The Rambo Report: Five Films, Three Books, One Legend

The Rambo Report: Five Films, Three Books, One Legend

The ultimate guide to the Rambo phenomenon—from bestselling novel to Hollywood blockbuster to all-American hero, legend, and icon—written with the full cooperation of Rambo’s creator, bestselling author David Morrell . . . From the beginning, Rambo was more than a character in a 1972 novel by David Morrell. He was the culmination of the author’s personal encounters with veterans returning from the Vietnam War. The 1982 movie adaptation of First Blood reflected the novel’s powerful insights into a troubled veteran’s post-war experience. Then in 1985, the film’s explosive sequel Rambo: First Blood Part II transformed the character into something shockingly different. With a focus on blood-and-guts action—and the beefed-up muscles of Sylvester Stallone—Rambo became an invincible one-man army. A new kind of hero for a new day in America. A full-blown pop-culture icon as controversial as he was crowd-pleasing—blasting his way through the most influential action film franchise in Hollywood history . . . The Rambo legend was born. Five feature films. Three novels. Seven video games. Countless comic books, action figures, and even an animated TV show for kids. The Rambo machine has been as unstoppable as Rambo himself. Now for the first time, Hollywood insider Nat Segaloff digs deep into the man, the myth, and the massive impact of the phenomenon known as “The Rambo Effect.” Packed with behind-the-scenes anecdotes, sharp cultural insights, and ongoing debates about violence in the media, this is an explosive no-holds-barred report from the front lines of Hollywood myth-making. A must-read for Rambo fans, movies buffs, and anyone interested in American culture . . . Praise for Nat Segaloff “A terrific ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at the entire Rambo phenomenon that’s written in an appropriately breezy, conversational style. It also takes into account the cultural backdrop at the time each project was conceived and produced—and the impact it had on the reshaping of the Rambo character. You don’t have to be a fan of the movies to enjoy this book, which is a revealing look at the film industry and the development process.” —Lee Goldberg, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Monk series “Finally! The definitive work on the global phenomenon that is Rambo has arrived! From his inception in the mind of the great David Morrell to his introduction in 1972’s novel, First Blood , through two subsequent novelizations and five Sylvester Stallone films, Nat Segaloff explores a character who reflected the changing mores of a nation and became a cultural icon. The Rambo Report is more than a book that celebrates one of the most significant and compelling characters of the past century—it is a time machine that takes the reader on Rambo’s journey from ‘some nothing kid for all anybody knew’ (the novel’s first sentence) through a metamorphosis and ascension to the status of legend. The Rambo Report far exceeded my highest expectations!” —Jack Carr, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Terminal List series, on The Rambo Report “As he did in The Exorcist Legacy: 50 Years of Fear and Say Hello to My Little Friend: A Century of Scarface , Nat Segaloff both recounts and celebrates the Rambo films, novels, and the people who created them. He shows that they were more than action movies—they were a phenomenon that provides us with a sharp-eyed, highly readable record of the times in which they were made.” —Lawrence Grobel, author of The Hustons , Conversations with Capote , Al Pacino: In Conversation , and Conversations with Brando , on The Rambo Report “As both a film writer and a lifelong fan of all things Rambo, I’m happy to say that The Rambo Report is, and will forever be, the definitive work on the subject. Nat Segaloff covers every aspect of Rambo’s history, significance, and enduring impact on American culture.” —Andy Rausch, author of The Films of Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro and The Taking of New York City: Crime on the Screen and in the Streets of the Big Apple in the 1970s , on The Rambo Report “A decade after establishing himself as an intensely low-key version of the American gangster as Michael Corleone in The Godfather , Al Pacino created a legendary role of a different sort in Brian De Palma’s high-octane 1983 remake of the 1932 gangster drama Scarface . Veteran film writer Nat Segaloff’s Say Hello to My Little Friend marinates in the merging of massive egos in a high-stakes context but also offers digressions into the history of the Cuban drug trade and the evolution of the American dream by way of the criminal underground. Mr. De Palma’s Scarface was a box office bomb upon its release, but as a brute-force commentary on unhinged avarice, it has taken on mythic dimensions in the 40 years since its release. Mr. Segaloff rhapsodically captures the manic appeal of a once-reviled and now fetishized gangland odyssey.” — The Wall Street Journal on Say Hello