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The year 1982 introduced to moviegoers a character that would eventually become a major popular culture icon, John Rambo. This is the year First Blood was released, which features Sylvester Stallone as an alienated and neglected Vietnam veteran who seems to roam the country until he enters the wrong town. Three years later, Rambo was back in full force with Rambo: First Blood, Part II (from this point on referred to as Rambo or Part II). This time, Rambo gets released from a prison camp he is sent to after the first film to return to Vietnam in search of POWs. The first film was a success, making approximately 13 million dollars, a respectable amount for the time. However, its sequel was a phenomenal success, pulling in over 150 million dollars, and planting the image and persona of Rambo into cultural history. Rambo's popularity was so immense that it spawned a Saturday morning cartoon, "Rambo-grams," candy bars, and a water gun based on his rifle-an ironic development because for much of these films he is without it (Goldman 60). President Reagan even referred to him in a press conference concerning the hijacking of TWA Flight #847, saying, "Boy, I'm glad I saw Rambo last night. Now I know what to do next time" (qtd. in Budra 189, 192).
Why was Rambo so successful in both economic and cultural arenas? The first two Rambo movies are filled with ideology, American myth, and character representations that, consciously or not, appealed to a wide range of people. Carol Fry and Christopher Kemp put it aptly: "They give us a modern champion... who in his agony provides a fantasy victory over cultural and historical forces which are beyond the power of the audience to control" (368). In other words, the films tap into and incorporate different tenets and issues that, together or alone, feed a cultural desire that has resulted in the immense notoriety of their hero.
Vengeance and Allegory
First Blood is obviously a revenge fantasy with an unjustifiably abused victim giving his persecutors what they rightfully deserve. Rambo is arrested and mistreated by intolerant sheriffs, but he escapes into the forest. It is there that his revenge is obtainable, for Rambo is a master of guerrilla warfare....