Rambo's Original Ending Suits Tarantino Much More Than It Did Stallone
Quentin Tarantino has hinted that he would be interested in directing a remake of the Sylvester Stallone classic Rambo movie First Blood, and such a project would be a great way to use the film's original intended ending. In the David Morrell novel that First Blood was based on, Rambo dies at the end, but this is changed in the film script, which was co-written by Stallone, Michael Kozoll and William Sackheim. The change worked for Stallone's persona, and created the Rambo franchise, but the more downbeat original ending would be perfect for a Tarantino remake.
The First Blood novel was a hit thriller that portrayed Rambo as a violent psychopath motivated by a sense of humiliation and desire for a good death. In Morrell's version, Rambo dies during a confrontation with sheriff William Teasle. As one of the biggest '80s action stars, Stallone had influence into how the character was portrayed in the film, and made him more sympathetic. These changes included making Rambo not directly kill police and National Guardsmen, and giving him a first name, John. The biggest change, however, was allowing Rambo to live in the end, which provided a more positive ending and led to four sequels. This shift made sense for Stallone, who was known for crowd-pleasing action movies, and gave him a second franchise alongside Rocky.
RELATED: The Unseen Rambo Legacy Characters A Sixth Movie Should Explore
However, the original ending would be perfect for a potential Tarantino First Blood. In an interview on The Big Picture podcast, Tarantino described how he would remake First Blood with a script more faithful to the original book, starring Adam Driver as Rambo and Kurt Russell as Teasle. This lead to speculation that such a remake could be
Read more on screenrant.com
