First Blood

 First Blood. (March, 2008). Several years ago, I managed to acquire a used, out-of-print book in Argentina—an edition from nearly thirty years ago. The book is called First Blood and its author is David Morrell, published by Bruguera in 1979. Translation: Elisa López. It is a crime/police novel, the book upon which the movie Rambo was based.

I know that in Spain, the film was released as Acorralado (Cornered), while its original title is First Blood. The book features a simple and engaging language—very engaging, I would say. Every page you read is an invitation to find out how the story continues, how it unfolds on the following pages. In that sense, it doesn't disappoint, and it certainly didn't disappoint me overall.

The first 70 pages, which make up the first part, are very good—perhaps the most interesting section before the action, fighting, and deaths begin; the essence of the police procedural. It showcases prejudices and the clash between two status quos. The description on the very first page already sets the tone for what is to come. I really liked that first part.

Regarding the well-known movie, the book differs quite a bit, though mostly in minor details. It's true that the actor didn't want to make it as violent as the book: Rambo didn't carry a knife; there is a much longer exchange of words between Rambo and the Chief of Police than in the film; the cabin scene is not in the book; Rambo is a rather sarcastic young man with a bit of humor (something not seen in the movie). When he escapes from the police station, he not only leaves a dead policeman with his guts hanging out, but he escapes completely naked. The waterfall is barely shown in the movie, yet it has great importance in the book—in fact, the waterfall forms as the events unfold (rain, rising water flow). The encounter with the hunters in the woods is friendly and not like the one shown in the film, and so on. In short, many parts were changed; the movie was made too "light" and didn't follow the book to the letter. That doesn't make it a bad film, though. Speaking of both Rambos—the cinematic one and the literary one—they both share that side that makes you think about the reality of a veteran and how society, embodied by the Chief of Police, rejects him. But beyond that, it touches on how a society is built upon fundamental pillars down to the smallest, simplest, and most common things that bring satisfaction to its inhabitants, while perhaps neglecting the human side or certain values. Perhaps it becomes somewhat radical and close-minded, which eventually causes it to explode—driven by that prejudice manifested first through rejection and later through violence, by both the Chief of Police and the Justice of the Peace, whose last concern is any sort of justice, basing their work instead on a penal rating table.

The second part of the book covers the first manhunt in the mountains where he hides, and Rambo takes out all of Wilfred Teasle's (the Chief of Police) accompanying deputies. It is pure action. The pursuit through the mountains is well-handled and makes you ponder the situations as they unfold, with descriptions of the terrain that you try to visualize each in your own way, letting the reader's imagination work. Written nearly thirty years ago or more, the absence of satellite searches, mountain maps, and the like for a tiny mountain town makes it feel even more thrilling and real. It even hints at heat detectors, but mounted on airplanes.

The third part could be somewhat related to the first; its strong point is the dialogues between Trautman and Teasle, which give you something to think about regarding the situation of war veterans.

It also differs from the movie in certain scenes, such as when he hunts for his food—different animals. While he does acquire a knife, he doesn't have it from the beginning like in the movie, much less the addition of a survival kit in the handle.

The ending of the book is very different—very different indeed from the movie. I liked the book's ending much more; it had a lot more action, emotion, and even more violence. Essential situations were even altered, disregarded, and inverted. I don't know what the message of both endings is meant to be; in fact, they are opposite, but they leave you thinking.

In the book, there is a secondary character who has a much larger role and presence than in the movie, where he practically only appears to say two lines: Kern, the Chief of State Police.
I never understood the reason for the title; the book doesn't state it, or I missed it—which I doubt. Why First Blood? It must be due to something I'm unaware of, or an allusion to something related to the setting where the novel takes place, perhaps connected to the character's youth or something similar, with youth and violence as keywords.

At the beginning of the novel, the detail about the soda can is striking. There is a small error—I don't know if it was written that way on purpose or if it's genuinely a slight typo in the name of one of the policemen, which changes from Galt to Gat.

Finally, the edition I read has a drawing on its cover of a young man from behind with a guitar slung over his shoulder (designed by Raúl Pascuali, 1979). I imagine the young man alludes to Rambo, but the guitar? Not a single guitar appears in the entire novel. I suppose it must also be due to the theme of youth. I found it rather strange.

I will transcribe the first page. This is how the story begins: the author immediately instills in the reader expectations of everything that is about to happen, and sets a strict timeline. He doesn't talk about what will happen in the next hour, but rather over the next two days, giving it an unexpected magnitude, and providing a point for special attention when he says "and a goodly number of gun-loving local citizens" given the particular situation of US citizens and firearms.

I
His name was Rambo, and he looked like any other kid standing by the gas pumps of a service station on the outskirts of Madison, Kentucky. He had a long, ragged beard, and his hair came down over his ears and well past the back of his neck; he was thumbing a ride from a car that had pulled up to the pumps. Seeing him standing there, resting his weight on one hip, a bottle of soda pop in one hand and a sleeping roll on the ground by his boots, it was hard to imagine that on Tuesday, the next day, almost the whole police force of Basalt County would be hunting him. And much less could anyone have supposed that by Thursday he would be running from the Kentucky National Guard, the police of six counties, and a goodly number of gun-loving local citizens. But seeing him ragged and dirt-caked at the service station, standing motionless by a pump, it was also impossible to guess what kind of boy Rambo was and what the next events would unleash.
Yet Rambo was not unaware that trouble was coming. Real trouble, if someone didn't pay close attention. (Page 13)