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151-517: First Blood is a 1982 American action film directed by Ted Kotcheff and co-written by Sylvester Stallone , who stars as Vietnam War veteran John Rambo . It also co-stars Richard Crenna as Rambo's mentor Sam Trautman and Brian Dennehy as Sheriff Will Teasle. It is the first installment in the Rambo franchise and is based on the 1972 novel First Blood by David Morrell , which many directors and studios had unsuccessfully attempted to adapt in

302-588: A "tormented, misunderstood, amazingly resourceful victim of the Vietnam War, rather than as a sadist or a villain." Maslin also praised the film's story for its "energy and ingenuity". Conversely, Variety called the film "a mess" and criticized its ending for not providing a proper resolution for the main character. First Blood has been considered as belonging to the vetsploitation subgenre. In 2000, BBC film critic Almar Haflidason noted that Stallone's training in survival skills and hand-to-hand combat gave

453-527: A 6-disc box set, which contains all four films in the series, on May 27, 2008. However, the box set is missing the David Morrell commentary, even though the packaging clearly states it is included. In anticipation of the release, the film was shown back in theaters for one night, May 15, 2008, through Fathom Events; the alternate ending was shown after the main feature. First Blood was released on 4K UHD Blu-ray on November 9, 2018. First Blood topped

604-510: A Global release status of Chinese-language martial arts films, most notably Zhang Yimou 's Hero (2002) and House of Flying Daggers (2004), Stephen Chow 's Kung Fu Hustle (2004) and Chen Kaige 's The Promise (2005). Most Hong Kong action films in the first quarter of the 21st century, such as those in Cold War (2012), Cold War 2 (2016) and The White Storm film series have their violence toned down, especially compared to

755-500: A Long Road" added a new dimension to the character, and featured in the film's three sequels and animated spin-off. The soundtrack was originally released on LP by the Regency label, although it was edited out of sequence for a more satisfying listen. The album was reissued on CD with one extra track ("No Power") twice, first as one of Intrada Records 's initial titles, then as an identical release by Varèse Sarabande . The complete score

906-678: A component of the National Guard of the United States . It is headquartered at Camp Murray , Washington and is defined by its state and federal mission. At the call of the Governor, the Washington National Guard will mobilize and deploy during times of state emergency to augment local jurisdictions and responders in their efforts to protect lives and property. The Washington National Guard is also subject to

1057-470: A concealed knife . While being processed at the police station, Rambo continues to be defiant and Teasle's deputies, led by the sadistic chief deputy Art Galt, abuses him , triggering flashbacks of the torture which Rambo endured in Vietnam . When they attempt to dry shave him with a straight razor, Rambo finally fights his way out of the sheriff's station, regains his knife and flees on a motorcycle into

1208-524: A distributor, displaying an 18-minute promotional reel to studios. Although they secured international distributors, they were unable to locate a domestic distributor to the film until they sent a longer 55-minute reel to the American Film Market . After Warner Bros. and Paramount expressed interest, Orion Pictures agreed to the domestic distribution of the film. The film's score was composed and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith , whose theme "It's

1359-436: A fight sequence. In the 1980s, American martial arts films reflected the national move towards conservatism, reflected in films of Chuck Norris and other actors such as Sho Kosugi . The genre would shift from theatrical releases towards the end of the decade with the rise of home video, the lower box-office of American martial arts productions, and a significant portion of direct-to-video action films that first were made in

1510-569: A flashback in the fourth movie. Lionsgate also released this version on Blu-ray . Both commentary tracks are on the Blu-ray release. Momentum Pictures released an HD DVD version of First Blood in the United Kingdom in April 2007. Lionsgate also released First Blood as a double feature on February 13, 2007, along with 2004's The Punisher . The film was re-released as part of

1661-437: A global audience of these films in the United States and Europe, but was cut short on Lee's death in 1973 leading the phases popularity to decline. Following a period of stagnation, Chang Cheh and Lau Kar-leung revitalized the genre with shaolin kung fu films and Chor Yuen 's series of darker swordplay films based on the novels of Gu Long . Kung Fu comedies appeared featuring Jackie Chan as martial arts films flourished into

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1812-419: A good friend was killed by a Viet Cong child soldier using a shoeshiner box wired with explosives. After being comforted by a visibly disturbed Trautman, Rambo surrenders and is taken into federal custody, while Teasle is taken to a waiting ambulance for transport to the hospital. The original Rambo was so bloodthirsty... the story was so hard, so terrifying every step of the way. (I think that's one reason

1963-523: A gunfire. When Rambo prepares to kill Teasle, Trautman appears and warns Rambo that he will be killed unless he surrenders, reminding him that he is the last survivor of Baker Team . Rambo vents about the horrors of war and his traumatic experiences like watching his friends give their lives in Vietnam, being treated poorly when returning home, being unable to hold a job and being forgotten despite his sacrifices. Rambo breaks down crying as he recounts how

2114-554: A propensity for violent action, identified with the films of Chang Cheh . Violent female characters have been part of cinema since its early inception, with characters such as Kate Kelly brandishing a shotgun in The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906). Women traditionally appear in action films as romantic interests, tomboys , or sidekicks to male protagonists. Violent white women would appear in other genres as well such as

2265-548: A psychiatrist and either Burt Lancaster or Lee Marvin as Sheriff Teasle. When the project was purchased by Warner Bros., Robert De Niro and Clint Eastwood were each considered for the role of Rambo. Ritt intended to cast Robert Mitchum as Teasle and Paul Newman as Rambo. Pollack considered Steve McQueen but then rejected him because they considered him too old to play a Vietnam veteran from 1975. James Caan , Burt Reynolds and Robert Redford were also considered. Rabe developed his screenplay with Al Pacino in mind for

2416-745: A significant portion. These films include Taxi 2 (2000), Kiss of the Dragon (2001), District 13 (2004) and Unleashed (2005). Whan asked about the Americanization of these French films, Christophe Gans , director of Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) stated that "Hollywood ownership of certain elements [...] must be challenged, in order to show that these elements have also long been present in European culture." The most significant producers of French action films with international ambitions

2567-658: A similar level of popularity to that of the Western in the United States. The most internationally known films of this era were the films Kurosawa with Seven Samurai (1954), The Hidden Fortress (1958), and Yojimbo (1961). By at least the 1950s, Japanese films were looked upon as a model to be emulated by Hong Kong film production, and Hong Kong film companies began actively enlisting professionals from Japan, such as cinematographer Tadashi Nishimoto to contribute to color and widescreen cinematography. New literary sources also developed in martial arts films of this period, with

2718-406: A single genre and that streaming services such as Amazon Prime and Netflix similarly dilutes what is marketed and received as action. In transnational cinema, there are two major trends in action films: Hollywood action films and their style being imitated around the globe and the other being Chinese-language martial arts films. The roots of action films extend into the beginning of film but it

2869-451: A three-act structure centered on survival, resistance and revenge with narratives where the physical body of the hero is tested, traumatized and ultimately triumphant. The third shift in action cinema, the postclassical, was defined by the predominance of Eastern cinema and its aesthetics, primarily the wire-work of Hong Kong action cinema from the classical era, through the convention of the increasingly computer generated effects. This saw

