Neither fantasy nor madness: a former Delta Force member says that Stallone’s first ‘Rambo’ film is ‘very realistic’
Retired Delta Force member Bob Keller analyses the realism of several scenes in the first ‘Rambo’ film, giving it a score of 9.5 out of 10.
Since its release in 1982, the first installment of the ’Rambo’ saga has generated a lot of buzz. Apart from its value as an action movie, in which Sylvester Stallone shines, it also criticizes the cold reception that many American soldiers received after returning from Vietnam. In the film, John Rambo, a war veteran, is harassed by the police in a small town and forced to use his combat and survival skills to escape the authorities. Most surprisingly, according to a retired U.S. Delta Force operative, the tactics that the character employs are realistic and not far from what a soldier with Rambo’s training would do.
A former U.S. elite soldier reviews ‘First Blood,’ and his conclusions are clear: “It’s almost a full 10”
In early April 2025, the YouTube channel Insider uploaded a video titled “Army Special Ops Rates 10 Delta Force And Special Forces Scenes In Movies.” In the video, Bob Keller, a former U.S. Special Forces and Delta Force member, uses his experience to critique scenes from famous movies such as Black Hawk Down, Delta Force, Apocalypse Now, and First Blood. His critique of the latter film begins at around the 12:40 mark.
“Rambo First Blood is going off of a, like he’s an SF guy from Vietnam. All this stuff would be 100% legit. Like as an SF guy, being in the woods, like you’ll be trained on booby traps, and all these tactics. But are you getting a lot of it? Like you might get one class. Now some guys will actually train on this, on survival stuff, all the time. John Rambo trained on that all the time. He had done it in Vietnam for years and years. Like that’s probably ingrained in his head,” Keller reveals.
“Most Special Ops guys getting out of the military do continue to do that in other organizations. Or they do it, you know, create their own business doing it. It’s kind of because for one you might miss it. And for others, it’s just all you know. Like if you go in the military at 17 years old. So yes, that happens. Even though the scenes might look a little bit hanky. But the reality of it, of this guy doing all that stuff to these guys and it being that easy? 100% legit. I mean I give it a 9.5, easy. I mean it’s almost a full 10.,” he said.
In First Blood, John Rambo (played by Stallone) is a Vietnam veteran who has returned to the United States. After visiting the family of a deceased former comrade, he travels on foot through the small town of Hope, Washington. The local sheriff, Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy), mistakes Rambo for a vagrant and potential criminal and disdainfully dismisses him. Ignoring the cop’s veiled threats, Rambo returns to town, where Teasle arrests him. While locked up, Rambo is tortured by other police officers, which stirs up traumatic memories of his captivity in Vietnam. He uses his combat skills to escape into the local woods. Thus begins a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Rambo just wants to be left alone, but the authorities are obsessed with capturing him at all costs. They are unaware of the real danger posed by a man with his training.
More than four decades after its theatrical release, First Blood continues to generate both criticism and admiration, particularly among those with military training and skills similar to Sylvester Stallone’s character in the film. Though the reflective tone of the original film was diluted by its sequels, it continues to be recognized as a raw and honest portrayal of the psychological effects of war on soldiers. The verdict in favor of military men like Bob Keller reinforces the film’s verisimilitude and invites a fresh look: the depicted fiction is not as far from reality as it seems.
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