Rambo III

Rambo III (1988)

Timing: 1:42 (102 min)

6.2/10
3440

5.835/10
65575

5.8/10
148000

All about film

Video 20

Photo 103

Actors and characters

Release date

1988-05-24

Country

United States

Production

TriStar Pictures, Carolco Pictures

Genre

Action, Adventure, Thriller, War

Budget

$63 000 000

Revenue

$189 015 611

Website

https://www.lionsgate.com/movies/rambo-iii

Director

Peter MacDonald

Actors

Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Marc de Jonge, Kurtwood Smith, Spiros Focás, Sasson Gabai, Doudi Shoua, Randy Raney, Marcus Gilbert, Alon Abutbul
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Buzz Feitshans, Mario Kassar, Andrew G. Vajna

Operator

John Stanier

Composer

Jerry Goldsmith

Artist

Audition

Joy Todd

Editing

Edward Warschilka, O. Nicholas Brown, Andrew London
All team (113)

• Russell Mulcahy initially started working on the film, but he left the project due to creative differences. He was replaced by Peter MacDonald.
• The horse ridden by John Rambo later appeared in the film "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989), where Indiana Jones rode it.
• In the 1990 Guinness Book of World Records, this film was named the most violent in history, as it contains 221 acts of violence and over 108 deaths.
• At the time of its release, the film was the most expensive ever made.
• British killer and psychopath Michael Ryan, who killed 16 and wounded 14 people, claimed that the John Rambo film series inspired his killings.
• The film was banned from release in the USSR due to its strongly expressed anti-Soviet orientation.
• The famous 'Rambo knife' was created by designer Gil Hibben, and in this film, the knife differs significantly from its counterparts in previous films.
• The Mi-24 'plays the role' of a retouched French SA330 PUMA helicopter. The second 'Soviet' helicopter is the SA 341/2 'Gazelle'.
• In the original, Colonel Zaytsev is named Zaysin. However, all domestic translators 'renamed' him Zaytsev.
• Soviet military equipment is represented by an American M3 half-track armored personnel carrier from World War II, Alvis FV603 Saracen armored vehicles, BRDM-2, BTR-60, UAZ-469 and Daimler Ferret Scout Car MkI vehicles, ZIL-157, GMC M-135, AIL M-325[4] army trucks, a 'Shilka' self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, a T-55 tank, and an unidentified tank resembling an American M26 'Pershing'. Soviet aircraft patrolling the border with Pakistan are represented by F-15s. Soviet Army helicopters are presented in two variations: medium and heavy. Both are of French manufacture. One is presented as an Mi-24 and bears a remote resemblance to the original. It is additionally equipped with a Browning Arms Company machine gun for the side gunner. An American M203 grenade launcher and a reflex sight are mounted on the AKS and AKM rifles. In one scene, a Soviet machine gunner fires an English 'Lewis' machine gun from 1916.
• In this film, Colonel Trautman speaks with a French accent.
• Some DVD releases include an alternate ending where Rambo remains in Afghanistan to help the Mujahideen. Additionally, several deleted scenes were not included in the final version of the film.
• This is the last film in the Rambo series in which Richard Crenna plays the role of Colonel Trautman.
• The film differs from the book in several ways: In the film, unlike the book, Rambo does not regularly utter the name of Buddha, expressing commitment to a new religion. In the market battle scene, Rambo only knocks down his opponent. The book depicts a much more brutal fight, with the defeated fighter left in a pool of his own blood. Trautman finds Rambo at a monastery after the fight, whereas in the book this occurs in a Bangkok foundry, where the protagonist is also working with metal sheets. In the book, the primary reason for the operation in Afghanistan was the search for a missing journalist, a detail that was changed for the film. The book features an argument between Trautman and Briggs about the fate of the mission entrusted to the colonel, a scene absent from the film. In the film, a CIA agent informs Rambo about Trautman's disappearance. In the book, the protagonist goes to the embassy wanting to learn his friend's fate and practically fights his way to the diplomat deep within the building. On the way to Afghanistan, the film omits a horrific sandstorm from which the caravan, including Rambo, seeks shelter. The scene where Musa calls Rambo a tourist and asks about his military experience is missing from the book. During the first