3020-594: A tough police officer protects society by upholding the law against systematic corruption. This extended into films which O'Brien described as "knee-jerk responses" to perceived threats with rogue cop and vigilante films such as Dirty Harry (1971) and Death Wish (1974) where the restoration of order is only possible by force and antisocial characters prepared to act when society does not. The vigilantism reappears in other films that were exploitative of southern society such as Billy Jack (1971) and White Lightning (1973) and "good ol' boy" comedies like Smokey and

3171-454: A tree. Since the production ran over schedule, Crenna's role in the film was cut in order to avoid having to pay him higher fees as specified in his contract. The firearms used in the film had to be imported into Canada because of the country's firearms regulation . In January 1982 over $ 50,000 worth of firearms—including fourteen M16 rifles , three Remington shotguns , two .44 Magnum revolvers , and eleven Colt AR-15 rifles —were stolen from

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3322-416: A wider historical and cultural field. In their book Action Cinema Since 2000 (2024), Tasker, Lisa Purse, and Chris Holmlund stated that thinking of action as a mode is more helpful than thinking of it as a genre. The three authors suggested that action frames a certain manner of filmmaking and viewing exceed genre without eclipsing it stating that websites such as IMDb and Misplaced Pages rarely label films by

3473-588: A year ago, brought on by exposure to Agent Orange during the war. Rambo offers his condolences to Barry's widow for her loss and gives her a photo of the pair and the rest of their unit called Baker Team . Rambo continues his travels, where he reaches the town of Hope, Washington . Will Teasle, the town's sheriff, drives him to the outskirts of town and explains that he considers it as his job to keep drifters out of Hope. Neglecting Teasle's warning, Rambo returns to Hope, which prompts Teasle to arrest Rambo on charges of vagrancy, resisting arrest and possession of

3624-503: Is FEMA Region 10 and has been dubbed the 10th HRF. Nine other HRFs exist across the country with identical alignment by respective FEMA regions. The predominant force provider for this capability is the Army Guard’s 96th Troop Command, whose commander holds two roles as both the HRF and Troop Command Commander, however other Army Guard and Air Guard forces combine with the 96th’s to constitute

3775-463: Is Luc Besson 's France-based EuropaCorp , who released films like Taxi (1998) and From Paris with Love (2010). EuropaCorp produced Transporter franchise starred British actor Jason Statham and made him an action film star, which led him to feature in The Expendables series by the end of the 2010s. The action film genre has been a staple of Bollywood cinema . In the 1970s,

3926-574: Is a generic term to refer to several types of films containing martial arts. The wuxia film is the oldest genre in Chinese cinema. Stephen Teo wrote in his book on Wuxia that there is no satisfactory English translation of the term, with it often being identified as "the swordplay film" in critical studies. It is derived from the Chinese words wu denoting militarist or martial qualities and xia denoting chivalry, gallantry, and qualities of knighthood. The term wuxia entered into popular culture in

4077-729: Is based on Twin Dragons (1992). Other films such as the martial arts film Bhadrachlam (2001), borrows from American cinema with the Jean-Claude Van Damme film Kickboxer (1989). SS Rajamouli 's RRR (2022) was among the highest budgeted films made in India, and became a rare hit film outside of Indian diaspora, where it broke box office records in Japan and performed exceptionally well in American box office. Japan

4228-442: Is itself empowering and, if not, whether a hypersexualized female character can still represent strength and autonomy. Hypersexualized female action leads had tight fitting or revealing costumes that Tasker identified as "exaggerated statements of sexuality" and in the tradition of "fetishistic figure of fantasy" derives from comic books and soft pornography . This originated in television with characters like Buffy Summers ( Buffy

4379-614: Is made up of two Wings and an Air Defense Sector: 141st Air Refueling Wing (headquartered at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane) 194th Wing (headquartered at Camp Murray) Western Air Defense Sector (headquartered at Joint Base Lewis-McChord) In 1853 President Millard Fillmore signed the Organic Act creating the Washington Territory and appointing Major Isaac Stevens the first governor and commander-in-chief of

4530-578: The femme fatales in film noir and horror films of the 1970s. Violent women were common in action films since the 1960s. These films featured working-class women exacting revenge. Films of the 1970s featured black women such as Pam Grier in films like Foxy Brown (1974). In the 1980s, a new symbolically transgressive character emerged in the form of Ellen Ripley in Aliens (1986) and Sarah Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and

4681-550: The Bollywood action film consolidated with two films starring Amitabh Bachchan : Prakash Mehra 's Zanjeer (1973) and Yash Chopra 's Deewaar (1975). The box office success of these films made Bachchan a star and spawned the "angry young man" film in Bollywood cinema. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the action genre film declined considerably with new films predominantly featuring former bodybuilders failing to reach

First Blood - Misplaced Pages Continue

4832-586: The First Blood Special Edition DVD released in 2002. Actor Stallone recorded an audio commentary track for the First Blood Ultimate Edition DVD released in 2004. This edition also includes a "never-before-seen" alternate ending in which Rambo commits suicide— a fate more in line with the original novel's ending— and a "humorous" ending tacked on afterwards. A brief snippet of the suicide ending appears in

4983-517: The Hong Kong action cinema , such melodramatic male bonding and marginalized women characters, while the Korean films also have greater elements of tragedy and romance emphasized. Most martial arts films made before the mid-1960s were Cantonese-language productions. In comparison, Mandarin-language films were an integral part of Hong Kong cinema due to the influx of Shanghai film talent in

5134-668: The Inauguration of Joe Biden in response to the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol by supporters of the outgoing President, Donald Trump . On Friday, November 1, 2024, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee activated the National Guard on standby status as a precautionary measure against election-related violence. The activation was effective Monday, November 4th through Thursday, November 7th. The Washington National Guard Museum, "The Arsenal",

5285-675: The Makah Indian Reservation in the first dispute regarding whaling in over a hundred years. Assistance to Law Enforcement – World Trade Organization Conference civil unrest on the streets of Seattle. Washington National Guard members deployed to Kosovo in Federal Active service as part of Operation Joint Guardian. Washington National Guard members deployed to Macedonia in Federal Active service as part of Operation Joint Guardian. Washington National Guard members involved in wild land fire fighting. In response to

5436-688: The Philippine Insurrection , both World Wars , the Berlin Airlift and the first Gulf War . Since the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Washington National Guard units have served in support of Operation Noble Eagle , Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom . Approximately 700 members of the Washington National Guard served in support of the Hurricane Katrina Relief Mission in

5587-508: The September 11 attacks in 2001, which suggested an end to fantastical elements that defined the action hero and genre. Following the release of Quentin Tarantino 's Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004) revisited the tropes of 1970s action films leading a renaissance of vengeance narratives in films like The Brave One (2007) and Taken (2008). O'Brien found that Tarantino's films were post-modern takes on

5738-911: The September 11 attacks , Washington National Guard members began to be deployed in the U.S. and around world in support Operations Noble Eagle (United States) and Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) including Washington's regional airports, the northern border with Canada, the Olympic Games and the search for terrorists in the Afghan mountains. Since September 11, 2001 more than 13,000 citizen soldiers and airmen have served in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia), Operation Enduring Freedom / Freedom’s Sentinel (Afghanistan, Philippines, Cuba, Djibouti (Horn of Africa), Korea, Uzbekistan), and Operation Inherent Resolve (Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Syria). Nearly 900 Washington Guardsmen have served in support domestic operations of Noble Eagle within

