Rambo creator David Morrell reflected on how the character radically transformed from page to screen and how he continues to change in subsequent film sequels.
Morrell created the character of the troubled war veteran for his 1972 novel First Blood, which spent a decade in development hell before finally reaching theaters in 1982.
Over those 10 years, the film “went through four studios and 26 scripts,” the writer told Digital Spy. At various points, Steve McQueen was considered to play Rambo, with Paul Newman in contention to play Rambo’s nemesis Teasle, while directors in talks included Sydney Pollack (Tootsie), Martin Ritt (The Spy Who Came in from the Cold), Richard Brooks (Cat on Ice).
Hot Tin Roof) and Ted Kotcheff (Weekend at Bernie’s).
Morrell, however, was pleased with the final choice of Sylvester Stallone to play the lead role in the film, which is largely silent throughout the film. “I think he did a great job in this role. If you look at what Sly does in this film, in First Blood, especially with his eyes… the character changes.
“In my novel he is very angry. In the film he is the victim. And so they look at these almost doe eyes, woe is me, and they communicate very well. Some people say: “Well, how can you act if you don’t have dialogue?” Well, actually, if you don’t have dialogue, then it becomes very difficult.”
RELATED:
Why Sylvester Stallone Chose To Shoot Rambo III In Israel
First Blood made significant changes to Morrell’s original story of a Vietnam veteran who goes berserk after being harassed by local police, especially in the finale. In the book, Rambo dies, and although the film had an ending in which the character was killed, his fate was changed in reshoots.
“The ending is very different,” Morrell said. “They also minimized the character of the police chief. The point of my novel was that [Rambo and Teasle] were polar opposites, and they had equal time, equal pages in the book.
“Obviously, in the movie First Blood, Rambo was emphasized and the police chief was sort of reduced. If it weren’t for Brian Dennehy’s brilliance…he doesn’t have much to work with.
“All this is to say that films and novels are on different train tracks. I think the film works very well from that perspective. It’s brilliantly shot. Jerry Goldsmith’s music is unbeatable. This is a first class production.
“Stephen King is a friend, and after the film came out, he said to me: ‘David, I think you got treated about as well as Hollywood can treat a writer, because I actually recognised the plot of the book.’ What he said wasn’t always the case with some of his films!”
David Morrell feels, though, that the changes to the haunted Rambo character were more severe in the sequels to First Blood that followed. “By Rambo 2 and 3, he’s a poster boy for joining the military. He’s delivering lines like: ‘Sir, do we get to win this time?’
“But that’s when the Rambo phenomenon really took off – at the start of Rambo 2 when he delivers that line. So in 2 and 3, he’s a different character from the [first] movie, and he’s a different character from my novel. And then in 4, he’s different again.
“I knew, for me, selling the Rambo movie rights was a big risk.
You could have a film that’s really terrible – and we know of authors who’ve had real embarrassments made on the screen.
“I feel I’ve been treated pretty well. I’ve got no reason to be embarrassed with [the movie of] First Blood.
“Then things moved on, So I just became kind of stoically adjusted. I thought of the novel as one train track, and Rambo publicly as another train track. Sometimes I joke that I’m Rambo’s father, and the character grew up and did stuff that I have nothing to do with!”