May 22, 1985: Rambo: First Blood Part II premieres, as Sylvester Stallone fights the last battle of the Vietnam War.
The character of John Rambo debuted in 1972, with the novel First Blood, by David Morrell, who didn't even give him a first name. What he did give the man were great survival and combat skills, an indomitable will, an extensive list of decorations for his service as a Green Beret, and post-traumatic stress disorder from having been a prisoner of war in Vietnam. The story follows Rambo as he enters a small town in Kentucky, and clashes with the police, and attempts to survive a manhunt using his expertise in survival and combat skills.
It was filmed in 1982, directed by Ted Kotcheff, with Stallone playing the character now named John J. Rambo; Richard Crenna playing his mentor, U.S. Army Colonel Sam Trautman; and Brian Dennehy as the intolerant Sheriff Will Teasle. The film changes the book's ending: While both Rambo and Teasle end up getting shot, both survive.
The film was a hit. And now, with Ronald Reagan as President, "It's morning again in America." And we had unfinished business: Winning the Cold War. And since the Vietnam War had been lost in real life, it was time to make up for it onscreen: Red Dawn with its rural American kids fighting off Soviet paratroopers, Chuck Norris' Missing In Action trilogy, and Stallone with 2 beat-the-Commies films in 1985: Rambo: First Blood Part II on May 22, and Rocky IV on November 27.
George P. Costmatos directed the sequel. Trautman visits Rambo in prison, and tells him he's been offered a Presidential pardon in exchange for a secret infiltration missing in Vietnam, to find evidence of American prisoners of war, still alive 12 years after the peace treaty. In real life, there were none left.
Rambo accepts, and finds living POWs, but is captured himself, and finds that no one is coming to get him. As in the TV show Mission: Impossible, the U.S. government has disavowed any knowledge of his actions. He escapes, causes a lot of damage to the enemy, returns to base, and confronts his betrayers. When Trautman, not among them, asks him what he wants, he says, "I want what they want, and what every guy who came here and spilled his guts wants: For our country to love us as much as we love it!"
If Stallone, old enough to be drafted from 1964 to 1972, pretty much the bulk of the Vietnam War, but never served, were honest, he would have said, "I want what they want... No, actually, I want money. Lots and lots of money. So I made a movie where I blow up a bunch of Commies, and rewrite the ending of Vietnam. This is the Reagan era, and America does not lose anymore!"
What would later be called America's "alpha males" loved it: Here was a big strong tough guy taking it to the Commies, firing off guns, launching explosives with a bow-and-arrow, blowing things up with a helicopter "gunship," and winning somewhere that America once lost. (Not that big: Stallone is 5-foot-10, but, thanks to weight training and steroids, the muscles were real.) To borrow a phrase that came along about 20 years later, "America, fuck, yeah!"
Parodies abounded. On The Tonight Show, Johnny Carson combined Rambo with Mr. Rogers, and, wearing a muscled-up body cast, did a sketch titled Mister Rambo's Neighborhood. Somebody printed up T-shirts with Reagan's head on Stallone's body, calling him "RONBO."
Somebody actually carried this idea out.
The phenomenon peaked with that film. In 1988, Rambo III was released. This time, Rambo had to rescue Trautman, captured by the Soviets in Afghanistan. He tells the commander of the unit that captured him, "We had our Vietnam. Now, you have yours." A 4th film, titled simply Rambo, came out in 2008. And a 5th, Rambo: Last Blood, came in 2019, when Stallone was 73 years old.
UPDATE: In 2025, a prequel film, titled simply John Rambo, was greenlit. Jamari Helander, a native of Finland who was 8 years old when Rambo: First Blood Part II was released, was assigned to direct. He has said:
Noah Centineo was cast. Stallone is not expected to be involved in any way.
A 2021 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History featured a 3-way battle: "Nice" Peter Shukoff playing John Rambo, "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist playing John McClane, and Zach Sherwin playing John Wick.
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May 22, 1985 was a Wednesday. These Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Seattle Mariners, 4-1 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Matt Young outpitches Dennis Rasmussen. Dave Winfield and Rickey Henderson each went 1-for-4. Don Mattingly went 0-for-4, but had the Yankees' only RBI, when he followed Henderson leading off the game with a triple by hitting a sacrifice fly to get him home.
* The New York Mets lost to the San Diego Padres, 5-4 at Shea Stadium. Terry Kennedy singled Tony Gwynn home in the top of the 10th inning. Gwynn went 2-for-5.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Montreal Expos, 4-0 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Jerry Reuss pitched a 4-hit shutout.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-4 with a walk.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Chicago White Sox, 10-0 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Dave Stieb pitched 7 innings of 3-hit shutout ball. Ron Musselman allowed a hit in the 8th, and and Bill Caudill completed the 4-hit shutout.
* The Houston Astros beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-3 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Alan Ashby doubled Enos Cabell and Phil Garner home with the winning runs in the top of the 10th inning.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-5 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Robin Yount went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Paul Molitor went 1-for-5 with an RBI.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Reds player-manager Pete Rose went 2-for-4.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-3 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers, 6-3 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. George Brett went 1-for-3 with 2 walks and an RBI. Jorge Orta went 2-for-5 with a home run and 4 RBIs.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the California Angels, 3-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Dan Petry outpitched Mike Witt. Neither Reggie Jackson nor Rod Carew played.
* And the Baltimore Orioles beat the Oakland Athletics, 3-0 at the Oakland Coliseum. Eddie Murray went 0-for-3, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Cal Ripken went 0-for-3 with 2 walks.
The NFL was out of season. The USFL was in season, but no games were scheduled. The Stanley Cup Finals were between Games 1 and 2. The Edmonton Oilers went on to beat the Philadelphia Flyers in 5 games.
There were 2 games in the NBA Playoffs. The Boston Celtics beat their arch-rivals, the Philadelphia 76ers, 102-100 at the Boston Garden. And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets, 153-109 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. In spite of that offensive output, no Laker scored more than James Worthy's 25.
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