)	May 24, 1985 (USA)
Running time	94 min.
Language	English
Budget	$44,000,000 (est.)
Preceded by	First Blood
Followed by	Rambo III
IMDb profile

Released on May 24, 1985, the second movie in the Rambo series, Rambo: First Blood Part II, has Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) released from prison by Federal order to document the possible existence of POWs in Vietnam, under the belief that he will find nothing and the government can sweep the issue under the rug.

The movie, which had an enormous budget of $44 million, became a huge box-office success. Earning over $150 million, it was the second most successful movie of 1985 (after Back to the Future). This film captured the attention of President Ronald Reagan and he awarded Stallone for portraying Rambo as a symbol of the U.S. Army.

The movie was also criticised for being a mindless action film and it was selected as worst picture at the 1985 Golden Raspberry Awards. It also topped the categories worst actor (Sylvester Stallone), worst screenplay (by Sylvester Stallone and James Cameron), and worst "original" song ("Peace in Our Life").

Rambo: First Blood Part II was directed by George P. Cosmatos, who later directed the movie Cobra with Sylvester Stallone and Brigitte Nielsen. He had previously been known for directing the 1976 movie Cassandra Crossing with Sophia Loren, Richard Harris and Burt Lancaster.

Rambo: First Blood Part II follows First Blood and is followed by Rambo III.

Taglines:

They sent him on a mission and set him up to fail. But they made one mistake. They forgot they were dealing with Rambo.
No man, no law, no war can stop him.
What you call hell, he calls home.

1 Plot
2 Trivia
3 Awards and nominations
4 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Rambo, with the assistance of a local woman Co Bao (Julia Nickson-Soul), does find American POWs and tries to escape with one. Marshall Murdock (Charles Napier), in charge of the operation, orders that Rambo be abandoned, and all documentation of POWs be destroyed. Rambo is taken into captivity, and tortured by the Russian army. With the help of Co (who is later killed), Rambo escapes, destroys nearly the entire hostile army, and flies back to Thailand with the rescued POWs. He then threatens Murdock to find the remaining POWs, or Rambo will find him.

A novelization was written by David Morrell, author of the novel First Blood, on which the first Rambo film was based.

[edit] Trivia

During the early 1980s James Cameron wrote three screenplays simultaneously: The Terminator, Aliens, and the first draft of Rambo: First Blood Part II. While Cameron would continue with The Terminator and with Aliens, Sylvester Stallone eventually took over the script of Rambo: First Blood Part II, creating a final draft which differed radically from Cameron's initial version [1].

The producers of the movie considered that Rambo would have a partner in the rescue mission of POWs. The producers thought of John Travolta to be Rambo's partner. But Stallone disagreed with them.

Rambo kills no fewer than 61 people during the running time of the film (not to mention the untold loss of life in the village and prison camp, which are both destroyed by Rambo during the course of the movie). According to the script, Rambo had 59 confirmed kills during the entire Vietnam conflict.