10 Things You Didn’t Know About Rambo: First Blood Part II

The Rambo franchise shares some traits with the Death Wish franchise. Both of the original movies in those respective franchises were based on novels and both films could be described as action packed dramas. Both of the original movies established some iconic protagonists. Then the sequels, looking to cash in on the success of the originals, were less and less about the drama and leaned way more into the action. Some would say both franchises lost their way over the years. Others would say the movies just got more awesome.

Recently I sat down and watch Rambo: First Blood Part II for the first time in many years and I turned the commentary track with Director George Cosmatos on and got some behind the scenes anecdotes. And it was the director’s commentary that served for the source material for this post as I present 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Rambo: First Blood Part II…

#1. Cosmatos wanted to shoot the movie in Thailand, which he felt would be a better substitute for Vietnam where most of the movie is set, but instead they ended up shooting the movie in Acapulco, Mexico.

#2. The giant statue of Buddha that is seen during the opening credits was actually made of Styrofoam and painted gold. The statue was placed in a parking lot outside of Acapulco and they shot it with the beautiful sunset behind it.

#3. The opening scene of the movie was originally intended to be shot in an actual prison. But there were no prisons in the vicinity of Acapulco to use, so they opted for Col. Trautman (Richard Crenna) to track down John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) while he was performing some penal labor in a rock quarry.

#4. The movie was shot in the summer of 1984 and not only did they have to deal with the heat of Mexico, they also had a hurricane to contend with. The hurricane ended up damaging some of the sets that they had built for the film.

#5. The close up shots of Rambo preparing for his next mission along with his iconic knife, were actually shot in a hotel room on what Cosmatos dubbed “Hurricane Day” since they could not leave the hotel due to the hurricane outside. Side note: Is the Rambo knife the greatest knife in action history?

#6. Since Mexico did not have a large Asian population (less than 1% of the total population according to Wikipedia), they had to scour all the local Chinese restaurants in order to find extras that could pass as Vietnamese.

#7. The stunt where John Rambo has to dive into the water to get off the pirate’s boat before it collides with the military boat that is on fire (thanks to Rambo’s handywork) was done by Sylvester Stallone himself.

#8. The pig shit infested water that Rambo finds himself submerged in after he is captured was (no surprise) not actual pig shit infested water… instead they poured copious amounts of instant coffee into the water to achieve the dark and murky look they were going for.

#9. Most of the helicopters used in the movie had to be shipped in from Texas. However, Cosmatos was unable to ship in any water buffalo, Vietnam’s national animal, to make Acapulco feel more like Vietnam.

#10. Speaking of helicopters, the fight scene inside the helicopter between John Rambo and the Russian henchman Yushin (Vojo Goric, Lionheart) was originally meant to be shot with the helicopter hanging from a crane… but one of the chain links broke and the helicopter came crashing down. Fortunately nobody was in the helicopter at the time. After that mishap, they decided to shoot the fight scene with the helicopter on the ground, using wind machines and lighting effects to give the illusion that the helicopter was in flight.