The 1980s, Hollywood and the Rambo-ization of American Youth: First Blood

It could be said that this was the first actual film to Rambo-ize American youth. After all, the main character played by Sylvester Stallone is named John Rambo. "First Blood" would begin a quadrilogy of films featuring war hero John Rambo. Three of these films would be in the 1980s while the fourth would come out twenty years later. For now though, let us content ourselves with the first one.

"First Blood" is about decorated Vietnam war hero John Rambo, now a down on his luck drifter, who has had a tough time in the civilian world. After trying to visit an old army buddy who he learns has died from cancer due to Agent Orange, Rambo drifts to the next town. There he runs foul of the town's sheriff who doesn't want drifters like Rambo in his town.

Rambo is arrested and 'cleaned up' by a couple of the sheriff's deputies who rough him up while in custody. The maltreatment results in Rambo having flashbacks to when he was a prisoner of war. He snaps, beating up the deputies and making his escape. The local police chase him but he gets them using a series of guerrilla tactics. When the police fail to catch him, the national guard is called in. In the mean time, Rambo's former CO is brought in to try to convince Rambo to surrender. However, things erupt into a minor war and the CO is only able to convince Rambo to give himself up at the end after he inflicts a lot of damage on people and the town, some great explosions by the way.

I could sympathize with John Rambo straight away, as I was serving in the military at the time the film came out. His speech at the end of how he went to war, did everything to win but wasn't allowed to win and then came home to indifference and even scorn was heart wrenching for me. This was the first film I saw that actually tried to show some sympathy to those who served in Vietnam. My reaction was that it was about time the country did and I feel that if America apologized every day until the last Vietnam Veteran passed away, it might just be enough to address the damage done to them.

Now here's the but. The Reagan administration was in full favour of films which honoured those who served in Vietnam. Nothing wrong with that except the then president had an alternative motive for doing so. He so badly wanted to go to war in Central America despite cries of it leading to another Vietnam style war. Therefore, if he honoured the veterans and forwarded the belief that America could have won the war, then the country would have been more receptive to his militaristic ideals. The film's success in building sympathy towards the Vietnam Veterans went a way towards this aim.

The 1980s, Hollywood and the Rambo-ization of American Youth: Taps

Unlike "Stripes" which approached things with humour, the late 1981 film "Taps" did so more seriously. The movie is about long standing military school which faces closure and that closure becomes more definite when a local boy is accidentally shot and killed in a fight between students at the school and some local townspeople. Of course, the townspeople are all a bunch of long haired drunken yobs. The students decide that they don't want to lose their beloved school so, they take up arms to defend it. Thus starts a long siege with the state police and then the national guard before it all comes to bloody end.

"Taps" deals with two main topics. From the point of view of the students, they believe in old fashioned traits like duty, honour and country. They see themselves as noble people with an honouralbe cause. However, their sense of honour is truly tested and strained throughout the film. Furthermore, they are further skewed by the view of the peace loving civilians who care little for the noble traits the students have. To them, the students are all brainwashed radical warmongers. What I did like about the film, though the point of this is not to rate it, is how the colonel of the national guard points out that the value system of the students is off base. That a true soldier wants to live and not die for their cause.

While the film comes to a bloody end, it's not full of action packed combat scenes. In fact, the film was slated by critics for having the siege drag on a bit too long. What "Taps" is trying to ram home is that American values like duty, honour, courage and loyalty to one's country aren't something that should go away. It does a good job of building sympathy towards those serving in uniform and serving isn't something bad. That was exactly what the purpose of the film was.

The 1980s: Hollywood and the Rambo-ization of American Youth- Stripes

It may seem odd that the first film I would choose in my look at the Rambo-ization of American youth in the 1980s would be the comedy spoof "Stripes." For those who have never seen this 1981 comedy classic, it stars Bill Murray as the bumbling John Winger who joins the army because he has no other alternatives in life. As soon as he joins, he finds that his antics cause him to fall foul of old time army drill sergeant Sgt. Hulka leading to some hilarious confrontations and mishaps. After comically saving his platoon at basic training graduation, they are all posted to Europe to train with the army's latest combat vehicle, the M150. After Winger and his friend take the vehicle to Germany to spend a romantic weekend with two female MPs, the rest of the platoon, led by the incompetent Captain Stillman, go off to find them and bring them back. The Captain gets lost and they end up in Czechoslovakia and are captured by the Russians. When Murray, his friend and the two ladies discover this, they take the vehicle with all its new weapons and rescue their comrades, which they do and return home as heroes. It is all very comically well done and there are laughs galore throughout the entire film. One of the most famous parts is when Murray responds to a question asked by a general with "That's the fact, Jack!"

Films like "Stripes" prove that Americans have a fantastic sense of humour. Nothing is more funnier than watching watching Bill Murray and pals bumble their way through the film and very comically defeat those nasty Russians. Especially as no one actually gets killed in the film. I have watched this film many times and I still laugh just as loudly as when I saw it for the very first time.

