The fate of Hollywood movies is unpredictable, often bombed for both lack of realism or being too grounded. 1985’s Rambo: First Blood Part II was a commercial success, earning $150 million worldwide, but was recently judged for its lack of realism. Based on the Vietnam War, the Sylvester Stallone-starrer film was criticized for perpetuating fake information.
The film revolves around Sly’s John Rambo being sent back to Vietnam to look for any left behind Prisoners of War (POW), that backs a myth around missing American soldiers. Therefore, a historian recently dismissed the claims made in the movie, describing them as fake and urging fans to rethink their perception of the age-old film.
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Sylvester Stallone’s 1985 banger gets a reality check
A riveting interview shared last week shows Rambo: First Blood Part II in a different light. Bill Allison, a military history professor at Georgia Southern University and a former battlefield tour guide in Vietnam, took the initiative to assess Hollywood movies that spin around the Vietnam War. First Blood Part II being one of them, Allison revealed that there is no evidence that American soldiers were held after the Vietnam War in 1975.
In the James Cameron-led movie, Rambo is on a search for the POWs and rescues the soldiers in captivity. Allison claimed that the scene feeds into the myth but in reality, Vietnam had a rising cottage industry that would sell fake information to the families of missing soldiers. He told Insider,
“And all those missing names are listed in The New York Times. They know who they are. They know the units and everything. They can create fake dog tags and rust them up and everything. And you’ll pay, you know, $10,000 to somebody in Bangkok who has this information on your loved one, right?… Chuck Norris made six films about going back and rescuing these people. We get our history from movies. So we all come to believe that this is the case, right? It’s a tragic deal all the way around, I think.”
The War historian concluded his insight by appreciating Sylvester Stallone’s mind-blowing physique, and action-packed film. Yet, what it had made the viewers believe was worth nothing in reality.
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Rambo’s final fight with Last Blood
Despite First Blood Part II’s misleading realism, the film series turned into a blockbuster franchise, grossing $336 million altogether, an impressive amount back then. The last installment came in 2019, with John Rambo fighting the Mexican Cartel. While there was much craze and anticipation, Rambo: Last Blood ended up bagging a mere $44 million at the box office, one of the lowest in the franchise, per Box Office Mojo.
The fourth installment, 2008’s Rambo was directed by Sylvester Stallone himself, who also starred as the titular character, per Movie Web. Over the years, Sly has attached himself to multiple blockbuster franchises, Rocky, and The Expendables; however, Rambo remains amongst his most notable ones. Rambo: First Blood Part II is available to stream on Amazone Prime Video, Apple TV and Vudu.
