THIS WEEK: ’80s Action Heroes
THE FILMS: Rocky III (1982, Sylvester Stallone), Commando (1985, Mark L. Lester), First Blood (1982, Ted Kotcheff)
1980s Hollywood was a landscape rich with American Superpower energy, post-Vietnam trauma, and unparalleled violence on screen. And for the better part of the decade, two men were at the center of it all.
In his latest book, The Last Action Heroes, author Nick de Semlyen examines how Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger—along with their mile-wide egos—used guns and muscles to become action icons. But their reign as the Kings of Tinseltown would be short-lived. As 1990 grew closer, people like Bruce Willis, Steven Seagal, and Jean-Claude Van Damme picked up the mantle. For the better part of the decade though, nobody could touch them. That’s the time we’re celebrating with this week’s triple feature. There is a plethora of films to pick from, but these three are at the top of the heap. So dust off the VCR, cue the synth music, and dive in—then be sure to pick up Nick’s amazing book.
Rocky III, 1982, Sylvester Stallone
Perhaps the most polarizing of all the Rocky films, Rocky III is both praised and chastised for its ’80s ethos. Where its ’70s predecessors were gritty, (mostly) serious products of their decade, this is one for the MTV generation. It uses quick cuts, comedy, and a fantastic soundtrack (“Eye of the Tiger” anyone?) to become a big music video. But underneath the slick veneer is the same heart-filled underdog story that made viewers fall in love with Rocky films.
In Rocky III Apollo Creed is now in Balboa’s corner as he fights to regain the title he loses to Clubber Lang (Mr. T). Fame and fortune made him complacent—a metaphor for the film itself. There are mansions and hubris until the champ goes down in what he thought would be an easy fight. He loses both the belt and his longtime manager Mickey (Burgess Merideth). It’s a wake-up call that initiates the Rocky formula: A focused training montage and climactic fight that starts with ambivalence and ends with a confident victory.
While Rocky III is clearly descendant from its elders, it’s also fully ’80s and sets a high bar for everything that followed. Whether you think it ruined the franchise or moved it toward its apex in Rocky IV, there’s no denying its importance in the pantheon of ’80s action films. And what a way to start a movement!
Commando, 1985, Mark L. Lester
Much like Rocky in the final fight against Clubber Lang, Rocky III eked out a win at the box office on its opening weekend against an unlikely competitor. John Milius’s fantasy adventure film Conan the Barbarian was in its third week at the box office and holding strong—due largely to its charismatic, muscle-bound lead, the relative unknown from Austria with a name nobody could pronounce. In just his second starring role, Arnold Schwarzenegger quickly won over American audiences with his testy-but-likable Conan and set the table for what would be an enormous career.
Immediately after Conan he’d go on to make a sequel, Conan the Destroyer, and secure his place alongside Stallone as the Kings of the Action ’80s in 1984, playing the titular role in James Cameron’s The Terminator. But as important as these films were in cementing Arnold’s place as a Hollywood leading man, what came next epitomized the genre itself.
1985’s Commando takes a page from Stallone’s own reluctant war hero series of Rambo films and tells the story of John Matrix, a retired Special Ops colonel who is forced back. His mission is to stop a paramilitary group from overthrowing the government of a small Central American country. Much like Rambo, Matrix is a one-man killing machine who racks up over 80 kills. But unlike Stallone’s brooding, tormented character he’s quite personable and very funny—intentionally or not.
Commando mixes action and comedy in a way that Stallone never could manage. Arnold is just funnier and doesn’t seem to mind looking foolish. As de Semlyen’s book illustrates, that wasn’t the case for Sly; he had too much ego. And while its Rambo counterpart might have done better at the box office—it was one of just three films that held the number one spot that year (the other two were Ghostbusters and Back to the Future)—this is the action film you remember from 1985 because of the one-liners and ridiculous body count. America clearly had bloodlust during this time but also wanted laughs. Arnold provided both in this imperfect masterpiece.
First Blood, 1982, Ted Kotcheff
1982 was quite a year for Sylvester Stallone. Not only did he create a template for sports films with Rocky III, but he also set the tone for just about every action film in the decade with First Blood with its big explosions and me-against-the-world mentality. To be fair, the two films aren’t that far apart thematically: they both tell of underdogs fighting the odds. But unlike Rocky, the John Rambo character isn’t looking for a fight; it finds him.
Set in Washington state, this first installment in the extremely successful Rambo franchise introduces us to its eponymous character as he drifts along after finding out all of his Special Forces buddies have died. As he wanders through the town of Hope he’s met by a sheriff (Brian Dennehy) who doesn’t take kindly to strangers and an all-out war ensues. It’s kind of a post-Vietnam High Plains Drifter. And the ghost of that war is ever-present here as Rambo flashes back to his time as a POW and caps off the third act with a monologue that feels like it could have come from Ron Kovic’s mouth in Born on the Fourth of July (if Stallone had written it better). But people didn’t flock to theaters for First Blood‘s writing; they went for the action—ironic in a year where Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi won Best Picture.
Without First Blood it’s hard to imagine what the ’80s box office would have looked like. Things like Missing in Action, Die Hard, and even Commando, all owe a lot to it. And even though Stallone had quite a few swings and misses (mostly comedies like Rhinestone and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot), he knew how to take an underdog story and turn it into a formula for success that continues to impact Hollywood to this day.
FURTHER READING (AND LISTENING, AND WATCHING):
- “Rocky III Added This Crucial Element to the Franchise” (Collider)
- “Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Commando was the Most ’80s Action Movie of the ’80s” (Esquire)
- The Last Action Heroes (Nick de Semlyen)
WHERE TO WATCH: