Before anyone says “The confirmation of the Gulf of Tonkin conspiracy proves the POW conspiracy is also true” or some other nonsense, please recognize that what you are really saying is “This historical event with a tremendous amount of evidence and admitted by the perpetrators themselves is as valid as a theory without any tangible evidence.” The reason you think the Vietnam War was justified by the Tonkin incident and that POW's are still waiting to be rescued in Vietnam is because of state propaganda. That's the commonality. Not the vague concept of “conspiracy” in the abstract. POW's remaining in Vietnam post-war is the state lie - not the opposite. The state tried to make you think of unrecovered bodies as prisoners. The “conspiracy” is the opposite of what conspiracy theorists believe. Use your head, please.
@jackskellingtonation4 жыл бұрын
Hollywood, just another arm of the military industrial complex.
@CorbCorbin4 жыл бұрын
I often have to explain some of these themes from the 80s Rambo movies, and often get a reply about Schwarzenegger doing their same thing. The one man army action films, may be similar, but Schwarzenegger has only fought generic enemies in most of his films, with the unarmed Dictator in Commando, or the terrorists in True Lies, being the closest to it. Chuck Norris and Stallone were fighting a specific country, and their alleged puppet(Russia), while also spinning that conspiracy of captive prisoners a decade after the war in Vietnam. I remember having arguments with kids about POWs still being in Vietnam, after I had read many books on the conflict and articles written about the conspiracies. None had any proof, nor did they ever feel it needed any, because for many 80’s kids, this idea was planted early and was told in many films, and TV shows such as Magnum P.I., which even had an old Russian adversary for a villain. Where I lived my school looked like a George Bush volunteer center. The city was so Red, that I only remember 2 teachers who weren’t actively talking about him and how important the election was, or very proud republicans. So many of those kids I grew up with just believed anything an “authority figure” told them.
@burnttoast1114 жыл бұрын
@@jackskellingtonation It *can* be, and it is required for the US military to co-operate with filmmakers. If you see a movie with real US military equipment - warplanes, etc, you can know that the US military approved the script first.
@thegrievancegordieshow98824 жыл бұрын
Renegade Cut pow is an appeal to emotion- Kris of trineday revealed the drug angle yet we know several other ops were activated Popeye & Phoenix as well as a cottage industry including both sides of a manufactured dialectic- Jim Morrison family served as both a catalyst and remedy- culture creation perfected
@bretth13854 жыл бұрын
Awesome critique but where’s Chuck Norris and the missing in action crapfest? I grew up in the 90s and watched a ton of 80s action movies as a kid, chuck’s movies left in an impression for me because of how good evil they made Vietnam seem.
@baochi4563 жыл бұрын
I'm Viet, as someone who came from a family with a long history of fightting for the Vietminh, I'd like to quote my grandfather - a tank driver "I hate the US goverment, but not the people, they were just drafted to go a war in a strange country, I forgave them but I shall never forget what they have done".
@SonofSethoitae4 жыл бұрын
Something that isn't brought up much when people discuss the American failure in Vietnam is how the Viet Minh had existed in some form since the 1920s or so. There had been an anti-French insurgency since shortly after World War I, the OSS even supported them when they briefly resisted against the Japanese in WWII. The Viet Minh/Viet Cong were not some rag tag band of rebels bumbling around in the woods, they had been pretty well organized for years.
@hopedream114 жыл бұрын
There were OSS agents telling the State Department to support Ho Chi Minh but muh communism overruled all rational thought.
@thisguyfromtherenaissance9344 жыл бұрын
This is popular stance on the subject from American point of view. That it was just some crazy tarzans that shoot coconuts from trees xd. But still, America aside I dislike framing Viet minh as just a victim. Totalitarian communism in vietnam is problem to this day, even if in a completely different form than in China or in Soviet Russia
@zenosAnalytic4 жыл бұрын
yup. And not merely at a military lvl; the Viet Minh/Viet Cong had been deeply involved in political organizing, protest, local government, and civic services. They organized themselves as both an active opposition within the French colonial system, and an alternative government outside of it. Ken Burns's doc on Vietnam, somewhat inadvertently, manages to give probably the best sense of this available to mainstream US audiences just through its interviews with Viet Minh/Cong individuals.
@21Arrozito4 жыл бұрын
I think that N. Vietnam became more totalitarian the longer the war dragged on. It's like the US went after a wild animal under the fiction that it was a monster, but in pursuing it and fighting it, N. Vietnam slowly turned it into the monster they were after in the first place, and by that point the US didn't have the stomach for it. If they had just avoided the whole conflict in the first place I don't think N. Vietnam would have become so totalitarian. The best thing would have just been to not intervene at all.
