TV

Finding the First Movie of the Rambo Series

Rick Forchuk helps clarify each entry of the Rambo series and where to find each film

By Rick Forchuk /

Credit: Amazon.ca

Rambo: First Blood is often mistaken as the first entry in the Rambo series

I have been trying to find Rambo I, the first movie in the Rambo series, and am having no luck at all.  Internet searches, and requests at various retailers come up with nothing.  Any thoughts?
– K. O.  – via e-mail

One of the problems with internet searches, and with asking a retailer for a movie title, is that often, unless you have the name exactly right, the search comes up empty. 

Chances are that’s exactly your problem here, because there was no movie called Rambo I. The first film in which Sylvester Stallone’s John Rambo character appeared was First Blood, which was filmed in several B.C. locations including Hope, Golden Ears Provincial Park, and Pitt Lake. 

The year was 1982, and veteran CBC director Ted Kotcheff (now executive producer of Law and Order, SVU) put Stallone, Richard Crenna, and Brian Dennehy through their paces, not having any idea at the time that he was on the leading edge of a franchise that would include Rambo: First Blood, Part II (1985), Rambo III (1988) and the most recent, just titled Rambo (2008). 

The stories are the continuing adventures of John Rambo, an emotionally damaged Vietnam vet with a tendency to take matters into his own hands when it comes to the fight for right and justice.  All the Rambo movies, including First Blood are readily available from such retailers as Best Buy, Limelight Video on Alma in Vancouver, as well as Future Shop, and online from such outlets as Amazon.ca.