First Blood

Sylvester Stallone is a vagabond Vietnam vet wandering the Pacific Northwest in this film, which began the actor's "Rambo" persona. He is run out of a small town by bullyboy sheriff Brian Dennehy, and when he returns the local cops arrest and mistreat him. Fed up with this persecution, he goes berserk, escapes, and causes the death of a pursuing officer. Hiding in the dense woodland and mountainous terrain, Stallone fends off the local posse using guerrilla methods he learned in Vietnam. Described by Richard Crenna, his former commanding officer, as "a killing machine," the superhuman Stallone easily defeats the cops, who are then forced to turn to the National Guard...