Thinking of the fictional character Rambo and most people cough up one mental image: Sylvester Stallone as a sweaty, muscle-bound, screaming, fear-inducing, one man killing machine who wields few words but many deadly killing instruments (guns, knives, bow-and-arrows).
And they think of his Herculean efforts to dispatch with great prejudice as many evil Vietnamese (Rambo: First Blood Part II, 1984), Russians (Rambo III, 1988), Burmese (Rambo, 2008) and Mexicans (Rambo: Last Blood, 2019) as possible.
But that John Rambo (his name in the films) is far cry from the tortured, damaged, much more realistic man who David Morrell first introduced to the world in his 1972 novel First Blood. Or even the initial 1982 Stallone film in the franchise with the same title.
Journalist Nat Segaloff—author of 30+ books on subjects ranging from John Belushi and Stan Lee to the Exorcist and Scarface movies—digs deep into the character in all mediums in The Rambo Report: Five Films, Three Books, One Legend (304 pp., $29, Kensington Books).
Over Zoom, Segaloff notes that the book’s genesis grew from his friendship with Morell when the two bonded over their mutual connection to Sterling Silliphant. Segaloff was writing a bio on the screenwriter and producer, and he spoke with Morrell, for whom Silliphant was a mentor.
“I developed this fascination with Rambo, and my publisher has a thing for [books about] franchises, so it all came together,” Segaloff says. “And I would not have done the book without David Morrell. One, he’s a friend. And two, he’s my rabbi! He is All Things Rambo, and without his imprimatur, the book would not have the credibility or popularity it has had.”
One of the main themes of The Rambo Report is the dichotomy of the character as originally written in that first novel (and to an extent, as he is in the first movie) with the later, but more wildly popular and violent incarnation he became.
“My through line is not the metamorphosis that Rambo goes through, but the metamorphosis of what America has gone through over more than 50 years. And how it’s been involved with other cultures,” he says.
So, the reader of The Rambo Report can be informed, Segaloff provides brief synopses of all five Rambo films and Morrell’s three books—the last two novelizations of the second and third films that are not straight adaptations but rather include elements of other scripts and Morrell’s own imagination. He also includes both contemporary and archival quotes from actors and production people involved in the film as well as Morrell.
As with most books-turned-into-movies, there were significant changes in plot in characters. In the novel First Blood, Rambo kills a number of people and in the end, dies from bullets shot by military mentor Col. Trautman. In the movie, Rambo only injures, and any deaths are (mostly) the fault of the deceased characters.
He also lives, which was a sticking point for the original actor cast as Trautman, Kirk Douglas, who left production the day before filming was to start (he was quickly replaced by Richard Crenna).
Stallone also fought hard for the ”Rambo Lives” ending against all odds, believing that the other option could traumatize real-life Vietnam vets with a downbeat/no hope feel. Both sequences were filmed, and when the “Rambo Dies” ending was screened for test audiences, their displeasure was immediate.
Creating the character of Rambo had some unexpected real-life repercussions for Morrell. While the author—a prolific writer of fiction thrillers—was on a book tour in Poland in 2001, he was surprised to be given the Presidential Suite in a hotel while former U.S. President Bill Clinton, visiting at the same time, was given lesser accommodations.
When Morrell asked why, it was explained to him that during the years of the Solidarity people’s movement, Rambo movies were banned in the country. But after illegal VHS cassettes were smuggled in, Polish freedom fighters found significant inspiration in him, down to wearing the same red headbands when headed into conflict.
And much like Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” was widely misinterpreted as rah-rah jingoistic USA! USA! manner, so was Rambo by some (odd, seeing as it was how his service in the military damaged him). During a lunch that Stallone had with then-President Ronald Reagan (a big fan of the Commie-killathon Rambo III), he told the startled star that Rambo simply must be a Republican.
“Stallone has always maintained that Rambo is non-political despite what Reagan said. Although Rambo can be seen as a wish-fulfillment,” Segaloff notes. “In every instance when he commits to war—Vietnam, Afghanistan, Burma, Mexico‚ he is going in to rescue people, not a country. In Rambo 2 it’s MIA/POWs. In Rambo 3 it’s Trautman. In Rambo 4 it’s missionaries. In Rambo 5 it’s his adopted daughter. It’s always personal, not ideological.”
Segaloff also brushes off any sort of white supremacy angle that some have laid on Rambo (who dispatches mostly people of color) with a simple, factual retort.
“When you fight a war in another country, the people in that country tend to be homogeneous,” he notes. “The controversy comes from how richly the character of ‘the enemy’ is developed. If it’s too facile, you risk stereotyping. But if it’s too textured, you humanize the enemy to the point of complicating the simple plot. In a war movie, the enemy must be generic. These are war movies, not ethnographic documentaries.”
And though the term “PTSD” was not in the national vernacular during the time that the original novel and most of the movies were made, it’s clear that’s exactly what Rambo’s wartime experiences in Vietnam have left him with. A more deep and nuanced existence than previously used terms like “battle fatigue” or “shell shock.”
Segaloff says that Morrell was very aware of PTSD and its effects when he was writing the novel. That was based on many conversations he had with his Penn State writing students at the time, several of whom were returning Vietnam vets attending college on the GI Bill.
As a group, some were initially skeptical of Morrell given that he was roughly the same age as them. But as he began listening to their stories, he learned a lot and began incorporating those feelings and memories into the Rambo character. “Rambo only feels comfortable in war. And yet, he hates war,” Segaloff explains.
Outside of the books and movies, Rambo has also appeared on merchandise, been parodied by Johnny Carson, Mad magazine, Gremlins 2 and “Weird Al” Yankovic in UHF. And—improbably—even starred in a cartoon series for kids (Rambo: The Force of Freedom). In which the much, much less angsty and angry titular character—though still shirtless—leads a team on missions to defeat various terrorist-related baddies around the world and dispense life lessons to his young audience.
“When you change culture to the extent that Stallone did with Rambo, you’re going to be satirized. And God knows he opened himself to it!” Segaloff laughs.
The author is staying in the film lane for his latest book. Bogart and Huston about the six movies that the famed old Hollywood star and director made together, usually seen as career highlights for both men. Also out now is an updated paperback edition of The Exorcist Legacy: 50 Years of Fear. And upcoming is a non-fiction book with noted film critic and personal friend Leonard Maltin called Every Movie is a Miracle.
Finally, ever wondered where David Morrell came up with the name “Rambo?” Cultural historians can thank his wife, who one day while he was writing the original novel came home with a purchase from a roadside fruit stand: a bag of greenish-yellow apples, called…“rambos.”
For more on Nat Segaloff, visit NatSegaloff.com
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.