skirmish with the Russians, Rambo destroys two helicopters near an Afghan village. The film shows only one combat vehicle being destroyed. The helicopter battle and the destruction of the village occur after Rambo meets the Afghans in the film. In the book, they even mistake him for a Russian and want to kill him. The Afghan soldiers are portrayed as more lenient in the film than in the book, where they fiercely attacked and literally tore apart captured Russian soldiers. In the film, Trautman is simply badly beaten. In the book, his teeth are knocked out, and he lies in a pool of his own blood in a cell for some time. He is then shot in the shoulder during his escape. Rambo carries him, as the colonel teeters between life and death. In the cave after the escape, Rambo gives his blood for a transfusion to Trautman, a scene that doesn't appear in the film. The film includes a Russian deserter who is already at the Mujahideen base before Rambo arrives. This character is absent from the book, which instead features a prisoner of war, Andreyev. It is he who informs Rambo about the power dynamics at the base, and they infiltrate the fort together. Andreyev only later reveals he wants to join the fighting Muslims. The film completely omits the character of Major Azov, Zaysen's deputy, who constantly doubts the war and his commander's orders. In one scene in the book, he even fails to shoot at the fleeing Rambo, claiming he missed. In the film, Rambo infiltrates the fortress twice. In the book, he rescues his friend Trautman on the first attempt. The female character Michelle is completely absent from the film. The film lacks a scene where, during a fight with Russian forces, Rambo triggers an avalanche on the enemy with a grenade launcher. The film shows only sand. In the book, Zaysen also dies at the hands of Rambo, but less spectacularly—while attempting to escape. Rambo catches up to him on horseback and kills him with a blow to the head with an axe. The character Hamid from the film is absent from the book. In the film, Rambo kills Sergeant Kurov by hoisting him up with a helicopter cable and detonating a grenade, while in the book he remains alive and defects to the Mujahideen, feeling betrayed by the Soviet government.
• The T-72 tank (presumably the tank they were trying to depict in the film) cannot be operated by one person acting as both driver and gunner (they are in isolated compartments). Furthermore, tanks of this model were not used in Afghanistan.
• During the final battle, Zaytsev in a helicopter attempts to destroy the tank captured by Rambo using unguided rockets and autocannons, despite his alleged Mi-24 being equipped with at least 4 anti-tank guided missiles. In a real combat situation, a single tank, or a tank platoon without cover from air defense and aviation, would be easy prey for a combat helicopter (such as the Mi-24), as its only means of defense is a heavy machine gun mounted on the turret, which is often ineffective due to its limited engagement range.
• In Colonel Zaytsev’s office, an entire issue of the 'Pravda' newspaper and a portrait of Lenin are pinned to the wall. The Soviet soldiers are dressed in uniforms that only remotely resemble real ones. Colonel Zaytsev's epaulettes bear 'small' lieutenant stars.
• Zaytsev, as the operation commander, pilots the 'Mi-24' himself.
• In the final battle, a Soviet tank (presented as a T-72) fires armor-piercing shells at Afghan cavalry. The Mujahideen stop the tank with a Molotov cocktail and a 50mm mortar shell. However, immediately afterwards, after shooting the three-man crew, Rambo gets into the damaged tank and continues fighting as if nothing had happened.
• On the Soviet flag at the Soviet base, the hammer and sickle are located in the center, not in the corner near the flagpole.
• In some scenes, Soviet soldiers are inexplicably wearing black berets of the naval infantry.
• In the scene of the final surrender, Trautman holds a Hungarian clone of the AKM – the AMD-65, which was never used by the Soviet army.
• During the fight scene with the Soviet special forces soldier near the vertical entrance/exit to the caves, when John Rambo pulls the pin ring from the F-1 grenade hanging on the soldier’s chest, a clearly fake detonator with a permanently attached safety lever is visible – a lever that, as it should be, is not connected to the pin through a hole in the detonator.
• In the scene where Rambo and the prisoners crash in a helicopter, the helicopter burns to the ground in seconds while Rambo is talking to the prisoners.