5889-559: The September 11 attacks , a return to the early forms of the genre appeared in the wake of Kill Bill and The Expendables films. Scott Higgins wrote in 2008 in Cinema Journal that action films are both one of the most popular and popularly derided of contemporary cinema genres, stating that "in mainstream discourse, the genre is regularly lambasted for favoring spectacle over finely tuned narrative." Bordwell echoed this in his book, The Way Hollywood Tells It , writing that

6040-554: The murder of George Floyd . On May 31, the National Guard was activated statewide. In addition, more than 2,500 soldiers were activated for the COVID-19 response, working in hospitals, off-site immunization clinics, food banks, building tests kits, working in Employment Security and more. Washington State Governor Jay Inslee authorized sending 373 service-members to Washington, D.C. to assist with security at

6191-510: The xinpai wuxia xiaoshuo (or "new school martial arts fiction") coming into prominence with the success of Liang Yusheng 's Longhu Dou Jinghua (1954) and Jin Yong 's Shujian enchou lu (1956) which showed influence of the Shanghai martial arts films but also circulated from Hong Kong to Taiwan and Chinese communities overseas. This led to a growing demand in both local and regional markets in

First Blood - Misplaced Pages Continue

6342-556: The "1st Washington Territory Infantry" and brought into service for the Civil War. Washington Territory Militia "officially" formed and recognized as the Washington National Guard in the Legislative Assembly of Washington Territory. On November 11, 1889, Washington became a state. State Legislature met and appropriated $ 20,319.33 for a "Brigade Encampment" to be held that summer. Completely uniformed and equipped for

6493-1148: The 194th Wing, was formed within the Washington Air National Guard, bringing together existing Air Guard units including the 252nd Combat Communications Group, air support operations units, mission support units, and a medical support unit into one wing. Nearly 500 citizen soldiers and airmen served on state active duty in the aftermath of the December 2 storm and subsequent flooding in Southwest Washington. Missions focused on evacuating stranded residents, door-to-door health and welfare checks, transportation of vital supplies and provision of generators. Nearly 550 citizen soldiers and airmen responded statewide to battle snow and flooding. The eastern Washington mission focused on snow removal from roads and public school buildings, while western Washington missions focused on evacuating stranded residents, door-to-door health and welfare checks, transportation of vital supplies. Based off of recommendations in

6644-428: The 1960s with films like The Born Losers (1967) which was predominantly a drama, interspersed with martial arts scenes. American martial arts films predominantly came into production following the release of Enter the Dragon (1973), with the only higher-budgeted American film to follow in its wake being The Yakuza (1974). Lott noted the two films would lead to the two subsequent styles of martial arts films in

6795-406: The 1970s. In the film, Rambo, a troubled and misunderstood Vietnam veteran , must rely on his combat and survival skills when a series of brutal events results in him having to survive a massive manhunt by police and government troops near the fictional small town of Hope, Washington . First Blood was released in the United States on October 22, 1982. Initial reviews were mixed, but the film

6946-609: The 1970s. James Monaco wrote in 1979 in American Film Now: The People, The Power, The Money, the Movies that "the lines that separate on genre from another have continued to disintegrate." Tasker said that most post-classical action films are hybrids, drawing from genres as varied as war films, science fiction , horror , crime, martial arts , and comedy films . In Chinese-language films, both wuxia and kung fu are genre-specific terms, while martial arts

7097-470: The 1980s due to the presence of the Jimmy Lile and Gil Hibben knives used in the films. In 2003, Blade Magazine gave Morrell an industry achievement award for having helped to make it possible. A sequel titled Rambo: First Blood Part II , was released in 1985. In 2014, Rambo: The Video Game was released, based on the first three Rambo films. On August 14, 2020, a cedar wood statue of Rambo

7248-784: The 1980s. Other films again modernized the form with gangster films of John Woo ( A Better Tomorrow (1986), The Killer (1989)) and the Wong Fei Hung saga returning in Tsui Hark 's Once Upon a Time in China featuring Jet Li which again revitalized the swordplay styled films. By the turn of the century Hollywood action films would look towards Hong Kong cinema and bringing some of their major actors and directors over to apply their style to their films, such as Chan, Woo, Li, Michelle Yeoh and Yuen Woo-Ping . The release of Ang Lee 's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) led to

7399-706: The 21st century have been comic book adaptations, which commenced with the X-Men and is seen in other series such as Spider-Man , and Iron Man series. Tasker wrote that despite the central characters in superhero cinema being extraordinary, occasionally even God-like, they often followed the traces of the central character becoming powerful of which is fundamental to action films, often dealt with origin stories in superhero films. Action films often interface with other genres. Tasker wrote that films are often labelled action thrillers, action-fantasy and action-adventure films with different nuances. Tasker later discussed that

7550-522: The Bandit (1977). This era also emphasizes the car chase scenes as moments of spectacle in films like Bullitt and The French Connection (1971). O'Brien described these films as emphasizing "the fusion of man and machine" with the drivers and vehicles acting as one, concluding with what he described as "the ultimate in apocalyptic modernity and social erasure" in Mad Max 2 (1981). O'Brien described

7701-754: The Bollywood press who reported on him in the headlines of Bollywood magazines for his public brawls and affairs with leading actresses. In Dabangg (2010), Khan continued with this public persona, which was repeated in several of his later films such as Ready (2011), Bodyguard (2011), Ek Tha Tiger (2012) and Dabangg 2 (2012). From the 1980s, generations of actors in Telugu cinema have invoked Hong Kong action films, such as Srihari who stated he wanted to become an actor after watching his first Bruce Lee film. Several films in Telugu cinema were remakes of Hong Kong films, such as Hello Brother (1994) which

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7852-539: The Cinema Group as a financer and hired John Frankenheimer as director with production to begin in Georgia . This was also the first version of the script in which Rambo survived the film. However, the project stalled again after the distributor Filmways was acquired by Orion Pictures . After Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna of Anabasis Investments read the book, they got interested in doing an adaptation as

8003-695: The Department of Defense’s Quadrennial Defense Review , in 2011 the National Guard Bureau established the first two, of later ten, Homeland Response Forces (HRF) in Washington and Ohio. These HRFs are 560-person Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, high-yield Explosive ( CBRNE ) task forces established to support local, state and federal emergency managers in response to CBRNE disasters, or deliberate acts, and additional HAZMAT-related hazards. The Washington HRF’s area of responsibility

8154-598: The Dragon briefly allowed an influx of Hong Kong films to Japan, but the trend did not last, with 28 Hong Kong films, mostly kung fu films, being released in 1974, and the number decreasing to five in 1975, four in 1977 and only two in 1978. Ryuhei Kitamura , director of Versus (2000), said in 2004 that he grew frustrated with the Japanese film industry as producers felt they couldn't make action films in competition with Hong Kong or American productions. Versus grew to become popular outside of Japan, and Kitamura said he

8305-592: The Gulf Coast, and more than 300 served in support of Operation Jump Start (the southwest border mission from September 2006 – June 2008). The citizen soldiers and airmen of The Washington National Guard are dedicated to the mission of safeguarding lives and property in Washington State in serving in the US and overseas. Members come from a wide diversity of communities, professions and backgrounds from around

