In 1987, Sylvester Stallone’s arm-wrestling Cannon camp classic, Over the Top, was a box office bomb. This was a shock, as Stallone had had the number 2 and 3 highest-grossing movies of the year in 1985 and had Cobra in 1986, which was a blockbuster. His box office power seemed impossible to challenge. Alas, a flop is a flop, so for his follow-up, Stallone turned to one of his most famous characters ever in 1988’s Rambo III.
The third instalment of the series is often looked down at as the silliest film in the franchise. Boasting a story that perhaps hasn’t aged very well, with Rambo making his way to Afghanistan to help the Afghan Rebels fight the Russians, post 9/11, the film was suddenly more controversial than it had ever been intended to be. Still, the same could be said about many eighties action movies, with the James Bond outing The Living Daylights having a very similar plot. It’s worth noting that the Russians had withdrawn from Afghanistan by the time the film hit theaters.
Indeed, the road to Rambo III was a tough one. Initially, Highlander’s Russell Mulcahy was set to direct. He was fired after two weeks of filming in Israel when his choices for vicious-looking Russian troops seemed, in Stallone’s words, to be “two dozen blond, blue-eyed pretty boys that resembled rejects from a surfing contest.” The film would also go through three cinematographers. Instead, Peter MacDonald, the second unit director of Rambo First Blood Part II, was hired, which meant the movie’s action would be impeccable. MacDonald excelled in this area, with him shooting the iconic opening stick fighting sequence with a hand-held camera.
The problem is Rambo III, compared to the rest of the series, was somewhat dated before it even hit theaters. The late eighties were a period of Glasnost, with the Cold War coming to an end, and audiences suddenly tired of seeing a war that was simmering down play out on the big screen. With the risk of getting political – how little we knew. If anything, Rambo III would emerge to be a surprisingly potent depiction of the war in Afghanistan, the U.S relationship with the Murjahadeen and more. When it came out in 88, it was derided as ultra-violent pulp – which it is – but there’s more to this movie than meets the eye as well dig into in this episode of Sylvester Stallone Revisited. This episode is written and narrated by Chris Bumbray, edited by Bill Mazzola, produced by Adam Walton and executive produced by Berge Garabedian. Watch previous episodes below and let us know in the comments what you think of Rambo III.