Trivialidades for
First Blood (1982)

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• One of the stunt drivers broke his back jumping his police car.
  
  
• The name "Rambo" came from a brand of apples of the same name (source: writer's commentary, First Blood: Special Edition).
  
  
• In Japanese, "rambo" means "violence".
  
  

• Samuel Trautman was named after Uncle Sam, according to author David Morrell. Uncle Sam created the soldier John Rambo.
  
  
• Warner Bros. had considered to make the story with Clint Eastwood, Steve McQueen, Al Pacino, and Dustin Hoffman.
  
  
• Originally budgeted at $11 million, the film ultimately cost closer to $17 million as the production ran months late.
  
  
• The extended production time pushed back the filming of Rocky III (1982).
  
  
• After showing buyers a 40 minute edit of the film, the international rights sold in five minutes.
  
  
• John Travolta was considered for the part of Rambo.
  
  
• Initially Mike Nichols was interested in directing and wanted Dustin Hoffman to play the lead. Hoffman wasn't interested, however, as he thought it was too violent.
  
  
• For the scene where Rambo jumps from the cliff and falls through the trees, Sylvester Stallone opted to do the last part of the stunt himself, much to the concern of director Ted Kotcheff. His concerns were apparently well founded, as the stunt didn't go as planned and Stallone broke three ribs. This apparently took place on camera and the shot is in the movie.
  
  
• Sylvester Stallone asked for $3.5 million for his role. Producers Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna told him he could have $2 million. The extra one and a half million came from television sales.
  
  
• Sylvester Stallone hated the first cut of the film so much that he tried to buy the film back and destroy it. When he couldn't do that, he suggested that the producers cut much of his part and let the rest of the characters tell the story. That cut the movie time in half and set a precedent for future action movies.
  
  
• The name of the sporting goods shop that Rambo blows up is "The Outpost".
  
  
• A scene was filmed but never used where Rambo, while in the cave after dispatching Teasle and his men, has another flashback: He and his buddies are in a bar in Vietnam, being entertained by the local women. Rambo takes one to a back room and they make love. The scene then flashes to the present, and Rambo begins to cry.
  
  
• There is dispute over whether Stereo or Mono were used for the film's video/DVD releases. To date, there is only one Stereo home video release of First Blood.
  
  

• SPOILER: There are numerous differences to the book. In the novel, John Rambo dies.
  
  
• SPOILER: Another ending, where Rambo commits suicide, was filmed, but test audiences found that conclusion to be too depressing, so the script called for Rambo to live, hence the sequels.
  
  
• SPOILER: This film has a reputation of being overly violent. However, the total body count of the movie is four: Gault falling from the helicopter, and three police officers who crash into a parked patrol car while chasing Rambo. All others survive, even Teasle.
  
  
• SPOILER: Kirk Douglas was originally cast to play Colonel Samuel Trautman. Because of script issues (Kirk wanted Rambo to die at the end, as in the novel), he dropped out of the film and Richard Crenna was cast at the last second.
  
  

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