IMDb > Rambo III (1988)
Rambo III
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Rambo III (1988) More at IMDbPro »

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Rambo III (1988) -- Rambo's Vietnam commanding officer Colonel Trautman is held hostage in Afghanistan, and its up to Rambo to rescue him.
Rambo III (1988) -- Trailerfan.com - Trailer (Flash)

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Overview

User Rating:
4.9/10   29,112 votes
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Director:
Writers (WGA):
David Morrell (characters)
Sylvester Stallone (written by) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for Rambo III on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
25 May 1988 (USA) more
Tagline:
God would have mercy John Rambo won't! more
Plot:
Rambo's Vietnam commanding officer Colonel Trautman is held hostage in Afghanistan, and its up to Rambo to rescue him. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
2 wins & 6 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(10 articles)
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User Reviews:
Not terrible, but... more (122 total)


Additional Details

Also Known As:
Rambo 3 (International: English title) (alternative spelling)
Rambo: First Blood Part III (Malaysia: English title)
more
Runtime:
102 min | Finland:87 min (1988) (heavily cut) (VHS version)
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Argentina:16 | Italy:T | Iceland:16 | West Germany:18 (video release) (cut) | Germany:Not Rated (SPIO/JK) (DVD release) | Finland:K-16 (1998) (uncut) (video) | UK:18 (uncut) (2001) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A | South Korea:15 | Finland:K-16 (video rating) (1988) (heavily cut) | Finland:K-18 (theatrical rating) (1988) (uncut) | Malaysia:18PL | Brazil:14 | Netherlands:16 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | France:U | Norway:18 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (cut) | USA:R
Filming Locations:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The Mi-24 Hind-A (large glazed cockpit as opposed to two small tandem cockpits for the later D version onwards of the type) helicopters seen in the film are in fact modified Aerospatiale SA 330 Puma transport helicopters with fabricated bolt-on wings similar to the real Hind-A's used in the former Soviet bloc nations. more
Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: The last time Troutman saw Rambo was at the end of Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) in 1985. However, the photograph he has of Rambo that he is carrying around showing people was obviously taken in 1988, as you can tell the level of aging on his face and the length/style of his hair more closely resembles his image from Rambo III (1988), and not that from Part II. more
Quotes:
Moussa: Why must you do this?
Rambo: Cause he'd do it for me.
more
Movie Connections:
Soundtrack:
THE BRIDGE more

FAQ

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22 out of 30 people found the following review useful.
Not terrible, but..., 8 January 2002
Author: Wizard-8 from Victoria, BC

With the highest budget of the three movies, the movie certainly looks expensive, with an epic scope at times. But you never quite get the feeling that the movie settles into a comfortable groove. Though the action sequences have plenty of gunshots and explosions, the way they are filmed - and edited - doesn't have the right impact or flow, like the action sequences in the second installment.

In another comparison to the second installment, the story - while as sparse as this one - certainly kept moving. Here there are a number of segments that move very slowly and/or don't seem to have much purpose. The movie should have gotten down to business. The uneven flow of the movie also suffers near the end, as if the movie all of a sudden decides it needs to wrap things up in a few minutes, making the final battle almost come out of nowhere.

(In fairness to the director, it should be pointed out that he was a sudden replacement after original director Russell Mulcahy was fired, and had only ONE DAY to prepare to helm the rest of the movie.)

Like the previous installment, there is some dumb dialogue, but this time around it's not delivered in a slight tongue-in-cheek manner. If they had been willing to show this time around that they weren't taking things so seriously, it would have helped. You might say that the actor playing the Russian commander is not playing things seriously, but he goes SO over the top that he's embarrassing.

It's watchable, but disappointing - they had the chance to make a kick-ass action movie here.

By the way, the Afghans that Rambo helps in this movie are *NOT* the Taliban. People seem to forget that Afghanistan is made up of a number of different tribes. You can tell these particular Afghans are not the Taliban, because (among other things), the women are not completely covered, and the men play the traditional Afghan game with horses and a goat's skin (forbidden by the Taliban.)

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John Rambo or John Matrix? Hyrynen
4.6........... are you kidding me????? achilles_nation15
Why is this movie so goddamned underrated? arenotelicon
Rambo 3 dedicated to the taliban! chris-4829
Rambo III vs Lethal Weapon... seni-2
Raising Arizona! neal2zod
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