Sylvester Stallone Wasn’t the First Rambo on Screen! Discover Who Was

It may seem surprising, but an actor portrayed Rambo before Sylvester Stallone did! Indeed, in 1972, writer David Morrell released the novel First Blood (titled Rambo in France), which caught the attention of Cuban actor Tomás Milián, who was working in Italy at the time. Milián was already known for his roles in spaghetti Westerns (such as The Last Face to Face and Providence) and crime genres (The Ransom of Fear, Bandits in Milan), and he fell in love with the book.

To recap, First Blood tells the story of a drifter and former Green Beret who arrives in a small U.S. town where the local sheriff takes an immediate dislike to him. But pushing Rambo too far…

An Italian Adaptation?

Three years after the novel’s release, Milián sought to adapt it into a film, but producers rejected the idea. According to Roberto Curti’s book Italian Crime Filmography, 1968-1980, which was recently highlighted by Collider, the persistent actor reluctantly gave up on adapting Morrell’s novel. However, he decided his next character would still be named Rambo.

Consequently, from the thwarted desire to adapt the Rambo story, Tomás Milián played a character named Rambo in a different film that had nothing to do with First Blood, directed by Umberto Lenzi and titled Bracelets of Blood. In this thriller, an ex-cop biker named Rambo seeks revenge against two powerful crime families responsible for his friend’s murder.

“Aim for the Heart, Ramon”

The plot and direction of Bracelets of Blood are distinct from First Blood, telling its own story, with themes more reminiscent of the double-crossing antics of the Man with No Name from Leone and Eastwood’s A Fistful of Dollars, moving between the Baxter and the Rodos gangs, ultimately leading to their downfall. Essentially, Bracelets of Blood only shares the name Rambo as its main character, at Milián’s insistence.

Nevertheless, the film was a huge hit in Italy, grossing 1.5 billion lire at the box office!

David Morrell’s novel was eventually made into a movie in 1982 with Sylvester Stallone in the leading role, which took some creative liberties from the literary version. Its success led to the production of two sequels in the 1980s, followed by John Rambo (2008) and Rambo: Last Blood (2019), which concluded the character’s storyline.