Rambo III is an American Action film released on May 25, 1988. It is the third film in the Rambo series following First Blood and Rambo: First Blood Part II. It was in turn followed by Rambo in 2008, making it the last film to feature Richard Crenna as "Colonel Sam Trautman", however, Crenna does appear in the final Rambo film in flashbacks.

One minute of the movie was censored in the United Kingdom.^[2]

Plot [link]

The film opens with Colonel Sam Trautman (Richard Crenna) returning to Thailand to once again enlist the help of Vietnam veteran John J. Rambo (Sylvester Stallone). After witnessing Rambo's victory in a stick fighting match, Trautman visits the construction site of the Buddhist temple Rambo is helping to build and asks Rambo to join him on a mission to Afghanistan. The mission is meant to supply weapons, including FIM-92 Stinger missiles, to Afghan rebels, the Mujahideen, who are fighting the Soviets in the Soviet-Afghan War. Despite showing him photos of civilians suffering under Soviet military intervention, Rambo refuses and Trautman chooses to go on his own.

While in Afghanistan, Trautman's agents are ambushed by Soviet troops while passing through the mountains at night. Trautman is imprisoned in a Soviet base and coerced for information by Colonel Zaysen (Marc de Jonge) and his henchman Kourov (Randy Raney). Rambo learns of the incident from embassy field officer Robert Griggs (Kurtwood Smith) and convinces Griggs to take him through an unofficial operation, despite Grigg's warning that the U.S. government will deny any knowledge of his actions if killed or caught. Rambo immediately flies to Peshawar, Pakistan where he meets up with Mousa Ghanin (Sasson Gabai), a weapons supplier who agrees to take him to Khost, a village in the mountains near the Pakistan border, after Rambo threatens him, close to the Soviet base where Trautman is kept enslaved. The Mujahideen in the village, led by the village's main leader Masoud (Spiros Focas), are already hesitant to help Rambo in the first place, but are definitely convinced not to help him when their village is attacked by Soviet helicopters after one of Mousa's shop assistants has informed the Soviets of Rambo's presence. Aided only by Mousa and a young boy named Hamid (Doudi Shoua), Rambo makes his way to the Soviet base and starts his plan to free Trautman. The first attempt is unsuccessful and results not only in Hamid getting shot in the leg, but also in Rambo himself getting wood fragments in the side. After escaping from the base, Rambo tends to Hamid's wounds and sends him and Mousa away to safety, before cauterizing his own wound.

Video still from Rambo III.

The next day, Rambo returns to the base, after scaling a cliff on the fort's perimeter to avoid detection, just in time to rescue Trautman from being tortured with a flamethrower. After rescuing several other prisoners, Rambo steals a Hind helicopter and escapes from the base. However, the helicopter is damaged as it departs and soon crashes, forcing Rambo and Trautman to continue on foot. After a confrontation in a cave, where Rambo and Trautman eliminate several Soviet Spetsnaz commandos, including Kourov, they are confronted by an entire army of Soviet tanks, headed by Zaysen. Zaysen warns them to drop their weapons and comply to his orders saying that they cannot escape and he wants to take them back alive. Just as they are about to be overwhelmed by the might of the Soviet Army, the Mujahideen warriors, together with Mousa and Hamid, ride onto the battlefield by the hundreds in a cavalry charge, overwhelming the Soviets. In the ensuing battle, in which both Trautman and John are wounded, Rambo manages to kill Zaysen by driving a tank into the Soviet colonel's helicopter, which he first tried to damage with a Molotov cocktail, handed to him by a man on a horse. Rambo survives the explosion and gets out of the tank. At the end of the battle Rambo and Trautman say goodbye to their Mujahideen friends and leave Afghanistan to go home. The movie ends with two quotes: "This film is dedicated to the gallant people of Afghanistan." and "I am like a bullet, filled with lead and made to kill". However, this was not the original quote in the movie. The first ending quote of the movie read "This film is dedicated to the brave Mujahideen fighters of Afghanistan".

Production [link]

Some critics noted that the timing of the movie, with its unabashedly anti-Soviet tone, ran afoul of the opening of Communism to the West under Mikhail Gorbachev, which had already changed the image of the Soviet Union to a substantial degree by the time the movie was finished.^[3] In the 2000s (decade) and with the War in Afghanistan, the display of the Mujahideen as friends of the United States gave the movie a new political undertone altogether.