8456-602: The Hong Kong film industry after the handover in 1997. Anglophone action film scholarship has tended to emphasize bigger budget American action films, with academics tending to find films that fall out of Hollywood productions as not quite fitting definitions of the genre. By 2024, many national and regional industries were known for action films. These include international films such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam , South Korean, Japanese, Thai , Brazilian , Chinese , South African , French and Italian action titles. At

8607-807: The Red Lotus (1965) and King Hu 's Come Drink with Me (1966). In the 1970s, the Hong Kong martial arts films began to grow under the format of yanggang ("staunch masculinity") mostly through the films of Chang Cheh which were popular. This transition led to the kung fu film sub-genre at beginning of the decade and moved beyond the swordplay films with contemporary settings of late Qing or early Republican periods and had more hand-to-hand combat over supernatural swordplay and special effects. A new studio, Golden Harvest quickly became one of independent filmmakers to grant creative freedom and pay and attracted new directors and actors, including Bruce Lee . The popularity of kung fu films and Bruce Lee led to attract

8758-838: The State of Washington. President Fillmore signed the Organic Act creating the Washington Territory and Maj. Issac Stevens was appointed first governor and commander-in-chief of the Territorial Militia (the beginnings of the Washington National Guard). Washington Territorial Militia members informally mustered in support of the Territorial government involving local Indian uprisings. Washington Territorial Militia members formed into

8909-537: The Territorial Militia. The Territorial Militia organized in 1855 and supported the Territorial Government, provided defense against Indian uprisings and sent a unit to fight for the Union in the Civil War. The Washington National Guard trained as completely uniformed and equipped force for the first time in 1890 on the shores of American Lake near Tacoma. Units of the Washington National Guard served in

9060-400: The U.S. box office for three weeks in a row, and its $ 6,642,005 opening weekend was the best October opening at the time. The film ended as a significant financial success, with a total gross of $ 51 million domestically, the highest-grossing film of the fall, and the 13th highest-grossing film of the year . The film grossed $ 125.2 million worldwide, against a $ 15 million budget. It was notably

9211-553: The United States to include Airport Security, Border Patrol, security at military bases, and miscellaneous missions in Bosnia, Germany, Egypt and Kuwait. As a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita , over 750 Washington Guard pilots, mechanics, supply and admin specialists, truck drivers and many others supported Humanitarian Relief efforts in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The 194th Regional Support Wing, later redesignated as

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9362-484: The United States, Europe and Japan had during this period. Yip described Japanese cinema as the most advanced in Asia at the time. This was showcased by the international breakthrough of Akira Kurosawa 's films like Rashomon (1950). The film genre known as the chanbara was at its height in Japan. The style was a sub-genre to the jidai-geki , or period drama with an emphasis on sword fighting and action. It had

9513-406: The United States, with films like Enter the Dragon about people who reveled in combat, often in a tournament setting, and The Yakuza which had several genres attached to it, but featured several martial arts sequences. By the end of the 1970s, the style was an established genre in American cinema, often featuring tough heroic characters who would fight and not think about their actions until after

9664-591: The Vampire Slayer (1997–2003)) and Xena ( Xena: Warrior Princess (1995–2001)). These series popularity demonstrated a growing market for female action film heroes, in films of the 2000s like Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), Charlie's Angels (2000), Ultraviolet (2006), Salt (2010) and series like Underworld and Resident Evil . These series like their television series earlier, had their leads eroticized as active and physically capable while also being scantily-clad, hyper-feminized similar to

9815-458: The Vietnam War was still underway and Brooks left the project. Afterward, John Calley purchased the rights at Warner Bros. Pictures for $ 125,000 with the thought of casting either Robert De Niro or Clint Eastwood as Rambo. A screenplay was written by Walter Newman with Martin Ritt intended to direct. The film would have criticized American military culture and portrayed Colonel Trautman as

9966-711: The Washington National Guard (6,300 in the WAARNG and 2,100 in the WA ANG). The WAARNG is made up of five Major Subordinate Commands: 81st Brigade Combat Team (headquartered in Seattle), 96th Troop Command (headquartered in Tacoma), 56th Information Operations Brigade (headquartered at Joint Base Lewis-McChord), 96th Aviation Troop Command (headquartered at Joint Base Lewis-McChord), and the 205th Leadership Regiment (headquartered at Camp Murray). The Washington Air National Guard

10117-553: The action heroine's dual status of an active subject and sexual object was overturning the traditional gender binary because the films "assume that women are powerful" without resorting to justify her physical aggression through narratives involving maternal drive, mental instability or trauma. Purse found that female leads in films like Elektra (2005), Kill Bill , Underworld , Charlie's Angels and Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) did showcase women having expensive cars, clothing, travel, homes and often high-paying jobs, but that this

10268-552: The actor accepted after reading the script through in a weekend. Various scripts adapted from Morrell's book had been pitched to studios in the years since its publication, but only Stallone's involvement prompted its production. The time since the end of the Vietnam War and Stallone's star power after the success of the Rocky films enabled him to rewrite the script to make the character of John Rambo more sympathetic. Morrell's book has Rambo kill many of his pursuers, and Kozoll and Sackheim's draft had him killing sixteen people, but in

10419-426: The authorities, Rambo blows up a gas station, cuts power to most of the town, destroys a sporting goods store and shoots the sheriff's station. Trautman, understanding that Teasle is outmatched, again tries to convince Teasle to leave Rambo. Teasle, seeing Rambo's rampage as a personal attack, ignores Trautman's orders again and tries to hunt for Rambo on the station's roof, but Rambo manages to shoot and injure Teasle in

10570-521: The backstreets of Cairo. British author and academic Yvonne Tasker expanded on this topic, stating that action films have no clear and constant iconography or settings. In her book The Hollywood Action and Adventure Film (2015), she found that the most broadly consistent themes tend to be a characters quest from freedom from oppression such as a hero overcoming enemies or obstacles and physical conflicts or challenge, usually battling other humans or alien opponents. By late 2010s studies of genre analysis,

10721-1000: The beginning of World War II . Washington National Guard members involved in civil disturbance, labor conflicts, flooding assistance, fire fighting. Washington National Guard members activated for the Berlin Crisis and the Berlin Airlift. Washington National Guard members involved in flooding assistance, fire fighting. More than 2,000 members of the Washington National Guard are called to state active duty when Mount St. Helens erupted. Washington National Guard members involved in assistance to law enforcement, search and rescue, emergency recovery, flood assistance, etc. Washington National Guard members activated in support of Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm (Gulf War 1). Washington National Guard members serve in support of state missions involving winter storms, flooding assistance, fire fighting, etc. Washington National Guard members deployed to Bosnia in Federal Active service as part of Operation Joint Guardian . Civil unrest at WSU campus and at

10872-435: The book Australian Genre Film , Amanda Howell suggested that this label was used to help distance Australian cinema from Hollywood films as it would be suggesting commerce over culture and that it would be "quite unacceptable to make Australian movies using conventions established in the U.S.A." Howell stated this to be the case with action films of the 1970s and 1980s with Brian Trenchard-Smith 's Turkey Shoot (1982) being

11023-501: The book took so long to get done). What I did with Rambo was try to keep one foot in the Establishment and one foot in the outlaw or frontier image. I wanted him to be accepted by the mainstream—but also be a criminal. So he has some strong patriotic views—and he loves the system. He just doesn't like a lot of the people who live and work in it. Sylvester Stallone, 1985 In 1972, Lawrence Turman at Columbia Pictures bought

