Where to watch First Blood (1982)

Trivia & production notes

• David Morrell's novel First Blood took a decade to adapt to film because the rights kept shifting between studios rather than due to the story's violent content, despite Stallone's later claims otherwise.
• Richard Brooks originally planned to direct First Blood with a completely different ending where an unknown assailant fatally shoots Rambo after Sheriff Teasle orders his men to lower their weapons.
• The screenplay that became the basis for the final film was written in 1977 by William Sackheim and Michael Kozoll and was the first version in which Rambo survives.
• Kirk Douglas was dismissed from the film during the third week of shooting due to disruptive behavior, including repeatedly speaking about himself in the third person and demanding dialogue written for other characters.
• Richard Crenna was called over a weekend and arrived on set immediately to replace Kirk Douglas as Colonel Trautman.
• Sylvester Stallone sustained a serious back injury and several broken ribs while performing his own stunt of dropping off a cliff into a tree.
• Over $50,000 worth of firearms, including fourteen M16 rifles and eleven Colt AR-15 rifles, were stolen from the British Columbia set in January 1982.
• After the firearms theft, the Canadian Army guarded the set and its soldiers also served as extras in the film.
• The original ending where Rambo dies was filmed but replaced with a survival ending after a Las Vegas test screening audience became hostile and threw objects in the theater.
• Sylvester Stallone's dialogue in the final film amounts to fewer than 400 words, placing heavy emphasis on physical performance rather than spoken lines.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article First Blood, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.