July 4, 2025 • 45 mins
On this episode of 80s Flick Flashback, we're diving into a film that followed a surprising stumble for one of the biggest action stars of the decade: Sylvester Stallone's Rambo III.
In 1987, Sylvester Stallone seemed invincible. After dominating the box office in 1985 with Rocky IV and Rambo: First Blood Part II, and cementing his action hero status with 1986's Cobra, his grip on Hollywood's action throne appeared unshakable. Yet, his 1987 arm-wrestling epic, Over the Top, shockingly bombed. For his next move, Stallone returned to one of his most iconic characters.
This brings us to the 1988 sequel that is often seen as the most outlandish entry in the franchise. The story finds John Rambo leaving his tranquil life in a monastery to rescue his mentor, Colonel Trautman, from the clutches of the Soviet army in Afghanistan. Teaming up with the Mujahideen, Rambo unleashes his signature brand of explosive warfare. While a blockbuster at the time, its pro-Mujahideen stance against the Soviets has certainly become more complex and controversial in the years since.
So, get ready to leave the monastery, grab your explosive-tipped arrows, and jump in the chopper as your host Tim Williams and guest co-hosts, Chris Adams & JB Huffman, discuss the action, the politics, and the legacy of Rambo III.
Here are some additional behind-the-scenes trivia we were unable to cover in this episode:
- The Soviet Spetsnaz troops are wearing the same "Hollywood knock-off" camouflage pattern outfits as seen on the Soviet paratroopers in 1984's "Red Dawn".
Sources:
Wikipedia, IMDB, BoxOfficeMojo
https://www.slashfilm.com/884518/behind-the-scenes-chaos-gave-rambo-iiis-director-his-debut/
https://www.joblo.com/rambo-iii-1988-revisited-sylvester-stallone-movie-review/
https://screenrant.com/rambo-3-movie-alternate-story-siberia-better/
Some sections were composed or edited by ChatGPT
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
On this episode of the 80s flickFlashback, we're diving into a
film that followed A surprising stumble for one of the biggest
action stars of the decade. In 1987, Sylvester Stallone
seemed invincible after dominating the box office in 85
with the second and third highest grossing films of the
year and another blockbuster in 86 with Cobra.
(00:21):
His grip on Hollywood's action throne appeared unshakable, yet
his arm wrestling Canon Films classic Over the Top shockingly
bombed. So for his next movie, Stallone
turn to one of his most iconic characters, Rambo.
This brings us to this 80s flicksequel, often seen as the most
outlandish entry in the franchise.
(00:41):
It's story Rambo heading to Afghanistan to aid the
Mujahideen against the Soviets has certainly aged, especially
post 911. So get ready to leave the
monastery, grab your explosive tipped arrows, and jump in the
chopper as Chris Adams, JB Huffman and I dissect 1988 Rambo
3 on this episode of the 80s Flick Flashback Podcast.
(01:44):
Well, welcome in everybody. I'm Tim Williams, I'm your host
of the 80s slick flashback podcast.
I'm so excited to have two of myfavorite Co host joining me for
what is sure to be an explosive episode.
First up, we'll need a one man army of cinematic insight.
He's the first man I call. It's the always ready for action
JB Huffman. How you doing JB?
(02:06):
I'm doing great man, Ready to talk about one of my favorite
actors movies. Yeah, you got.
You got it right. You got it right.
And joining him tonight is a manwho brings more firepower of
film knowledge than a Soviet Hind helicopter.
It's the unstoppable Chris Adams.
How you doing Chris? I'm, well, I don't know how to
follow that. That's that's that's a really
(02:27):
big description to live up to there.
Hey, if it wasn't. I feel like a tourist here.
I caught that reference. Caught that?
Reference. I was hoping you would.
Cool. Well, before we jump into the
episode, I want to give a shout out to a new podcast review that
we've gotten recently got a fivestar review from Kristen Cook
(02:50):
and she said best podcast ever, which I have to agree and I am
biased. She said I would much rather
watch 80s movies than the newer movies that are out today.
The 80s flick flashback featuressome of my favorite movies.
I love listening to their opinions of the movies and
memories they have. A few of my favorites are Mr.
Mom, Space Camp, Pee Wee's big adventure, License to drive.
(03:13):
Keep up the great work. Thank you Kristen, appreciate
those kind words. Thank you so much for reaching
out to us. She actually reached out to me
on social media and I was like, hey, if you write us a review,
that'd be really cool. And she did.
So I appreciate her taking the time to do that.
So if you leave us a review, youcan do that over at Apple
Podcast or your favorite podcastCatcher if they let you write
(03:34):
reviews, but it helps when it's on Apple.
Well, let's jump into this episode.
We're in our Summer of Sequels 2series, so we're covering Part 3
sequels from the 80s. So if you've missed the first
two we've done, we started off the series with Superman 3.
We had a little bonus episode ofFriday the 13th, which is not a
(03:56):
Part 3, but we had a Friday the 13th.
And then our last episode JB andI covered Karate Kid Part 3.
So to continue in the series of sequels that show why trilogy's
are not always a great idea, it's Rambo 3.
So we've covered First Blood, which was fantastic.
(04:16):
We covered Rambo First Blood Part 2, which was fun for what
it was, becoming a straight up action flick instead of more of
a war drama that First Blood was.
And then because it made sense to go from First Blood to Rambo
First Blood Part 2 to then make your sequel just Rambo 3.
And I am the person that if I see First Blood listed as Rambo
(04:41):
Colon First Blood, I, I, I reject that.
I do not accept that title. That was not the title as it was
released. Just like Star Wars, A New Hope
will never be Episode 4. It will always be A New Hope.
But anyway. Star Wars.
Just Star Wars. Just Star Wars, that's what.
Yeah. It wasn't even a New Hope.
It was just Star Wars. So All right, well, let's jump
(05:02):
into Rambo 3. So Chris, when did you see Rambo
3 for the very first time? I went to the movies and watched
it. Yeah.
When it came to theaters, I thatwas, I was looking forward to it
because I really liked Part 2 and I was hoping for something,
you know, as big or bigger. Now I did like part three.
I'm, I'm not going to say that Ididn't, I did like it, but 2 is
(05:24):
my absolute favorite. But definitely at the theaters
when it came out. Very cool.
What about you, JB? Like many 80s movies, it was one
that I don't remember not watching.
And like most 80s movies, I definitely did not watch it in
theaters because I was 2. But that was probably, that
would probably be a little problematic if you saw it in the
(05:44):
theater at age 2. A little.
Just a little bit. Would have been more impressive
though is if you saw it and remembered it at age.
Yes, yes. Hey, I'll, I'll, I'm going to
defend myself. I've been wanting to cover a
movie that I've actually seen intheaters, but we've been putting
it off for the last three years.We're getting there talking
(06:06):
about. This is the year, man.
This is the year. Tim knows what I'm talking
about. I do.
I know exactly. Christmas 2025.
We're gonna if it's. Christmas.
I already know what it is if it's Christmas because Prancer
only got to do it last year I think it was.
Or the year before. Yeah, Hey.
If you heard it here first, you heard it here first.
YouTube. It's Prancer guys.
(06:26):
It's coming, it's coming, it's coming.
We've been putting it off for way too long.
Like that was me and you know, Jerry Dion, totally rad
Christmas. We scheduled to do Cobra, I
promise you like 5 or 6 times. And every time we try to do it,
something happened. We had to reschedule.
We finally did it, but it was like I had watched, I like
watched it three times to recordand we kept pushing off.
(06:47):
So I said I've seen Cobra way more than I wanted to.
But anyway, sidebar. So yeah, so Rambo 3, I, I have a
vague memory that maybe I saw this in the theater, but I did
not see it like when it first came out.
I think I waited until it was atthe dollar theater before I saw
it or I may even waited until itwas on VHS before I watched.
(07:09):
It was not one that I remember. I don't have like a fond memory
of seeing it in the theater. I remember seeing it.
I remember seeing Rambo First Blood Part 2 in the theater, but
this one I did not. So.
So how long has it been since you rewatched it before
rewatching it for the podcast JB?
I looked back, it was September of last year because I, I had
(07:30):
been putting off rewatching these for a while.
And when, when Last Blood came out in 2019, I was like, I was
like, man, I need to rewatch these.
And then I like never got aroundto it.
And I don't know why. Like I, I couldn't make, I
couldn't catch it in theater at that time.
And so then finally last year I was like, I just need to go back
and watch them all and then watch Last Blood.
And so I did. I cranked through them, man.
(07:51):
And it was just, it was, it was a fun experience.
I'd I'd forgotten about before. I'd forgotten like, yeah, it was
because I'd only seen that like,once.
The other ones I've seen like, you know, so many times so.
Yeah, what about you, Chris? Earlier this year, actually, I
(08:13):
was looking for something to watch and I was going through
that Roku app, The Roku Channel.Oh yeah, yeah.
And they had a marathon going all day and end of the night
repeating, starting with first blood and Part 2, then 3, then
four, and then it started back over at 1 and it just kept
repeating all night. So I actually saw it one whole
(08:35):
time and part of another time that same day.
Little double dip there. Yeah, yeah, I like.
Same with JB when Rambo Last Blood came out, I think it had
been out for a while because I think once it finally went to
like video, I want to say like back when it was Voodoo, now
(08:56):
it's Fandango at home. But when is Voodoo?
You got like they had like a deal for like all the Rambo
movies. So first blood all the way to
the director's cut of Last Blood.
And so I was like, I'm just going to go ahead and get it so
I can have all of them because Iwanted the I wanted the first
two anyway. And so I did the same thing.
I started with First Blood, thenwatch Rambo Part 2.
(09:17):
And I remember watching this, wehad bought a grill because it
was right around summertime. We had bought a new grill and so
I was putting the grill togetherin our little sunroom and I had
it on. So it's kind of like watching
it, but kind of like half watching it.
So watching it this time, I was paying a lot more attention to
what was going on. So but but yeah, I was probably
(09:38):
that had have been like 2019. I think it was before 2020, so
before COVID. So it's weird how our lives have
that that distinction like his before COVID or after COVID or
in the middle of COVID, which islike the year that we forget.
But anyway, all right, well, let's jump into story origin and
pre production. So got a little bit here.
