Rambo III

"The first was for himself. The second was for his country. This time is for his friend."

1988 1h 42m EN

😐

6.2

MID

🥫

39%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

5.8

IMDB

★6.2TMDB · 3,616🥫39%Rotten Tomatoes●36Metacritic★5.8IMDB · 148,807

ActionAdventureThrillerWar

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Combat has taken its toll on Rambo, but he's finally begun to find inner peace in a monastery. When Rambo's friend and mentor Col. Trautman asks for his help on a top secret mission to Afghanistan, Rambo declines but must reconsider when Trautman is captured.

“The first was for himself. The second was for his country. This time is for his friend.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

PhiloSubscription

AMC+ Roku Premium ChannelSubscription

YouTube TVSubscription

AMCSubscription

Amazon VideoRent

Apple TV StoreRent

Google Play MoviesRent

YouTubeRent

Amazon VideoBuy

Apple TV StoreBuy

Google Play MoviesBuy

YouTubeBuy

Fandango At HomeBuy

Cast

Sylvester Stallone
John Rambo
Richard Crenna
Trautman
Marc de Jonge
Coronel Zaysen
Kurtwood Smith
Griggs
Spiros Focás
Masoud
Sasson Gabai
Mousa
Doudi Shoua
Hamid
Randy Raney
Kourov

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Peter MacDonald
Writers: Sylvester Stallone, Sheldon Lettich, David J. Negrón Jr.
Languages: English, Russian
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $63M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.0× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

38 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Russian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Rambo Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Peter MacDonald, shot by John Stanier. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor O. Nicholas Brown shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Peter MacDonald directs. John Stanier behind the camera. Jerry Goldsmith scores. O. Nicholas Brown cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Russian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $63M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
2Made its money back 3.0× over at the box office.
338 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Russian.
5Part of the "Rambo Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6Directed by Peter MacDonald, shot by John Stanier. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor O. Nicholas Brown shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Sylvester Stallone and Richard Crenna and Marc de Jonge carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "The first was for himself. The second was for his country. This time is for his friend.".
11IMDB entry: tt0095956 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 13 themes, including "submachine gun", "competition", "machinegun", "liberation".
13Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: John Stanier
Original score: Jerry Goldsmith
Editing: O. Nicholas Brown
Production design: Bill Kenney
Costume design: Richard La Motte
Makeup / hair: Giannetto De Rossi
VFX supervisor: William Mesa
Sound: Robert J. Litt
Stunt coordinator: Vic Armstrong
Runtime: 102 min · 1h 42m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $63,000,000
Box office: $189,015,611
Return: 300% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Rambo III (1988)
Rotten Tomatoes: 39% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 36/100
IMDB rating: 5.8/10 · 148,807 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

2 wins & 7 nominations total

Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

Rambo Collection

A series of action films that follows John Rambo, a US Army veteran, who is traumatized by his experience in the Vietnam War, and uses the skills he gained there to fight corrupt police officers, enemy troops and drug cartels.

Also by

Peter MacDonald

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2020-04-27
★ 6/10
Rambo goes to Afghanistan to fight Russians Living at a Buddhist temple in Thailand as a handy man, Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is offered a mission by Col. Trautman (Richard Crenna) to go to Afghanistan to assist Afghans against the Soviets. He goes only to rescue someone dear to him. The cast includes Sasson Gabai as Rambo’s sidekick Mousa; Spyros Fokas as wise Afghan Masoud; and Marc de Jonge as Soviet Col. Zaysen. “Rambo III” (1988) contains what you would want from a Rambo flick: A muscular protagonist, a one-man-army scenario, a noble cause and loads of action. It also has a quality cast, fabulous locations and a good score. Playing like a Conan the Barbarian adventure set in the modern day, it has a comic book vibe like the previous film, but not as bad. Everything works for an action/adventure flick until the last 15 minutes when it’s burdened by one too many action scenes. The strange thing about movie action is that too much of it becomes boring. That’s the case here with the final act. Just so there’s no misunderstanding, Rambo was NOT fighting for what became the Taliban. Rambo Meets a man named Masoud, the wise leader of the Mujahadeen who are fighting the Soviets. This character was named after a notable Mujahadeen commander of the Northern Alliance, Ahmad Shah Massoud, who fought against both the Taliban & Al Qaeda. Massoud warned the Euro leaders about Bin Laden and was assassinated by Al Qaeda on September 9, 2001, two days before the September 11th Attack. My ranking of the Rambo movies is as follows: First Blood, Rambo IV, Last Blood, Rambo III and Rambo II. Only the first two are great, but the other three have their points of interest for action/adventure fans. The film runs 1 hour, 42 minutes, and was shot in Chiang Mai, Thailand; Arizona; and Israel. GRADE: B-/C+
CinemaSerf2023-01-07
★ 5/10
The expression "flogging a dead horse" comes to mind with this unnecessary and unremarkable trequel. This time our reclusive, eponymous, hero (Sylvester Stallone) has to relocate from idyllic Thailand to war-torn Afghanistan - amidst the Soviet invasion! Why? Well his erstwhile CO "Trautman" (Richard Crenna) has managed to get himself captured whilst leading a covert operation to supply some tribal rebels. "Rambo" has to get his skates on, though, because Uncle Sam is denying all knowledge of this clandestine operation and chances are that the prisoner won't last very long under the tender mercies of "Zaysen" (Marc de Jonge - presumably, Steven Berkoff was busy?). There is plenty of traditional action, loads of pyrotechnics and firefights but the plot is predictable - almost propagandist; the dialogue really rather banal and the whole thing seems to be little more than a stop-gap enterprise to keep the franchise momentum going while Stallone and the team concoct something more substantial for the next outing. It's not unwatchable, but it's pretty forgettable afterwards.