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Sylvester Stallone is one of the finest actors in Hollywood. From starring as Rocky Balboa in theRockyfranchise to John Rambo in theRambofranchise, Stallone has been through hell and back just for the sake of his movies.
It was the very sameRambomovies that could have doomed Stallone’s franchise if they had gone with the original ending.First Bloodsees Stallone portraying a PTSD-ridden Vietnam soldier in search of his buddy but goes on a full rampage due to the things that he saw and suffered through. Well, in the original ending, Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo was going to shoot himself and the franchise would have never been made.
The Original Ending of Sylvester Stallone’sRamboWas Too Bleak
The world saw a new side of Stallone when he portrayed the role of John Rambo in the 1982 movieFirst Blood.Portraying the role of a Vietnam soldier and the horrors that he has been through, the film ended with Rambo surrendering himself and being taken into custody.
Also read:“People had to separate us”: Sylvester Stallone Painfully Accepted Getting Beaten by Arnold Schwarzenegger as Terminator Star Refused to Return for Expendables 4
This ending left an opening for sequels which the franchise surely delivered upon. In an interview, Stallone talked about the original ending ofFirst Bloodwhich director Ted Kotcheff shot. As per the talk, the original ending was so bleak that the theater was in complete silence. The original ending sawSylvester Stallone’sRambo urging Col. Trautman to shoot him. When he fails to do so, Rambo shoots himself and takes his own life!
“Rambo says to his colonel ‘You made me. Now you should kill me.’ The colonel has his gun out and thinks about putting Rambo out of his misery, but he can’t do it. Rambo reaches up and blows himself away.”
Director Ted Kotcheff further stated how Stallone took him aside and tried to explain his point of view on why Rambo should not be killed.
“He took me aside and said, ‘Ted, we’ve put Rambo through so much … the audience has suffered with him through all of this, and now we’re going to kill him? They are going to hate this, I’m telling you.'”
Even though they had already gone over budget, Kotcheff considered Stallone’s idea and shot two endings. The first one was his original ending and the other one was Rambo surrendering himself. Showcasing both the endings for test screenings, Ted Kotcheff immediately realized his mistake.
Suggested:“A flatworm could write a better script”: Arnold Schwarzenegger Forced Sylvester Stallone To Do “One of the worst films in the entire solar system”
Ted Kotcheff Felt The Hatred From The Producers For His Ending
Related:“I don’t want to get hurt”: Action God Sylvester Stallone Was Legit Scared For His Life When a 302 lbs Heavy Muscled Hunk Hulk Hogan Punched Him
When it came to test screenings, the producers ofFirst Bloodsat down to judge and look at both the endings that were shot. Ted Kotcheff revealed that as soon as the original ending was seen, he thought that maybe he should have gone with Stallone’s plan.
“You could have heard a pin drop. A voice in the silence says ‘If the director of this film is here, we should string him up from the nearest lamp post for doing this to Rambo.'”
In the end, the ending where Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo surrenders himself was used for the release of the film. The ending led to the franchise continuing further and earning a total of $819 million at the global box office. The movie that started it all available to stream on DirectTV in the U.S.
Source:Filmmaker Magazine
Visarg Acharya
Senior Writer
Articles Published :3261
Visarg Acharya is a Senior Writer at FandomWire, majorly focusing on movies, with over 3000 articles published. He has been an entertainment journalist for the past three years and a copywriter at a corporation. Visarg usually covers news and theories on the MCU and the DCU, with an emphasis on Avengers and Superman; Game of Thrones, and more.A Tarantino fan, Visarg, spends his time critiquing various directors’ filmographies and watching them with curiosity. Medieval fantasy like The Lord of the Rings or sci-fi movies like Interstellar, watching the latest horror movies, and listening to Hans Zimmer become his comfort zone. When idle, he can be found reading fantasy novels with a terrible cup of coffee in hand.
