15 Film Adaptations Completely Different From The Book

10. First Blood

Wanted poster
TriStar

The film, First Blood, is the same in concept to David Morrell's novel but the character's journey is massively different. In the book, a traumatised soldier arrives in the fictional town of Hope to meet up with an old war buddy, only to learn he has succumbed to cancer.

When Police Chief Teasle believes Rambo is trouble, he forces the ex-soldier to leave the town. When Rambo returns, the chief arrests him and locks him in a cell. The whole experience triggers Rambo's PTSD and he attack the officers. Rambo goes on the run, causing the police force to launch a manhunt to bring him down.

In the book, Rambo doesn't attack the officers, he slaughters them. Even though Sylvester Stallone's character only kills one person in the movie, this book counterpart becomes so overcome by paranoia, he kills innocent police officers and their dogs. After Rambo is cornered by the authorities, he's shot dead by his former war commander, Trautman.

In this post: 
Wanted
 
First Posted On: 
Contributor

James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows