Teasle said he wanted to kill Rambo, but he told the army to take him alive. But maybe that's because he wanted to do it himself.
sharePerhaps but I think that's part of human nature too, wanting to go to harsh extremes but showing restraint... mostly because we don't want to go to jail. But for Teasle to advise them in any other way than to take Rambo alive would have made him potentially liable for Rambo's death, if it came to that.
shareThat's why Teasle in the book is better. He actually listens to Trautman and comes to feel bad for how he treated Rambo. He also wasn't friends with a psychopath. The movie's entertaining but ever since reading the book years ago and listening to an audiobook (that I myself did of it) several times, I haven't liked the movie's version of Teasle. They went out of their way to make him a no good stinking jerk who you'd like to see Rambo blow away with a machine gun.
shareTeasle was reacting to the death of his friend. He was very close to Galt. Over time, he became to empathize more with Rambo but also felt the need to do his duty. Teasle is handled very well in the movie.
shareYou'd have a point if not for the fact that Galt was a sadist who beat Rambo with a baton for no reason and he tried to kill Rambo while he was hanging on for dear life off the side of a cliff. Anybody that is friends with someone like that is a bad person. Then again anyone that tells a poor person to walk over 30 miles away to get food is a bad person. And that is something they intentionally did to make Teasle unsympathetic. Heck, there's nothing sympathetic about that.
shareThis was never formally mentioned in the film and I don't think the book (years since I read it) but I get the impression that the town had been visited by "rambos" in the past. Drifters and army vets who are unemployed and had caused trouble in the town before. That's why Teasle says "we don't want guys like you". Likely, Rambo had no money on him, how was he going to pay for the food? Teasle was reading between the lines.
I didn't like Galt either. But Im sure Galt was way more reasonable around teasle and respected his authority.
You'd have a point if not for the fact that Galt was a sadist who beat Rambo with a baton for no reason..
'Want' doesn't directly translate into 'action'.
You may want to have sex with some gorgeous woman, but you don't do it, right? There's a difference between WANTING to do something and DOING something, a VAST difference.
There's obviously a conflict within Teasle, and I think that's the 'soldier' in him. I haven't read the book, but I believe Teasle served in the US Army during the Korean War, ...I seem to remember him alluding to his military background at some point in the film, but it's a while since I've seen it.
So Teasle is both a cop and a soldier, and while there are some similarities as to the 'duty' of both roles, they are also poles apart in others, such as 'killing' - which is expected of a soldier, though not of a cop.
So on one hand, Teasle has respect for Rambo as a soldier, while on the other, a total disrespect for him as a vagrant, now that he is a respectable man of the law.
In regards to Galt, him & Teasle were most likely 'brothers in arms' during their army days, so it's understandable that he would want to pin Rambo's 'purple heart to his liver' - though not at all acceptable as a Sheriff.
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I think you should read the book and then watch the movie again. Then you might see things more my way.
share...perhaps.
I'm not really a 'purist' though when it comes to books adapted for film, ...never read the book, but love the film.
I know David Morrell (author) had issues with the film, but he signed on for it & took the money, so he really can't complain.
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