MovieChat Forums > First Blood (1982) Discussion > Wouldn't today Rambo be considered a ful...

Wouldn't today Rambo be considered a full blown TERRORIST?

posted 8 years ago by al666940-3
13 replies | jump to latest

In today's climate, if somebody did what Rambo did here, would they get the same kid's gloves treatment, veteran or not?

I mean he:
- assaulted cops with a deadly weapon
- shot an unarmed civilian (the dog handler)
- caused the death of one (how many black suspects' claim of self defence is believed if they injured/killed a cop while being chased?)
- destroyed an entire town
- shot and almost killed the sheriff

Anyone who did that today would be branded an all out terrorist, right? Especially if he happens to:
- be the wrong colour
- pray in the wrong direction

Tell me I'm wrong.

[–] GreenGoblinsOckVenom86 8 years ago

I guess technically though if it was found out that the police abused him, there would be consequences.

Green Goblin is great! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1L4ZuaVvaw

[–] al666940-3 8 years ago

"there would be consequences. "

Nothing short of rape with a plunger of a severed spinal cord while being hauled in a truck handcuffed would get him anything.

And even that would not get him anything for destroying the town and attempted murder on the sheriff (he himself did no abuse).

[–] GreenGoblinsOckVenom86 8 years ago

I agree. Frankly I prefer the ending of the book where Teasle and Rambo die but feel compassion for each other and feel regret before doing so.

Green Goblin is great! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1L4ZuaVvaw

[–] qwarlock 8 years ago

Nope...he's white.

[–] Hendry_William_French 8 years ago

assaulted cops with a deadly weapon

Yeah, after suffering injustice and police brutality at their hands. He was persecuted, mistreated and humiliated by them. They pursued him into his territory and paid the price. What goes around, comes around. He had no intention of killing them, he just wounded them. Fair enough.

shot an unarmed civilian (the dog handler)

He was clearly aiming to shoot him in the leg just to stop them in their tracks, and he survived.

caused the death of one (how many black suspects' claim of self defence is believed if they injured/killed a cop while being chased?)

He didn't actually cause any death. Gault took off his safety belt because he was so desperate to kill an unarmed man who was merely trying to flee and hide from him. He ignored orders from Teasle not to shoot and warnings from his pilot that what he was doing was very dangerous, and he still behaved like a total psycho (he even shot at Rambo on a crowded street and could've hit civilians). His stupidity and bloodlust got him killed, not Rambo.

destroyed an entire town

The town was empty and he blew up a few stores. Big deal. It's an action movie and it looked cool, and it was Rambo's way of getting back at Teasle who proclaimed Hope as "his town", so Rambo was just taking the war to him.

shot and almost killed the sheriff

The Sheriff started it, and was trying to shoot him first before Rambo returned fire. It was basically a wild west standoff. The Sheriff wanted that confrontation at the end ie saying stuff like "I wanted to kill that kid.. so bad I could taste it". He also ignored Trautman's warning about facing Rambo. Teasle knew what he was in for.

Motown, get your Detroit jukebox jheri curl ass in this chicken sh!t chop-chop, ASAFP!

[–] al666940-3 8 years ago

I get the feeling that if Rambo here were black or Muslim (or worse, both), you wouldn't feel quite so understanding...

[–] Elephantlips 8 years ago

You and the other bleeding heart imbeciles have it 100% backwards.

If one of those poor, persecuted people you speak of did this, you and all the other PC idiot turds would be making excuses for their behavior while protesting in the streets about how "systemic racism and white privledge" made them do it.

Good try though a$$H0les.

[–] Hendry_William_French 8 years ago

Exactly 👍

Imdb message boards - kick someone's ass on the first day, or become someone's bitch.

[–] Dannysich 8 years ago

No we wouldn't actually and we haven't . Only thugs make excuses for criminals. But it's funny most white people make excuses for other white people

[–] swefear 8 years ago

It was pretty much self defense and retaliation when trying to escape for the abuse he suffered. Also, his PTSD triggered it all. While the cops didn't know, they still acted outside the law by seriously abusing him. Remember that he didn't snap until they tried to forcefully shave him. He did these things because of his training, it was all that he knew.

The cop that died by falling from the helicopter, assaulted him first, fully knowingly that he was not acting within the law, plus he disregarded a direct order. Rambo defended himself in the only effective way he knew, by throwing a rock. It caused the cop to fall, but the alternative was to die himself. I doubt that the cop would've settle with anything else than Rambo dead. Also, he pretty much caused his own death by severe negligence when he detached his safety belt, which normally would've kept him from falling.

Maybe things did get a bit out of hand when he hijacked the truck with the M60's. Though he needed an escape route and it was as good as any. Once he was followed, they forced him to go into a siege mentality where his goal was to stay alive. Once again reverting back to his training. He shot up the town as a distraction and the stores were empty because the chief ordered the townspeople to go home and stay there. He also most likely destroyed the ammo store so the cops couldn't resupply as easily. It acted as a pretty good diversion as well, forcing anyone to check what was happening.

After that, it was pretty much Rambo vs the corrupt cop. Rambo knew that it was to either kill him or get killed himself.

He didn't cause terror intentionally and he didn't hurt any innocent people. One such scene was where the he met the boy in the forest.

Rambo could've killed any of them at any time, but he didn't. I think that most would agree that most terrorists doesn't care about hurting innocent people.

[–] writinman2004 8 years ago

You are wrong. He would not be considered a terrorist.

[–] amodestproposal 8 years ago

He would have been considered an escaped prisoner, a fugitive doing anything he can to run. Now...the attack on the town is a thing...but after the drama of the manhunt, thats not how it would be presented.

Now if it happened today...somewhere in the media he'd be spun as a terrorist, but that label doesn't stick to "domestic terrorists" these days, so it probably wouldn't be an issue.

If, however, he'd killed damn near all the cops in the search party that went after him like he did in the book, then maybe it'd be a different story...but again, they're cops chasing a criminal...he didn't kill a bunch of unarmed civilians at any point. He blew up an untattended, closed gas station, shot up a bunch of transformers, an empty store, and the police station...which was also empty because all the cops accept for Teasle were at the gas station fire. He intentionally tried not to hurt people. He just wanted Teasle....

[–] A-zone 7 years ago

Even if you ignore everything that Rambo did, the fact that he killed the dogs is enough to send him straight to the gallows in the U.S.A. 😉

"I'm the dude, playing a dude that's disguised as another dude".