Sylvester Stallone ("John Rambo")

Sylvester Stallone Main actor Sly Stallone has a lot to say about his experiences he made during the shooting in Hope: "Hope doesn't look that gloomy on film, sure enough it did. Hope's a great place but it didn't reflect it's name.. it was highly depressed..a lot of angry loggers around..." (Sly, where have you been?) "How far can we beat up Rambo?" "In the shower a deputy hits Rambo with a hand string in the lower back and kicks him. This scene was supposed to be taken in one take, but they did it in 14 takes. This scene was a real problem..they thought:

How far can we beat up Rambo (or Stallone)..and that firehose was so strong that it blew all the scartissue off, that it took 2 hours to put on..." "I was ready to shake hands with the angels..." Sly about the motorcycle chase: "It was very dangerous...just before I came off the road, we almost had a head on collusion. The stunt people tried to block off the highways, but they couldn't and this one truck came by it and let me tell you it was very very close. I was ready to shake hands with the angels... The liquid of my eyes was starting to freeze up. You know I hate complaining about this, because we were paid well. But it was hard to focus, when you're going 45 miles per hour in this weather!" "It was pretty easy to act out the pain..." "I turned to the director, I said ' this is not good!', because of the moss at the very edge of the ravine, I could slide off the edge. So right there we decided to tie a rope to my ankle. So if I fell over, it would...basically you could retreat the body..it's not gonna save you, cause you gonna go over, smashed on the side of the hill and I knew that I was in trouble when I looked around in the entire crew...I remember this day, because it was exceptionally cold and there was created this wind by this damn helicopter that was impossible to deal with..but they helped me with the ledge and gave a support for me so I had something to grab on to a little bit longer.Buddy Joe Hooker (Sly's stunt double), insane, but great went through the first third of the falling through the tree. Another man was going through the second third and then I was a the last third. We had gotten it one the first take, we did two more takes and I said: "Please stop now, 'cause it's startin' hurt!". Of course on the fourth take I broke my rib and I bruised my spleen. So it was pretty easy to act out the pain..." "Everything looks same" Oh the foggy woods...it was only 9 o'clock in the morning and it already looked misty. The people in the woods shouldn't move more than 50 yards from the guys they're working with, because everything looks same. Same trees, same rocks. You could get completely confused..." "Ice cold water..." There was natural water coming down in the cave. It had only 39 degrees..as soon as the rats hit the ice cold water, they flip out , they go to the first thing that's warm..that's Rambo and soon I was covered with rat bites." Sly tells a funny story about himself going into a Hope bar - dressed as Rambo: >> Download MP3 << (Size: 920 kb, Length: 1:18 min)

Ted Kotcheff (Director)

Ted Kotcheff Director Ted Kotcheff about British Columbia: "The locations were absolutely wonderful. We shot in a wet rainforest. It rained every day while we were shooting. I had to change my clothing 2 or 3 times a day... but it was wonderful. Everything was always wet and uncomfortable, you really felt for this poor Rambo!" "Give me two matches please..." "I adored Andy Laszlo, he's one of the great cinematographers. We used Fuji film and he really pushed it. For example there's this wonderful scene where Rambo is intombed in a cave and Andy said:" Give me two matches please", and he stucked them, "Give me some glue please",

and he stucked them together. He said:" Ted, we're lit!"..you don't notice that it's two matches stucked together." The short-termed engagement of Richard Crenna after Kirk Douglas had left the set: "After Kirk Douglas had left the movie set Richard arrived during the day, he flew up from Los Angeles that night he was shooting and he said:" Ted I don't know what I'm doing here, I don't know where this character's going. You gotta just feed me line by line and tell me what I'm doing in this picture..."

Richard Crenna ("Colonel Troutman")

Richard Crenna Actor Richard Crenna about his engagement: "I got a call from my agent, it was a late one on a Saturday afternoon. The good part is, they want you to play Colonel Troutman, the second part is..they want you to start Monday.." "...and I'm thinking: I am cold?" "The temperatures were extraordinary. We really got down 40 degrees below the wind chill..and I'm standing there, I've got my long underwear, I've got three layers of socks, I've got my gloves, I've got my green beret, I've got all this...and Sly is standing there in a t-shirt!! And I'm thinking:" I'm cold?" It was his example which made all of us flip through

the extreme cold that we had to live through!" Crenna about the successful opening weekend of "First Blood": First Blood was at that time the picture that had the biggest release in October maybe in history..it was the nature of the film itself. The story appealed to the American public. It came out at the right time!

Tom DeSorcy ("Fire Chief Hope BC")

Tom DeSorcy District of Hope Fire Chief Tom DeSorcy goes back to the year 1981 and tells about his engagement in the filming: "At the time of the movie I wasn't the fire chief. In fact I was working for the local radio station as an announcer so we were quite involved in the whole production helping them with announcements looking for extras, looking for paper to fill the office with, advertising the Christmas decorating contest." "...it didn't make the final cut" "I'm in two locations but not on screen. We did the gas station blowup scene. It was our job to keep crowds back etc. Also when the officer

with the broken nose is talking on the radio standing near his car, I'm on the other side off camera and he was talking to me at one point but it didn't make the final cut. My good friend here in town is quite predominant in the scene where sly rides up the sidewalk sticking his head out of alley as he speeds by. It was cool to have our hair cut short and spend an entire evening just sitting around waiting for our scene..."

Your Name

??? Hello, dear "First Blood" fan... Have you been at the movie set? Or do you know insider stories about the filming in Hope? Perhaps you're a Hope local and have been in town when the movie was filmed in 1981?? I would appreciate it, if you share your memories with me and my site... Thanks, Oliver