Rambo IV trivia

This is an article about trivia from Rambo IV.

• Averages 2.59 killings per minute.
• Sylvester Stallone specifically wanted the film to be about more than just profit, so he decided to do what Rambo III had done and set the film in the midst of the most brutal ongoing global conflict that was basically ignored by the public and media. After ruling out established (and well-known) conflicts in the Middle East, Latin America and Africa, Stallone talked to international experts at the United Nations, who told him about the Burmese junta's mass murder of the Karen people. He then knew this was the conflict for Rambo IV since Burma is next to Thailand, so Stallone set the movie's storyline in the middle of this genocide.
• Julie Benz was cast as Sarah because Sylvester Stallone was a big fan of the TV show Dexter (2006) in which she stars.
• Only Rambo film with no "inside man", A.K.A the person who reveals that they are not as they seem and ultimately betray Rambo. In First Blood, it is Will Teasle, who paints himself to be a friendly small-town sheriff before revealing his true colors. In Rambo: First Blood Part II, there are several, including Marshall Murdock (who, like Teasle, pretended to be friendly and concerned with the plight of soldiers) and Captain Kinh. In Rambo III, there is Mousa's Assistant, who rats out Rambo and Mousa to the Soviets. Uri can also be considered an inside man, despite not betraying Rambo. However, Rambo IV has no such character. 
• Rambo was banned in Myanmar (formally Burma), and bootlegs are a hot item. Burmese Freedom Fighters have even adopted dialogue from the movie as battle cries, most notably "Live for nothing, or die for something." Sylvester Stallone said "That, to me, is one of the proudest moments I've ever had in film."
• Maung Maung Khin, who played the Burmese dictator Tint, fought for the Karen Rebels in real life. He was afraid his family would be murdered if he took this role, but he took it anyway.
• In many countries, the first installment, First Blood (1982) was re-titled "Rambo", so the title for the fourth installment had to be changed accordingly. In several countries, including France and Germany, the film is called "John Rambo." In Russia, the film is called "Rambo 4."
• The first Rambo film where Rambo uses a pistol. Also the first Rambo film without a helicopter. Most notably, it is the first Rambo film completely without a scene in which John Rambo is without his T-shirt, showing his muscles. This is due to Sylvester Stallone's, extensive tattoo work on both shoulders, which he started getting in late July 2007.
• James Brolin was attached to play the Col. Samuel Trautman role after Richard Crenna died of pancreatic cancer in 2003, but the role was written out of the script. Sylvester Stallone considers the character to have died on the same day as Crenna, who appears in an archival flashback in Rambo (2008).
• The first Rambo film to break the pattern of greatly escalating the budget from one film to the next, it cost $50 million, while it's predecessor Rambo III (1988) cost $63 million.
• This and Rambo III are the only Rambo films so far in which John Rambo is not captured by someone, i.e.- police or military.
• Stallone intended to make this film before Rocky Balboa (2006), but MGM wanted Rocky to be made first, so he had to put Rambo on hold. Rambo had actually been sold and green-lit before Rocky Balboa. 
• Odeon, a UK cinema chain with more than 100 screens, refused to show the film for 'commercial reasons'.
• Originally, Rambo was supposed to hold the M3 .50 BMG caliber machine gun in his hands and fire it, but when fully assembled the .50 BMG weighed 120 lbs. Stallone was still capable of holding and firing it but it was too cumbersome for quick movements, so they mounted it on the back of a jeep instead. The floor of the truck was actually ripped out from the machine gun's intense recoil. It took days of near-constant firing and hundreds of rounds of .50 caliber ammunition to film the final machine gun scene. 
• 6,000 to 9,000 rounds were purchased for the production, and all of them were fired. 
• During the montage after Rambo is asked to transport the mercenaries, it shows the alternate ending to First Blood (1982) where Col. Trautman (Richard Crenna) would have ended Rambo's revenge on Teasle by shooting him in the abdomen.
• At different points in script development, Luc Besson, Richard Donner, and James Mangold were considered to direct.
• Rambo is addressed as "boatman" during the movie. From Greek mythology, "Charon" (the boatman) ferried souls to the land of the dead for money. Burma/Myanmar, with a 60+ year civil war and genocide, qualifies as the land of the dead. Also, the name of the rebel faction is "Karen" which is pronounced like "Charon".
• In his commentary for First Blood author David Morell cites the inspiration for John Rambo as being World War II hero and later Hollywood actor Audie Murphy. Rambo's last stand in the finale is very similar to how Murphy won the Congressional Medal of Honour, manning a vehicle mounted 50. caliber machine and singlehandedly holding off hundreds of enemy soldiers.
• The first Rambo film where Rambo works with a team, rather than going solo.
• The first Rambo feature where he utilizes his bow and not his unique explosive arrowheads. In First Blood, he did not employ a bow.
• The first Rambo film directed by Sylvester Stallone.
• This is the first Rambo film without a companion novel by David Morrell, Rambo's creator. Morell wrote the novel "First Blood", the basis for the first Rambo film, and novelizations of 'Rambo: First Blood Part II' and 'Rambo III'.
• During its long development process, 'Rambo' went through a number of story premises. One un-produced script featured Rambo living a quiet life with wife and child, until white supremacists kidnap his family. Another script found Rambo trying to stop a hostage situation at the United Nations, where he is working as a diplomat, when terrorists (including Rambo's adopted son) take hold of the UN headquarters in New York.
• Ted Kotcheff who directed First Blood (1982), the original of the Rambo series, acts as a technical consultant on this particular installment.
• The name 'Rambo' is mentioned only once in the whole film, namely when Rambo is awoken by pastor Arthur Marsh. 
• A deleted scene featured the knife from Rambo: First Blood Part II being tossed by Rambo into the burning Burmese river pirate boat. 
• The first Rambo film to depict Rambo fabricating his knife/machete. Rambo III had a scene of Rambo forging his own knife, although not in the film itself, it is in the deleted scenes of the Ultimate Cut DVD.
• Thus far, First Blood and Rambo: First Blood Part II both feature bowies produced by Jimmy Lile. Where Rambo III and Rambo features a bowie and machete respectively. Both of which are produced by renowned fantasy knife-smith, Gil Hibben.
• The first film where Rambo does not acquire an enemy vehicle of some kind. In First Blood, Rambo commandeers a deuce and a half cargo truck. In Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo assumes control of a enemies' UH-1 helicopter. Rambo III features Rambo requisitions a Soviet Tank. While he mans the .50 heavy machine gun in Rambo, he does not pilot the vehicle.
• Rambo's knife in this film is a primitively built golok made out of a single slab of D2 carbon steel as opposed to the expertly crafted survival knives seen in the other films. Sylvester Stallone actually stayed up all night filming the scene of him building the knife like you see in the film, although due to time constrictions, he had to do it all at once without cooling the blade. They went through eleven pairs of heat protective gloves over a period of about fifteen hours due to this. Sly claims after making the knife, he had a rather warm handshake. This scene was inspired from a deleted scene from Rambo III where he builds the famous Bowie knife.
• With the exception of Schoolboy, none of the other mercenaries actually use the same rifles they deployed with. Instead, they requisition the Burmese AKSs/47s and dispatch them with it.
• The first Rambo film without the music of Jerry Goldsmith, who died in 2004.
• Highest body count of any Rambo film at 81.