And they came to the place which the scriptwriters had told him of; and Rambo built an ambush there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Teasle the sheriff, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
And Rambo stretched forth his hand, and took the M60 to slay Sheriff Teasle.
And the angel of the Lord, the Archangel Colonel Trautman, called unto him out of heaven, and said, Rambo, Rambo: and he said, Here am I.
And he said, Don’t do it! Listen to me, Rambo; you have no chance. Drop your weapon. I’ll order the chopper in to fly you back to Bragg.
When the Lord’s angel interrupted the sacrifice of Isaac, he called Abraham twice. I’ve heard it said that this was because Abraham ignored the first call, apparently thinking it to be an illusion or his own faltering will. And at the end of First Blood, when Trautman reaches Rambo just in time to prevent the murder of Teasle, he shouts Rambo’s name twice. There is a great deal of Old Testament goodness and warrior ethos in that scene. For now, I want to address the warrior ethos.
Famously, the original ending to this film had Rambo die at Trautman’s hand. I argue that the existing ending is far better. Throughout the film, Trautman is advising Teasle to, “Disarm the situation. Disarm him. Create a gap and let him slip through it. Then put out a nationwide APB. Three weeks from now, you’ll pick him up in Seattle or some place, washing cars, there’ll be no fight, and no one else will get hurt.” Teasle repeatedly rejects this advice and insists on forcing a fight with Rambo. Every encounter just makes things worse until eventually the police station is ruined, Teasle is wounded and incapacitated, and the town is on fire.
It is only at this point that Trautman gets an opportunity to confront Rambo directly without any interference from the cops. Trautman is a US Army Special Forces Colonel. He understands fighting and warfare better than any other character in the movie, Rambo included. He confronts Rambo, and five minutes later, the movie is over; Rambo is led away in handcuffs while Teasle is carried away in a stretcher.
Teasle and all his men couldn’t overcome Rambo, but the master warrior, Trautman, overcame him immediately. And he did it not through fighting, but through peace. That, I say, is the mark of the real warrior, and this movie’s ending is superior to what they originally planned.
I suppose the Old Testament parallels in this scene are accidental, but they provide a nice frame for interpretation. After Trautman dissuades Rambo from killing Teasle, Rambo breaks down, and this character, who had been so taciturn the entire film, suddenly gushes forth with anguished tales of suffering. Rambo is on the floor, ragged, filthy, and ruined. Trautman is standing and composed, his dress uniform in perfect order. From this position above, Trautman watches silently and comes to understand how this being he had created (the film establishes very clearly that Trautman considers Rambo to be his own creation) had gone so terribly wrong.
Trautman’s instinct here is Old Testament judgement. Rambo’s sins are beyond number, and the sinner must be punished. And yet… Rambo is a creature cast out of Eden. If Rambo failed in his discipline and military bearing, well, he was no longer in the military. Rambo had been overwhelmed by the fallen world he was living in, a world for which Trautman had never intended him. Just as man belongs in Eden, Rambo was created to live and fight in Vietnam.
Rambo tugs at Trautman’s hand, Trautman crouches down, and Rambo cries in his arms. Trautman, in a glimpse of the New Testament that was to come, hesitatingly puts a hand around Rambo and hugs him back, comforting this poor broken creature whom he loves.
Of a Sphinx Athwart the Evening Sky 