@khango61384 жыл бұрын
@@21Arrozito Vietnamese here, and yeah I don't like my authoritarian government at all, but it wasn't supposed to. Ho Chi Minh actually wanted nothing to do with China, he hated them more than even the French, because China had a long history of invading us (at one point we were practically one of their provinces for 1 thousand years). Indeed, Vietnam and China did go to war just a few years after the Americans left
@JeevesAnthrozaurUS4 жыл бұрын
"We're trying to make this as realistic as possible" Said Sylvester Stallone about a movie where he plays the invincible God of Machine Guns and Explosions, Ares wearing a headband
@marianotorrespico29754 жыл бұрын
. . . and, in real life, Sylvester Stallone ran away, to avoid being drafted to fight the International Red Menace in Viet Nam; facts glossed over by TIME magazine when they reported about the movie star who spoke for combat vets.
@miya31264 жыл бұрын
Fuck stallone , i hope he bwcomw villain in next movie with horrible death
@1SaG4 жыл бұрын
Spitting at returning servicemen "at the airport" (Rambo's words from part 1). Took me a few years and an excellent Vietnam documentary to realize that this scenario itself is pretty much impossible. As a vet pointed out in that documentary, most (all?) servicemen didn't land at commercial airports when they returned home. Or at the very least wouldn't arrive like tourists at the airports they landed at. Where and how could those saliva-slinging protesters have gotten close to returning soldiers to be able to "spit at them at the airport"? Pretty sure the USAF don't let anti-war protesters (or any other random civilians) simply wander onto their airbases. Plus, as you've pointed out, the peace movement was all about "bringing the boys home" ... they were on the soldiers' side and, if anything, anti-government/anti-establishment. So why would they spit at regular soldiers, most of whom had been drafted and certainly hadn't gone to Vietnam "for kicks"?
@DeadlyAlienInvader4 жыл бұрын
And all this time, I was confused about those stories of vets getting spit on by protesters who wants them to return.
@nextabe14 жыл бұрын
This right here. This is one of those stories that adults would tell when you asked them about why the world is the way it is. The adults I grew up around, it turns out, all their world wisdom is full of shit. The really fucked up part, I can't be mad at them for lying, they don't realize that. But being gullible sacks of shit and going along with everything...
@jasminekelley10154 жыл бұрын
My stepfather has this whole story about he was spit on and a hippie stole his luggage. He punched the guy out and was taken to an examination room, where a mysterious man in a black suit let him off with a wink. That's not a joke. That's the story he tells over and over.
@98antoniogr4 жыл бұрын
What was the documentary? Ive been looking for a good vietnam war doc
@TryinaD4 жыл бұрын
Jasmine Kelley then that was a plant, hmm... still technically untrue
@UnhingedReport4 жыл бұрын
Right Wingers: "get politics out of movies!" Me: * points to Rambo * Them: "but how is that political!? It's not SJW!" Me: * face palm*
@edward29624 жыл бұрын
LOL! don't even bring up politics is superhero movies...
@CollinBuckman4 жыл бұрын
Didn't you hear? Media can only ever be "political" if it involves women and minorities in non-stereotypical roles!
@MrKenh634 жыл бұрын
And keep politics out of sports (as Trump takes a lap around the Daytona speedway in his limo).
@rafaelneumann83654 жыл бұрын
@@mickeyg7219 on the other hand, the more a superhero movie uses military assets the more jingoistic it is. Remember Iron Man and the narrative of "the only reason we are doing such a bad job of winning in the middle east is because they are stealing our high tech guns!"
@rodney2x484 жыл бұрын
Right wingers think that anything that isn’t conservative is political. They’re so stubborn and stuck in their ways that they don’t understand or see that ANYTHING can be political or say some kind of message.
@NihilTruth4 жыл бұрын
I do wonder if it's even possible for an American film to show the trauma of the Vietnamese victims of the war, at least not yet. Maybe fifty years or more from now, but even then... Speaking as a English woman, I know many people have pride in the British Empire's exploits throughout history, and that the idea that we were wrong in what we did is seen as offensive. The specter of the Empire still haunts us, drags us down with pride. Perhaps off topic, but I can't help but see parallels.
@ewokshoterz4 жыл бұрын
Very interesting comparison. Glad you shared
@kappadarwin94764 жыл бұрын
The documentaries do and many books on the subject on how America should have not gotten involved and if we did it would have been better to support Ho Chi because Ho Chi actual use to work in a bakery in Boston he understood America.
