Continuity mistake: When Rambo crashes through the road block in the army truck it's still daylight outside but when he's approaching the gas station it's nighttime. How could so much time pass when he was within minutes of town when he went through the road block?
Visible crew/equipment: During the motorcycle chase Rambo jumps over the train tracks, if you look close you can easily see the ramp. (00:18:00)
Continuity mistake: In the scene when the gas station blows up, watch the cars parked in front of the "Kool Lights" advertisement. These two cars explode (for no obvious reason, by the way) after the police officers have gotten out of their cars. They run away from the explosion and leave their police cars behind. Next shot, the same two cars in front of the ad explode again.
Continuity mistake: When Sylvester Stallone is in the stolen army truck and crashes through the police road block, the truck becomes airborne. Upon landing, the gas tank is clearly separating from the truck, but in the next shot, the truck and gas tank are together.
Continuity mistake: When Rambo approaches the police road block, the truck's windshield is penetrated by bullets. When the truck crashes through the barricades, the bullet holes are gone. They reappear on the next shot, but at the wrong places, then disappear again.
Visible crew/equipment: In the shot of the stolen army truck crashing through the police road block, you can see a camera mounted inside the truck. Look in the small window on the rear wall of the cab. (Apparently both this shot and the shots from inside the cab were done in the same take.) (01:13:10)
Revealing mistake: When Rambo throws a rock at the police helicopter and knocks Galt out, you can clearly tell it's a stuntman. Galt is in his 40s and overweight. The guy that was falling looked like he was 25 and was noticeably thinner.
Visible crew/equipment: At the beginning of the movie, Sheriff Teasle escorts Rambo to the outskirts of town. As the sheriff drives off, the boom mike is visible in the reflection of the car's right rear passenger window. (00:07:30)
Continuity mistake: Following his encounter with Rambo in the woods Teasle has a long bloody cut on his lower face. When he returns to his office the cut is completely healed and gone. But when he sits down in the bar with Trautman it is back. After this scene it vanishes for good so I presume the bar scene was originally intended to be inserted before Teasle returned to the office.
Continuity mistake: When Sherrif Teasle is chasing Rambo on the stolen motorcycle, Teasle drives his police cruiser through a small ravine. The car hits ground hard and the lens to the driver-side front turn-signal can be seen popping out of the fender. The lens is mysteriously back in place in all subsequent shots.
Factual error: Col. Trautman should be wearing his rank insignia on the flash (small patch) on his beret. All officers wear their rank on their flash, enlisted men wear the unit crest. (This error was corrected in Rambo II and III.)
Continuity mistake: When Rambo blows up "The Outpost", Rambo is in an alley and runs for cover behind a mail box. A couple of shots later Rambo does this all over again, but this time the shot is reversed.
Revealing mistake: In the scene where Rambo is driving the truck and pushes the cop car into path of the broken down car, the explosion starts the second the cars make contact. In the next shot during the fireball, the two cables that held the static vehicle in place are visible.
Continuity mistake: In the opening scene when Rambo is looking for Delmar Berry, a woman is hanging washing on a clothes line. In one shot she is hanging an orange checkered towel. A moment later in the next shot she is hanging the same towel in the same place again.
Plot hole: When Rambo hijacks the Army truck, he throws out the driver, Robert A. and continues driving down the one-lane dirt road in the same direction. When Robert A. hits the ground, he immediately pops up and runs the opposite direction, away from where the truck is driving. A couple of shots later, we see a behind view of Robert A. running. It turns out that it is the driver's view from a Sheriff's vehicle. How could a car, especially a Sheriff's squad car, possibly come from that direction since it was a one-way road? And how could that same officer not see that the man driving the truck was Rambo?
Suggested correction: It isn't shown that no other roads join that one. It's therefore reasonable to assume the police car joined that road from a branch / connecting road and didn't encounter the truck.
Continuity mistake: When Teasle talks to Trautman for the first time, Teasle is wearing a winter coat over his police uniform. At one point the brown lapel of his police jacket is sticking out past the collar of the winter coat, but in the next shot it's tucked underneath, and he didn't have time to fix it.
Continuity mistake: During the escape from prison, Rambo grabs a motorcycle and is being chased by a sheriff's car. During the chase, the rear view mirror in the sheriff's car disappears and reappears throughout the scene.
Audio problem: When Rambo rides the motorcycle down the sidewalk he's shouting at the pedestrians to look out. The movements of his mouth don't match what you hear him say. Originally Rambo was swearing but this was changed.
Audio problem: When the Colonel arrives at the tent we hear the Sheriff say "We're a little busy this morning Colonel, what can I do for you?", but the movement on his lips does not match what we hear.
Continuity mistake: When Orval (the dog man) gets shot, Sheriff Teasle and his deputies get down seeking cover. Teasle's hat falls down to his left-hand side. Next shot (close-up), his hat falls down again, this time to the right-hand side.
