When we talk about Rambo, we all think of the incredible performance that Sylvester Stallone gave in 1982. Rambo, based on the book “First Blood” by David Morrell, was a heartbreaking story about a tortured Vietnam veteran who struggles to return to normal life. Rambo has been in style for forty years and is one of the most iconic characters in action cinema, but now a big question has arisen: was the film based on a historical fact? Was Rambo a real soldier? The answer will surprise you.
Neither yes, nor no. The Rambo franchise has roots in reality, because the book on which it is based does have a name behind the character: Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier of World War II.
Rambo: from cinema to everyday life
As such, the legacy of the Rambo character continues today after forty years of history, it has become part of world culture, and the fact is that Rambo is not just a film, but it became a saga with four more films that have been released over these forty years, with 2019 being the last year in which one of them was released, “Rambo: Last Blood”.
Audie Murphy: Rambo’s inspiration
As you know, Rambo is fiction, but one of its main inspirations is a World War II soldier, Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier of the war.
The story of this soldier leaves no one indifferent. Murphy lied about his age to enlist in the Army at just 17 years old and quickly became a legend on the battlefield. His bravery in World War II earned him more than 33 decorations, including the Congressional Medal of Honor. However, what really marked Morrell was his struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition that tormented him until his death and that so many other soldiers have suffered from.
Sound familiar? Exactly. The essence of John Rambo, a soldier tormented by the horrors of war and rejected by his country upon returning, has a lot in common with Murphy’s story, for sure. It was this incredible story that inspired him to write a novel about wars that came to the United States.
What changed about Rambo’s story?
While the film First Blood (1982) made Rambo famous, the original story in the book is very different. In Morrell’s novel, the character is much more aggressive, violent and even dangerous. In addition, the ending is very different: Rambo dies.
But Hollywood had other plans. Sylvester Stallone, who in addition to starring in the film also participated in the script, decided that the character should survive to make way for possible sequels. And boy did he succeed.
Throughout the films, the character evolved. In First Blood, Rambo is a veteran abandoned by the system, but in Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Rambo III (1988), the story takes a more patriotic and even propagandistic turn. From a traumatized soldier, he became a war machine without brakes.
Sylvester Stallone acknowledged that some films glorified violence too much, and that is why, in Rambo (2008), the tone was again darker and cruder, similar to that of the original novel.
But criticism of the character’s creator was not long in coming. Morrell himself, in 2008, appreciated that Rambo returned to the big screen, but wrote on his social networks in 2019 that he “hated” what they had done with the character because he lacked soul.
A coincidence?
There was a real soldier who fought in Vietnam and his last name was Rambo, although he has never been mentioned by the authors as an inspiration for First Blood or the character in general. Perhaps it is a coincidence or they took it as an idea. This soldier was born in 1944 and died in Tay Ninh, in combat on November 26, 1969.
Now, next time you watch this movie you will remember us and all the history behind this film. Enjoy your movie night!