Question: I actually have two questions about this film. Firstly, does Rambo actually kill anyone in this film? Dennehy doesn't die and he didn't kill Galt so was there anyone else? And secondly when Rambo arrives at the cliff face, why didn't he simply run to his right or left? The police were only coming at him from behind (and even if one of them came from the side, Rambo could have used his skills to get past him). So why did he feel that going down the cliff was his only option?
Question: I was wondering, at the beginning when the cop is about to shave him, why does he freak out about the knife but can kill people with his own knife?
Chosen answer: Because it's a knife that someone else is holding and can use against him. It's common for people in dangerous professions to regard their weapons as tools. For example, police officers who commit suicide by handgun rarely use their service weapon, but rather a personal firearm.
Additionally, I believe it is made clear during that scene that Rambo had previously been tortured at some point, and one of the tools used was a knife. So the combination of being restrained and having someone approach with a knife caused him to basically have extreme PTSD and so he attempts to escape.
Question: Behind the desk of Teasle is a distinguished service cross, a silver star and a purple heart. So he is himself a very brave fighter. Why would such a "war hero" be so mad about another war hero, a recipient of the medal of honor, delivered only by the President of the United States? Jealousy? Rage about the death of his friend?
Answer: At the start of the film when Rambo is causing all these problems, the Sheriff has no idea who John Rambo is (Vietnam War hero), so he thinks Rambo is just another America-disrespecting drifter (the American flag on Rambo's jacket). Also, Teasle is a law and order guy who does not want his town disturbed by outsiders. After the fireworks and Teasle finds out who Rambo is and also meets Colonel Troutman, Teasle's mission becomes personal: rage at the death of his best friend, humiliation in front of his deputies, the incompetence of the state National Guard to subdue Rambo, and also a generational factor: Teasle probably served in Korea or WW2, when America was top dog in the world, so he will not allow some hippie ex-soldier from a "lost" war best him.
That's it. When they got the news that Rambo not only was a real war veteran, an ex-Green Beret, he was a war hero with a Medal of Honor; if Teasle's ego was Pearl Harbor, getting that info was December 7, 1941.
Question: What could possibly have made Teasle think that it was Rambo who killed Gault? Teasle was fully aware that Rambo was injured and unarmed and that Gault was in a helicopter trying desperately to shoot him (against orders). So how the hell did he come to that conclusion?
Chosen answer: Rambo essentially admitted responsibility, when he tried to make peace with the officers as he stood near the body. As well, we can assume the chopper pilot reported the incident - while he may not have seen Rambo, rocks don't throw themselves at helicopters.
Question: Was First Blood not approved by any law enforcement or military? I noticed many types of military uniform mistakes, the stars on the trucks upside down, the flags on the police uniforms facing backward when the blue field should be forward. Usually, if a film can not get approval, they can not correctly show military or law enforcement items.
Answer: More than likely. After all, the movie portrayed both the local law enforcement and National Guard to be either intolerant jerks or incompetent morons. Hardly something they would approve of.
Answer: No, it's a myth that actors have to have permission to wear military or law enforcement items, and nor do they have to be displayed correctly.
Question: When Teasle and Rambo first meet, Teasle says something to the effect of "wearing that flag on that jacket, looking the way you do, you're asking for trouble around here." What does Teasle mean about Rambo wearing the flag? Is the town liberal, and he knows they wouldn't respect a veteran? I've never quite understood that line.
Answer: The exact opposite. He's saying Rambo looks like a long-hair peacenik, not a clean-cut veteran, so the town, being conservative, will not take kindly to his wearing the US flag in a way that they would interpret as disrespectful.
Answer: What he's actually saying is that many American soldiers returning from Vietnam were actually despised. America was incredibly divided over Vietnam in the 70s. Unfortunately, many vets were shunned in society.
Question: Why is Teasle so against allowing Rambo to come to town to get something to eat at the beginning? And what's with Galt being so harsh and brutal to Rambo when he's in prison, and then becoming obsessed with wanting to kill Rambo after he escapes? What is the character motivation for Galt hating Rambo so much?
