Rambo III (1988)
Rambo III is a 1988 American action film directed by Peter MacDonald and co-written by Sylvester Stallone, who also reprises his role as Vietnam War veteran John Rambo. A sequel to Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), it is the third installment in the Rambo franchise, followed by Rambo. The film depicts fictional events during the Soviet–Afghan War. In the film, Rambo sets out on a dangerous journey to Afghanistan in order to rescue his former commander and his longtime best friend, Col. Sam Trautman, from the hands of an extremely powerful and ruthless Soviet Army colonel who is bent on killing both Trautman and Rambo, while helping a local band of Afghan rebels fight against Soviet forces threatening to destroy their village. Rambo III was released worldwide on May 25, 1988, and grossed $189 million at the box office. With a production budget between $58 and $63 million, Rambo III was the most expensive film ever made at the time.
Plot.
Three years after the events in Vietnam, John Rambo has settled in a Thai monastery and is helping with construction work on the monastery grounds. He also makes money (which he donates to the monastery) by competing in krabi-krabong matches (using fighting sticks) in nearby Bangkok. Colonel Sam Trautman visits his old friend and ally Rambo, and explains that he is putting together a mercenary team for a CIA-sponsored mission to supply the Mujahideen and other tribes as they try to repel the Soviet Army in Afghanistan. Despite being shown photos of civilians suffering at the hands of the Soviet military, Rambo refuses to join, as he is tired of fighting. Trautman proceeds anyway and is ambushed by enemy forces near the border, resulting in all of his men being killed. Trautman is captured and sent to a large mountain base to be interrogated by Soviet Colonel Zaysen and his henchman Sergeant Kourov.
Embassy official Robert Griggs informs Rambo of Col. Trautman’s capture but refuses to approve a rescue mission for fear of drawing the United States into the war. Aware that Trautman will die otherwise, Rambo gets permission to undertake a solo rescue on the condition that he will be disavowed in the event of capture or death. Rambo immediately flies to Peshawar, Pakistan, where he intends to convince arms dealer Mousa Ghani to bring him to Khost, the town closest to the Soviet base where Trautman is held captive.
The Mujahideen in the village, led by chieftain Masoud, hesitate to help Rambo free Trautman. Meanwhile, a Soviet informant in Ghani’s employ informs the Soviets, who send two attack helicopters to destroy the village. Though Rambo manages to destroy one of them with a DShK heavy machine gun, the rebels refuse to aid him any further.
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Aided only by Mousa and a young boy named Hamid, Rambo attacks the base and inflicts significant damage before being forced to retreat. Hamid, as well as Rambo, are wounded during the battle and Rambo sends him and Mousa away before resuming his infiltration.
Skillfully evading base security, Rambo reaches and frees Trautman just as he is about to be tortured with a flamethrower. He and Trautman rescue several other prisoners and hijack a Hind gunship helicopter to escape the base. The helicopter is damaged during takeoff and quickly crashes, forcing the escapees to flee across the sand on foot. An attack helicopter pursues Rambo and Trautman to a nearby cave, where Rambo destroys it with an explosive arrow. A furious Zaysen sends Spetsnaz commandos under Kourov to kill them, but they are quickly routed and killed. An injured Kourov attacks Rambo with his bare hands, but is overcome and killed.
Development and writing.
Sylvester Stallone later said his original premise of the film “was more in keeping with the theme of Tears of the Sun, but set in Afghanistan.” Bullitt and Red Heat scribe Harry Kleiner was hired to write a draft, but his script was rejected by Stallone. Several weeks into filming, many of the film’s crew were fired including the director of photography and director Russell Mulcahy. Stallone: The canvas of this movie is so large you have to constantly think 10 scenes ahead. You can’t wing it. They didn’t go into the Battle of Waterloo not knowing what their strategy would be. Well, this movie is kind of like a cinematic warfare. We have a huge cast and crew (more than 250 people) and tough locations to deal with. Everyone and everything has to coordinate.
Pre-production.
In a 2008 online Q&A, Stallone stated that a disagreement over casting led to him firing Russell Mulcahy as the director: He went to Israel two weeks before me with the task of casting two dozen vicious looking Russian troops. These men were suppose [sic] to make your blood run cold. When I arrived on the set, what I saw was two dozen blond, blue-eyed pretty boys that resembled rejects from a surfing contest. Needless to say Rambo is not afraid of a little competition but being attacked by third rate male models could be an enemy that could overwhelm him. I explained my disappointment to Russell and he totally disagreed, so I asked him and his chiffon army to move on. Mulcahy was replaced by Peter MacDonald, a veteran second unit director.
It was MacDonald’s first film as director but he was very experienced and had directed the second unit action sequences in Rambo: First Blood Part II. MacDonald later said, “I tried very hard to change the Rambo character a bit and make him a vulnerable and humorous person, I failed totally.” “I knew instinctively what was a good and bad shot,” he added. “Stallone knew his character because it was his third outing as Rambo. I wasn’t shooting Shakespeare and at times it was hard to take it seriously.” MacDonald shot the stick fighting sequence in Bangkok himself using a handheld camera.
The character Masoud, played by Greek actor Spiros Focás, was named after Mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud who fought the Soviets and later the Taliban.
Filming.
The film was shot in Israel, Thailand, and Arizona. MacDonald: There were so many restrictions in Israel, where you could and couldn’t shoot. The producers and Stallone decided they would go back to Arizona where they had looked long before I was on the film. There was a group there called the re-enactors. We had around two hundred and fifty of these guys who re-enact the American Civil War. They were called on to do fight sequences, which they loved.RELATED:
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Box office.
Rambo III opened in the United States on May 25, 1988 at 2,562 theatres in its opening weekend (the four-day Memorial Day weekend), ranking #2 behind Crocodile Dundee II. Overall, the film grossed $53,715,611 domestically and then took $135,300,000 overseas, giving Rambo III a box office total of $189,015,611. The film underperformed at the box-office. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “B+” on an A+ to F scale.Cast:
- Sylvester Stallone as John J. Rambo
- Richard Crenna as   “Sam” Trautman
- Kurtwood Smith as Robert Griggs
- Marc de Jonge as  Alexei Zaysen
- Sasson Gabai as Afghan Mujahideen Ghani
- Doudi Shoua as Hamid
- Spiros Fokas as Afghan Mujahideen’s leader Masoud
- Randy Raney as Soviet Sergeant Kourov
- Marcus Gilbert as Tomask
- Alon Abutbul as Nissem
- Masoud Assadollahi as Rahim
- Yosef Shiloach as Khalid
- Shaby Ben-Aroya as Soviet defector Yuri