11174-701: The call of the President of the United States to serve as part of the total U.S. Military force. The Washington National Guard is made up of the Washington Army National Guard (WAARNG) and the Washington Air National Guard (WA ANG). The WAARNG is a reserve component of the U.S. Army and the WA ANG is a reserve component of the U.S. Air Force . There are approximately 8,400 citizen-soldiers and airmen serving in

11325-535: The chance to work with Stallone. Richard Crenna was quickly hired as a replacement; the role of Trautman became the veteran character actor's most famous role, a performance for which he received much critical praise. The film was shot in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia on a $ 15 million budget beginning on November 15, 1981, and continuing until April 1982. The town scenes in the movie were shot in Hope and

11476-550: The classical form of action cinema to be the 1980s. The decade continued the trends of formative period with heroes as avengers ( Lethal Weapon (1987)), rogue police officers ( Die Hard (1988)) and mercenary warriors ( Commando (1985)). Following the continuity of the car and man hybrid of the previous decade, the 1980s featured weaponized men with who were either also carrying weapons such as Sudden Impact (1983), trained to be weapons ( American Ninja (1985)) or imbued with technology ( RoboCop (1987)). O'Brien noted that

11627-464: The decline of overt masculinity in the action film which corresponded with the end of the Cold War in 1991, while the rise of self-referential and parodies of this era grew in films like Last Action Hero (1993). O'Brien described this era as being soft where the hard bodies of the classical era were replaced with computer generated imagery such as that of Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). This

11778-472: The deputies. With the deputies incapacitated, Rambo corners Teasle, holds a knife to his throat and threatens "a war [Teasle] won't believe" if he does not give up the pursuit, before retreating further into the woods. The Washington State Patrol and Washington National Guard are dispatched to assist Teasle, along with Rambo's mentor and former commanding officer Col. Sam Trautman . Trautman advises that Rambo should be allowed to escape to Seattle to defuse

11929-601: The difference between Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Die Hard (1988), that while both were mainstream Hollywood blockbusters with hero asserting masculinity and overcoming obstacles to a personal and social solution, John McClane in Die Hard repeatedly firing his automatic pistol while swinging from a high rise was not congruent with the image of Indiana Jones in Raiders swinging his whip to fend off villains in

12080-559: The direct-to-video field, or in similarly low-budget theatrical releases such as Bulletproof Monk (2003). While the American styled-films were predominantly made in the United States, productions were also made in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and South Africa, and were predominantly shot in the English-language. Heroic Bloodshed is a that originates with English-language Hong Kong action and crime film fan communities in

12231-487: The earlier work of directors like Woo and Johnnie To . Antong Chen, in his study on the Hong Kong action film, wrote that the influence of China and the amount of Chinese co-productions made with Hong Kong created a shift in these films, particularly following the release of Infernal Affairs (2002). Harvey O'Brien wrote in 2012 that the contemporary action film emerged through other genres, primarily Westerns , crime and war films and can be separated into four forms:

12382-432: The early 1960s and saw a surge in production of Hong Kong martial arts films that went beyond the stories about Wong Fei-hung which were declining in popularity. These new martial arts films featured magical swordplay and higher production values and more sophisticated special effects than the previous films with Shaw Brothers a campaign of "new school" ( xinpai ) martial arts swordplay films such as Xu Zenghong's Temple of

12533-491: The end of the 1990s. Films such as Chunhang (2000) and Memento Mori (2000) and action films Shiri (1999) and Nowhere to Hide (1999) received commercial releases in North America, Asia, and Europe. The success of the latter two films was unprecedented, and was followed by other South Korean action films in the early 2000s reaching the top of the local box office. These South Korean films mimic some traits of

12684-532: The female leads in implausible elements, such as in Charlie's Angels , Fantastic Four (2005) and My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006). The fighting styles of women also tend towards more traditionally feminine fluid movements of martial arts, over using guns or directly punching. Purse wrote that the contemporary female action film lead's sexualized brand had her in close proximity of post-feminism discourse about choice, power and sexuality. Marc O'Day interprets

12835-503: The film "a raw and authentic edge that excited the audiences of the time." Film.com and Filmsite regard First Blood as one of the best films of 1982, and in 2008 it was named the 253rd greatest film ever by Empire magazine on its 2008 list of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time . On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes , the film has an 86% approval rating based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 7.20/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Much darker and more sensitive than

12986-617: The film rights to First Blood for $ 175,000. Richard Brooks was slated to direct, and intended to have the film be an allegory on differing American perceptions of World War II and Vietnam War veterans , with Sheriff Teasle portrayed more sympathetically than in the novel. The film would have ended with Teasle ordering his men to drop their guns to try to reason with Rambo, who would have then been fatally shot by an unknown assailant. Brooks planned to start shooting First Blood in New Mexico in December 1972. The film did not proceed because

13137-588: The film's villain, ending with both Rambo and Teasle dying. Sydney Pollack and Martin Bregman also considered directing the film, with Bregman hiring David Rabe to write a script. After Bregman departed Mike Nichols considered directing Rabe's script. William Sackheim and Michael Kozoll wrote the screenplay that would be the basis of the final film in 1977, originally intending for John Badham to direct. Producer Carter DeHaven purchased Sackheim and Kozoll's script from Warner Bros. for $ 375,000. DeHaven secured

13288-464: The filming, which posed challenges since the crew had counted on an overcast setting. However, a period of heavy snowfall beginning in January 1982 delayed the production by two months. Other delays were caused by injuries to the cast during stunts, including Stallone sustaining a serious back injury and several broken ribs, in particular, due to performing his own stunt of dropping off a cliff and into

13439-400: The first major Hollywood blockbuster to be released in China, where it was released in 1985. It sold 76 million tickets in China, the highest for a foreign Hollywood film up until 2018. The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics, and three lead actors received praise for their performances. In his review, Roger Ebert wrote that he did not like the film's ending, but added it

13590-403: The first production of their studio Carolco Pictures funded by "in-house sources". They purchased the film rights from Warner Bros. for $ 375,000 and Sackheim and Kozoll's script for $ 125,000 in 1981. Ted Kotcheff , who had been involved in the project in 1976, returned after Kassar and Vajna offered to finance one of his projects. Kotcheff offered the role of John Rambo to Sylvester Stallone, and

13741-962: The first time, the Washington State National Guard trained on the shores of American Lake near Tacoma. Washington National Guard members involved in additional Indian conflicts, civil unrest, riots and fire fighting. Washington National Guard members called into Federal Service during the Philippine Insurrection. Washington National Guard members involved in Mexican Border dispute. Washington National Guard members Federalized for service in World War I. Washington National Guard members involved in civil disturbance, labor conflicts, flooding assistance and fire fighting. Nearly 12,000 Washington National Guard members were inducted into Federal Service at

13892-414: The following films were voted the top ten best action films of all time. In Hong Kong, the "new school" of martial arts films that Shaw Brothers brought in 1965 featured what featured what Yip described as "strong, active female characters as protagonists." These female-centered films were challenged with the rise of a new male heroic prototype marked by a strong sense of youthful energy and defiance and by