(09:59):
Not a whole lot, but we'll we'lltake it as it comes.
According to the December 1990 issue of Spy Magazine,
screenwriters and novelists Richard Dobbins and Evan Slauson
wrote the original story treatment for the third film
titled Rambo Holy War. Several other writers did their
own versions before Sylvester Stallone and Sheldon Lettich
(10:21):
wrote the final script. David Morrell, who wrote the
original book First Blood, said how when he was writing his
novelization of the film, every week he would get a new script
for the film and each one would have been very different from
the last. Morel also wrote a version of
the script for Rambo 3IN which Rambo and Trotman's wife, who
just like him is also a militaryexpert, go to South America to
(10:44):
save Troutman from some dictatorand his army.
But that script was rejected. The road to Rambo 3 was a tough
one. Initially.
Highlander's Russell Mulcahy wasset 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 blonde blue eyed pretty
(11:08):
boys that resembled red rejects from a surfing contest and
quote. The film would also go through
three cinematographers. Instead, Peter MacDonald, the
second unit director of Rambo First Blood Part 2 was hired,
which meant the movie's action would be impeccable.
We'll never know what the original version of Rambo 3 was,
but it was if it was over the top action and non-stop
(11:30):
explosions they wanted, MacDonald was the right guy for
the job. MacDonald never hit the big time
as a direct re director with just three more feature films
after this one he directed Use MO Money with Damon Wayans or is
The Neverending Story Part 3 and1998's Legionnaire with
Jean-Claude Van Any anything you guys found you
(12:09):
wanted to add or is there any anything interesting in there
you wanted to talk about? Nothing for me.
I think it's interesting that this that Peter McDonald has
directed like so many like thirdepisodes of a trilogy or never
any sort of three. And then of course, Indiana
Jones, the one he did so like not even in that trilogy.
(12:30):
So it's like, yeah, distant fromany any of them, but it's just
funny. But not.
Yeah, yeah. This is one that when I was
watching it, I was trying to remember if this is one of those
movies like, you know, Stallone will like have a director, quote
UN quote, a director on set, butlike he's actually the one
directing it. And I was wondering if this is
(12:50):
one of those, which is probably,which is probably pretty true,
but him being a second, you know, director before, I mean,
he's directed but not been like the primary director.
So he was probably taking a lot of cues from Stallone for sure.
At this point, man Stallone is running the show.
Oh yeah. Oh yeah, I mean, he's been very
public about his 80s, early 90s persona being his ego was was
(13:13):
way too high so. He has several movies he took
over, didn't he? Wasn't just Rambo I mean.
Oh yeah, yeah. Wasn't Cobra one of them as
well? Cobra was definitely one that he
like pretty much directed himself.
So which is why I guess Rambo 4,which is just just titled Rambo,
he directed that one and I thinkhe direct, did he direct the
(13:35):
last one First Blood? I mean Last blood.
I know he wrote the story for it.
Think he did? Did he take over Tango and cash
too? Probably there's a.
Like I think. We covered that.
Yeah, I've done, I think. Adrian Greenberg did The Last
Blood. OK, All right.
(13:56):
Yeah, a director that took. Instruction from He did 4
though. OK, he did.
He did Rambo. Yeah, the sequel without a
number or a. Why did Rambo 3 become come
before Rambo? I don't understand that but OK.
Hey, we go in, it goes from Rocky to Rocky 5 to then John
Rambo. So I mean, I mean, not John.
(14:18):
Rocky was a Rocky Balboa, Rocky five.
Yeah, sorry, wrong series. So yeah, the Rocky movies at
Rocky 1/2, the Balboa. So sure, that makes sense.
It was the 80s, man. Well, that wasn't even the 80s
anyway. Doesn't matter.
So that's just alone. All right, let's get into
casting, talk about Sylvester Stallone.
I literally have three people totalk about for the cast because
(14:40):
it's pretty small, and all threeof these are people that we've
talked about in previous episodes.
This is going to go by really quick.
So of course, Sylvester Stalloneis John J Rambo.
Stallone decided it was time to go big or go home when he came
to Rambo 3, since he'd never gone big before that point and
demanded a whole jet as payment.He got it, too, which shows
serious faith on the part of theproducers who pointed up $12
(15:02):
million for Stallone does have his own Gulfstream jet to make
to put on the headband for the third time.
So you can tell me it's not about money, It's all about
making good movies. But the dude got a plane.
That was his payment. Oh yeah.
I try to what's. Around, you know.
(15:22):
Oh yeah, I'll try to get that inmy next.
My next. There you go.
They might give me a personal little small drone I can fly
around or something, but. Instead of buy me a coffee.com,
it will be buymeaplane.com. Yeah.
There you go. We'll get little miniature like
(15:44):
Hot Wheels planes like here's your Gulfstream looks a little
model I put on my on my desk. So all right.
And then we got Richard Krenna as Colonel Troutman.
This was the last Rambo film to * Richard Crenna as Colonel Sam
Troutman. He passed away on January 17th,
2003 before the 4th film could be made.
But that that film Rambo from 2008 was dedicated to his
(16:08):
memory. He also later appeared in Hot
Shots part, due in 1993, which is a parody of the Rambo series.
Before taking the part, Krinna actually approached Sylvester
Stallone for his opinion and asked for his blessing,
something Stallone was more thanhappy to give.
And I will tell you, I've seen Hotshots part do more times than
(16:30):
I've seen Rambo 3. And when it got to that scene
where there where Stallone's fighting at the beginning
outside the monastery and all I could see was the Hot shots part
Do. And I know they don't do this in
the movie with, but in the Hot Shots, he puts the the guy puts
like the hot wax on his first and then gets like the nails and
screws. And then Charlie Sheen does the
(16:52):
same thing, but it's like chocolate and then like
sprinkles and like it's ice cream toppings or whatever, man.
So yeah, I love the Hot shots movies.
Those are both those are hilarious.
And the second one is definitelylike, it parodies like all of
the Rambo movies. So it was it's also one of my
favorites, but it was cool to have Richard Krenna show up in
(17:15):
that one and be like the big cameo for that.
And then one of our favorites here, Kurt Wood Smith as Robert
Griggs. Of course, we covered him and
our RoboCop and Dead Poets Society episodes.
This was a fun fact I was not aware of.
Kurt Wood Smith played the role of the quote UN quote first
choreographer in Stallone's filmStaying Alive from 1983.
(17:38):
So he returned. He returned to work with
Stallone a second time, hot off the heels of his breakout
performance and RoboCop. But yeah.
I'd love him as Red Foreman though.
Yeah, I know. Yeah, you can't.
I mean, you can't. Yeah.
You can't talk about it without talking about being Red Foreman,
so. I always liked the little things
that was going around. They had Red Foreman for
president when they had the presidential election going
(18:00):
along. For sure, for sure.
I really like I don't remember him in Deadpool society.
He was the father, Yeah, OK. He was the dad who didn't want
his son to be the actor. Yeah, the Robert Sean Leonard's
that. That's right.
Yep, gotcha. But yeah, I just rewatched
(18:24):
RoboCop a couple weeks ago. I watched the director's cuts on
Max and so the director's cut just means like it has all the
extra blood, you know, it's a little bit more gruesome than
the original. Be forewarned.
But it was cool. All right, that's it forecast.
Because everybody else was basically like a Israeli actor
(18:46):
or you know, European. So nobody that had any kind of
filmography that we'd be aware of.
So, But anybody in the cast stand out to you besides the
three, the main, even even Kerword Smith's more like a
cameo. He's at the very beginning, and
then he shows up halfway to let him know that Troutman's been
kidnapped, and then you don't see him again at all.
(19:08):
So yeah. Anytime I see him I just expect
him to use that same line that he says that I can't say on air.
From That 70s Show. Yeah, exactly.
No, I, I none of really stood out other than the guy that the
one guy that had that speech which we can talk about later.
Cool, say speech. Yes, speech.
(19:30):
It's more like a quote, dialogue, whatever you want to
call it. Yep.
All right, well, let's talk about iconic scenes.
If someone said to you Rambo 3, what's the first scene that pops
into your head? I'll go with Chris this time.
I always, I don't know why this is the first one that comes to
mind, but there are, you know, he's already rescued Troutman
(19:52):
and they're on the way back and he's fighting the big Russian
guy on top of the the hill or the mountain or whatever.
And he does the spinning Roundhouse kick and knocks him
down the hole with the pins pulled from the grenades or
something. Right, right.
Yeah. That always stands out to me for
some reason and comes to mind first.
(20:12):
Yeah, I can see that. What about you, JB?
Iconic scene. Iconic scene.
Well, the one that stands out tome the most like that I just
will always remember was the the, the sheep game on the, on
the horsebacks, like where they're like doing the carrying
the sheep from the the thing. And then it leads right into
(20:32):
that battle where the helicoptershows up.
Yeah. And it's just, and then you see
him on the, on the him and his other other guys like on the
horses, like running away from it like that, that shot right
there as I always remember that.But but him carrying the sheep
around that horse is just something I've always like,
always remember it's, I mean, it's a cool, it's a weird
(20:53):
looking game, but it's just like.
Yeah, so it's like football. Yeah.
So it is like football, What yousaid football.
Yeah. Why do you, why do you put it in
the circle? Because there's a circle there.
Yeah, right. So it is like football.
Right, right. So do you play it with your
foot? Not really.
Not really. So yeah.
So I had some trivia about aboutthe game on horseback.
(21:16):
In reality, Sylvester Stone has been riding courses since
childhood and even competed in his first polo match at age 11.
The game they're participating in is called Butzkashi Butzkashi
and is played all across southern Central Asia.
So there you go, it's called Buskashi BUZKASHI for those
(21:38):
taking notes at home. For me, the iconic scene, it was
funny because right before the scene happened, I was like, I
couldn't remember it. Was it this movie or was it in
First Blood Part 2? But the scene that I I'd like I
always remember from this movie or just like a, a Rambo scene
that I remember is when he got shot and it went straight
(21:58):
through his like his side and heputs the gunpowder on both sides
and then lights it. Like, seeing that as a kid was
just like, Oh my gosh, would that really work?
Probably not. But it was really cool.
It was so cool to see, like, theflame coming out of both, you
know, the front and the back. And then he just, you know, from
then on, he's just running and it doesn't hurt.
