First Blood (1982)

The first Rambo film is a bit strange, because it's so unlike the canonical image of Rambo in many ways- it's much less of a ridiculous action movie and more of a coming-home thriller about a Vietnam vet on the lam. Interesting that the conventions of the franchise really don't come into play until the later films.

It struck me that the film is almost identical to Billy Jack in structure, only rather than a paragon defending an ideal, the protagonist is broken and fighting as much against his own trauma as the antagonists. Both films end in the same way, only with Rambo alone and haunted and Billy Jack morally rectified and supported by his community. What a difference ten years makes.

Further to my thoughts on the genesis of action films, it strikes me that even in 1982, still has vestiges of an earlier form of action film, as though the high concept action hero movie has yet to fully take hold. I'll keep this in mind as I move on through the series.