14043-448: The formative trends at this point had become "identifiably generic" as film industries began to reproduced these films during the decade producers like Joel Silver and production companies like The Cannon Group, Inc. began to formulate production of these films with both high and low budgets. The action films of this era have roots in classical story telling, specifically rooted from martial arts films and Westerns, and are built around

14194-610: The formative, the classical, the post-classical and neoclassical phases. Yvonne Tasker reiterated this in her book on action and adventure films , saying that action films became a distinct genre during the New Hollywood period of the 1970s. The formative films would be from the 1960s to the early 1980s where the Anti-hero appears in cinema, featuring characters who act and transcend the law and social conventions. This appears initially in films like Bullitt (1968) where

14345-551: The former was one of the highest-grossing movies of the year in Japan. Following LoveDeath , Kitamura's next directing work was in the United States. The action cinema of South Korea mostly existed on the margins of the film industry in South Korea. The genre was initially called the Hwalkuk ("living theatre") was a term that indicated plays and films driven by action scenes, while this term has not been used regularly since

14496-715: The full task force. More than 620 citizen soldiers and airmen responded to the State Route 530 slide near Oso, WA. The mission focused on assisting in the Search and Rescue efforts after the mile long mud slide that killed 41 people and caused millions in damage. Approximately 250 soldiers have been activated and deployed to assist firefighters in containing multiple wildfires across the State of Washington. Washington State Governor Jay Inslee authorized sending more than 600 citizen soldiers to King County to control an outbreak of "destructive protests and looting" in response to

14647-528: The genre. David Bordwell in The Way Hollywood Tells It wrote that audiences are "told that spectacle overrides narrative" in action cinema while Wheeler Winston Dixon echoed that these films were typified by "excessive spectacle" as a "desperate attempt to mask the lack of content." Geoff King argued that the spectacle can also be a vehicle for narrative, opposed to interfering with it. Soberson stated that Harvey O'Brien had "perhaps

14798-430: The ground. While heroes in kung fu films often display chivalry, they generally hail from different fighting schools, namely wudang and shaolin . American martial arts films feature what author M. Ray Lott described as a more realistic style of violence over the Hong Kong wuxia films with more realism and are often low-budget productions. Martial arts began routinely appearing in fight scenes in American films in

14949-484: The guardsmen fire a rocket launcher, collapsing the mine entrance and seemingly killing Rambo. Teasle furiously berates the guardsman for disobeying his orders and demands that their leader Clinton Morgan dig out Rambo’s body. However, Rambo survives the attack, where he escapes the mine through a ventilation shaft, hijacks a military truck carrying an M60 machine gun and ammunition and returns to Hope to cause as much damage as possible in revenge. In an effort to distract

15100-402: The jagged rocks in a gorge below. Rambo tries to surrender to Teasle, reasoning that Galt's death was an accident and that he wants no more trouble, but the deputies shoot at him and Rambo flees. Other deputies warn Teasle that Rambo is a Green Beret warrior and Medal of Honor recipient, but Teasle swears revenge and continues the search. Using guerilla tactics, Rambo non-lethally subdues all

15251-520: The late 1920s. These films were popular during the period, which comprised almost 60% of the total Chinese films. Man-Fung Yip stated that these film were "rather tame" by contemporary standards. He wrote that they lacked the kind of dazzling action choreography as expected today and had crude and rudimentary special effects. These films came under increasing attack by both government officials and cultural elites for their allegedly superstitious and anarchistic tendencies, leading them to be banned in 1932. It

15402-570: The late 1970s, with "action movie" becoming the more familiar term. The Korean action films came from Japanese cinema, James Bond series , and Hong Kong action cinema. As North Korea borders China, it block access to the continent from a South Korean perspective, the Cold War allowed South Koreans to substitute deferred travel beyond the border through films with locations shot in Hong Kong. While melodrama and comedy were staples in South Korean cinema, most action films were sporadic and tied to

15553-508: The late 1980s and early 1990s. In the Chinese language, the term used for these films is jinghungpin , literally meaning "hero films". Academic Laikwan Pang asserts that these gangster films appeared at a time when Hong Kong citizens felt particularly powerless with the handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to China set for 1997. The key directors of the genre were John Woo and Ringo Lam , and producer Tsui Hark , with

15704-513: The late 1980s and early 1990s. Author Bey Logan stated that the term was coined by Rick Baker, in the British fanzine Eastern Heroes . The term is used broadly. Baker described the style as Hong Kong action films which feature gangsters and gunplay and martial arts that were more violent than kung fu films and academic Kristof Van Den Troost described it a term used to distinguish Hong Kong gun-heavy action films from period martial arts films from

15855-431: The late 1980s in the United States were martial arts films. Towards the end of the 1990s, production of low-budget martial arts films declined as no new stars in the genre developed and older actors such as Cynthia Rothrock and Steven Seagal started showing up in less and less films. Even internationally popular films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) had negligible effects in American productions in either

16006-425: The most convincing understanding of the genre", stating that the action film was "best understood as a fusion of form and content. It represents the idea and ethic of action through a form in which action, agitation and movement are paramount." O'Brien wrote further in his book Action Movies: The Cinema of Striking Back to suggest action films being unique and not just a series of action sequences, stating that that

16157-624: The most notorious. Smith had previously released films like Deathcheaters (1976) and Stunt Rock (1979) when financial incentives were available for overtly commercial projects. She commented that action films did tell identifiably Australian stories such as the Sandy Harbutt 's biker film Stone (1974) and Miller's post-apocalyptic film Mad Max (1979) derived from Australia's social and cultural realities, as well as how George Miller 's later Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) derived from Australia's long-standing cinematic fascination with

16308-490: The movie Rambo does not directly cause the death of any police or national guardsmen. Stallone also decided to let Rambo survive the film, unlike in the book. A suicide scene was filmed but Kotcheff and Stallone opted to have Rambo turn himself in at Trautman's urging. Stallone did an estimated seven revisions of the script. Kotcheff requested further work be done on the script, which was performed by Larry Gross and David Giler . Brooks originally wanted to cast Bette Davis as

16459-529: The nearby Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park , called Chapman Gorge in the film, while the rest of the movie was shot in Capilano Canyon , Golden Ears Provincial Park and Pitt Lake in Pitt Meadows . During the production Buzz Feitshans replaced producer Ed Carlin, who suffered a heart attack . The locations chosen for the film initially experienced unseasonably warm and sunny weather during

16610-604: The notion that traditional marks of masculinity are not exclusive to men and that musculature was not natural, but something to be achieved. Accusations of these muscular women of the era were levelled at that them by 1993 were that they were "men in drag" and that the films generally have to "explain" why their female leads displayed physical aggression and why they were "driven to do it." As the 1990s went on, Hollywood films began having more conventional looking women in their action films such as The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996). A vibrant debate exists about whether hypersexualization

16761-435: The physical effort required to completing a task and the abilities and skills acquired over time. Films from the period reflected on the cultural and social climate from the period, as seen in invoking Japanese or Western imperialist forces as foils. The kung fu film came out of the wuxia films. In comparison to the wuxia , film, the focus on the kung fu film is on the martial arts over chivalry, The martial arts films

16912-574: The popularity Bachan had. These films predominantly earned their revenue through longer runs at B-grade theatres. A cycle of action films came from these films in the 1980s and 1990s called the Avenging Woman film, where female protagonists seek justice for a rape victim, where the protagonist seeks revenge through violence. In 2009, the action genre was re-popularized with the box office success of Wanted (2009) starring Salman Khan . Khan reinvented his screen persona with that of his image in