Question: If Rambo could afford to eat, why couldn't he afford a bus ticket?
Chosen answer: A meal in the 80s would have cost 4 or 5 dollars. A bus ticket would have been around 50, or more, depending on where he was going.
Answer: There's no evidence he could afford to eat. It's possible he was planning on working for a meal.
Question: Everyone says Rambo only kills one person in First Blood. But I watched it a few months ago, and I'm sure I remember him blowing up some police cars in a chase. What happened there?
Chosen answer: He is never shown on camera to definitely kill more than one person (the shooter in the helicopter); the police cars flip over and crash, but the people inside are not shown to be dead, so it is possible they survived.
Question: If Teasle was so desperate to kill Rambo, why did he tell the soldiers he wanted him alive?
Answer: Teasle is a "my way or the highway" type of guy, as evidenced by his actions and the people he has on his team (they are either very aggressive, or extremely passive and do whatever they are told). When Rambo escapes, he is hell bent on ensuring that justice is served (even though he fabricated the crimes basically), so much so that he gets abusive and obsessed with serving it. he knows the national guard guys are likely to shoot first and ask questions later, so he tells them that he wants him alive, so that he can ensure justice if served. He is basically akin to Batman - justice will be served at any costs, except for killing them in cold blood.
Question: When the state police and national guard were called in to draw Rambo out into the open to capture him, why weren't the Marines or other active duty Green Berets called upon instead to deal with an unstable war veteran who was unpredictable and armed and dangerous? The government sent over Colonel Trautman, but he could have at least brought a group of special forces with him to help out in the hunt.
Answer: The answer is in Trautman's first appearance in the film: he is very adamant that the way to deal with Rambo is to deescalate the situation, not add more firepower/soldiers/hunters. It's likely the government considered sending special forces, but Trautman, who knows Rambo, would have declined for the same reason he explains to Teasle: the best thing to do is let Rambo escape, let him calm down, and apprehend him once he's no longer in "survival" mode.
Question: When Sheriff Teasle drops Rambo off at the bridge, and then when he pulls his car to the side to question and then arrest him, both times he turns on his red and blue lights. Why does he do this?
Answer: Because even though there wasn't traffic, he was still stopping in the middle of the road. He wanted to make sure to be seen. When he's arresting Rambo, he's actually blocking the road and not pulled off to the side, so he wants to make sure traffic stops. When he initially picked Rambo up, he was coming from the gas station and on a side road, so he wasn't stopped in the middle of the road like he did later, so he doesn't bother turning his lights on.
Question: Rambo takes the jacket from the policeman who fell from the helicopter. Why doesn't he wear it, because we see him make a "jacket" earlier on, because of the cold? We never see the jacket again, so why take it? (00:28:49)
Answer: Rambo uses Galt's jacket as the "scarecrow" later. During the flashes of lightening, the wet sagging jacket is visible hanging from its hood over the propped up wood branches. Galt's jacket has a fur collar that's actually a hood that zips up (my brother had a similar jacket). I remember an interview from many years ago, where it was mentioned that a number of things had been omitted or revised in the screenplay, during filming. One such revision was Rambo wearing Galt's jacket, but Stallone thought it was too ludicrous, so they had Rambo just use it as the "scarecrow" to draw Orval's dogs.
Chosen answer: No he doesn't kill anyone. He didn't know if he was surrounded or not and if he did encounter one from the side they might have shot him.
Grumpy Scot
Rambo killed Galt, albeit indirectly and unintentionally. In the US, "manslaughter involves causing the death of another person in a manner less culpable than murder." Rambo was responsible for throwing a projectile that struck the helicopter, causing the pilot to lose control resulting in Galt falling to his death.
But if Galt had been buckled in, he'd have lived. He was behaving recklessly. Yes Rambo's rock was involved, but that's two steps removed from Galt's death. Rock thrown -> pilot overreacts -> Galt falls because he wasn't strapped in properly. Galt's own behaviour and the pilot's reaction are more at fault than Rambo. This isn't a court, by most reasonable standards Rambo didn't kill Galt.