Rambo III (1988)

Rambo's Vietnam commanding officer Colonel Trautman is held hostage in Afghanistan, and its up to Rambo to rescue him.

Director:

Peter MacDonald

Writers:

David Morrell (characters), Sylvester Stallone,

Stars:

Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Marc de Jonge

2 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sylvester Stallone	...	Rambo
Richard Crenna	...	Col. Samuel Trautman
Marc de Jonge	...	Colonel Zaysen
Kurtwood Smith	...	Griggs
Spiros Focás	...	Masoud (as Spiros Focas)
Sasson Gabai	...	Mousa
Doudi Shoua	...	Hamid
Randy Raney	...	Kourov
Marcus Gilbert	...	Tomask
Alon Aboutboul	...	Nissem (as Alon Abutbul)
Mahmoud Assadollahi	...	Rahim
Joseph Shiloach	...	Khalid (as Yosef Shiloah)
Harold Diamond	...	Stick Fighter
Matti Seri	...	Gun Dealer (as Seri Mati)
Hany Said El Deen	...	Gun Dealer

Storyline

John Rambo's former Vietnam superior, Colonel Samuel Trautman, has been assigned to lead a mission to help the Mujahedeen rebels who are fighting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but the Buddhist Rambo turns down Trautman's request that Rambo help out. When the mission goes belly up and Trautman is kidnapped and tortured by Russian Colonel Zaysen, Rambo launches a rescue effort and allies himself with the Mujahedeen rebels and gets their help in trying to rescue Trautman from Zaysen.

---

Plot Keywords:

rambo | colonel | rescue | soviet | afghanistan | 

---

Taglines:

The first was for himself. The second for his country. This time it's to save his friend.

---

Genres:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

25 May 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Rambo - krigaren 3

Filming Locations:

Bangkok, Thailand

Box Office

Budget:

$63,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$53,715,611 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Carolco Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min 87 min (1988) (heavily cut) (VHS)

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One minute of the movie was cut out of the UK release.

---

Goofs

In the scene where Rambo gets to Peshawar (Pakistan), he gets into the shop and receives his equipment. When the other guy ask him "what's that?" (looking at the blue light) Rambo is activating the blue light with his right hand but when he's showing the blue light to the guy, the blue light is in his left hand.

---

Quotes

Colonel Trautman: You expect sympathy? You started this damn war, now you'll have to deal with it.
Zaysen: And we will. It is just a matter of time before we achieve a complete victory.
Colonel Trautman: Yeah, well, there won't be a victory. Every day, your war machines lose ground to a bunch of poorly-armed, poorly-equipped freedom fighters. The fact is that you underestimated your competition. If you'd studied your history, you'd know that these people have never given up to anyone. They'd rather die than be slaves to an invading army....

---

Connections

Referenced in Jake's Booty Call (2003)

---

Soundtracks

"IT IS OUR DESTINY"
Produced by Peter Wolf
Written by Peter and Ina Wolf
Performed by Bill Medley

User Reviews

Better Than The Second But Very Uneven

Believe me RAMBO FIRST BLOOD PART 2 took some swallowing but the opening ten minutes of RAMBO 3 caused me to fall out of my chair in shock . John Rambo does prize fighting to earn his keep in a Buddhist commune ! I mean that`s a bit like having a film where the hero`s an environmentalist who goes around blowing oil rigs to save the Alaskan wilderness . Oh wait a minute didn`t Steven Seagal ....

Despite this incredible and vain attempt at character development there follows much dialogue that accurately reflects what is going on in Afghanistan in the mid 1980s . The Soviet - Afghan war actually intensified when Mikhail Gorbachev came to power and by that time over one million Afghans had died in the conflict while as many as five million had been forced over the border into Iran and Pakistan as what analysts at the time called " Migratory genocide " , a euphemism that people nowadays would describe as " Ethnic cleansing " . There`s other parts of the film that points out that screenwriter Sheldon Lettich has done his homework on the conflict with factual things like Soviet conscripts defecting to the Mujahedeen , of the red army planting mines and booby traps disguised as toys to blow off the limbs of children and of the Soviets use of chemical weapons which almost certainly proves that the sloppy script of FIRST BLOOD PART 2 was mainly down to James Cameron than Stallone , but as you`d expect in this type of action adventure movie the script rapidly degenerates into a series of set pieces of an all American superman blowing up a bunch of nasty commies who can`t shoot straight . Ah well at least the main commie isn`t played by a British actor unlike in the last film . Oh and congratulations to Peter McDonald for at least trying to make a Puma helicopter look like a Soviet helicopter gunship . The previous director was under the impression that the Soviets and Viet Cong use American Hueys

Setting the record straight : A lot of people prove how ignorant they are of the Soviet - Afghan war by confusing the Mujahedeen with the Taliban . The Mujahedeen ( Translated " The soldiers of God " ) and the Taliban ( Translated " The students of God " ) are entirely seperate things . The Taliban were created in Pakistan in the early 1990s , took over Afghanistan in 1995 and were led by Mullah Omar . The Mujahedeen were split into several different groups and were led by different leaders ( None of them called Bin Laden ) most of them forming a coalition against the Taliban called the Northern Alliance in 1995/96 . Their overall leader was the legendary guerilla leader Ahmad Shah Massoud who was murdered in a suicide bombing by Al Qai`da terrorists in September 2001 . It was the Northern Alliance who fought side by side with the Western coalition during their campaign to overthrow the Taliban government in 2001 to the present day