17063-543: The postwar period. These films were targeted at the more educated and more refined middle-class audiences who saw themselves as above the contemporary martial arts films. Scott Higgins wrote in 2008 in Cinema Journal that Hollywood action films are both one of the most popular and popularly derided of contemporary cinema genres, stating that "in mainstream discourse, the genre is regularly lambasted for favoring spectacle over finely tuned narrative." Bordwell echoed this in his book, The Way Hollywood Tells It , writing that

17214-476: The reception to the genre as being "the emblem of what Hollywood does worst." In the Journal of Film and Video , Lennart Soberson stated that the action film genre has been a subject of scholarly debate since the 1980s. Soberson wrote that repeated traits of the genre include chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work while other scholars asserted there were more underlying traits that define

17365-402: The reception to the genre as being "the emblem of what Hollywood does worst." Tasker wrote that when action and adventure films secured awards, it is often in categories such as visual effects and sound editing. Time Out magazine conducted a poll with fifty experts in the field of action cinema, including actors, critics, filmmakers and stuntmen. Out of the 101 films ranked in the poll,

17516-417: The rise of anti-heroes appearing in American films of the late 1960s and 1970s drawing from war films , crime films and Westerns . These genres were followed by what is referred to as the "classical period" in the 1980s. This was followed by the post-classical era where American action films were influenced by Hong Kong action cinema and the growing using of computer generated imagery in film. Following

17667-441: The road and cars and a history of cultural anxiety towards a bleak and forbidding outback landscape opposed to the optimism of American action films. France is a major European country for film production and has made co-production commitments with 44 countries around the world. Around beginning of the 21st century, France began producing a series of films explicitly intended for international markets, with action films representing

17818-765: The role and had several conversations with the actor, who wanted to portray Rambo as a force of nature after seeing the film Jaws . However, Pacino decided not to be involved because he found the story too dark and also after his request that Rambo be a lunatic was dismissed by the producers. When Badham was considered as director he wanted to cast John Travolta as Rambo, George C. Scott as Trautman, and either Gene Hackman or Charles Durning as Teasle. Frankenheimer considered Powers Boothe , Michael Douglas , and Nick Nolte as Rambo before casting Brad Davis because of his role in Midnight Express . Dustin Hoffman

17969-421: The role of Colonel Trautman over a script dispute; Douglas wanted to retain the novel's original ending of Rambo and Teasle fatally wounding each other, Trautman finishing Rambo with a kill shot, then sitting with the dying Teasle for the sheriff's final moments. Douglas also wanted Trautman to have more screentime. Rock Hudson was approached as a replacement but was soon to undergo heart surgery and had to pass up

18120-454: The roles of Stallone, Dennehy and Crenna, and recognizing it as an influential film in the action genre. The film's success spawned a franchise , consisting of four sequels (co-written by and starring Stallone), an animated television series, a comic books series, a novel series and several video games. John Rambo , a Vietnam War veteran, goes to a lakehouse looking for his old comrade Delmar Barry only to learn that Barry died due to cancer

18271-461: The sequels it spawned, First Blood is a thrilling survival adventure that takes full advantage of Sylvester Stallone's acting skills." On Metacritic , the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". James Berardinelli of ReelViews called the film "a tense and effective piece of filmmaking". He noted that the film's darker tone, somber subtext, and non-exploitative violence allowed

18422-529: The serialization of Jinaghu qixia zhuan (1922) ( transl.  Legend of the Strange Swordsmen ). In wuxia , the emphasis is on chivalry and righteousness and allows for phantasmagoric actions over the kung fu film 's more ground-based combat. The Kung fu film emerged in the 1970s from the swordplay films. Its name is derived from the Cantonese term gong fu which has two meanings:

18573-544: The set. Although the guns had been modified to shoot blanks, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police claimed that they could be easily modified to fire live ammunition. After the incident the set was guarded by the Canadian Army , whose soldiers also served as extras in the film. The first rough cut of the film was between three and three-and-a-half hours long. According to Sylvester Stallone, it

18724-471: The situation and be permitted to surrender peacefully, but Teasle, confident that Rambo is hopelessly outnumbered, refuses to go with Trautman’s plan. Teasle allows Trautman to contact Rambo to persuade him to surrender, but Rambo refuses, condemning Teasle and his deputies for their abuse and citing that they “drew first blood”. At the entrance of an abandoned mine, a National Guard detachment corners Rambo. Ignoring Teasle's instructions to wait for his arrival,

18875-485: The starting point of the genre being traced to Woo's A Better Tomorrow (1986) make a record-breaking HK$ 34.7 million at the Hong Kong box office. The style of these films would influence American productions, such as Michael Bay 's Bad Boys II (2003) and the Wachowskis ' The Matrix (1999). Korean media recognized the more fatalistic and pessimistic tone of these films, leading to Korean journalists to label

19026-433: The style as "Hong Kong noir ". The influence of these films was evident in early Korean films such as Im Kwon-taek 's General's Son (1990) and later films such Song Hae-sung 's A Better Tomorrow (2010), Cold Eyes (2013) and New World (2013). Postcolonial Hong Kong cinema has struggled to maintain its international identity as a provider of these types action films because the talents involved had abandoned

19177-434: The term "genre" itself is often replaced or supplemented with the words "mode" and "narrative form" with all three terms often being used interchangeably. Johan Höglund and Agnieszka Soltysik Monnet said that the difference between these concepts are elusive, but stated that genre could be defined as belonging to specific historical and cultural moments while "mode" and "form" can refer to a larger pattern that operates across

19328-450: The term action film genre and adventure are often used in hybrid, and are even used interchangeably. Along with Holmund and Purse, Tasker wrote that the action films expansiveness complicates easy categorization and though the genre is often spoken of as singular genre, it is rarely discussed as singular style. Screenwriter and academic Jule Selbo expanded on this, describing a film as " crime /action" or an "action/crime" or other hybrids

19479-445: The themes that rescinded irony to restore " cinephile re-actualization of the genre's conventions." The genre went into full circle resurrecting films from the classical period with Live Free or Die Hard (2007) and Rambo (2008) finding the characters navigating a contemporary world while also acknowledging their age, culminating into The Expendables (2010) film. The most commercially successful action films and franchise of

19630-529: The title character in China O'Brien (1990) who were physically muscular and or enacted more extreme violence that was usually reserve for male action leads. In her book Contemporary Action Cinema (2011), Lisa Purse described the media response to female leads in action films reveal a discomfort about their presence and are often described with hesitant terms of women moving into territories that are perceived as masculine. Revealing woman in this form deconstructs

19781-539: The turn of the millennium, Australian genre films have gained increasing acceptance in the Australian feature film industry, while the action genre represented a small percentage of its output in the 21st century. Scholars of Australian genre film generally used the term "action-adventure" which allows them to apply it to various forms of narratives such as tongue in cheek heroic posturing stories like Crocodile Dundee (1986), road movies or bush/outback films. In

19932-422: The use of locations such as Hong Kong. These films often featured one-legged or otherwise handicapped action characters similar to those of Japanese films ( Zatoichi ) and Hong Kong films ( The One-Armed Swordsmen ). These included Im Kwon-taek's Returned Left-Handed Man (1968), Aekkunun Bak's One-Eyd Park (1970) and Lee Doo-yong's Returned One-Legged Man (1974). In the 1990s, the country's national cinema

