To celebrate the release of the fifth Rambo film, RAMBO: LAST BLOOD on September 20th, we're spending the entire month of September celebrating one of the most iconic characters of 80s action cinema, Psychotronic icon John Rambo, by working our way through the entire RAMBO franchise, one film at a time.

This week, the film that started it all: Ted Kotcheff's FIRST BLOOD (1982).

Based on the controversial novel by David Morrell, Rambo's first outing is a far cry from the over-the-top superhuman character that he would later become known as. Instead, many viewers are surprised to find that the original FIRST BLOOD film is a relatively grounded character study that focuses on the effects of war on returning soldiers.

In this first part of our series, we'll discuss how the First Blood novel came to be adapted to film, and all of the iterations that it went through before Sylvester Stallone — still riding his ROCKY hype — became involved...and how his involvement not only drastically changed the direction of the film, but the direction of the entire franchise (and the landscape of 80s action cinema).

Does FIRST BLOOD belong in the Psychotronic Hall of Fame?

VOTE: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3BQ7QTW

We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode! Contact us at any of the social media accounts listed below, or be a part of the show by calling us at (864) 371-9931 and leaving us a voicemail of 3 minutes or less and we'll use it on our next episode!

Visit our website at www.psychotronicfilmsociety.com. There you'll find all of our past episodes and our full list of Psychotronic Hall of Famers!

Theme song: “Foreign Body” by the Slasher Film Festival Strategy from their album PSYCHIC SHIELD. More info: http://slasherfilmfestivalstrategy.bandcamp.com

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