Art Galt

"Hey, if you're looking for trouble, you've come to the right place, buddy. "

―Art Galt to John Rambo

Art Galt
Full Name	Deputy Sergeant Arthur Galt
Weapon of Choice	Nightstick, Winchester Model 88 lever-action rifle
Appeared in	First Blood
Occupation	Head Deputy of Hope, Washington Sheriff's department.
Goals	Brutalize or kill those he does not like
Hair Color	Blonde
Gender	Male
Portrayed by	Jack Starrett

Art Galt is the head deputy of the Hope, Washington's sheriff's department and the secondary antagonist of Rambo: First Blood. Galt is even more brutal than the film's main antagonist, Will Teasle, who is his closest friend, and is the only person who perishes in the film. Galt is seen as a sadistic and rude control freak, that is willing to abuse his power to brutalize people he is not fond with.

Galt is a particularly deplorable human being, who likes to demonize people who he sees as lower than him. Even after finding out that Rambo was in Vietnam, his hatred for him increased and decides to beat Rambo severely. Galt's carefree attitude to the horrible acts he regularly commits is loathed by fans of the series, and he is often thought of as the least likeable antagonist in the entire series, aside from Tint, who was a merciless pedophile.

Novel

The Art Galt of the novel is actually a fairly reasonable man. He never does anything to pick on Rambo and is shown to be fairly meek and nervous, wanting not to upset Rambo. After Rambo snaps and uses a razor to attack Teasle, Galt draws his gun but doesn't know how to use it well enough. Rambo uses the razor to slice Galt's stomach open and he dies from disembowelment after he goes to put his intestines back inside his gut. Unlike the middle-aged Galt of the film, the Galt of the novel is said to be a young man who is new to the job and doesn't have much experience in firearms. He is the exact opposite in the film version. However, some traits of the novel's depiction of Galt, such as being a reasonable young deputy, has been shown in the character of Mitch in the film version.

First Blood

Galt, Mitch and Rambo.

When Will Teasle arrests unstable Green Beret John Rambo, Galt is told by Teasle to book him. Galt, who has a particular dislike for hippies and drifters, uses Rambo's sharp hunting knife to slice through a sheet of paper with ease and escorts him to the cells, where he attempts to get Rambo's name. Rambo knows he is innocent, and refuses, so Mitch, one of Galt's deputies, sees Rambo's dog tags and goes to read them, but Rambo instinctively grabs Mitch's wrist. Galt pulls his nightstick and threatens to break Rambo's hand. Rambo lets go and Galt notes that "Hairy is a soldier boy", but this does not change his opinion of Rambo. Meanwhile, Rambo is becoming nervous seeing the iron bars in the police station momentarily reminds him of a grill when he was imprisoned in a tiger pit in Vietnam, and chanting natives threw garbage and dirt through the grill to demean him. Later, with the approval of most of the deputies Galt then quickly moves up to physical abuse and beats Rambo with his nightstick, orders Preston to spray Rambo with a high pressure fire hose and prepares to shave him without any shaving cream. When Rambo experiences a horrible flashback of the Vietnam War where he was tortured in a prison camp, Rambo's fragile mental state shatters and he fights his way out of the station, beating Galt badly in the process. Rambo grabs his knife and runs off into the forest. Galt attempts to use his Winchester Model 88 lever action rifle to shoot Rambo in the street, but Teasle stops him, angrily berating Galt that there are too many people around and the chances are too high that Galt could have killed or wounded an innocent civilian. The deputies are eventually forced to search for Rambo on foot, and he climbs down onto a steep cliff to elude capture. After spotting Rambo from a helicopter, Galt blatantly disregards protocol and attempts to shoot him in cold blood. When the pilot see this, he angrily objects to this, saying that he and Galt are supposed to spot him, not to kill him. Galt ignores this and threatens to kill the pilot if he doesn't stay straight. Galt's behaviuor would have been reported to local TV stations, and he would be prosecuted. Rambo drops into a mass of trees, getting a deep gash in his arm in the process. Cornered and terrified for his life, Rambo is forced to throw a large rock at the helicopter's windshield in self-defense to buy him some time. However, the helicopter loses control and pitches, and Galt, who had deliberately unbuckled

Galt threatens to beat Rambo to death.

his safety belt in order to get a better shot, falls out of the aircraft to his death at the bottom of the rocky gorge, a hundred feet below. The pilot, fearing for this, then flies away. Teasle, who did not see Galt's attempt to kill Rambo, flies into a rage and vows to avenge his friend's death.

In a deleted scene, his body is being shown taken away from a chopper, where his widow cries upon seeing it while being comforted by Lester.

He is similar to Sgt. Yushin of Rambo: First Blood Part II. Both are sadists who torture Rambo and both fall to their deaths from a helicopter.

Trivia

• He is shown in Survival Mode to have been in the United States Marine Corps in Infantry, but never saw combat and was stationed at Camp Lejune, NC.