Rambo III

1988
R
1h 42m

IMDb RATING

5.8/10

143K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer1:59

One-Person Army Action Action Adventure Thriller

Rambo mounts a one-man mission to rescue his friend Colonel Trautman from the clutches of the formidable invading Soviet forces in Afghanistan.Rambo mounts a one-man mission to rescue his friend Colonel Trautman from the clutches of the formidable invading Soviet forces in Afghanistan.Rambo mounts a one-man mission to rescue his friend Colonel Trautman from the clutches of the formidable invading Soviet forces in Afghanistan.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.8/10

143K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

4,434

593

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 wins & 7 nominations

Masoud
(as Spiros Focas)

Sasson Gabay

Mousa
(as Sasson Gabai)

Doudi Shoua

Hamid

Randy Raney

Kourov

Marcus Gilbert

Tomask

Alon Aboutboul

Nissem
(as Alon Abutbul)

Masud Asadollahi

Rahim
(as Mahmoud Assadollahi)

Yosef Shiloach

Khalid
(as Yosef Shiloah)

Harold Diamond

Stick Fighter

Mati Seri

Gun Dealer
(as Seri Mati)

Hany Said El Deen

Gun Dealer

Shaby Ben-Aroya

Marciano Shoshi

Afghan Girl

Sadiq Tawfiq

Helicopter Person

Director
- Peter MacDonald
Writers
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Sylvester Stallone asked for a Gulfstream jet (cost: $12 million) as part of his pay for the film. He got one.

Goofs
In First Blood (1982), Rambo has tons of scars on his back. In this movie, in the scene right before Rambo goes into the warehouse for the stick fight, there is a shot of his back and you can see that the scars are gone.

Quotes
Hamid: What's that?
Rambo: It's blue light.
Hamid: What does it do?
Rambo: It turns blue.

Crazy credits
The end credits open with a message that says, "This Film is dedicated to the Gallant People of Afghanistan".

Alternate versions
Released shortly after the Hungerford massacre in the UK, the BBFC removed just over 1 minute of violence from the cinema version and a total of 3 minutes of both violence and weapon scenes from the 1989 video version. Among the cuts made to the film were heavy edits to the opening stick fight, butts and kicks during fight scenes, electrical torture scenes, and heavy reductions to closeups of knives and bullet wounds. The uncut version has turned up many times on pay TV (Sky and Bravo).

Connections
Edited into The Marine (2006)

Soundtracks
HE AIN'T HEAVY... HE'S MY BROTHER
Written by Bob Russell & Bobby Scott
Harrison Music Corp. (ASCAP)
Jenny Music, Inc. (ASCAP)
Performed by Bill Medley
Produced by Giorgio Moroder
Courtesy of Voss Records

User reviews270

Review

Featured review

7/10

A Goal Line Stance in Afghanistan

I was wondering going in how "Rambo III" would differ from "Rambo II" besides the location. I didn't expect it to be anything like "First Blood," but why would I like this one if I did?

"Rambo III" was based in Afghanistan, which was really relevant in 1988. The Afghans fought the invading Russians from about 1979 to 1989. The U.S. had a rooting interest in that conflict because Russia was our biggest threat on the world stage. "Rambo III" did a fine job in limiting any U.S. rhetoric and focused on the people of Afghanistan and their plight, because after all, they were the ones being slaughtered and displaced, not Americans.

"Rambo III" made an action movie into a human interest movie in a smooth fluid manner. Yes, Rambo wanted to save his Colonel, but it's clear the movie didn't want to overlook the Afghan people and make it all about Rambo and Colonel Murdock (Charles Napier).

Early in the movie Rambo said that his favorite sport was football. Later in the movie we got a football moment when Rambo, in a tank, went head up with the Russian commander who was in a gunship helicopter. They lined up and barreled toward each other like a running back and a linebacker on the goal line. I won't play spoiler, but I will say that that scene was a synopsis of the movie and the entire Cold War. Two powerhouses were lined up going head to head. We now know the winner of that goal line stance, but in 1988 the eventual winner was very uncertain.

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