@anastasiageorge12794 жыл бұрын
you’re very right with the British empire exploits & the brutal reality of colonisation by the british as a nigerian, one of the many countries formerly part of the british empire
@shahsadsaadu58174 жыл бұрын
@@kappadarwin9476 oh he understood united States better than most white politicians then.he had an deep understanding of the situation of African Americans in US.
@fl00fydragon4 жыл бұрын
I believe that a childhood friend of mine made the best description for the rambo series: "It's war porn for conservatives."
@themensoguidetowar4 жыл бұрын
"We left a few women and children alive in Vietnam and we haven't felt good about ourselves since." - Carlin
@marianotorrespico29754 жыл бұрын
-- Too true.
@loganmansiongames4 жыл бұрын
RIP George Carlin you were 1 of my favorite comedians
@kietli33864 жыл бұрын
I cried everytime your country said they are good and they cared
@Tenebraeification3 жыл бұрын
Given how the warmongers and "humanitarians" are acting in America right now, they seem to regret not bombing Afghanistan into the neolithic time period like a pack of psychopaths. Any lessons that we could of learned, out the bloody window much like Vietnam.
@edward29624 жыл бұрын
I saw Rambo 2 in the theatre with my mom when it came out. She was actually disappointed that Rambo didn't kill the Brian Keith character at the end. Couple of other things...James Cameron wrote the original script for Rambo 2, but he's famous for saying that Stallone rewrote huge chunks of it, "The action is mine, but the politics are all Sly's." He said much of the psychological drama that Sly threw out, James used in Aliens. Also, they actually turned Rambo into a kid's cartoon cuz 80's.
@PancakemonsterFO44 жыл бұрын
So was the A-Team and Robocop
@edward29624 жыл бұрын
@@PancakemonsterFO4 That's a good mention! Robocop starts as a R-rated satire on corporatism, got turned into corporate merch for children!
@pbcoop624 жыл бұрын
That was Brian Dennehey
@kthx11384 жыл бұрын
In Rambo 2, that was Charles Napier as Murdock, not Brian Keith.
@dowdallerno14 жыл бұрын
Rambo the kids cartoon was class he had a flame thrower. I would love it to be remade, rambo would go in and bust up strikes assassinate anyone trying to start up a union.
@soiboi44974 жыл бұрын
Rambo is basically America looking itself in the mirror saying “you didn’t lose in Vietnam, you withdrew your troops, that’s not defeat technically. You don’t lose, you didn’t lose dammit😖”
@TitaniaBird4 жыл бұрын
11:38 Someone might've coined this statement before me, but I often say it: "Anything that does not support a conspiracy theory becomes a part of the conspiracy." And this is why it is so goddamn hard to shake the faith of anyone who believes in a conspiracy theory, no matter how far-fetched and disproven the theory is.
@eggtimrr5744 жыл бұрын
@@jaspervanheycop9722 "Who knows? But they're clearly hiding it for some reason." Thus the conspiracy is rendered unassailable. The reason for the conspiracy is naturally as hidden as the conspiracy itself. The only think I can think of is countering it with another conspiracy theory, that is to suggest that the original conspiracy is merely a smokescreen for another conspiracy, which it is.
@AliceOfSherwood4 жыл бұрын
US: Are we the baddies?
@CollinBuckman4 жыл бұрын
US: No, it's everyone else in the entire world who's wrong!
@nickathanas18984 жыл бұрын
The World: Kinda,yes.
@rivera2294 жыл бұрын
@@user-jn1wm3tb8v listen I know people like to talk shit about the United States and rightly so. But don't think for a moment the United States did nothing in World War 2. That is flat out ignorant and stupid.
@rubensneto90494 жыл бұрын
well yes, but actually depends
@AConnorDN384164 жыл бұрын
I kinda get the impression that the politics of the book may have been a bit different from the politics in the movie, First Blood. In the book, Rambo is a far less sympathetic character. Sure, you root for him because he is the protagonist and you see things through his perspective. But in the book, he actually murders one of the police officers when escaping the jail and his inner monologue reveals him to the reader as someone suffering from serious psychological issues who intentionally continues his clash with the town sheriff more out of preserving his own ego than anything else. There is also no monologue at the end where he talks about protesters. Rambo in the movie is sympathetic and heroic. Rambo in the book is a tragic character that causes mayhem because of the monster that war has turned him into. His character in the book is more similar to the antagonist in The Hunted, who is very clearly the bad guy, despite being kinda sympathetic.
