Rambo III (1988)

Director:

Peter MacDonald

Writers (WGA):

David Morrell (characters)
Sylvester Stallone (written by) ...

Release Date:

25 May 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

God would have mercy John Rambo won't!

Plot:

Rambo's Vietnam commanding officer Colonel Trautman is held hostage in Afghanistan, and its up to Rambo to rescue him.

Plot Keywords:

Headband | Teeth | Abbey | Sweat | Mountaintop Monastery

Awards:

2 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Sylvester Stallone	...	Rambo
Richard Crenna	...	Trautman
Marc de Jonge	...	Zaysen
Kurtwood Smith	...	Griggs
Spiros Focás	...	Masoud (as Spiros Focas)
Sasson Gabai	...	Mousa
Doudi Shoua	...	Hamid
Randy Raney	...	Kourov
Marcus Gilbert	...	Tomask
Alon Abutbul	...	Nissem
Mahmoud Assadollahi	...	Rahim
Joseph Shiloach	...	Khalid
Harold Diamond	...	Stick Fighter
Matti Seri	...	Gun Dealer
Hany Said El Deen	...	Gun Dealer

Also Known As:

Rambo 3 (International: English title) (alternative spelling)
Rambo: First Blood Part III (Malaysia: English title)

Runtime:

101 min | Finland:87 min (1988) (heavily cut) (VHS version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Italy:T | UK:18 (uncut) (2001) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 (1998) (uncut) (video) | Germany:Not Rated (SPIO/JK) (DVD release) | Brazil:14 | Canada:18A | Finland:K-16 (video rating) (1988) (heavily cut) | Finland:K-18 (theatrical rating) (1988) (uncut) | South Korea:15 | West Germany:18 (video release) (cut) | Malaysia:18PL | Iceland:16 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | France:U | Norway:18 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (cut) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Bangkok, Thailand

Company:

Carolco Pictures

Trivia:

The problems that the Russian forces faced with American Stinger missiles, as described in this movie, were very real, and accounted for hundreds of Russian helicopters during the real war. The missile was used again by Pakistan against better flown Indian aircraft and gunships in the 1999 Kargil War but only accounted for 1 kill out of several hundred launches.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Zaysen’s rank is a Colonel, but he wears a kind of mixture between Senior Lieutenant (3 small stars and 1 stripe) and Colonel (3 big stars and 2 stripes -- he has 3 small stars and 2 stripes). His army coat is also obsolete.

Quotes:

Mousa: [as Rambo prepares to play Afghan game 'buzkashi'] God must love crazy people.
Rambo: [getting on horse] Why?
Mousa: He make so many of them!
[laughs]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)

Soundtrack:

THE BRIDGE

Once again John Rambo fights the Russians. Explosive action combined with strong violence on a low intellectual level.

For myself, Rambo - First blood part 3 is one of the best action movies ever. In fact the story is a little bit poor, once again the typical one vs an army-story we know already from Rambo 2. Everyone, who does not think about a stupid story and the "Evil-Russians-topic" gets an explosive and very bloody action movie without long periods of boredom. In his original uncut version the movie is banned in Germany and this has good reasons. The film is absolutely nothing for kids. In my opinion the Littleton-massacre a few weeks ago was a direct consequence of films like Rambo. If you're old enough, watch it ! The final fight starts with the following dialog: "John,what're you thinking ?" Rambo:" F**k'em!"