Why Stallone Wanted to Destroy the Studio’s Copy of ‘First Blood’

Sylvester Stallone almost burned the film that helped turn him into an action star. Instead, he helped cut it down, reshape its ending, and turn First Blood into a hit that launched the Rambo franchise. Before First Blood arrived in 1982, Stallone was already famous as Rocky Balboa. Rocky made him a star, but his efforts to move into serious dramas had not landed with moviegoers. Audiences wanted the boxer. Stallone needed another role that could stand on its own. John Rambo gave him that chance. Rambo was not built as the muscle-bound hero audiences would later know from the sequels. In First Blood, he is a Vietnam veteran with nowhere to go. A small-town sheriff and his deputies push him into a violent fight after treating him like a threat instead of a man who served his country. The story dealt with police abuse and the treatment of Vietnam veterans at a time when those subjects made studios nervous. Stallone has said the part had already been offered to 10 actors before it reached him. Paul Newman, Al Pacino, Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, John Travolta, and Clint Eastwood were among the actors considered or approached for the role. Stallone later recalled on...