@River_StGrey4 жыл бұрын
I never knew the 'spitting on servicemen' trope was a myth. I'd always heard it preached somewhat as a belief growing up.
@Gloomdrake4 жыл бұрын
I always thought it was about the US government just kinda dumping Vietnam veterans back into society, with no assistance at all.
@AConnorDN384164 жыл бұрын
I had a friend who was a Vietnam vet and people would often thank him for his service. He'd then say "things sure have changed from back in the day." Apparently, he believed this myth about servicemen being mistreated after Vietnam.
@edward29624 жыл бұрын
Same here. I've heard that since I was old enuff to know what Viet Nam was.
@creepyguy90824 жыл бұрын
I believe I somewhat remember reading from my U.S. History textbook in my Junior year of high school that the "spitting on servicemen" was not a myth and that it "did happen." I’m not too sure about it now, but learning recently how it was all a myth really put a distaste in my mouth.
@JeevesAnthrozaurUS4 жыл бұрын
This video is dedicated to the brave Mujaheddin fighters in Afghanistan
@vaquero1414 жыл бұрын
Jeeves Anthrozaur that is fake; there has been no version of the movie with this. There's a video out there that debunks this myth
@MAFion4 жыл бұрын
And then Frank Stallone sings a cover of The Hollies' "He Ain't Heavy, He's my Brother" (Rambo III end credits). Ah, propaganda!
@alanritchie78504 жыл бұрын
It was dedicated to "The gallant people of Afghanistan"
@SuperCarneBoy3 жыл бұрын
Big fucking oof
@rogue_asami45223 жыл бұрын
This has not aged well at all.
@RedMageUltra4 жыл бұрын
Didn’t know the “Peace Protestors Spitting on the Vets” was actually a myth. Puts a sour note on a movie I like. Great video though, looking forward to the next one as always
@TechExtremist694 жыл бұрын
Rambo is just “American exceptionalism, the movie”
@katherinemorelle71154 жыл бұрын
It’s funny (not really), but the “spitting on the Vietnam vets” myth even exists here in Australia. Just goes to show that Aussie governments need not come up with their own propaganda, just sit back and let the Yankee propaganda do their work for them.
@TheHeadbanger934 жыл бұрын
Somehow this makes the Simpsons episode "The Principal and the Pauper" all the more insidious as the "real" Seymour Skinner being a POW for decades in Vietnam perpetuates the myth of POW being trapped there.
@wdcain14 жыл бұрын
I've talked to Vietnam vets and the only instance of "civilian abuse" I heard of was one was demanded to leave a diner while wearing his uniform.
@joehodler4 жыл бұрын
“We promised this would not be another Vietnam. And we kept that promise. The specter of Vietnam has been buried forever in the desert sands of the Arabian Peninsula.” GHW Bush 1991
@toaofender4 жыл бұрын
This has one of the most concise explanations of why we went to war in Vietnam. Good job.
@crysispersists99724 жыл бұрын
My favorite film about the Vietnam War, that actually sees it from the point of view of the vietnamese, is Heaven and Earth. It's a great film to watch as a juxtaposition against Rambo. Also, please make a video about Top Gun and how it single handedly recruited scores of people into the airforce and maybe about to do it again.
@renegadecut98754 жыл бұрын
I'm sorry, but I don't take requests.
@edward29624 жыл бұрын
He did one about homoeroticism in 80-90's action movies and included a bit on Top Gun.
@sargentshadow4 жыл бұрын
Navy, Top Gun is navy. Not air force
@tetepalma5684 жыл бұрын
Uncle Ho will live for ever, in the struggle of people!!!
@ricmahurin75354 жыл бұрын
I always liked the first Rambo. I think it's a great movie by Stallone. your takedown of the second film is spot on. Conservative 80s propaganda.
@1SaG4 жыл бұрын
The book is better ... and has a pretty different message than the movie. Stallone's big speech at the end of part 1 makes that film cringe-worthy for me these days.
@jado963 жыл бұрын
"Your empire is now like a tyranny: it may have been wrong to take it; it is certainly dangerous to let it go."
@Eunacis4 жыл бұрын
This is our "Stab in the Back Myth"
@michaelswanson96894 жыл бұрын
I had no clue the POW/MIA flag is literally promoting an ahistorical conspiracy. Excellent essay.
@caseytune64334 жыл бұрын
The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now and Platoon are all great films. Even if they do only show one side of the conflict, they all have some unique things to say about the conflict and those involved. And they speak some truth about how stupid The war was. And then there’s Rambo... a film that is only full of slightly less crap then John Wayne’s The Green Berets (*gag*). Wonder how some people don’t see the obvious political allegory. Maybe their distracted by all the big explosions.
@noirto24 жыл бұрын
sadly for all the conservative call out about Hollywood liberal elite pushing political messages, they still cheer leader hollywood elite when it suit them.
@gregorybertrand6454 жыл бұрын
Hamburger Hill is a good one too, just saw that one the other week.
@melrakan4 жыл бұрын
Not only was the spitting on servicemen an urban legend, it was obviously an intentional, hand-crafted piece of propaganda meant to discredit the peace movement.
@Gloomdrake4 жыл бұрын
A lot of Americans these days think Vietnam was a victory
@ryanpyle98224 жыл бұрын
It was a victory, the goal was to destroy Vietnam then leave. Chomsky talks about it
@averytruffelmen62304 жыл бұрын
who? I've never encountered these people. but then again, I live in a very progressive leaning place.
@Cursed_Mark4 жыл бұрын
Otto: "We did not lose Vietnam. It was a tie!"
@blackromulan4 жыл бұрын
@@ryanpyle9822 thank you very much for making me look that Chomsky tidbit up, bro; sincerely. Here's the video (see video timestamp 41:29): kzbin.info/www/bejne/bmO7c6ClZcZpqJY
@thusspoke084 жыл бұрын
@@mickeyg7219 very cool millenials!
@charlesgallagher18764 жыл бұрын
I love the videos you do, sometimes they are uncomfortable as they make me face my lazy thinking.
@meghanjean26244 жыл бұрын
Did you read about (or hear, I heard it on 99% Invivisble) the fact that the "unknown soldier" placed in the Tomb of the Unknown to represent the VIetnam War was in fact totally known, but the government wanted the show of adding a body to the tomb so they didn't tell his family what had happened to him for decades?
@RADIOSUlClDl04 жыл бұрын
How about the Missing in Action trilogy, those are almost like an advertisement for "Vietnam 2"
@sethwiseman10174 жыл бұрын
I think the first two missing in Action films are far better then Rambo 2 and 3.
@archibaldocruz45614 жыл бұрын
It wasn't just propaganda to the Americans but also to the world.
@mitchclark15324 жыл бұрын
Amazing video. The historical and modern context you add to your videos makes them timeless.
@AlexCab_494 жыл бұрын
I have a theory: during the events of first blood, rambo was critically wounded during his standoff with the police at the roof of the police station and was put in a coma and afterward the events of the other rambo movies were all just a coma dream because in real life a lone soldier would be unable to take down the entire soviet or vietnamese army.
@marianotorrespico29754 жыл бұрын
--- You are too kind; excellent allusion to Ambrose Bierce. Thanks.
@michealforguson53172 жыл бұрын
You want to know something funny about that idea? In the book that the Rambo film, the first one, is based off of. Well....Rambo dies at the end. There are no sequels of books, at all. So it's actually quite plausible that idea could be true.
@trekjudas4 жыл бұрын
The 80s was all about propaganda films!
@evilnet14 жыл бұрын
The 2000s and 2010s as well: London has fallen, American sniper, etc.
@dowdallerno14 жыл бұрын
Black hawk down is a grotesque propaganda movie.
@loganmansiongames4 жыл бұрын
Well not all films in the 80s where right wing Propoganda Full metal jacket was a satire on Vietnam, Terminator was a critique on the military industry & corporatism, Robocop was a satire on Corporatism & Violence with the police like it didn't take it's self too seriously, The Star Wars Sequels (including the Ewok Movies) where critiques on Vietnam where the Rebels were the Vietmanese, The Empire were the Americans & Palpatine was Nixon, Indiana Jones is about Stopping Nazis from invading areas & Stealing treasures (Mostly because Steven Spielberg was Jewish & his Dad fought in WW2), They Live calls out the Bull$hit with Ronald Reagan same with Escape from New York you could also say That She-Ra was an anti Imperialism show (Although the Netflix Reboot did a better job with this especially with its pro LGBTQ+ themes) & Etc so the 80s had leftist/liberal (Maybe liberalism IDK) & not just right wing or far right movies/show but I get what you mean.
@tipulsar854 жыл бұрын
On a related note to Rambo 3, I do wonder what would have happened had we helped rebuild Afghanistan after the end of the Soviet pull out. For those wondering where this comment comes from, look up Charlie Wilson's War which is about the covert helping of the Afghan resistance.
@marianotorrespico29754 жыл бұрын
--- No, you are wrong; Mr. Wilson's war was about personal profit, not about helping Afghanistan.