20083-434: The viewer to enjoy the film not only as an action/thriller but as something with a degree of intelligence and substance. On Stallone's performance, he wrote "it seems impossible to imagine anyone other than Stallone in the part, and his capabilities as an actor should not be dismissed". In the 2010 edition of his Movie Guide Leonard Maltin gave the film one-and a half stars out of four, saying that it "throws all credibility to

20234-457: The winds about the time [Rambo] gets off with only a bad cut after jumping from a mountain into some jagged rocks". First Blood received the most positive reception of the Rambo franchise. The next four sequels received mixed or average reviews. In a 2011 article for Blade Magazine , by Mike Carter, credit is given to Morrell and the Rambo franchise for revitalizing the cutlery industry in

20385-475: The woman of exploitation films of the 1970s such as Caged Heat (1974) and Big Bad Mama (1974). While characters like Frank in The Transporter series are permitted to visibly sweat, strain and be bloodied, Purse found a reluctance for filmmakers to have their female leads have any appearance warping injuries to ensure a perfectly made-up face. Comedy is often used in films of this period to place

20536-480: The woods. Teasle organizes a search party with rifles, dogs and a helicopter. Galt blatantly disregards Teasle’s orders and proper procedure and attempts to shoot Rambo dead from the helicopter with a sniper rifle. Cornered on a high cliff, Rambo leaps into a tree, injuring his right arm. With Galt still shooting at him, Rambo throws a rock at the helicopter, cracking its windshield and causing the pilot to briefly lose control. Losing his balance, Galt falls to his death on

20687-408: Was "a very good movie, well-paced, and well-acted not only by Stallone ... but also by Crenna and Brian Dennehy." He commented, "although almost all of First Blood is implausible, because it's Stallone on the screen, we'll buy it," and rated the film three out of four stars. The New York Times film critic Janet Maslin described Rambo as a "fierce, agile, hollow-eyed hero" who is portrayed as

20838-448: Was "only a semantic exercise" as both genres are important in the construction phase of the narrative. Mark Bould in A Companion to Film Noir (2013) said that categorization of multiple generic genre labels was common in film reviews who are rarely concerned with succinct descriptions that evoke elements of the film's form, content and make no claims beyond on how these elements combine. Film Studies began to engage generic hybridity in

20989-474: Was a box office success, grossing $ 125.2 million and becoming the 13th highest-grossing film at the domestic box office and the seventh highest-grossing film worldwide. In 1985, it also became the first Hollywood blockbuster to be released in China , holding the record for the largest number of tickets sold for an American film until 2018. Since its release, it has been reappraised by critics with many highlighting

21140-408: Was a difficult market for Hong Kong action cinema to break into. Prompted by the success of Enter the Dragon and the popularity of Bruce Lee, Toei made their own Bruce Lee-style martial arts films, with The Street Fighter and its two sequels starring Sonny Chiba as well as a spin-off with a female lead similar to Hong Kong's Angela Mao called Sister Street Fighter . The success of Enter

21291-466: Was aiming for the foreign audience, as he was disappointed with the current state of Japanese films. Kitamura's characters have been described as "a careful combination of the maverick independence of 1980s Hollywood action heroes and the calmness and acceptance of Japanese samurai, a consistent criticism of Japanese people today." Kitamura followed up Versus with two manga-inspired big-budget action films, Azumi and Sky High . Both released in 2003,

21442-417: Was displayed in corresponding with corresponded with millennial angst and apocalypticism showcased in films like Independence Day (1996) and Armageddon (1998). Action films of mass destruction began requiring more overtly super heroic characters with further comic book adaptations being made with increased non-realistic settings with films like The Matrix (1999). The fourth phase arrived following

21593-469: Was in decline by the mid-1970s in Hong Kong in relation to the stock market crash which went from over 150 films in 1972 to just over 80 in 1975, which led to a downfall in martial arts films produced. When the economy became to rebound, a new trend of martial arts films, the Shaolin kung fu films emerged and sparked a revival of the genre. Unlike the wuxia , the kung fu film primarily focuses on fighting on

21744-509: Was in decline leading to Hong Kong gangster films filled in this void leading to large commercial success at the national box office. Early Korean heirs to Hong Kong action films include Rules of The Game (1994), Beat (1997), and Green Fish (1997) involving men who gain confidence and achieve personal growth as they embark on journeys to protect national state and meet devastating ends. South Korean cinema only received international attention in both art film and blockbuster formats towards

21895-599: Was not until the base of Chinese commercial filmmaking was relocated from Shanghai to Hong Kong in the late 1940s that martial arts cinema was revived. These films contained much of the characteristics of the previous era. During this period, over 100 films were based on the adventures of real life Cantonese folk hero Wong Fei-hung who first appeared in film in 1949. These films primarily on circuited within Hong Kong and Cantonese-speaking areas with Chinese diaspora . Yip continued that these Hong Kong films were still lagging behind in aesthetic and technical standards that films from

22046-406: Was offered the role of Rambo but turned it down. For the role of Sheriff Teasle, Kassar and Vajna approached Academy Award winners Hackman and Robert Duvall but both turned the part down. Marvin, another Oscar winner, turned down the part of Colonel Trautman. James Mason and Richard Jaeckel were also considered. Kirk Douglas was eventually hired, but just before shooting began, Douglas quit

22197-504: Was only in the mid-20th century when action films developed into their own recognizable genre instead of being a collection of other types of films such as Westerns, swashbucklers or adventure films. Films have been described "action films" or "action-adventure film" as early as the 1910s. Only by the 1980s was the term action as its own unique genre used routinely in terms of promotion and reviewing practices. The first Chinese-language martial arts films can be traced to Shanghai cinema of

22348-574: Was only shown as being applicable to white middle-class women. Purse found that these women were empowered at the price of women of other ethnicities. This is seen in Aeon Flux (2005) where Sithandra dies protecting Aeon and Rain's death to make way for Alice in Resident Evil (2002). Washington National Guard The Washington National Guard is one of the four elements of the State of Washington's Washington Military Department and

22499-554: Was released by Intrada in a 2-CD set, along with a remastered version of the original album (with the Carolco logo [previously released on La-La Land Records's Extreme Prejudice album] and the Rambo: First Blood Part II trailer music added), on November 23, 2010, as one of their MAF unlimited titles. Sales figures based on certification alone. Author Morrell recorded an audio commentary track for

22650-499: Was so bad that it sickened his agent and him. Stallone wanted to buy the movie and destroy it thinking that it was a career killer. After heavy re-editing, the film was cut down to 93 minutes; this version was ultimately released in theaters. The ending used in the finished film was shot in March 1982, after the original one was deemed unsatisfactory. Kassar and Vajna sought either Warner Bros. 20th Century Fox , or Paramount Pictures as

22801-413: Was unveiled in Hope , Canada , 38 years after the film's release. Mayor Peter Robb, Canadian Member of Parliament Mark Strahl, and the statue's sculptor, Ryan Villers, attended the ceremony. Action film While the term "action film" or "action adventure film" has been used as early as the 1910s, the contemporary definition usually refers to a film that came with the arrival of New Hollywood and

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