Those of you who have seen "Stripes" maybe asking how a film like this could like this could Rambo-ize youth. The answer is that standing alone, the film doesn't. It's actually quite harmless taken in context. However, many people the world over like to approach things with a bit of humour. Sure, we all laughed through the film and despite what I am writing here will do so should I see it again. The film is quite harmless in a war sense but since the film approaches things with humour, it formed a base for future films when they would become much more serious. What better way to get American youth to think in a more militaristic way than by laughing at the antics of comedy hero Bill Murray while he serves his country and becomes a hero.

Next post: Taps

The 1980s: Hollywood and the Rambo-ization of American Youth

In 1986, when President Reagan was visiting a high school in a town not far from my own, some like minded friends and myself went there to show our disapproval for his policy on Central America. Naturally, the pro- Reagan crowd were highly resentful of our presence there and made their feelings known. Even to the point where one lady told us where we could stick our first amendment rights. There was the one boy, about fifteen or sixteen who called us 'Commies' (original I know) to which I responded with, "It will be you they'll be sending to fight down there." The smart ass replied with, "I wanna go." I mentioned this to one of my fellow protesters who sarcastically, but seriously stated, "Of course he's not going to die, he's Rambo!"

The film "Rambo, First Blood Part II" had been released a year earlier and many Americans, especially males, had taken the character played by Sylvester Stallone to heart. He was America's new hero and everybody wanted to be like him. I have been pondering this over the past thirty years or so and I have come to the conclusion that it wasn't just one film that turned young American boys into wannabe war heroes. In fact, it has been a steady stream of films since the election of Ronald Reagan as president that lead to this.

After nearly three decades of letting this swim around in my brain, I am going to put my theory into words here. I will be looking at the films made in the 1980s and demonstrate that Hollywood played a part in Rambo-izing American youth. I admit that due to many other commitments in my life, I won't be able to post regularly, but will do so whenever I get the chance. Of course, if these posts lead to a lot of response and debate, then I will definitely post more regularly.

Next post: Stripes

Regan's Best Unknown Triumph

Actually, I never thought I would be posting on this particular blog again and though it has been more than four years, here I am. The main reason why I haven't posted here was that the subjects I was covering had little to do with my book, "Rock and Roll Children," which I was trying to plug at the time. However, recently I read an article that pricked my attention and the more I have thought about it, the more I wanted to say something and after giving it some thought, I figured that the Real 80s would be the best place to post it.

In my previous posts, I have talked about the transparent successes of the Regan years. How all his economic "miracle" was that he brought back the same jobs that went away in the opening years of his presidency except only they now paid minimum wage. And because it was my big political hang up back in the 1980s, I wrote a post about his Contra war in Nicaragua. This time, I am going to talk about Regan's one big success that very few people know about, his vilification of the 1960s.

It was a journalist/writer named David, (I can't remember his last name) who first talked about how Ronald Regan vilified the 1960s. That was four years ago and this thought has lingered in the back of my mind ever since. About a month ago, I read an article that explained that the Regan believed the reason the US lost the Vietnam War was down to its lack of commitment to it. He hinted that liberal attitudes and the anti-war protesters contributed to this lack of commitment. The article reminded me of an occurrence back in college in the 1980s when a friend of mine, who was in a political group which embraced far left ideology. Like all college clubs, the group had its own little cubicle where things about the club were hanging all around its walls. One day, my friend was sitting inside the cubicle when a touring group of high school students happened by. Some of them took a look at the cubicle and seeing all of the ant-Regan cartoons and articles prompted one student to remark, "It's because of people like you we lost Vietnam." When my friend questioned "People like who?" the student retorted, "You liberals."

Looking back to the 1980s, I realize that those years were indeed spent vilifying the 1960s or at the very least, making the things which occurred in that decade some sort of fashion trend. As an anti- Contra aid protester, I and my like minded colleagues were often told that the 1960s were over. In the 1980s, it was believed that anyone carrying a sign was in a time warp and living two decades earlier. In my case, it was even more so because I dressed like I was in the 1960s with my long hair and Native American moccasin boots. What made it worse is that the words coming out of the White House back than made many Americans, especially impressionable younger ones, think that the 1960s were bad times. That free love, drugs and protest were all evil things that made America lose its way and that conservative Regan political leadership was going to be the only thing that would save the country. That is why the Regan administration was so keen to vilify the 1960s.

Did Regan's attempt to vilify the sixties actually work? For most of what I can remember back in the eighties, the answer was yes. Many people back then thought that protest, liberal attitudes and hippies lost the Vietnam War for America and set the stage for the moral rot many people associate with the 1970s. Furthermore, there was the added belief, aided by fading memories of the time, that if the US hadn't been swamped with the liberal attitudes of the sixties, it would have won the Vietnam War because the US had won every major battle in the war. This was further exacerbated by films in the late 1980s such as "Platoon," "Full Metal Jacket" and "Hamburger Hill." These films all gave the impression that America could have won Vietnam if it hadn't been for the opposition at home. Therefore, I take my hat off to President Regan's greatest achievement while he was in office, the vilification of the 1960s.