(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
He might have reduced to little more than a single-word catchphrase in recent years, but the career of Owen Wilson has been long and multi-faceted.
While best known for his work in the comedy realm, through films like Zoolander and The Wedding Crashers, Wilson has also done some more serious work. And, of course, he’s a favourite of Wes Anderson, having worked with the director on his very first feature film, Bottle Rocket, and has appeared in a large majority of the auteur’s work.
One genre you wouldn’t immediately associate Wilson with, though, is action. It’s hard to picture the blonde-haired funnyman chasing somebody down with a gun or crashing through a wall in a supercar, but he’s not totally unfamiliar with the art. Whilst they had a comedic edge to them, the ‘Shanghai’ series he did with Jackie Chan undeniably contains action elements. He’s also appeared in some legitimate shoot ‘em ups, such as John Moore’s Behind Enemy Lines and John Erick Dowdle’s No Escape.
All of this makes him more qualified to discuss action movies than you might think. When Rotten Tomatoes asked the star for some of his favourite films, he came straight out of the gate with an absolute classic – the late Ted Kotcheff’s 1982 post-Vietnam war extravaganza, First Blood.
“I remember going to see it with my brothers and a friend and we loved it so much we went back the next day and saw it. I think it was just incredible,” he revealed. “It had kind of a great sort of beginning with Brian Dennehy. He kind of picks up Stallone, Rambo, and he’s like, ‘Here, let me give you a ride to the edge of town.’ And Rambo’s like, ‘I’m not bothering anybody. I’m just walking.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, we don’t want any trouble here, and let me just give you a ride and we’ll just drop you off here.’ And he drops him off and then is turning and he’s driving back, and he’s looks in the rearview mirror, and there’s Rambo’s turned and walking back into town”.
Wilson added: “It’s just a great kind of existential hero because why couldn’t he have just walked through that town? Why did that sheriff have to pick him up and kick him out of town, because he wasn’t bothering anybody?”
First Blood, based on the David Morrell novel of the same name, is the first film to feature Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo. It has been championed not only for its compelling action sequences but also for its framing of the lead character as a PTSD sufferer. It’s not all storms of bullets and big explosions, although there’s plenty of those too if that’s your thing.
Not everyone is a fan, mind you. Stallone himself once called it “overblown”, while some critics argue that Rambo confronting his past happens way too late in the narrative. There’s also the fact that it spawned four sequels, with each one getting further and further away from the nuance of the original.
It might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but First Blood clearly has a special place in Owen Wilson’s heart. If Stallone ever wanted to hand over the reins of the franchise to somebody new, then people would surely pay good money to watch Wilson mowing down police officers, ‘Wow’-ing all the while.
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