During the early 1980s, James Cameron wrote three screenplays simultaneously: The Terminator, Aliens, and the first draft of Rambo: First Blood Part II. While Cameron would continue with The Terminator and with Aliens, Sylvester Stallone eventually took over the script of Rambo: First Blood Part II, creating a final draft which differed radically from Cameron's initial version. Cameron was credited for his screenplay in the film's final credits. He wrote quite an interesting screenplay which featured more depth than the first Rambo movie had had. He also wrote in a sidekick to Rambo in order to make the screenplay more character driven. However Sylvester Stallone, as he always does, rewrote the screenplay to fit his needs. Most of what Cameron had written was left out. Also, his original screenplay began with Col. Trautman finding Rambo in a psychiatric hospital instead of a prison. When Cameron went to see the movie he felt odd. His only comfort was the fact that the crowd cheered at the those action sequences he recognized as his own.

James Cameron, Monsterland #13 October 1986 : "It was quite a different film from FIRST BLOOD, apart from the continuation of the Rambo character. The first one was set in a small town, it had a different social consciousness from the second one, which was a very broad, stylized adventure. It was a little more violent in its execution than I had in mind in the writing"

"I admire the film's success and I'm happy for everybody involved, but I always have to distance myself from it because it's not the film I wrote – it was substantially rewritten by Sylvester Stallone. The script that I wrote was pretty violent, but not in such an amoral way. (...) I know very little about Stallone, because my work with him consisted of one lunch to discuss the script. He said, "I think you should put a girl in it."" - Us Interview '91

Galactic Journal 1986: (Rambo First Blood Part II) was eventually altered by its star in order to accommodate his rightwing vision of the Vietnam conflict. Cameron's story focused more on the character and the dilemmas he had to face as a man who has been shattered by war. While Cameron does not want to totally disassociate himself from 'Rambo', he does find the ending of the Stallone vehicle "breathtaking in its stupidity" "

Rambo: First Blood Part II (also known as Rambo II or First Blood Part II in other countries), released on May 22, 1985, is the second movie in the Rambo series, starring Sylvester Stallone as Vietnam veteran John Rambo. Picking up where the first film left, this sequel is set in the context of the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue; it sees Rambo released from prison by Federal order to document the possible existence of POWs in Vietnam, under the belief that he will find nothing, thus enabling the government to sweep the issue under the rug.

James Cameron, 1986's Starlog magazine:

"After Rambo, I'm not that interested in making a film where people are running around shooting each other, and getting into the moral complications of saying 'Well, just because they're wearing a different uniform from another country, its OK, in order to feel absolutely lily-white and clean about the havoc that's wrought on their bodies by high velocity ballistic weapons"

The movie, which had a then-enormous budget of $44 million, became a box-office success. Earning just over $150 million in North America and just under that amount in the rest of the world, it was the second most successful movie of 1985 in North America, behind Back to the Future and just ahead of Rocky IV, giving Stallone two of three top grossing movies of that year. This film captured the attention of President Ronald Reagan and he lauded Stallone for portraying Rambo as a symbol of the U.S. Army.

While the movie was a commercial success particularly with young male fans of action films, it was reviled by critics. The film also had an impact on the cultural landscape of the 1980s. When the film was released, the "political" content of the movie was considered controversial. Many felt the Vietnam conflict was "altered" to look and sound heroic. A newly-coined word "Rambo-ism" became a descriptive of such a mentality. Cameron commented that he only wrote the "action" and that Stallone wrote the "politics". 1986' TIME Magazine wasn't complimentary of the movie either: (James Cameron) finished the script on which Sylvester Stallone did his usual devastating rewrite.

James Cameron, '86 TIME: "I recognize parts of it", Cameron says manfully, but adds, " I was trying to create a semi-realistic, haunted character, the quintessential Vietnam returnee, not a political statement".

 "One of the things that interested me is that there are a lot of soldiers from Vietnam, who have been in intense combat situations, who re-enlisted to go back again. Because they had these psychological problems that they had to work out. It's like an inner demon to be exorcised.  I did a bit of that in Rambo, but it didn't get used." - Lofficier.com:

 "Well, I came rather late to that. I actually thought the first one was a pretty good film. That's what attracted me to the second one, the underdog story. I was kind of fascinated by Vietnam at that point and what a weird and surreal kind of war that was. So my approach to it was a lot heavier, a lot more character. I just ran into Sly (Stallone) recently, and he was saying that when he looks back on it -although he doesn't have any regrets, in a way he wished he could have done the script that I wrote because they did wind up throwing out about the first half of it. They kept a lot of the action. They just kind of made it a "Mission Impossible" thing -for me it took on kind of a superhero-type quality. I thought it was much more interesting to kind of explore this traumatized character. Maybe I'll get to use that stuff somewhere else. I used a bit of it in "Aliens," having them come back from something they were traumatized by. There was a bit of that delayed stress syndrome stuff in "Aliens" they didn't use in "Rambo II." - Hollywood Reporter 1986:

Rambo: First Blood Part II was directed by George P. Cosmatos, who later directed the movie Cobra with Sylvester Stallone and Brigitte Nielsen

Either way, the movie was the most successful of the franchise, and also the only one that got an Academy Award nomination.

The movie also kickstarted the franchise and made it a household name, with video games and countless merchandise following, as well as an Animated series in 1986.

 

Read the original James Cameron's script for Rambo II: The Mission HERE

RAMBO FIRST BLOOD PART II

Carolco 1985

Director: George P. Cosmatos

Writers: Sylvester Stallone and James Cameron
Actors: Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Steven Berkoff, Julia Nickson-Soul

Producers: Buzz Feitshans, Mario Kassar, Andrew Vajna
Composer: Jerry Goldsmith

Release Date: May 22, 1985
Running Time: 94 min.

MPAA Rating: R Production Budget: $44,000,000

BOX OFFICE

Opening Weekend: $20,176,217

Domestic Gross: $150,415,432
Foreign: $149,985,000

Worldwide: $300,400,432

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