The Rambo 20 Dollar Bill

It is a bit of a mystery why Sylvester Stallone would choose to re-visit the Rambo story two decades after the last movie. However, it isn’t as though he didn’t consider it. He’s had a storied career in the entertainment business, so a return to the action hero may have been in order. His salary of over $3 million might have played a part as well.

What’s more, the story was set in the post-Vietnam era. And although the film does make an effort to portray the military and civilian lives in both nations, there’s no real sense of espionage as such. The movie is still more than a little macho, however. There’s also a good measure of humor in the proceedings. In addition to the action, there’s a solid theme as well.

While the film may have been a flop, the re-imagining of the classic tale was not a total disaster. Fans of the genre will appreciate the newfound attention to detail. For one, a more accurate depiction of the Truman Balcony is made. A rendering of the 1948 White House is also updated. The trees on the reverse are a lot bigger, too. Apparently, this is for aesthetic reasons, too.

Of course, no movie is perfect, and the fact that Stallone wanted to revisit the Rambo story is just another reminder of how much he has invested in the franchise. Even so, the budget was over sixty million dollars. Some of this cost may have been attributed to the cost of having Stallone reprise the role of Rambo. But it’s also possible that his $3.5 million salary helped the film’s chances.

Although it was not technically the first to do so, the re-imagining of the Rambo story was not without its hiccups. There were dozens of actors who signed on to play the part, including Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, and Al Pacino. One of the most memorable moments came during the production of Rambo III, when Hurricane Odile tore up much of the set. At one point, Stallone and co-star Cosmatos were filming the insert shots in a hotel. Unfortunately, the hurricane also damaged the rotten canvas that was supposed to be the movie’s signature piece.

Still, if the re-imagining of the classic Rambo story isn’t enough to satisfy fans, Stallone did have other ideas. One of which involved a plot to rescue a woman from Tijuana, Mexico. This entailed the use of the $20 bill, which is not a new idea.

The rotten canvas, however, was not a movie prop, but a real thing. That said, it’s a nice update to the classic $20 note.

The ode to the rotten canvas is not, however, the tiniest, smallest, or the shortest. Instead, the re-imagining of the story is the biggest story of all. Several design elements have been rearranged, but less perceptibly than in the 1950s.

Although the re-imagining of the Rambo tale is not quite the swashbuckler that the previous three films might have been, it is a very entertaining flick nonetheless.