‘Rambo – First Blood Part II’: the James Cameron project he wrote just for the money
The films that reach the widest audiences are those that are expansive, crammed with plot and fast-paced action or drama, and featuring recognisable stars. Thus, the work of James Cameron has earned significant commercial success, making him one of the highest-grossing filmmakers of all time. As a legendary figure in Hollywood, his movies have cemented him a large place in cinema history, defined by his epic tales of sci-fi and disaster.
Cameron’s first attempt at directing a feature film came in 1982 when he helmed Piranha II: The Spawning. The project was hardly his own, and he once explained to Kenneth Turan, “I used it as a credit when it did me some good, which was to get Terminator. Subsequently, I dropped it. I think that makes sense. What the heck. There’s no truth but what we make.”
After that, he moved onto directing projects that he was actually passionate about and proud of, beginning with The Terminator, released in 1984. The movie was a massively influential entry to the sci-fi canon, with Arnold Schwarzenegger playing a killer cyborg. With quotable lines, unforgettable action sequences, and enduring commentary on technological developments, the film remains one of the 1980s’ greatest outputs, and one of Cameron’s best works.
However, before he could go on to create other massive films, like Titanic and the controversial Avatar franchise – a mammoth undertaking that we’re sure he could’ve just left at one film – he penned a screenplay that he took on purely for the paycheck. Was this an example of Cameron selling out? Or, like Piranha II: The Spawning, was he just taking on jobs near the start of his career that would potentially propel him to bigger opportunities, and give enough money to sustain him while he wrote more personal projects?
Sometimes, a cheque is a cheque, and Cameron only saw dollar signs when he agreed to co-write Rambo: First Blood Part II, released in 1985. The movie was the sequel to Ted Kotcheff’s First Blood, which had become a blockbuster hit, and this George P Cosmatos-directed second instalment grossed even more, raking in $300.4 million at the box office. Cameron penned it with the movie’s star, Sylvester Stallone, although the pair didn’t exactly sit down and write the whole thing together.
Talking to Terminator Files, Cameron explained, “For my sins, I did that for Carolco. I did that for the money. That film put them on the map. I admire the film’s success and I’m happy for everybody involved, but I always have to distance myself from it because it’s not the film I wrote – it was substantially rewritten by Sylvester Stallone.”
He continued, “The script that I wrote was pretty violent, but not in such an amoral way. I wasn’t really vocal about it at the time and, actually, it’s even dumber for me to be vocal about it now, because I’m doing these movies with Carolco. I’m not going to turn around and bite the hand that feeds me.”
Rambo: First Blood Part II isn’t one of Cameron’s finest works, with the critical response towards the film swaying very negatively. Still, it got him a paycheque and allowed Cameron to continue writing other films, and he subsequently made the acclaimed Aliens.