@alanritchie78504 жыл бұрын
@@marianotorrespico2975 can you explain?
@melvinbelte34 Жыл бұрын
You would have fucked the country the same way you did Iraq
@LastOneLeft994 жыл бұрын
I was a military brat and when I was growing up in the 80s Rambo movies were crazy popular on the base. I even had the toys and the videogame.
@richardlegrand46974 жыл бұрын
Weird to see Stallone use words like " pertinent" and " validity" on set while still shirtless and wearing his badass headband
@IllusionistsBane4 жыл бұрын
"We're going to win this time." Sounds like, "It will be different this time."
@sirkowski4 жыл бұрын
I think there is one scene in Rambo 3 where Trautman says to the Soviet commander that Afghanistan will be their Vietnam.
@politicalnerdV4 жыл бұрын
It's fascinating to compare this to Watchmen, where the US does win Vietnam but that just makes things worse.
@marianotorrespico29754 жыл бұрын
--- Correct, because victory in and against Viet Nam is merely an extension of the U.S. slave-state preserved by HRH Richard the Nixon, King of the World.
@GushuGoblin4 жыл бұрын
This was great, would love to see you cover the very odd US media framing of our intervention in Yugoslavia
@greglong71704 жыл бұрын
I really love your work. Makes me want to do my own videos that focus on such things from a black POV.
@marianotorrespico29754 жыл бұрын
--- Excellent idea. I look forward to such a perspective of U.S. imperialism.
@sociallyineptspider-man23664 жыл бұрын
Are we the baddies
@Namkify4 жыл бұрын
You havn't been listening to cominform propaganda. Of course they're gonna say we're the bad guys!
@cthompson19764 жыл бұрын
@@Namkify Come on wake up America has always been the bad guy and History proves it...look on how the so called nation began,with an act of genocide kmt
@Planag74 жыл бұрын
Thank you again for this amazing video series. Honestly I thought you would include that last horrible travesty of a movie as well (last blood) I ended up feeling rather sick at the end of watching that... For both the message and the first being all over the place with quality.
@shanemccoy424 жыл бұрын
* sees this * * automatically thumbs up before watching 5 seconds of the video *
@gabe60984 жыл бұрын
You went in on this one. Good shit man
@whimsicalhamster884 жыл бұрын
I totally forgot that Rambo helped start the Taliban.
@darimiwamubarak4 жыл бұрын
The Mujahideens are not the Taliban.
@jamesmeow30394 жыл бұрын
@@darimiwamubarak they're kinda linked tho
@EndoQuickness4 жыл бұрын
al qaeda
@Curttehmurt4 жыл бұрын
I took a science fiction course at Rutgers University that was taught by H Bruce Franklin, he was a cool dude
@petermulder74808 ай бұрын
RAMBO 2 was the BIGGEST thing in 1985 Cinemas, Worldwide people loved it.
@ArsFilmandi4 жыл бұрын
I'm 1000% certain I had subbed to this channel and rung the bell. And yet, I had be notified on facebook about this new video only to find out I had magically been unsubbed.
@Syurtpiutha4 жыл бұрын
Thanks for the in-depth analysis, Leon. I had always thought the spitting on soldiers was something that had happened once or twice despite never having seen footage of it. It seemed a lot more likely than the monk burning himself alive. So perfect example of cultural osmosis, I guess. The image having been used so much I kinda assumed it was based in fact. It's been over 20 years since I last saw the First Blood films, always though the first one was the best (2&3 always seemed off to me as a kid, didn't have the frame of reference for it, but in the first one the conflict is foisted on Rambo and he is more of an underdog I guess). I doubt I'll ever revisit the films though.
@kzinful4 жыл бұрын
Also under King Reagan, our only military victory since WWII ( and that was mostly the Russians as our Allies, ironic isn't it ) was the heroic rescue of medical students on the island of Grenada. Eastwood was in a movie about it, yes, Clint, Speaker To Empty Chairs, who served bravely as a lifeguard while screwing the base commander's daughter. I'll end with this: remember Lee Marvin ( The Dirty Dozen, etc. ) he was wounded in the Pacific Campaign and was haunted by the deaths of his fellow Marines because he wasn't there. Lee was also one of the Biggest Liberals in Hollywood, I always smile when Rush rants on about 'Liberal Hollywood', I picture Lee in my mind. Excellent analysis of what Rambo truly represents.
@LogicGated2 жыл бұрын
Loved the historical perspective you gave.
@joncoda3654 жыл бұрын
So Rambo helped the Taliban?
@CumpasFilms4 жыл бұрын
the US created it.
