Fresh from his astounding success with Rocky, Sylvester Stallone jumps into the jungle boots of John Rambo, an ex-green beret returning home to a country which has turned hostile to veterans. This film, the first in the trilogy, iconified Stallone as Rambo and added to the heated action competition between Stallone and Schwarzenegger in the 1980's. Upon his return he discovers that all of his war buddies from nam are dead and that he is the last survivor of an elite anti-personel team. Drifting from town to town, Rambo wanders into a small hick town where he is quickly picked up by the police, who attempt to throw him out of the town. Arrested for resisting these attempts, Rambo is taken to a cell, abused and beaten until finally he cracks and makes his escape from the station into the mountains. In town the police are the law, here Rambo is.
Action ensues as a Rambo, armed only with a knife, beats anything thrown at him in a crazed continuation of the war on American territory.