(22:19):
So. But yeah, that's that scene.
That's the scene that always sticks out to me.
Like that's an essential or a quintessential Rambo scene for
me. See, now you got me wondering,
will it work? I mean, it's it's I've been
gunpowder out of both sides. It catches fire.
One flames to the other. It cauterizes the wound.
Yeah, I mean, I could see it. I I don't want to be the one to
(22:40):
test it out though. Well, you know, I did.
I called my local physician. He's going to be a guest and I'm
just kidding. Let us know if it really if it
can really work. But if your physician listens to
the show, let us know. And we would love to know is
could that really happen? I have a feeling it couldn't and
I'm sure Mythbusters couldn't get the insurance to try that
one. Hey, let me shoot you.
Let me shoot you in the side andsee if this works.
(23:03):
So. You're going to feel a pinch.
Yeah, this might hurt just a little bit.
Hold still, we got to get it right in the right spot, man.
All right. What about favorite scenes?
Any favorite scenes in this one,man?
Struggling, I can tell already. Well, no.
The thing is, I think the sheep game is probably my favorite.
Yeah, yeah. But it's, it's, it was, it's
also really iconic too. And I was going to, I was going
(23:25):
to mention the gunpowder thing just because it's so freaking
BA, you know what I mean? Like, it's just like, it's just
watching him do it. It's like, it's like kind of
makes me cringe. And I'm like, man, that's a dude
right there. Yeah.
Yeah. Oh yeah.
Yeah. He's not screaming or anything,
which I guess he can't because he would get caught, but I don't
know. I think The Cave fire where he's
(23:45):
hunting all these guys down and with the bow and arrow, just
like, yeah. Like The Cave scene is pretty
cool. So Dang good.
Yeah, like pretty cool. I always thought a little bit of
a humorous scene at least, was when he first gets there and he
meets the guy and he's going to get his stuff from him and he's
giving him the stuff he requested.
(24:06):
And he's like, you know, you sure you want to be here?
You know, you, you look like a tourist or something.
He's like, I'm no tourist. He's looking at the stuff he's
got and he's like looking at, I guess he's just some explosives
there and stuff. And yeah, then he got this.
The blue light, he goes, well, what is this?
He goes. The blue light, he goes.
Yeah. What does it do?
It turns blue. That's it.
(24:27):
Yeah, that was a good line. That was a yeah.
I don't really have what like I think you cover like The Cave
scene was definitely one of my favorite scenes.
I remember that the scene of himlike taking down the chopper
with his his bomb tipped arrow, explosive tipped arrows, which I
did think it was funny. Like when the when the
(24:48):
helicopter crashes and everybody's getting off the
plane, it's so convenient how hegrabs his pack that has his his
bow and arrow, which he has to put together later as he's put
it together. So, you know, at least they
didn't have a continuity problemthere.
But when he grabbed the bag, I was like, that's, that's going
to become important later. I have a feeling.
And it did. But yeah.
(25:08):
It did seem like he had an awfullot of arrows.
Yes, yes, I would agree with you.
That's all I'm going to say. Yeah, not.
Quite where did those arrows come?
From he. Picked them up.
He wouldn't pick them up off thebodies and put them back in his
quiver. They'll.
Say, not quite as many as Legolas would have in his
quiver, right? I mean still.
Sure. Yeah, where is he getting all
(25:29):
these magic arrows? From well, he's an elf.
He can make those. He probably can make create
those in his mind or whatever. Elf magic.
That's true. That's true.
But yeah, but even like can. We see Rambo as an elf.
He'd be a very angry elf. Very.
Angry. Elf What was North Pole?
Elf one. More time referencing.
Yeah, you're an angry little elf, aren't you?
(25:51):
I wasn't going to say. Oh, but yeah, just same with the
like, there's one gun battle, I think, where I'm like, they're
just firing and firing and like,nobody's changing their
magazines. Like nobody's running out of
bullets at all. They're just continuing to fire
over and over again. I'm like, yeah.
Pick a page out of the A Teams book.
There you go. There you go.
(26:12):
Who needs logic? I would be remiss though if I
didn't mention there wasn't in all of the cheesy 80s like
action, just for action stuff throughout this movie.
There is that one scene where Masood, I mentioned it earlier
where he says, like when we fight, we're fighting to protect
our land and we're fighting for our God.
(26:34):
But if you think that this man is, is it's necessary to save
this man, then we'll stand with you.
This guy just met him. You know what I mean?
Like these guys just met, but like the fact that he's there
standing with him to fight and go into this battle like where
they're probably going to die. That's that's a pretty cool
scene for me too. And it's it kind of kind of hits
me a little bit like in, in morethan, you know, anything else in
(26:57):
this movie because it's it's very, very heavy action for
throughout the zone. Yeah, I will say like even
though it is a very action oriented, I've Stallone tends to
like to want to make some kind of a statement in those in his
movies. And there was he was definitely
making statements in this one. So yeah, I could.
I mean, I could see that. Or like when when when he tells
(27:20):
him that what he was talking about going to save his
commanding officer and he was OK, well, we're going to if you
get captured, we're going to deny any part in this.
And the fact that we even know you exist.
And he's like, yeah, sounds familiar.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, talking about making a
statement. I've heard that before.
Yeah, right. All right, well, let's jump into
(27:40):
some some trivia. I'm actually going to start with
some deleted scenes that I foundout about.
There was extra dialogue that was filmed but cut from the
scene where Griggs informs Ramboof Troutman's capture and then
tells Rambo that he is really sorry.
In the deleted footage, Griggs firmly tells Rambo about the
impossibilities of sending a rescue force in after Rambo ask
(28:03):
why he won't do anything about it.
Some of the deleted dialogue, however, can be seen in the
original trailer, which is pretty common, and also the
film's ending was longer in the original cut, as Rambo and
Troutman are driving away from the Freedom Fighters camp, as
seen in the in the theatrical cut, Rambo decides not to go
back home with Troutman to America.
(28:24):
Rambo decides to stay with the Freedom Fighters, feeling that
he has finally found somewhere he belongs.
Troutman understands and says goodbye to Rambo, wishes him
luck, and returns home to America alone.
So a little bit longer scene. I don't know if I like 1 better
than the other but so there I did find where the one of the
(28:44):
lost drafts of Rambo 3. It was alternate story they felt
was a better fit for the franchise.
But it would and it would save the film makers from several
issues that plagued the final movie.
Speaking with Indie Film Hustle Podcast Co writer Sheldon Lynch
recalled how he and Stallone settled on the Soviet Afghan War
as a storyline. Stallone had wanted to move away
(29:06):
from jungles after the second movie, while the conflict in
Afghanistan was in the headlinesat the time.
Again, this made Russia the villain.
However, Lettich recalled that Stallone was worried about the
potential political hot potato of the concept, leading the
writer to work on an alternate Rambo 3 premise.
The other Rambo 3, which nearly Co starred Marlon Brando, it
(29:27):
took the soldier to Siberia. Instead, the plot involved an
American pilot being behind enemy lines shot down, with
Rambo sent in to rescue him fromRussian forces and help him
cross the Bering Strait. The Co writer admits the plot
was largely inspired by Louis Lemoore's Last of the Breed,
which involved the Native American pilot who has to use
(29:48):
his hunting and survival skills to escape from the Soviets in
Siberia. This book had the makings of not
only a great action adventure movie, but a calls to mind the
original First Blood as well. Not only would the snowy setting
have been a unique location of aRambo film, but the premise
itself would have also been moreintimate and character based
than what we got in Rambo 3. So what do you think about that
(30:12):
alternate version? I'm still hung up on Marlon
Brando as a Co star, man. I'm just taking this dude.
It's like, yeah, I mean, he's like a James Bond type, you
know? Like he's just so suave with
everything. It's like I could just John.
That's all I could think, that'sall I could think of a while ago
(30:33):
when he said Marlon Brando, honestly.
Well, I think about that. I think about Superman, you
know, Krypton, you know, but butyeah, I think I think I yeah, I
think I read another article talking about Marlon Brando in
like the general what the part that went to Kurtwood Smith and
the other draft. It was kind of the same
character where like he was going to be the military guy
(30:53):
that was, you know, that was in contact with Rambo about the
person behind enemy lines. So.
But I think I read the brand. He was.
He was going to make him an offer he couldn't refuse.
Exactly. Yeah, Well, Brandon, Brandon,
I'm sorry. Brando made them an offer that
they chose to refuse because he had too many notes on the script
of how he wanted things to go. And they're like, Nah, this
(31:14):
isn't going to work. So I think I think him and
Stallone probably would have butt heads on how they thought
the film was going to go. That was not going to be a good
a good combo. Yeah.
Yeah. But I do kind of like the idea
of it being in Siberia. I would have liked to have seen
a Rambo in like a winter setting.
I think that would have been a nice change of pace it.
(31:38):
Definitely could have worked. I mean he did it in Rocky 5, why
not go? Yeah, it was the IT was the pre
cliffhanger, you know, where he's, you know, rock climbing in
the snow in a T-shirt and not freezing to death or catching
frostbite. I love cliffhanger.
It's one of my favorites. Anyway, moving on.
All right, so some trivia. The character Mossad, as JB
(32:01):
mentioned, is a reference to Ahmad Shah Mossad, a real life
leader of the Afghan resistance against the Russian occupation,
minister of defense of Afghanistan after the Russian
occupation ended, and later again a leader of the
resistance, this time against the Taliban regime.
So he was based on a real life resistance, Afghan resistance
(32:21):
fighter. Kind of Speaking of that, one of
the biggest controversy surrounding the movie was the
idea of the character working with the Mujahideen to repel
Soviet forces in Afghanistan. This took place during the
Soviet Afghan War, which raged for 10 years before finally
seeing an end just one year after Rambo 3 came out.
(32:41):
Following the end of the war, the Mujahedin descended into an
end and can't read that Enter intern a scene warfare.
I don't know what that means. I shouldn't use big words I
don't understand in my notes anyway.
Words are hard. Words are hard.
Anyway the ensuing power struggles gave all the edit this
(33:02):
out gave rise to what our generation knows as the Taliban,
a complete different group. Anyway, it was bad that the
basically the conflict of that Rambo or let Stallone wanted to
reference the movie was by the time the movie came out was
already starting to like Russia was starting to pull their
forces out of Afghanistan. So what he thought was going to
be like a hot topic in the worldwas kind of like the war's not
(33:26):
even going on over there anymore.