@1SaG4 жыл бұрын
"Dedicated to the gallant Mudjahideen fighters" ... according to the end-credits. Yeah... that line didn't age well ... :D i.redd.it/5whaj2kr4wi31.jpg
@aaronbourque54944 жыл бұрын
The mujahideen of the 70s and 80s were succeeded by the Taliban, who kinda hate their predecessors.
@renegadecut98754 жыл бұрын
The "dedicated to the mujahideen" thing is a myth. Photoshop. Mandella effect. It was always "gallant people of Afghanistan" at the end.
@1SaG4 жыл бұрын
@@renegadecut9875 Funny. The "people" quote is what I thought I remembered and had it typed in my response before I edited it. Then I googled the dedication, found the pic and thought I had mis-remembered or that the production company had perhaps altered the dedication. Turns out I was wrong, thanks for pointing that out. :)
@corylarsen57884 жыл бұрын
Thanks for another great video. I really appreciate how you go through movies (especially older ones). It is fascinating how Hollywood is supposed to be against traditional values but so many support government propaganda and conservative values
@marianotorrespico29754 жыл бұрын
--- Correct, because most folk deliberately ignore that "Hollywood" is a business, nothing more.
@jodrano93564 жыл бұрын
I love Rambo, but this is great.
@chickrepelant4 жыл бұрын
I feel like we’re going thru a worse version of Reagan + Nixon right now.
@marianotorrespico29754 жыл бұрын
Correct; with the draft-dodging dullard Donald Trump, we are living in Nixon's police-state 'Murica, with Reagan's honest-guy racism, and Joe McCarthy's forked tongue defining who is 'Murican and who is American.
@420Slaterson4 жыл бұрын
The Rambo movies are fun but yeah I've never had any illusion about what they are
@timephire4 жыл бұрын
And Hollywood hasn't change til this day.
@Chicago_Podcast_Authority4 жыл бұрын
Preach it brother 👏🏻
@LeftyPlaat4 жыл бұрын
thanks for this; Us under 40 lefties didn't grow up with this stuff so we need to be able to refrence and counter the media our elders or gen xer's know. I will wait when I can tell a liberal or righter 'you didn't win this time'
@ToastyJunebugs4 жыл бұрын
The name 'First Blood: Part II" is so weird.
@bornjusticerule57644 жыл бұрын
14:51 - getting swole 😂😆🤣😁😅😄😃😀
@Wongwrangler644 жыл бұрын
Take my comment as tribute oh great algorythmo bless this channel with your dark powers!
@falkiewi4 жыл бұрын
I can only recommend Bao Ninh's The Sorrow of War for a vietnamese perspective.
@CiastoToKlamstwo4 жыл бұрын
If I remember correctly there was a Chuck Norris movie, where he goes to Vietnam after the war to recover the lost PoWs
@petermulder74804 жыл бұрын
....the voice changed!!!! I cant sleep no more...
@NEELSAN764 жыл бұрын
Great vid! Good job 👍
@smjaiteh4 жыл бұрын
Commenting before I watched the video, but I'll say this: First Blood is a great movie. The Rambo sequels are kind of offensive and garbage. Here's hoping I don't feel shame watching this! 🙏
@Gloomdrake4 жыл бұрын
Let us know
@AConnorDN384164 жыл бұрын
I don't think you need to be ashamed of enjoying a movie with some problematic elements XD if so, I'd have to be ashamed of many of my favorite movies...
@smjaiteh4 жыл бұрын
@@Gloomdrake It did a bit. 🙁 Mainly the realization that the sympathy I feel towards Rambo's mistreatment by the society he came back to was really uncommon, and kind of misdirects the guilt of Vietnam towards the civilians dissatisfied with it, instead of the government that should have never been there in the first place.
@bornjusticerule57644 жыл бұрын
18:54 - is Perfection.
@sparkpenguin4 жыл бұрын
if they didn't spit on him back in his homeland, did gloria even send him pictures of his boy?? IS EVERYTHING A LIE also, i had lumped the first rambo in with the others based on my early memories of them, and how i learned about the cultural impact of the movies growing up... which really makes me want to rewatch the first one (or read the book, as the comments seem to talk it about it having an even more different message than any of the movies.) this was one of those videos that put... into very real terms which would stand in a discussion, something i'd just always felt i'd 'known' about right wing propaganda in the 80s. i enjoyed it, thank you very much and nice work
@Horrorfreak1064 жыл бұрын
I'm always conflicted because I recognize that the Rambo movies are really problematic, but I can't also help but be sort of entertained by them. I'd be interesting to hear what you or others think about liking problematic things, knowing that they are problematic.
