First Blood

John Rambo is a haunted Vietnam veteran who drifts into a small town looking for a quiet place to pass through. After a run-in with the local sheriff over vagrancy, Rambo is arrested and treated as a troublemaker rather than a wounded soldier. He slips away into the nearby mountains and uses his military training to stay ahead of a growing posse. The film tracks the escalating standoff between one man and a community, mixing tense wilderness survival with confrontations that expose how ill-prepared civilians and law enforcement can be when facing a veteran with combat skills.

Released in 1982, the film was directed by Ted Kotcheff and adapted from David Morrell's novel, with Sylvester Stallone and William Sackheim among the writers. Stallone stars as John Rambo, joined by Richard Crenna and Brian Dennehy in key roles.

First Blood did well enough at the box office to turn Rambo into a recurring movie character, and the film's financial return encouraged the studio to produce sequels that expanded the character into a franchise.

The movie left a big mark on popular culture, turning the name Rambo into shorthand for a tough, lone-wolf fighter. Scenes of survival tactics, tense chases through forests, and the image of a solitary combatant facing overwhelming odds have been referenced, parodied, and imitated in other films, TV, and advertising. The character shaped the action hero template of the 1980s and influenced later portrayals of conflicted veterans in media.

Critical response balanced appreciation for the film's atmosphere and Stallone's restrained turn with criticism of violent set pieces and tonal shifts toward action. Audiences have continued to respond positively, reflected in a user score around 7.497/10 from many votes. The movie resonated because it touches on themes of postwar trauma, the gap between military experience and civilian understanding, and the consequences of escalating conflicts between individuals and institutions.