This is the week to celebrate one of our greatest action icons, John J. Rambo, a character who has been brought to life on the screen by Sylvester Stallone four times – make that five times, as this weekend brings the release of the latest entry in the Rambo franchise, RAMBO: LAST BLOOD.
The franchise began back in 1982 with FIRST BLOOD, and if the film had stuck to the source material – a 1972 novel by David Morrell – it would have ended there, as Morrell's Rambo was a mass murderer who didn't survive beyond the final page. Stallone turned the character into someone we could root for, and we've been rooting for him for thirty-seven years. FIRST BLOOD, 1985's RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II, and 2008's RAMBO all have legions of fans… and then there's the black sheep of the series, 1988's RAMBO III. That one isn't as popular as the others, so it's the perfect subject for a video in Lance Vlcek's The F*cking Black Sheep series.
RAMBO III finds
John J. Rambo living a secluded life in a Buddhist monastery in search of inner peace. When friend and mentor Col. Sam Trautman visits to ask for his in a top secret mission to Afghanistan, Rambo declines to enter another war. Trautman goes it alone and is almost immediately captured by the enemy. When Rambo learns of his friend's fate, he immediately sets out to return Trautman to safety, in a spectacular rescue that only Rambo could pull off.
In the video embedded below, Lance admits that RAMBO III is the worst film in the Rambo franchise, but while digging into its issues he also points out the aspects that still make it fun to watch.
RAMBO III is my least favorite of the series, but I do enjoy it, and it was always have a special place in my heart because I remember it being promoted at a local video store when it was about to reach VHS, which is around the same time video stores were becoming one of my favorite places to go to.
RAMBO: LAST BLOOD will be arriving in theatres in just a few hours, so fill some of that time by watching the RAMBO III Black Sheep video below.