First Blood (1982)

Film and Plot Synopsis

In First Blood, John Rambo is a former United States Special Forces soldier who fought in Vietnam. While he won the Congressional Medal of Honor, his time in Vietnam still haunts him. When he arrives in Hope, Washington to visit a friend, Sheriff William Teasel quickly escorts the drifter out of town. Unfortunately for Teasel and his men, this slight angers Rambo, so the sheriff arrests him. While the county guards clean him up, Rambo has a Vietnam flashback and snaps. He escapes to the surrounding mountains while the sheriff and his men take chase. Eventually Rambo’s old commanding officer, Colonel Samuel Trautman arrives to save both the Sheriff’s department and Rambo before the situation escalates further.

‘First Blood’ Movie Summary

First Blood begins as Vietnam Vet and tormented drifter, John Rambo, wanders into the outskirts of a sleepy town to visit one of his last surviving team mates from his Special Forces division, but he learns that the man has died the previous year from exposure to Agent Orange.

Rambo leaves on the verge of becoming unglued mentally, and walks into the town of Hope where the kind-hearted Sheriff Teasle greets him. Rambo doesn’t have the looks of someone that would fit in Hope, so the good sheriff tosses Rambo out of it quicker than he tosses the United States constitution out the window.

He drives Rambo out of Hope, points him to Portland, and tells him to never come back, but Rambo is hungry, and turns around and starts walking back into town. The sheriff arrests him for vagrancy, resisting arrest, and possessing a concealed weapon.

They process Rambo quite aggressively, but when they try to dry-shave him with a straight razor, Rambo has a flashback to being tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He opens up a can of Green Beret whoop ass. Rambo attacks the officers, and escapes on a stolen motorcycle.

Since this is a small town, the sheriff organizes a search party of locals. They head out into the cold forest with orders to capture Rambo alive, but one of the Sheriff’s officers, his good friend Officer Galt, cares even less for the United States constitution than Teasle.

Galt disobeys the orders, and opens fire on Rambo from a helicopter when he spots him clinging helplessly from a cliff. Rambo manages to throw a rock at the helicopter, which hits its windshield. This causes the pilot to shake the helicopter suddenly, and Galt loses his balance and falls to his death.

Rambo then falls into a tree, but survives. He tries to surrender to the police, but the good sheriff wants to kill Rambo in revenge for Galt’s death, and he and his men open fire on Rambo while he has his hands up. Rambo runs off into the forest, and the hunt is on, but who is hunting whom? They drew first blood, so I’m guessing you know already.

Rambo tracks down each of the deputies, one by one, and disables them.

Eventually, Rambo takes them all out before confronting the good sheriff. He holds his knife to the sheriff’s throat, and says he will kill him if he pursues him any more. Guess what? Teasle decides to pursue him more. He calls in the National Guard, the State Patrol, and more local volunteers to take out Rambo.

Back in Hope, Colonel Sam Trautman arrives to help stop the man he trained. He believes if you just let Rambo walk away from the situation, he will calm down, and will be peacefully captured elsewhere. Teasle is stubborn and defiant. Trautman’s suggestion is ridiculous to him now that Rambo is completely outnumbered.

Rambo is eventually cornered at the entrance of the mine. Once again, instead of following orders to take Rambo alive, the men use a rocket to blow up the entrance—presumably killing Rambo in the process.

Rambo survives, and heads through the mine to another exit. He escapes back into Hope after he steals a truck. There, he runs the truck into a gas station, and sets everything on fire. He uses his stolen machine gun to shoot out power lines and storefronts.

Teasle watches helplessly from his station’s roof. His plan is to snipe Rambo from above, but Rambo has already spotted him. He enters the station, and shoots Teasle through the roof. Teasle falls through the skylight, but is still alive. Rambo is about to kill him as Colonel Trautman arrives.

He tries to talk down Rambo, and Rambo breaks down even more into a blubbering mess. He rabids on about his treatment he received in the United States when he returned from Vietnam before finally surrendering to Trautman. Rambo is arrested by state troopers, and Teasle is sent to the hospital…and all the guy ever wanted was to just eat quietly at the diner.

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