Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

John Rambo is released from prison by the government for a top-secret covert mission to the last place on Earth he'd want to return - the jungles of Vietnam.

Director:

George P. Cosmatos

Writers:

David Morrell (based on characters created by), Kevin Jarre (story by)

Stars:

Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Charles Napier

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 5 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sylvester Stallone	...	Rambo
Richard Crenna	...	Trautman
Charles Napier	...	Murdock
Steven Berkoff	...	Podovsky
Julia Nickson	...	Co
Martin Kove	...	Ericson
George Cheung	...	Tay (as George Kee Cheung)
Andy Wood	...	Banks
William Ghent	...	Vinh
Voyo Goric	...	Yushin (as Vojo Goric)
Dana Lee	...	Kinh
Baoan Coleman	...	Gunboat Captain
Steve Williams	...	Lifer
Don Collins	...	P.O.W. #1
Christopher Grant	...	P.O.W. #2

Storyline

John Rambo is removed from prison by his former superior, Colonel Samuel Troutman, for a top-secret operation to bring back POW's still held in Vietnam. Rambo's assignment is to only take pictures of where the POWs are being held, but Rambo wants to get the POWs out of Vietnam. Teamed up with female Vietnamese freedom fighter Co Bao, Rambo embarks on a mission to rescue the POWs, who are being held by sadistic Vietnamese Captain Vinh and his Russian comrade, Lieutenant Colonel Padovsky. Rambo starts killing every enemy in sight while still focusing on his intentions to rescue the POWs. There are also corrupt American officials involved in the mission, including Marshall Murdock, one of Rambo's superiors.

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Plot Keywords:

1980s | rambo | jungle | weapon | propaganda | 

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Taglines:

They sent him on a mission and set him up to fail. But they made one mistake. They forgot they were dealing with Rambo.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Thriller | War

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Instagram

Country:

USA Mexico

Language:

English Vietnamese Russian

Release Date:

22 May 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Rambo

Filming Locations:

Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico

Box Office

Budget:

$44,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$25,520,843, 27 May 1985

Gross USA:

$150,415,432

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$149,985,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Estudios Churubusco Azteca S.A.,Anabasis N.V.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby Stereo (35 mm prints) (4 channels)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to the documentary We Get to Win This Time (2002), the producers considered teaming up Sylvester Stallone with his Staying Alive (1983) protégé John Travolta (who was once considered to play Rambo himself in the first film) as Rambo's young partner in rescuing the American POWs. Stallone nixed this idea when he decided it would be better to make the film a solo project.

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Goofs

When the riverine patrol boat fires at Rambo on the junk,in close up shots of the side of the turret guns, the belts are still as if they are not being fired. Yet in all other shots the belts are moving while the gun is being fired at full automatic.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Prisoner guard: Let's keep those hammers working!

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Alternate Versions

Some television versions feature the following added scenes: 1. A longer scene of Rambo parachuting to the ground. 2. The pirate boat waving a flag to signal another boat. 3. An alternate take of Rambo spitting on the ground instead of saying the F-word at Podovsky. 4. After Rambo agrees to make the radio call, there's an added scene of Podovsky repeating his directions to Rambo of what to say on the radio.

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Connections

Referenced in Oi aparadektoi: Kane mou ligaki mmm (1991)

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Soundtracks

Peace in Our Life
Title Song
© 1985 Anabasis Music (BMI) and Elcajo Productions, Inc. (BMI)
Music by Frank Stallone, Peter Schless, Jerry Goldsmith
Lyrics by Frank Stallone
Sung by Frank Stallone

User Reviews

One of the best action films ever made

Viewed as an action film, Rambo First Blood Part II is hard to beat. It just never lets up, and it has Stallone at the top of his game. Its comic strip stuff, and is much less credible than First Blood. I don't care about that though, you want a serious film then watch The Deer Hunter or Platoon, but if you want to see a superbly made action film watch this. After the events of First Blood, John Rambo is in prison but gets released to be sent back to Vietnam to take pictures of a pow camp to get proof that there is still American pow's there. But he is double-crossed by his superiors when he tries to take some pow's out with him, he wasn't meant to do that, he was ordered to only take photos, so he's left behind to be captured , imprisoned and tortured by those oh so nasty RUSSIANS! Sly really had it in for the reds in 1985 after this film, he sent Rocky out to Russia to beat up that other nasty Russian Ivan Drago! It must have been what the people wanted as this and Rocky IV were two of the biggest smashes of the year. Steven Berkhoff plays the Russian bad guy in practically a carbon copy of his role in the James Bond film Octopussy, he does it well though, he was one of Hollywoods favourite bad guys of the mid 80's, you might remember him in Beverly Hills Cop, which was a film initially intended for........Sylvester Stallone! This movie has just been giving the DVD special edition treatment, buy it, and get yourself one of the greatest action flms ever made.