So that's one of the reasons whythey felt like the movie didn't
do as well, because it didn't seem as current as it was when
they were actually filming it. But Russia hates him.
He's always picking on them, right?
You know, I mean, it's always Russia.
The Russia. Yeah, well, you know, they were
our enemy then. Kind of still are, but that's
(33:47):
but I'm sure that's for a different they.
Still don't like him probably though.
Yeah, wait till we wait till we talk about Red Dawn.
When we get to Red Dawn, we'll really talk about.
Man, yeah. Hold on, I got to take some.
More Russia. Russia.
The Cold War did give us some great movies though.
I'll tell. You all right?
Any other scenes or anything we want to talk about?
(34:08):
I'm kind of that's kind of all the trivia I got.
I'll have a few more I'll put inthe show notes, but that was
about it. There wasn't a lot
unfortunately, you know, unfortunately, you know, this
one was not as big of a movie, so there's not as much, you
know, trivia behind the scenes stuff out there for this one
like the previous ones. It was just pretty much action
from beginning to end. What's that?
(34:29):
Yeah, that's true. Yeah, I said.
It was just pretty much action from beginning to end.
Really, I mean, it's it's a straight up action movie.
I mean, and I will say like I was going to go back to like one
of my favorite scenes. I do like the scene of Rambo at
the beginning in the the fighting with the sticks like
that, you know, the stick fighting.
And I think I really like the director filmed that himself,
(34:50):
like he used a handheld camera. He filmed that whole sequence
himself. So that was all him.
So which is? So that go ahead.
Yes, which is one of the most kind of like thrilling scenes
like that combat scene is like one of the best action sequences
in the movie, I would say. Yeah, and I, and I'm going to be
honest, when I was watching thatit it, it kind of gave me an
(35:14):
answer to the old age-old question, who would win in a
fight, Rocky or Rambo? Because this dude is like
fighting with sticks, which he'snot used to fighting.
He's fighting in this guy's gameand he's like getting the crap
kicked out of him. Right.
OK, well, let's put some boxing gloves on him and right out of
his element. No, I think Rocky could take him
(35:35):
because he's out of his element.Yeah, yeah.
So anyway. But that's neither here nor
there. I can see that though.
I did, yeah. Like now, hand to hand.
It's it's Rambo all day. Tim, your next little thing you
could have would be a What If series, and that's your first
(35:55):
What If episode right there. What if it was Rocky in that
fight instead of Rambo and you can put the whole thing on that?
Yeah, I don't know if Rocky would have been able to handle
it. I think he would have gone down
pretty quick. So like I said, out of his
element. It depends.
Does he have Paulie in his corner?
(36:16):
Yeah, there's no rules though. Like Rocky wasn't really a
Street Fighter, you know, he was.
He was a boxer. So there's rules and things that
he would follow. So I don't know.
Yeah, good question though. He was a brawler though.
Yeah, that was that was. What they said throughout the
But he was a brawling type fighter so like true he could
throw down. Yeah, I'm about to rewatch the
(36:37):
Rocky series, so I'm a little, yeah, I'm a little out of can't
wait. Yep, it's coming.
It's coming. I did want to mention the one
line, because you were talking about funny lines earlier, was
when, what's his name? Musa said to him.
Like when he first met him. He says you look like you
haven't seen much war. OK.
All right. I beg to differ.
(36:59):
Right, Right. I've seen 2 movies already.
And in one of the movies, we didn't see him in a war, we just
saw some flashbacks. We just saw like the aftermath.
So I think the. War has seen too much of him.
Yeah, that's exactly right. Yeah, exactly.
Exactly. All.
(37:20):
Right, Well, let's hop in the box office.
So Rambo 3 debuted in American theaters on Wednesday, May 25th,
1988, just ahead of the MemorialDay weekend.
It had some tough competition with other new releases.
Willow and Crocodile Dundee 2. They took the number one and two
spot, respectively, leading Rambo 3 at the number 3.
(37:42):
It's a Rainbow 3 debuted at #3 Overall, the film grossed $53.7
million, the United States and Canada $135.3 million overseas,
giving Rambo 3A box office totalof 189,000,000.
The film was considered to have underperformed in comparison to
the previous film in the series,which grossed nearly three times
(38:02):
as much domestically. So it made money, but it wasn't
a blockbuster like the last one,which is understandable.
Wasn't as good. All right.
It's kind of funny with that because they always say that the
sequel never does better than the original, right?
But the sequel to First Blood Rainbow, First Blood Part 2 made
(38:23):
a lot of money. So they figured, hey, we just
made this with this, let's go with #3 and see what we can do.
And then they took big, like 2 steps back.
Not quite the same. Yeah, yeah.
I mean it. It kind of it's it falls in that
thing of like the original was good.
(38:44):
Did it need a sequel? No, but because it make because
they knew it can make money, they did it.
And so I don't think I can't really say that Ram that Rambo
first blood Part 2 and we talkedabout this on our previous
episodes about the movies. I don't think it's better than
first blood, but it's more fun. Like it's it's a more enjoyable
(39:06):
watch but First Blood is by far the better movie and as far as.
Like it's definitely the better movie.
Part 2 just has more action, which makes it more.
Fun to watch. It took a different, it took a
different turn, it took a different tone.
So but yeah, but then three kindof wanted to like do the same
thing but bigger. And I think like at the time it
(39:27):
had the most kills. Like it broke the record for the
most on screen kills in a movie.So which I think which I think
Rambo First Blood Part 2 had held the title until this one
came out so. What did Ford do?
Did Ford beat the rest of Gosh? I mean Ford was like super
violent. Ford probably had the most gory
(39:49):
kills at the time for Rambo. He definitely got more into like
the CGI kills because the like those and that one and the
expend Expendable movies, which I like the first two expendable
movies. Like those are like seriously
CGI kills, but I mean. I like I like the third
(40:10):
Expendable movie because Mel Gibson is one of the best
villains. I've ever seen like he's.
So Dang good. The third one is still good.
It's still it's not as good as the first two.
The first one is still the best,but the 4th 1 was terrible.
Was just hard to watch. I just you can't get over how
good Mel Gibson was as a villainthough.
Like and. This is so ridiculous.
Yeah, and then you got Wesley Snipes coming in in the third
(40:31):
one too, adding his com comedy quips.
So yeah, now you may want to go back and watch the Expendable
movies. OK, moving on.
Manly movies go check out. All right, it's time to take a
look at how well this 80s flick holds up today.
The all new Rewatch ability Nostalgia meter is our way of
measuring how enjoyable a movie is for repeat viewings along
(40:52):
with the waves and nostalgia brings.
Here's how it works. It's a one to 10 scale.
Any number between 1:00 and 10:00 will do, but here are a
few parameters to help you decide.
At the bottom of the meter is a number one, basically says I saw
it once and I don't ever want tosee it again.
Right in the middle is the #5 a good rewatch every couple of
years, and the highly coveted top of the meter at a 10 is
(41:15):
highly rewatchable and full of nostalgia.
JB, we'll start with you. Where does Rambo 3 rank for you
on your rewatch ability nostalgia meter?
I'm going to fall just like it'slike with Karate Kid Part 3,
like it's would put it like a four or five.
But because the 1st 2 are so rewatchable and I'm such a
(41:36):
completionist and there's five of them.
So it's like I can't watch four and five without watching 3.
So it's like the first two are so Dang good.
And so I'm just like, I mean, I'm probably, I'm going to watch
it every time that I watch 1:00 and 2:00, I'm going to watch the
whole thing. So I'd probably say about a
maybe a 6, probably it's up there a little bit higher.
(41:56):
Yeah, I can. I can dig that.
What about you, Chris? I'm a sucker for a good 80s
action flick with just blowing things up and shooting guns
non-stop and little 1 liners andso anything Stallone and
Schwarzenegger I guess is what it comes down to.
(42:16):
So that being said, being such asucker for these things, I'm
going to throw an 8 on it because I'll always watch it.
I will always watch it. I won't pass it up.
You know, there may be 3 or 4 good movies on TV that I want to
watch, and if that's one of them, I'll always refer.
You know, I'll go to it first. Gotcha.
Yep. All right.
Good deal. Yeah, I'm kind of with JB on
(42:38):
this one. We talked about this on Karate
Kid. If it was by itself a stand
alone movie, it's like a three for me.
Like, there's not much that makes me really want to go back
and watch it over and over again.
And I don't have a lot of nostalgia for work because like
I said, I don't really remember singing in the theater.
I think I saw it on video, but Ididn't watch it a whole lot as a
(42:58):
kid. But because it's part of a
franchise, if I'm going to watchone and two, and if I want to
watch four and five, then I'm going to have to watch 3 with
it. So as as part of the franchise,
I'm going to give it a little bit higher than JB and I'm going
(43:19):
to do 6.5. I can't quite give it a 7, but I
will give it a 6.5. So that's where it lands for me.
All right, well, let us know where you think Rambo 3 should
rank on the Rewatchable Nostalgia Meter.
You can send us an e-mail at info@eightiesflickflashback.com
or you can let us know on socialmedia.
You can leave a comment right here on YouTube if you're
watching the podcast here. Well, Chris, JB, thank you guys
(43:43):
so much for being a part of thisepisode.
I think we've given Rambo 3 it'sdue, but let's see JB, no new
episodes. Manly movies.
We talked about it last time. So when we go back to go back
and listen to some previous episodes, he's still got some
good ones out there if you haven't listened to them yet.
So Chris, what you got coming upon Retro Life for You podcast?
(44:05):
Coming up, well current episode this week is actually the one
you were on with me moving violations.
That was a lot of fun. That was very fun.
Next week we've got Transformers, the movie that my
friend Marty was on with me. And then after that, which might
be about the time this airs, I don't know when you're going to
put this up, but we have Tom Cook.
He was a cartoon director, animator and things from the
(44:29):
80s. So he was the one who did all of
Masters of the Universe. You know, he man, she wrote the
movies that they did. He was a part of like the clash
of the No not clash is one of the challenge of the Super
Friends and Thunder the Barbarian, Brave Star, Black
Star Filmation cartoons a lot, yes.
Amanda Barbera too. So he was all around.
Look him up. Tom Cook.
(44:49):
He's a pretty good guy. Did a lot of stuff with the
cartoons that we grew up on watching.
So that was a very fun episode to do.
He explained everything in detail, how things were done
back then and his opinion on howit compares to what you know.
Cartooning is done today with all the digital stuff and
everything, so it was fun. Very cool, very cool.
(45:11):
Well, thanks everybody for listening.
If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a five star
review on Apple podcast just like Kristen did.
Be sure to follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode.
You can jump online and visit the website 80s
flickflashback.com or our T public store for some awesome is
flick flashback merchant original designs.
Thanks again for tuning in. I'm Tim Williams for the 80s
(45:32):
flick flashback podcast. In ancient days, the Afghan king
was asked to send 500 warriors into battle.
He said only 5, his greatest 5, and they won.
He said it's better to send 5 lions than 500 sheep.
On this episode of the 80s flickFlashback, we're diving into a
film that followed A surprising stumble for one of the biggest
action stars of the decade. In 1987, Sylvester Stallone
seemed invincible after dominating the box office in 85
with the second and third highest grossing films of the
year and another blockbuster in 86 with Cobra.
(00:21):
His grip on Hollywood's action throne appeared unshakable, yet
his arm wrestling Canon Films classic Over the Top shockingly
bombed. So for his next movie, Stallone
turn to one of his most iconic characters, Rambo.
This brings us to this 80s flicksequel, often seen as the most
outlandish entry in the franchise.
(00:41):
It's story Rambo heading to Afghanistan to aid the
Mujahideen against the Soviets has certainly aged, especially
post 911. So get ready to leave the
monastery, grab your explosive tipped arrows, and jump in the
chopper as Chris Adams, JB Huffman and I dissect 1988 Rambo
3 on this episode of the 80s Flick Flashback Podcast.
(01:44):
Well, welcome in everybody. I'm Tim Williams, I'm your host
of the 80s slick flashback podcast.
I'm so excited to have two of myfavorite Co host joining me for
what is sure to be an explosive episode.
First up, we'll need a one man army of cinematic insight.
He's the first man I call. It's the always ready for action
JB Huffman. How you doing JB?
(02:06):
I'm doing great man, Ready to talk about one of my favorite
actors movies. Yeah, you got.
You got it right. You got it right.
And joining him tonight is a manwho brings more firepower of
film knowledge than a Soviet Hind helicopter.
It's the unstoppable Chris Adams.
How you doing Chris? I'm, well, I don't know how to
follow that. That's that's that's a really
(02:27):
big description to live up to there.
Hey, if it wasn't. I feel like a tourist here.
I caught that reference. Caught that?
Reference. I was hoping you would.
Cool. Well, before we jump into the
episode, I want to give a shout out to a new podcast review that
we've gotten recently got a fivestar review from Kristen Cook
(02:50):
and she said best podcast ever, which I have to agree and I am
biased. She said I would much rather
watch 80s movies than the newer movies that are out today.
The 80s flick flashback featuressome of my favorite movies.
I love listening to their opinions of the movies and
memories they have. A few of my favorites are Mr.
Mom, Space Camp, Pee Wee's big adventure, License to drive.
(03:13):
Keep up the great work. Thank you Kristen, appreciate
those kind words. Thank you so much for reaching
out to us. She actually reached out to me
on social media and I was like, hey, if you write us a review,
that'd be really cool. And she did.
So I appreciate her taking the time to do that.
So if you leave us a review, youcan do that over at Apple
Podcast or your favorite podcastCatcher if they let you write
(03:34):
reviews, but it helps when it's on Apple.
Well, let's jump into this episode.
We're in our Summer of Sequels 2series, so we're covering Part 3
sequels from the 80s. So if you've missed the first
two we've done, we started off the series with Superman 3.
We had a little bonus episode ofFriday the 13th, which is not a
(03:56):
Part 3, but we had a Friday the 13th.
And then our last episode JB andI covered Karate Kid Part 3.
So to continue in the series of sequels that show why trilogy's
are not always a great idea, it's Rambo 3.
So we've covered First Blood, which was fantastic.
(04:16):
We covered Rambo First Blood Part 2, which was fun for what
it was, becoming a straight up action flick instead of more of
a war drama that First Blood was.
And then because it made sense to go from First Blood to Rambo
First Blood Part 2 to then make your sequel just Rambo 3.
And I am the person that if I see First Blood listed as Rambo
(04:41):
Colon First Blood, I, I, I reject that.
I do not accept that title. That was not the title as it was
released. Just like Star Wars, A New Hope
will never be Episode 4. It will always be A New Hope.
But anyway. Star Wars.
Just Star Wars. Just Star Wars, that's what.
Yeah. It wasn't even a New Hope.
It was just Star Wars. So All right, well, let's jump
(05:02):
into Rambo 3. So Chris, when did you see Rambo
3 for the very first time? I went to the movies and watched
it. Yeah.
When it came to theaters, I thatwas, I was looking forward to it
because I really liked Part 2 and I was hoping for something,
you know, as big or bigger. Now I did like part three.
I'm, I'm not going to say that Ididn't, I did like it, but 2 is
(05:24):
my absolute favorite. But definitely at the theaters
when it came out. Very cool.
What about you, JB? Like many 80s movies, it was one
that I don't remember not watching.
And like most 80s movies, I definitely did not watch it in
theaters because I was 2. But that was probably, that
would probably be a little problematic if you saw it in the
(05:44):
theater at age 2. A little.
Just a little bit. Would have been more impressive
though is if you saw it and remembered it at age.
Yes, yes. Hey, I'll, I'll, I'm going to
defend myself. I've been wanting to cover a
movie that I've actually seen intheaters, but we've been putting
it off for the last three years.We're getting there talking
(06:06):
about. This is the year, man.
This is the year. Tim knows what I'm talking
about. I do.
I know exactly. Christmas 2025.
We're gonna if it's. Christmas.
I already know what it is if it's Christmas because Prancer
only got to do it last year I think it was.
Or the year before. Yeah, Hey.
If you heard it here first, you heard it here first.
YouTube. It's Prancer guys.
(06:26):
It's coming, it's coming, it's coming.
We've been putting it off for way too long.
Like that was me and you know, Jerry Dion, totally rad
Christmas. We scheduled to do Cobra, I
promise you like 5 or 6 times. And every time we try to do it,
something happened. We had to reschedule.
We finally did it, but it was like I had watched, I like
watched it three times to recordand we kept pushing off.
(06:47):
So I said I've seen Cobra way more than I wanted to.
But anyway, sidebar. So yeah, so Rambo 3, I, I have a
vague memory that maybe I saw this in the theater, but I did
not see it like when it first came out.
I think I waited until it was atthe dollar theater before I saw
it or I may even waited until itwas on VHS before I watched.
(07:09):
It was not one that I remember. I don't have like a fond memory
of seeing it in the theater. I remember seeing it.
I remember seeing Rambo First Blood Part 2 in the theater, but
this one I did not. So.
So how long has it been since you rewatched it before
rewatching it for the podcast JB?
I looked back, it was September of last year because I, I had
(07:30):
been putting off rewatching these for a while.
And when, when Last Blood came out in 2019, I was like, I was
like, man, I need to rewatch these.
And then I like never got aroundto it.
And I don't know why. Like I, I couldn't make, I
couldn't catch it in theater at that time.
And so then finally last year I was like, I just need to go back
and watch them all and then watch Last Blood.
And so I did. I cranked through them, man.
(07:51):
And it was just, it was, it was a fun experience.
I'd I'd forgotten about before. I'd forgotten like, yeah, it was
because I'd only seen that like,once.
The other ones I've seen like, you know, so many times so.
Yeah, what about you, Chris? Earlier this year, actually, I
(08:13):
was looking for something to watch and I was going through
that Roku app, The Roku Channel.Oh yeah, yeah.
And they had a marathon going all day and end of the night
repeating, starting with first blood and Part 2, then 3, then
four, and then it started back over at 1 and it just kept
repeating all night. So I actually saw it one whole
(08:35):
time and part of another time that same day.
Little double dip there. Yeah, yeah, I like.
Same with JB when Rambo Last Blood came out, I think it had
been out for a while because I think once it finally went to
like video, I want to say like back when it was Voodoo, now
(08:56):
it's Fandango at home. But when is Voodoo?
You got like they had like a deal for like all the Rambo
movies. So first blood all the way to
the director's cut of Last Blood.
And so I was like, I'm just going to go ahead and get it so
I can have all of them because Iwanted the I wanted the first
two anyway. And so I did the same thing.
I started with First Blood, thenwatch Rambo Part 2.
(09:17):
And I remember watching this, wehad bought a grill because it
was right around summertime. We had bought a new grill and so
I was putting the grill togetherin our little sunroom and I had
it on. So it's kind of like watching
it, but kind of like half watching it.
So watching it this time, I was paying a lot more attention to
what was going on. So but but yeah, I was probably
(09:38):
that had have been like 2019. I think it was before 2020, so
before COVID. So it's weird how our lives have
that that distinction like his before COVID or after COVID or
in the middle of COVID, which islike the year that we forget.
But anyway, all right, well, let's jump into story origin and
pre production. So got a little bit here.
(09:59):
Not a whole lot, but we'll we'lltake it as it comes.
According to the December 1990 issue of Spy Magazine,
screenwriters and novelists Richard Dobbins and Evan Slauson
wrote the original story treatment for the third film
titled Rambo Holy War. Several other writers did their
own versions before Sylvester Stallone and Sheldon Lettich
(10:21):
wrote the final script. David Morrell, who wrote the
original book First Blood, said how when he was writing his
novelization of the film, every week he would get a new script
for the film and each one would have been very different from
the last. Morel also wrote a version of
the script for Rambo 3IN which Rambo and Trotman's wife, who
just like him is also a militaryexpert, go to South America to
(10:44):
save Troutman from some dictatorand his army.
But that script was rejected. The road to Rambo 3 was a tough
one. Initially.
Highlander's Russell Mulcahy wasset 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 blonde blue eyed pretty
(11:08):
boys that resembled red rejects from a surfing contest and
quote. The film would also go through
three cinematographers. Instead, Peter MacDonald, the
second unit director of Rambo First Blood Part 2 was hired,
which meant the movie's action would be impeccable.
We'll never know what the original version of Rambo 3 was,
but it was if it was over the top action and non-stop
(11:30):
explosions they wanted, MacDonald was the right guy for
the job. MacDonald never hit the big time
as a direct re director with just three more feature films
after this one he directed Use MO Money with Damon Wayans or is
The Neverending Story Part 3 and1998's Legionnaire with
Jean-Claude Van Any anything you guys found you
(12:09):
wanted to add or is there any anything interesting in there
you wanted to talk about? Nothing for me.
I think it's interesting that this that Peter McDonald has
directed like so many like thirdepisodes of a trilogy or never
any sort of three. And then of course, Indiana
Jones, the one he did so like not even in that trilogy.
(12:30):
So it's like, yeah, distant fromany any of them, but it's just
funny. But not.
Yeah, yeah. This is one that when I was
watching it, I was trying to remember if this is one of those
movies like, you know, Stallone will like have a director, quote
UN quote, a director on set, butlike he's actually the one
directing it. And I was wondering if this is
(12:50):
one of those, which is probably,which is probably pretty true,
but him being a second, you know, director before, I mean,
he's directed but not been like the primary director.
So he was probably taking a lot of cues from Stallone for sure.
At this point, man Stallone is running the show.
Oh yeah. Oh yeah, I mean, he's been very
public about his 80s, early 90s persona being his ego was was
(13:13):
way too high so. He has several movies he took
over, didn't he? Wasn't just Rambo I mean.
Oh yeah, yeah. Wasn't Cobra one of them as
well? Cobra was definitely one that he
like pretty much directed himself.
So which is why I guess Rambo 4,which is just just titled Rambo,
he directed that one and I thinkhe direct, did he direct the
(13:35):
last one First Blood? I mean Last blood.
I know he wrote the story for it.
Think he did? Did he take over Tango and cash
too? Probably there's a.
Like I think. We covered that.
Yeah, I've done, I think. Adrian Greenberg did The Last
Blood. OK, All right.
(13:56):
Yeah, a director that took. Instruction from He did 4
though. OK, he did.
He did Rambo. Yeah, the sequel without a
number or a. Why did Rambo 3 become come
before Rambo? I don't understand that but OK.
Hey, we go in, it goes from Rocky to Rocky 5 to then John
Rambo. So I mean, I mean, not John.
(14:18):
Rocky was a Rocky Balboa, Rocky five.
Yeah, sorry, wrong series. So yeah, the Rocky movies at
Rocky 1/2, the Balboa. So sure, that makes sense.
It was the 80s, man. Well, that wasn't even the 80s
anyway. Doesn't matter.
So that's just alone. All right, let's get into
casting, talk about Sylvester Stallone.
I literally have three people totalk about for the cast because
(14:40):
it's pretty small, and all threeof these are people that we've
talked about in previous episodes.
This is going to go by really quick.
So of course, Sylvester Stalloneis John J Rambo.
Stallone decided it was time to go big or go home when he came
to Rambo 3, since he'd never gone big before that point and
demanded a whole jet as payment.He got it, too, which shows
serious faith on the part of theproducers who pointed up $12
(15:02):
million for Stallone does have his own Gulfstream jet to make
to put on the headband for the third time.
So you can tell me it's not about money, It's all about
making good movies. But the dude got a plane.
That was his payment. Oh yeah.
I try to what's. Around, you know.
(15:22):
Oh yeah, I'll try to get that inmy next.
My next. There you go.
They might give me a personal little small drone I can fly
around or something, but. Instead of buy me a coffee.com,
it will be buymeaplane.com. Yeah.
There you go. We'll get little miniature like
(15:44):
Hot Wheels planes like here's your Gulfstream looks a little
model I put on my on my desk. So all right.
And then we got Richard Krenna as Colonel Troutman.
This was the last Rambo film to * Richard Crenna as Colonel Sam
Troutman. He passed away on January 17th,
2003 before the 4th film could be made.
But that that film Rambo from 2008 was dedicated to his
(16:08):
memory. He also later appeared in Hot
Shots part, due in 1993, which is a parody of the Rambo series.
Before taking the part, Krinna actually approached Sylvester
Stallone for his opinion and asked for his blessing,
something Stallone was more thanhappy to give.
And I will tell you, I've seen Hotshots part do more times than
(16:30):
I've seen Rambo 3. And when it got to that scene
where there where Stallone's fighting at the beginning
outside the monastery and all I could see was the Hot shots part
Do. And I know they don't do this in
the movie with, but in the Hot Shots, he puts the the guy puts
like the hot wax on his first and then gets like the nails and
screws. And then Charlie Sheen does the
(16:52):
same thing, but it's like chocolate and then like
sprinkles and like it's ice cream toppings or whatever, man.
So yeah, I love the Hot shots movies.
Those are both those are hilarious.
And the second one is definitelylike, it parodies like all of
the Rambo movies. So it was it's also one of my
favorites, but it was cool to have Richard Krenna show up in
(17:15):
that one and be like the big cameo for that.
And then one of our favorites here, Kurt Wood Smith as Robert
Griggs. Of course, we covered him and
our RoboCop and Dead Poets Society episodes.
This was a fun fact I was not aware of.
Kurt Wood Smith played the role of the quote UN quote first
choreographer in Stallone's filmStaying Alive from 1983.
(17:38):
So he returned. He returned to work with
Stallone a second time, hot off the heels of his breakout
performance and RoboCop. But yeah.
I'd love him as Red Foreman though.
Yeah, I know. Yeah, you can't.
I mean, you can't. Yeah.
You can't talk about it without talking about being Red Foreman,
so. I always liked the little things
that was going around. They had Red Foreman for
president when they had the presidential election going
(18:00):
along. For sure, for sure.
I really like I don't remember him in Deadpool society.
He was the father, Yeah, OK. He was the dad who didn't want
his son to be the actor. Yeah, the Robert Sean Leonard's
that. That's right.
Yep, gotcha. But yeah, I just rewatched
(18:24):
RoboCop a couple weeks ago. I watched the director's cuts on
Max and so the director's cut just means like it has all the
extra blood, you know, it's a little bit more gruesome than
the original. Be forewarned.
But it was cool. All right, that's it forecast.
Because everybody else was basically like a Israeli actor
(18:46):
or you know, European. So nobody that had any kind of
filmography that we'd be aware of.
So, But anybody in the cast stand out to you besides the
three, the main, even even Kerword Smith's more like a
cameo. He's at the very beginning, and
then he shows up halfway to let him know that Troutman's been
kidnapped, and then you don't see him again at all.
(19:08):
So yeah. Anytime I see him I just expect
him to use that same line that he says that I can't say on air.
From That 70s Show. Yeah, exactly.
No, I, I none of really stood out other than the guy that the
one guy that had that speech which we can talk about later.
Cool, say speech. Yes, speech.
(19:30):
It's more like a quote, dialogue, whatever you want to
call it. Yep.
All right, well, let's talk about iconic scenes.
If someone said to you Rambo 3, what's the first scene that pops
into your head? I'll go with Chris this time.
I always, I don't know why this is the first one that comes to
mind, but there are, you know, he's already rescued Troutman
(19:52):
and they're on the way back and he's fighting the big Russian
guy on top of the the hill or the mountain or whatever.
And he does the spinning Roundhouse kick and knocks him
down the hole with the pins pulled from the grenades or
something. Right, right.
Yeah. That always stands out to me for
some reason and comes to mind first.
(20:12):
Yeah, I can see that. What about you, JB?
Iconic scene. Iconic scene.
Well, the one that stands out tome the most like that I just
will always remember was the the, the sheep game on the, on
the horsebacks, like where they're like doing the carrying
the sheep from the the thing. And then it leads right into
(20:32):
that battle where the helicoptershows up.
Yeah. And it's just, and then you see
him on the, on the him and his other other guys like on the
horses, like running away from it like that, that shot right
there as I always remember that.But but him carrying the sheep
around that horse is just something I've always like,
always remember it's, I mean, it's a cool, it's a weird
(20:53):
looking game, but it's just like.
Yeah, so it's like football. Yeah.
So it is like football, What yousaid football.
Yeah. Why do you, why do you put it in
the circle? Because there's a circle there.
Yeah, right. So it is like football.
Right, right. So do you play it with your
foot? Not really.
Not really. So yeah.
So I had some trivia about aboutthe game on horseback.
(21:16):
In reality, Sylvester Stone has been riding courses since
childhood and even competed in his first polo match at age 11.
The game they're participating in is called Butzkashi Butzkashi
and is played all across southern Central Asia.
So there you go, it's called Buskashi BUZKASHI for those
(21:38):
taking notes at home. For me, the iconic scene, it was
funny because right before the scene happened, I was like, I
couldn't remember it. Was it this movie or was it in
First Blood Part 2? But the scene that I I'd like I
always remember from this movie or just like a, a Rambo scene
that I remember is when he got shot and it went straight
(21:58):
through his like his side and heputs the gunpowder on both sides
and then lights it. Like, seeing that as a kid was
just like, Oh my gosh, would that really work?
Probably not. But it was really cool.
It was so cool to see, like, theflame coming out of both, you
know, the front and the back. And then he just, you know, from
then on, he's just running and it doesn't hurt.
(22:19):
So. But yeah, that's that scene.
That's the scene that always sticks out to me.
Like that's an essential or a quintessential Rambo scene for
me. See, now you got me wondering,
will it work? I mean, it's it's I've been
gunpowder out of both sides. It catches fire.
One flames to the other. It cauterizes the wound.
Yeah, I mean, I could see it. I I don't want to be the one to
(22:40):
test it out though. Well, you know, I did.
I called my local physician. He's going to be a guest and I'm
just kidding. Let us know if it really if it
can really work. But if your physician listens to
the show, let us know. And we would love to know is
could that really happen? I have a feeling it couldn't and
I'm sure Mythbusters couldn't get the insurance to try that
one. Hey, let me shoot you.
Let me shoot you in the side andsee if this works.
(23:03):
So. You're going to feel a pinch.
Yeah, this might hurt just a little bit.
Hold still, we got to get it right in the right spot, man.
All right. What about favorite scenes?