@caseytune64334 жыл бұрын
I love Gone With the Wind. It’s a brilliant movie. But as we should all recognize, it’s depiction of slavery is problematic as all get out!!! It’s place in movie history is undeniable and it is very good overall. It’s okay to like something but completely ignoring problematic things about them is a disservice to those the movie misrepresents. At least that’s my thought. Oh and that marital rape scene hasn’t aged well either.
@MrKenh634 жыл бұрын
I grew up watching John Wayne movies in the seventies. I think I was about eight the first time I saw "The Green Berets". I was two young at the time to realize it was just propaganda. For Much of my life he was my favorite actor. As I got older not only did I come to understand how conservative he was but later saw some old racist quotes from him about African Americans and Native Americans. I still have to deal with some mixed emotions about how horrible his politics were but still love some of his films.
@MindEyeMediaVR4 жыл бұрын
For what it's worth, this is why I always cringe whenever someone mentions how Jim Cameron's Aliens (1986) was supposed to be an allegory of the Vietnam war. Aliens clearly cashed in on Hollywood's Vietnam revisionism of the '80s, but it doesn't reflect a genuine understanding of the war at all.
@alanritchie78504 жыл бұрын
Yeah having the opponents be hideous monsters that lack eyes and kill by tearing humans apart is probably not the best way to portray Vietnam allegorically.
@Electro219644 жыл бұрын
It'd be a cool twist if the Xenomorphs were only doing what they do in order to avoid extinction by the human industrial complex.
@DamonCart4 жыл бұрын
Very smart. Well done.
@Superman309704 жыл бұрын
I love the sovietwave music in the background
@1997residente4 жыл бұрын
Cannot hate Rambo II. It's Apocalypse now meets raiders of the lost ark. Cannot hate Rambo III. It's Lawrence of Arabia meets Last crusade. Cannot not hate Rambo IV and V,though
@neutronpixie61064 жыл бұрын
Even John Rambo can't escape police brutality in America.
@jeanhartely4 жыл бұрын
Maybe I'm just snotty, but I'm always vaguely surprised when Sylvester Stallone uses multi-syllabic words like "pertinent" and "validity".
@Owesomasaurus4 жыл бұрын
Any chance of a follow up on the 4th and 5th movies? 5 especially is just... yikes.
@93MANIAC4 жыл бұрын
Are you going to make a video about the two newer Rambo films ?
@persononyoutube4614 жыл бұрын
Where did your 'Inland Empire' video go? I watched it the other day ):
@renegadecut98754 жыл бұрын
My old work was mostly bad, and every so often, I go through my early videos and set them to private because I'm unhappy with the conclusions I reached or the research sources. I did that to about a dozen or so videos the other day. If I wanted it available, it would be available. I will not be changing my mind.
@persononyoutube4614 жыл бұрын
@@renegadecut9875 Thank you for clarifying! Loved this video btw, keep up the good work
@edenyates82954 жыл бұрын
good video
@herkles14 жыл бұрын
I wonder if there are any hollywood vietnam movies from the vietnamese perspective.
@unclelou48394 жыл бұрын
Well done.
@Splattle1013 жыл бұрын
I have a vague recollection of reading the novel of First Blood in the mid 1980s. If I recall correctly, Rambo dies in the novel. His old commanding officer comes in to talk him down, and then blows his brains out as a sort of mercy killing. I preferred that version.
@lepmuhangpa3 жыл бұрын
Completely true.
@fluffywolfo36634 жыл бұрын
8:26 It even appears in The Simpsons.
@SuddenJeff4 жыл бұрын
I'm a little surprised that you didn't end with a clip from the Rambo cartoon.
@TheBreadB4 жыл бұрын
You should definitely watch the new DC Harley Quinn cartoon when it's done!
@MindEyeMediaVR4 жыл бұрын
Fan edit challenge: Make a deepfake edition of Rambo: First Blood II with Ronald Reagan's face on Stallone's body.
@jamesthompson30234 жыл бұрын
what would be the advantage of the vc holding these pows ?
@ZImpresive4 жыл бұрын
My GFs Grandfather was also a Vietnam Vet, but he doesn't get a military discount. I guess people don't like winners any more, Sad.
@CeciShaw4 жыл бұрын
Thank you!
@TheMFTRUTH4 жыл бұрын
Refreshing
@awlomthesheepermen4 жыл бұрын
THE POW FLAG THING IS ABIUT THE VIETNAM WAR!!! tbh I didn’t know anything about it