Rambo: First Blood Part II trivia

This is an article about trivia from Rambo: First Blood Part II.

• During a conversation with Co (Julia Nickson), Rambo says '...I am expendable'. Twenty five years after the release of this film, Stallone directed an ensemble cast in a film titled 'The Expendables'.
• Rambo's stats, as given in the film: "Rambo, John J., born 7/6/47 Bowie, Arizona of Indian-German descent. Joined army 8/6/64. Accepted, Special Forces specialization, light weapons, cross-trained as medic. Helicopter and language qualified, 59 confirmed kills, two Silver Stars, four Bronze, four Purple Hearts, Distinguished Service Cross, Congressional Medal of Honor."
• James Cameron wrote a treatment/screenplay not only for this film, but for Aliens (1986) while production was being delayed on The Terminator (1984).
• Dolph Lundgren was initially signed as the Russian Lt. Col. Podovsky (played by Steven Berkoff) when Sylvester Stallone realized that it was the same man who was going to be in Rocky IV (1985) so so they paid off the contract.
• The film is dedicated to stuntman Cliff Wenger Jr., who was accidentally killed by one of the film explosions.
• The only film in the Rambo series to be nominated for an Oscar.
• James Cameron's original screenplay began with Col. Trautman finding Rambo in a psychiatric hospital instead of a prison. The psychiatric hospital concept was instead depicted in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).
• Co-writer James Cameron claims that he only wrote the first draft of the script and that Sylvester Stallone made many changes to it. When the film was released, the "political" content of the movie was considered controversial. Many felt the Vietnam conflict was "altered" to look and sound heroic. Cameron commented that he only wrote the "action" and that Stallone wrote the "politics".
• The Mi-24 Hind-D helicopters seen in the film are in fact modified Aerospatiale SA 330 Puma transport helicopters with fabricated bolt-on wings similar to the real Hind-Ds used in the former Soviet bloc nations.
• According to the documentary We Get to Win This Time (2002), the producers considered teaming up Sylvester Stallone with his Staying Alive (1983) protégé John Travolta (who was once considered to play Rambo himself in the first film) as Rambo's young partner in rescuing the American POWs. Stallone nixed this idea when he decided it would be better to make the film a solo project.
• The huge Buddha statue that was used in the opening sequence was given to the local Mexican military commander as a souvenir after the shoot, even when he was told it's just a prop made from expanded polystyrene and a lot of gold paint.
• All of the shots on the military base were done on a Mexican air force airstrip. The logos have been painted over or obscured, and the real crew always have their backs toward the camera or are far enough away from the camera so no one would notice.
• George P. Cosmatos was hired after Sylvester Stallone's son Sage saw his film Of Unknown Origin (1983) and recommended his work.
• In First Blood (1982), Col. Trautman's Green Beret flash is that of the Army's 5th Special Forces Group. In this movie and the sequel (Rambo III (1988)), he is shown wearing the flash of the 1st Special Operations Command, which means he was reassigned after the events of First Blood.
• The only movie in the Rambo/First Blood franchise in which Rambo shares an intimate kiss with a woman (the female agent Co). In  First Blood there were flashback scenes of Rambo at a Saigon bar kissing and making love to a Vietnamese woman, but those scenes never made it into the final cut of that film.
• First film to appear in 2,000+ US theaters.
• Lieutenant Colonol Padovsky is the only villain to have any lines in English
• Before Artisan bought the rights to Carolco Pictures, Carolco's logo always used the music of Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) to open their movie credits.
• Lee Marvin was originally to play Marshall Murdock but changed his mind.
• The handgun used by Banks during the aborted helicopter landing of Col. Trautman is a SIG-Sauer P226. First feature film using SIG-Sauer handguns.
• The jet that Rambo takes off in and jumps off into Vietnam in is an Rockwell Jet Commander 1121. It doesn't have wingtip fuel tanks or TFE 731 engines like the IAI Westwind 1124.
• In First Blood, Col. Trautman's Green Beret flash is that of the Army's 5th Special Forces Group. In this movie and the sequel (Rambo III), he is shown wearing the flash of the 1st Special Operations Command, which means he was reassigned after the events of First Blood.
• As Co Bao (Julia Nickson) died in Rambo's arms after the ambush, there was supposed to be a triple zoom-in while Sylvester Stallone screams "No!" echoed 3 times. During a test screening, audience actually started laughing. It was quickly re-edited to the present form.
• The total body count of the film is 67, 57 of which are killed by Rambo himself.
• At the end of the novel First Blood by David Morrel, John Rambo dies, which doesn't allow for sequels and ends on a dark note. The ending was changed in the movie, allowing for this sequel to be made.