Any favorite scenes in this one,man?
Struggling, I can tell already. Well, no.
The thing is, I think the sheep game is probably my favorite.
Yeah, yeah. But it's, it's, it was, it's
also really iconic too. And I was going to, I was going
(23:25):
to mention the gunpowder thing just because it's so freaking
BA, you know what I mean? Like, it's just like, it's just
watching him do it. It's like, it's like kind of
makes me cringe. And I'm like, man, that's a dude
right there. Yeah.
Yeah. Oh yeah.
Yeah. He's not screaming or anything,
which I guess he can't because he would get caught, but I don't
know. I think The Cave fire where he's
(23:45):
hunting all these guys down and with the bow and arrow, just
like, yeah. Like The Cave scene is pretty
cool. So Dang good.
Yeah, like pretty cool. I always thought a little bit of
a humorous scene at least, was when he first gets there and he
meets the guy and he's going to get his stuff from him and he's
giving him the stuff he requested.
(24:06):
And he's like, you know, you sure you want to be here?
You know, you, you look like a tourist or something.
He's like, I'm no tourist. He's looking at the stuff he's
got and he's like looking at, I guess he's just some explosives
there and stuff. And yeah, then he got this.
The blue light, he goes, well, what is this?
He goes. The blue light, he goes.
Yeah. What does it do?
It turns blue. That's it.
(24:27):
Yeah, that was a good line. That was a yeah.
I don't really have what like I think you cover like The Cave
scene was definitely one of my favorite scenes.
I remember that the scene of himlike taking down the chopper
with his his bomb tipped arrow, explosive tipped arrows, which I
did think it was funny. Like when the when the
(24:48):
helicopter crashes and everybody's getting off the
plane, it's so convenient how hegrabs his pack that has his his
bow and arrow, which he has to put together later as he's put
it together. So, you know, at least they
didn't have a continuity problemthere.
But when he grabbed the bag, I was like, that's, that's going
to become important later. I have a feeling.
And it did. But yeah.
(25:08):
It did seem like he had an awfullot of arrows.
Yes, yes, I would agree with you.
That's all I'm going to say. Yeah, not.
Quite where did those arrows come?
From he. Picked them up.
He wouldn't pick them up off thebodies and put them back in his
quiver. They'll.
Say, not quite as many as Legolas would have in his
quiver, right? I mean still.
Sure. Yeah, where is he getting all
(25:29):
these magic arrows? From well, he's an elf.
He can make those. He probably can make create
those in his mind or whatever. Elf magic.
That's true. That's true.
But yeah, but even like can. We see Rambo as an elf.
He'd be a very angry elf. Very.
Angry. Elf What was North Pole?
Elf one. More time referencing.
Yeah, you're an angry little elf, aren't you?
(25:51):
I wasn't going to say. Oh, but yeah, just same with the
like, there's one gun battle, I think, where I'm like, they're
just firing and firing and like,nobody's changing their
magazines. Like nobody's running out of
bullets at all. They're just continuing to fire
over and over again. I'm like, yeah.
Pick a page out of the A Teams book.
There you go. There you go.
(26:12):
Who needs logic? I would be remiss though if I
didn't mention there wasn't in all of the cheesy 80s like
action, just for action stuff throughout this movie.
There is that one scene where Masood, I mentioned it earlier
where he says, like when we fight, we're fighting to protect
our land and we're fighting for our God.
(26:34):
But if you think that this man is, is it's necessary to save
this man, then we'll stand with you.
This guy just met him. You know what I mean?
Like these guys just met, but like the fact that he's there
standing with him to fight and go into this battle like where
they're probably going to die. That's that's a pretty cool
scene for me too. And it's it kind of kind of hits
me a little bit like in, in morethan, you know, anything else in
(26:57):
this movie because it's it's very, very heavy action for
throughout the zone. Yeah, I will say like even
though it is a very action oriented, I've Stallone tends to
like to want to make some kind of a statement in those in his
movies. And there was he was definitely
making statements in this one. So yeah, I could.
I mean, I could see that. Or like when when when he tells
(27:20):
him that what he was talking about going to save his
commanding officer and he was OK, well, we're going to if you
get captured, we're going to deny any part in this.
And the fact that we even know you exist.
And he's like, yeah, sounds familiar.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, talking about making a
statement. I've heard that before.
Yeah, right. All right, well, let's jump into
(27:40):
some some trivia. I'm actually going to start with
some deleted scenes that I foundout about.
There was extra dialogue that was filmed but cut from the
scene where Griggs informs Ramboof Troutman's capture and then
tells Rambo that he is really sorry.
In the deleted footage, Griggs firmly tells Rambo about the
impossibilities of sending a rescue force in after Rambo ask
(28:03):
why he won't do anything about it.
Some of the deleted dialogue, however, can be seen in the
original trailer, which is pretty common, and also the
film's ending was longer in the original cut, as Rambo and
Troutman are driving away from the Freedom Fighters camp, as
seen in the in the theatrical cut, Rambo decides not to go
back home with Troutman to America.
(28:24):
Rambo decides to stay with the Freedom Fighters, feeling that
he has finally found somewhere he belongs.
Troutman understands and says goodbye to Rambo, wishes him
luck, and returns home to America alone.
So a little bit longer scene. I don't know if I like 1 better
than the other but so there I did find where the one of the
(28:44):
lost drafts of Rambo 3. It was alternate story they felt
was a better fit for the franchise.
But it would and it would save the film makers from several
issues that plagued the final movie.
Speaking with Indie Film Hustle Podcast Co writer Sheldon Lynch
recalled how he and Stallone settled on the Soviet Afghan War
as a storyline. Stallone had wanted to move away
(29:06):
from jungles after the second movie, while the conflict in
Afghanistan was in the headlinesat the time.
Again, this made Russia the villain.
However, Lettich recalled that Stallone was worried about the
potential political hot potato of the concept, leading the
writer to work on an alternate Rambo 3 premise.
The other Rambo 3, which nearly Co starred Marlon Brando, it
(29:27):
took the soldier to Siberia. Instead, the plot involved an
American pilot being behind enemy lines shot down, with
Rambo sent in to rescue him fromRussian forces and help him
cross the Bering Strait. The Co writer admits the plot
was largely inspired by Louis Lemoore's Last of the Breed,
which involved the Native American pilot who has to use
(29:48):
his hunting and survival skills to escape from the Soviets in
Siberia. This book had the makings of not
only a great action adventure movie, but a calls to mind the
original First Blood as well. Not only would the snowy setting
have been a unique location of aRambo film, but the premise
itself would have also been moreintimate and character based
than what we got in Rambo 3. So what do you think about that
(30:12):
alternate version? I'm still hung up on Marlon
Brando as a Co star, man. I'm just taking this dude.
It's like, yeah, I mean, he's like a James Bond type, you
know? Like he's just so suave with
everything. It's like I could just John.
That's all I could think, that'sall I could think of a while ago
(30:33):
when he said Marlon Brando, honestly.
Well, I think about that. I think about Superman, you
know, Krypton, you know, but butyeah, I think I think I yeah, I
think I read another article talking about Marlon Brando in
like the general what the part that went to Kurtwood Smith and
the other draft. It was kind of the same
character where like he was going to be the military guy
(30:53):
that was, you know, that was in contact with Rambo about the
person behind enemy lines. So.
But I think I read the brand. He was.
He was going to make him an offer he couldn't refuse.
Exactly. Yeah, Well, Brandon, Brandon,
I'm sorry. Brando made them an offer that
they chose to refuse because he had too many notes on the script
of how he wanted things to go. And they're like, Nah, this
(31:14):
isn't going to work. So I think I think him and
Stallone probably would have butt heads on how they thought
the film was going to go. That was not going to be a good
a good combo. Yeah.
Yeah. But I do kind of like the idea
of it being in Siberia. I would have liked to have seen
a Rambo in like a winter setting.
I think that would have been a nice change of pace it.
(31:38):
Definitely could have worked. I mean he did it in Rocky 5, why
not go? Yeah, it was the IT was the pre
cliffhanger, you know, where he's, you know, rock climbing in
the snow in a T-shirt and not freezing to death or catching
frostbite. I love cliffhanger.
It's one of my favorites. Anyway, moving on.
All right, so some trivia. The character Mossad, as JB
(32:01):
mentioned, is a reference to Ahmad Shah Mossad, a real life
leader of the Afghan resistance against the Russian occupation,
minister of defense of Afghanistan after the Russian
occupation ended, and later again a leader of the
resistance, this time against the Taliban regime.
So he was based on a real life resistance, Afghan resistance
(32:21):
fighter. Kind of Speaking of that, one of
the biggest controversy surrounding the movie was the
idea of the character working with the Mujahideen to repel
Soviet forces in Afghanistan. This took place during the
Soviet Afghan War, which raged for 10 years before finally
seeing an end just one year after Rambo 3 came out.
(32:41):
Following the end of the war, the Mujahedin descended into an
end and can't read that Enter intern a scene warfare.
I don't know what that means. I shouldn't use big words I
don't understand in my notes anyway.
Words are hard. Words are hard.
Anyway the ensuing power struggles gave all the edit this
(33:02):
out gave rise to what our generation knows as the Taliban,
a complete different group. Anyway, it was bad that the
basically the conflict of that Rambo or let Stallone wanted to
reference the movie was by the time the movie came out was
already starting to like Russia was starting to pull their
forces out of Afghanistan. So what he thought was going to
be like a hot topic in the worldwas kind of like the war's not
(33:26):
even going on over there anymore.
So that's one of the reasons whythey felt like the movie didn't
do as well, because it didn't seem as current as it was when
they were actually filming it. But Russia hates him.
He's always picking on them, right?
You know, I mean, it's always Russia.
The Russia. Yeah, well, you know, they were
our enemy then. Kind of still are, but that's
(33:47):
but I'm sure that's for a different they.
Still don't like him probably though.
Yeah, wait till we wait till we talk about Red Dawn.
When we get to Red Dawn, we'll really talk about.
Man, yeah. Hold on, I got to take some.
More Russia. Russia.
The Cold War did give us some great movies though.
I'll tell. You all right?
Any other scenes or anything we want to talk about?
(34:08):
I'm kind of that's kind of all the trivia I got.
I'll have a few more I'll put inthe show notes, but that was
about it. There wasn't a lot
unfortunately, you know, unfortunately, you know, this
one was not as big of a movie, so there's not as much, you
know, trivia behind the scenes stuff out there for this one
like the previous ones. It was just pretty much action
from beginning to end. What's that?
(34:29):
Yeah, that's true. Yeah, I said.
It was just pretty much action from beginning to end.
Really, I mean, it's it's a straight up action movie.
I mean, and I will say like I was going to go back to like one
of my favorite scenes. I do like the scene of Rambo at
the beginning in the the fighting with the sticks like
that, you know, the stick fighting.
And I think I really like the director filmed that himself,
(34:50):
like he used a handheld camera. He filmed that whole sequence
himself. So that was all him.
So which is? So that go ahead.
Yes, which is one of the most kind of like thrilling scenes
like that combat scene is like one of the best action sequences
in the movie, I would say. Yeah, and I, and I'm going to be
honest, when I was watching thatit it, it kind of gave me an
(35:14):
answer to the old age-old question, who would win in a
fight, Rocky or Rambo? Because this dude is like
fighting with sticks, which he'snot used to fighting.
He's fighting in this guy's gameand he's like getting the crap
kicked out of him. Right.
OK, well, let's put some boxing gloves on him and right out of
his element. No, I think Rocky could take him
(35:35):
because he's out of his element.Yeah, yeah.
So anyway. But that's neither here nor
there. I can see that though.
I did, yeah. Like now, hand to hand.
It's it's Rambo all day. Tim, your next little thing you
could have would be a What If series, and that's your first
(35:55):
What If episode right there. What if it was Rocky in that
fight instead of Rambo and you can put the whole thing on that?
Yeah, I don't know if Rocky would have been able to handle
it. I think he would have gone down
pretty quick. So like I said, out of his
element. It depends.
Does he have Paulie in his corner?
(36:16):
Yeah, there's no rules though. Like Rocky wasn't really a
Street Fighter, you know, he was.
He was a boxer. So there's rules and things that
he would follow. So I don't know.
Yeah, good question though. He was a brawler though.
Yeah, that was that was. What they said throughout the
But he was a brawling type fighter so like true he could
throw down. Yeah, I'm about to rewatch the
(36:37):
Rocky series, so I'm a little, yeah, I'm a little out of can't
wait. Yep, it's coming.
It's coming. I did want to mention the one
line, because you were talking about funny lines earlier, was
when, what's his name? Musa said to him.
Like when he first met him. He says you look like you
haven't seen much war. OK.
All right. I beg to differ.
(36:59):
Right, Right. I've seen 2 movies already.
And in one of the movies, we didn't see him in a war, we just
saw some flashbacks. We just saw like the aftermath.
So I think the. War has seen too much of him.
Yeah, that's exactly right. Yeah, exactly.
Exactly. All.
(37:20):
Right, Well, let's hop in the box office.
So Rambo 3 debuted in American theaters on Wednesday, May 25th,
1988, just ahead of the MemorialDay weekend.
It had some tough competition with other new releases.
Willow and Crocodile Dundee 2. They took the number one and two
spot, respectively, leading Rambo 3 at the number 3.
(37:42):
It's a Rainbow 3 debuted at #3 Overall, the film grossed $53.7
million, the United States and Canada $135.3 million overseas,
giving Rambo 3A box office totalof 189,000,000.
The film was considered to have underperformed in comparison to
the previous film in the series,which grossed nearly three times
(38:02):
as much domestically. So it made money, but it wasn't
a blockbuster like the last one,which is understandable.
Wasn't as good. All right.
It's kind of funny with that because they always say that the
sequel never does better than the original, right?
But the sequel to First Blood Rainbow, First Blood Part 2 made
(38:23):
a lot of money. So they figured, hey, we just
made this with this, let's go with #3 and see what we can do.
And then they took big, like 2 steps back.
Not quite the same. Yeah, yeah.
I mean it. It kind of it's it falls in that
thing of like the original was good.
(38:44):
Did it need a sequel? No, but because it make because
they knew it can make money, they did it.
And so I don't think I can't really say that Ram that Rambo
first blood Part 2 and we talkedabout this on our previous
episodes about the movies. I don't think it's better than
first blood, but it's more fun. Like it's it's a more enjoyable
(39:06):
watch but First Blood is by far the better movie and as far as.
Like it's definitely the better movie.
Part 2 just has more action, which makes it more.
Fun to watch. It took a different, it took a
different turn, it took a different tone.
So but yeah, but then three kindof wanted to like do the same
thing but bigger. And I think like at the time it
(39:27):
had the most kills. Like it broke the record for the
most on screen kills in a movie.So which I think which I think
Rambo First Blood Part 2 had held the title until this one
came out so. What did Ford do?
Did Ford beat the rest of Gosh? I mean Ford was like super
violent. Ford probably had the most gory
(39:49):
kills at the time for Rambo. He definitely got more into like
the CGI kills because the like those and that one and the
expend Expendable movies, which I like the first two expendable
movies. Like those are like seriously
CGI kills, but I mean. I like I like the third
(40:10):
Expendable movie because Mel Gibson is one of the best
villains. I've ever seen like he's.
So Dang good. The third one is still good.
It's still it's not as good as the first two.
The first one is still the best,but the 4th 1 was terrible.
Was just hard to watch. I just you can't get over how
good Mel Gibson was as a villainthough.
Like and. This is so ridiculous.
Yeah, and then you got Wesley Snipes coming in in the third
(40:31):
one too, adding his com comedy quips.
So yeah, now you may want to go back and watch the Expendable
movies. OK, moving on.
Manly movies go check out. All right, it's time to take a
look at how well this 80s flick holds up today.
The all new Rewatch ability Nostalgia meter is our way of
measuring how enjoyable a movie is for repeat viewings along
(40:52):
with the waves and nostalgia brings.
Here's how it works. It's a one to 10 scale.
Any number between 1:00 and 10:00 will do, but here are a
few parameters to help you decide.
At the bottom of the meter is a number one, basically says I saw
it once and I don't ever want tosee it again.
Right in the middle is the #5 a good rewatch every couple of
years, and the highly coveted top of the meter at a 10 is
(41:15):
highly rewatchable and full of nostalgia.
JB, we'll start with you. Where does Rambo 3 rank for you
on your rewatch ability nostalgia meter?
I'm going to fall just like it'slike with Karate Kid Part 3,
like it's would put it like a four or five.
But because the 1st 2 are so rewatchable and I'm such a
(41:36):
completionist and there's five of them.
So it's like I can't watch four and five without watching 3.
So it's like the first two are so Dang good.
And so I'm just like, I mean, I'm probably, I'm going to watch
it every time that I watch 1:00 and 2:00, I'm going to watch the
whole thing. So I'd probably say about a
maybe a 6, probably it's up there a little bit higher.
(41:56):
Yeah, I can. I can dig that.
What about you, Chris? I'm a sucker for a good 80s
action flick with just blowing things up and shooting guns
non-stop and little 1 liners andso anything Stallone and
Schwarzenegger I guess is what it comes down to.
(42:16):
So that being said, being such asucker for these things, I'm
going to throw an 8 on it because I'll always watch it.
I will always watch it. I won't pass it up.
You know, there may be 3 or 4 good movies on TV that I want to
watch, and if that's one of them, I'll always refer.
You know, I'll go to it first. Gotcha.
Yep. All right.
Good deal. Yeah, I'm kind of with JB on
(42:38):
this one. We talked about this on Karate
Kid. If it was by itself a stand
alone movie, it's like a three for me.
Like, there's not much that makes me really want to go back
and watch it over and over again.
And I don't have a lot of nostalgia for work because like
I said, I don't really remember singing in the theater.
I think I saw it on video, but Ididn't watch it a whole lot as a
(42:58):
kid. But because it's part of a
franchise, if I'm going to watchone and two, and if I want to
watch four and five, then I'm going to have to watch 3 with
it. So as as part of the franchise,
I'm going to give it a little bit higher than JB and I'm going
(43:19):
to do 6.5. I can't quite give it a 7, but I
will give it a 6.5. So that's where it lands for me.
All right, well, let us know where you think Rambo 3 should
rank on the Rewatchable Nostalgia Meter.
You can send us an e-mail at info@eightiesflickflashback.com
or you can let us know on socialmedia.
You can leave a comment right here on YouTube if you're
watching the podcast here. Well, Chris, JB, thank you guys
(43:43):
so much for being a part of thisepisode.
I think we've given Rambo 3 it'sdue, but let's see JB, no new
episodes. Manly movies.
We talked about it last time. So when we go back to go back
and listen to some previous episodes, he's still got some
good ones out there if you haven't listened to them yet.
So Chris, what you got coming upon Retro Life for You podcast?
(44:05):
Coming up, well current episode this week is actually the one
you were on with me moving violations.
That was a lot of fun. That was very fun.
Next week we've got Transformers, the movie that my
friend Marty was on with me. And then after that, which might
be about the time this airs, I don't know when you're going to
put this up, but we have Tom Cook.
He was a cartoon director, animator and things from the
(44:29):
80s. So he was the one who did all of
Masters of the Universe. You know, he man, she wrote the
movies that they did. He was a part of like the clash
of the No not clash is one of the challenge of the Super
Friends and Thunder the Barbarian, Brave Star, Black
Star Filmation cartoons a lot, yes.
Amanda Barbera too. So he was all around.
Look him up. Tom Cook.
(44:49):
He's a pretty good guy. Did a lot of stuff with the
cartoons that we grew up on watching.
So that was a very fun episode to do.
He explained everything in detail, how things were done
back then and his opinion on howit compares to what you know.
Cartooning is done today with all the digital stuff and
everything, so it was fun. Very cool, very cool.
(45:11):
Well, thanks everybody for listening.
If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a five star
review on Apple podcast just like Kristen did.
Be sure to follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode.
You can jump online and visit the website 80s
flickflashback.com or our T public store for some awesome is
flick flashback merchant original designs.
Thanks again for tuning in. I'm Tim Williams for the 80s
(45:32):
flick flashback podcast. In ancient days, the Afghan king
was asked to send 500 warriors into battle.
He said only 5, his greatest 5, and they won.
He said it's better to send 5 lions than 500 sheep.
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