Although it’s unlikely, there is one role in Quentin Tarantino’s proposed remake of First Blood that was perfect for Sylvester Stallone. First Blood is a 1972 novel by writer David Morrell that tells the story of a traumatized Vietnam veteran named Rambo who begins a bloody war in Third City after he is pursued by the local sheriff. Even though Rambo became an action icon in the 1980s, First Blood stands on its own as a solid chase thriller in which only one character dies.
First Blood itself spent many years in development, with the role being offered to the likes of Steve McQueen before Stallone finally signed on. At the time, the star was struggling to make it big in the Rocky genre, and he famously was so shocked by the original three-hour
mark of First Blood that he offered to buy the negative to destroy it. The editing turned it into a tense thriller, although it toned down the character portrayed in the book. In Morrell’s First Blood, Rambo has no problem killing those who stand in his way and is eventually killed by a shotgun blast to the head.
Director Quentin Tarantino has just one film left before his self-imposed retirement cap kicks in. He hasn’t yet announced what this latest film will be, but in a conversation with The Big Picture podcast, he revealed that if he wanted to make a great film, he would make it a direct adaptation of First Blood. Tarantino loves the dialogue from Morrell’s novel and sees Adam Driver playing Rambo and Kurt Russell playing the sheriff.
There is another key role in the novel, and it suited Sylvester perfectly. Stallone: ​​Colonel Sam Trautman.
In the first three Rambo films, Trautman was played by the late, great Richard Crenna, a colonel who was a friend and mentor to Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo. However, this contrasts with the book, where Trautman is only summoned to kill Rambo, with the latter barely remembering him. Stallone could have taken a very different look at Colonel Trautman, and it would have been very easy to buy him as a larger-than-life figure and war veteran. If Russell had been cast as Sheriff Teasla, this new First Blood could also serve as a reunion for
the Tango and Cash co-stars; although it is obvious that the tones are completely different.
In addition to being just a stunt actor, Stallone was able to bring both gravitas and ambiguity to Tarantino’s First Blood’s Troutman. Although Stallone has a plot concept for Rambo 6 that involves a wounded soldier taking refuge on an Indian reservation, it looks like he probably won’t reprise the role again. It might be strange to see Trautman Stallone finally kill Rambo on screen, as the character does at the end of the novel. If any actor has taken Rambo’s journey to the big screen, it’s Sylvester Stallone. Again, Tarantino’s First Blood remake is unlikely to happen, but it has the potential to be something special.