The 1990 Guinness World Records deemed Rambo III the most violent film ever made, with 221 acts of violence, at least 70 explosions, and over 108 characters killed on-screen. However, the body count of the fourth film in the series, Rambo, surpassed that record, with 236 kills. The Mi-24 Hind-D helicopters seen in the film are in fact modified Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma transport helicopters with fabricated bolt-on wings similar to the real Hind-Ds which were mainly used in the former Soviet bloc nations. The other helicopter depicted is a slightly reshaped Aerospatiale Gazelle.

An extensive film score was written by Oscar-winning American composer Jerry Goldsmith, conducting the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra; however, much of it was not used. Instead, much of the music Goldsmith penned for the previous installment was recycled. The original album, released by Scotti Bros., contained only a portion of the new music as well as three songs, only one of which was used in the movie (Bill Medley's version of "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother," played over the end credits).

1. It Is Our Destiny - Bill Medley (4:30)
2. Preparations (4:58)
3. Afghanistan (2:35)
4. The Game (2:23)
5. Another Time (3:54)
6. He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother - Bill Medley (4:30)
7. Aftermath (2:42)
8. Questions (3:34)
9. The Bridge - Giorgio Moroder featuring Joe Pizullo (3:59)
10. Final Battle (4:47)

A more complete 75-minute version of the score was later released by Intrada.

1. Another Time (3:58)
2. Preparations (06:21)
3. The Money (:52)
4. I'm Used To It (01:00)
5. Peshawar (1:12)
6. Afghanistan (2:38)
7. Questions (3:37)
8. Then I'll Die (3:34)
9. The Game (2:25)
10. Flaming Village (4:07)
11. The Aftermath (2:44)
12. Night Entry (3:58)
13. Under And Over (2:55)
14. Night Fight (6:50)
15. First Aid (2:46)
16. The Long Climb (3:25)
17. Going Down (1:52)
18. The Cave (3:31)
19. The Boot (1:53)
20. You Did It, John (1:08)
21. The Showdown (1:26)
22. Final Battle (4:50)
23. I'll Stay (9:00)

Filming schedule [link]

The movie was shot between August 1987 and December 1987.

Shooting locations [link]

The movie was shot mainly in Thailand and Israel. The scene in the Buddhist Monastery was shot in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Some scenes were filmed in Bangkok, Thailand while others were shot in Eilat, Jaffa and Tel Aviv, Israel. The Afghan market scene was a decorated set in Peshawer, Pakistan while the final scenes were shot at the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation, Yuma, Arizona, USA.

Cast [link]

• Sylvester Stallone as John J. Rambo
• Richard Crenna as Col. Sam Trautman
• Kurtwood Smith as Robert Griggs

Release and reception [link]

Rambo III opened in the US on May 25, 1988 at 2,562 theatres in its opening weekend (the 4 day Memorial Day weekend), ranked #2 behind Crocodile Dundee II.^[4][5] Overall in the US the movie took $53,715,611 and then took $135,300,00 internationally, giving Rambo III a box office total of $189,015,611.^[6] The movie is the second most successful of the Rambo series, behind Rambo: First Blood Part II. Much like its predecessor, it was well-received with the target young male audience, but panned by critics.^[7] It scored a 36% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 28 reviews. Prominent critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert (of At the Movies fame) were split on Rambo III, with Siskel awarding the film "thumbs up", and Ebert declaring "thumbs down" for those expecting more out of Rambo III. Ebert did, however, give "thumbs up" to fans, saying the film was entertaining and that it "delivers the goods". The New York Times took a dim view of the movie.^[8]

The film garnered five Razzie Award nominations including Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Supporting Actor (Richard Crenna) and Worst Screenplay, with Sylvester Stallone winning Worst Actor.

Other media [link]

• David Morrell, author of First Blood, the novel the first Rambo film is based on, wrote a novelization.
• In the movie Twins (1988 film), Arnold Schwarzenegger's character is seen looking at the poster of Rambo III featuring Stallone, where he smiles and then walks away.
• In 1990, Sega released a game based on the film, aptly titled Rambo III. The company would later reuse the film's climactic battle sequence as the first stage of the 2008 arcade light gun game Rambo.
• A comic book adaptation of the film was published by Blackthorne Publishing. Blackthorne also published a 3D version of its Rambo III comic.
• A character in the film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 notes that the recording of one chainsaw murder sounds like "the soundtrack to Rambo III", though that film was not released until three years later.

References [link]

External links [link]

• Rambo III at the Internet Movie Database
• Rambo III at Metacritic
• Rambo III at Box Office Mojo