First Blood
Uploaded by darthshawn on Jan 14, 2002
Ted Kotchef's First Blood is the story of a burned out Vietnam Vet, who after being trained as a Green Berette, and decorated with several metals of honor, has been dumped back into society and left to his own vices. Though generally a mild mannered individual, he has been trained not to be pushed. So when a judgemental Sheriff mistreats him, he brings the war to this small town, and this time he wants to win.
This film was filmed in Hope, British columbia, Canada, though it is meant to take place in the Northwestern United States. Adapted from David Morell's novel, this portrays John Rambo as a much more sympathetic character than the book, and shows the Sheriff as much less Sympathetic, and certainly less developed. When Rambo first has the run in with Sheriff Teasle, all of the shots seem to favor Teasle. When we see Rambo it is from a low angle, as if it were Teasle's POV, and when we see Teasle it is at eye level. Kotcheff might have, in my estimation, doen this for one of two reasons.
1. Perhaps he wanted to balance out the Sheriff's role which was dramatically chopped, and allow us to see things fromm his point of view a little bit more.
2. He might have been playing a gag on the audience, where we are used to cheering for the law, he might have been trying to trick us into thinking the hero was Teasle.
This film has been criticized for having a weak story, but for those who actually take time to analyze it we see a very thoughtful story there. Playing Mytholical images throughout, such as the cave the hero decends to, and the flaming sword (when he uses his knife as a torch), it has universal appeal. The high stakes in this film are dealing with internal demons, not external, which is primarily why people who look only on the surface of films criticize it, along with the comercialized sequels to follow.
The look of the film is very raw. Costumes are simple, using primarily and earth tones as. The sets are almost all outdoors, and generally also have a gritty feeling. The film is also quite dark at times, but the new DVD transfer is very good, so it is not too dark at all. The frames are very alive, and staged deepely. Rarely do we...