First Blood

First Blood is Ted Kotcheff’s 1982 action thriller starring Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo. It is currently available on Tubi in the United States with advertising. That is a current U.S. viewing option, not a worldwide availability promise. The film carries a U.S. R rating. Paramount’s catalog gives a 98-minute running time; the Apple U.S. listing gives 93 minutes, while Tubi lists 94. These are catalog or edition differences, not identification of the early edit Stallone recalled.

Rambo is a Vietnam veteran passing through a small town. Sheriff Will Teasle takes against him and has him arrested. Rambo escapes into the surrounding forest, where his military training makes the ensuing pursuit much more dangerous than the local authorities expect. Colonel Trautman, Rambo’s former commander, arrives as the stand-off grows. The story places a veteran’s survival skills and war experience in a civilian setting rather than sending him on a fresh overseas mission.

Stallone plays Rambo, Brian Dennehy plays Teasle and Richard Crenna plays Trautman. The cast also includes Jack Starrett as Galt, Chris Mulkey as Ward, David Caruso as Mitch, Michael Talbott as Balford, David Crowley as Singleton and Don Mackay as Preston. Kotcheff directed, Michael Kozoll, William Sackheim and Stallone share screenplay credit, Buzz Feitshans produced, and Jerry Goldsmith composed the score.

The film adapts David Morrell’s 1972 debut novel and opened on October 22, 1982. Morrell’s book gives more attention to the police chief, identifies him as a Korean War hero and places the pursuit in rural Kentucky. Its ending differs from the film’s. The novel and the screen adaptation should not be treated as identical versions of the story.

First Blood is the original Rambo film, also cataloged as Rambo: First Blood. It should not be confused with First Blood Part II. In October 2026, Stallone recalled disliking a first edit longer than three hours and helping reduce it, largely by removing his own scenes. His remembered 89-minute editing-stage version is not a newly announced commercial edition. Lionsgate’s official 40th-anniversary trailer shows scenes from the finished film.