"Could this possibly happen? Absolutely," says Sylvester Stallone on First Blood’s DVD commentary. And therein lies the secret of the 1982 film’s most heart-stopping action sequence. Well, that and the fact we’d never seen the like before.
You know the scene; it’s iconic. But let’s recap anyway: Vietnam vet John Rambo (Stallone) has been arrested for vagrancy while passing through the mountain town of Hope, Washington. Savagely mistreated by Sheriff Teasle (Brian Dennehy) and his men, he busts out of the police station and is pursued into the woods, tracked by cops and dogs until he’s hanging from a cliff face.
