About Teasel running him out of town…
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HalRagland — 10 years ago(September 17, 2015 02:36 PM)
I haven't read the book, but it seems to me that the makers of the film are quick to set up the Teasle_Rambo confrontation in the interest of story pacing. They could have made Teasle look a little more reasonable at the beginning and it wouldn't have added more than 10 minutes running time to a film that clocks in at 93 minutes from beginning to end.
This is film making and the makers want the local law enforcement leadership to appear beyond redemption. Dennehy and Starett are very good as the stereotypical stadistic local bad cops, with a young David Caruso as the good cop trying to reason with his bullying superiors. -
Balboasaurus — 11 years ago(August 09, 2014 09:54 PM)
Teasle was a terrible cop. What happened to "to serve and protect"? Rambo did not cause any trouble. He didn't come into town, and then proceed to harass the women, or pick up fights in a coffee shop.
If the town had had trouble with drifters before, all Teasle had to do was offer to sit with Rambo for a nice breakfast; the man sure needed the company, especially from a fellow protector of the people, and former military. The sheriff didn't show the slightest compassion, or courtesy to Rambo. The saddest part is not none of the deputies stoop up to him. But, the Sheriff sure remembered and sermonized about "the law" to Col. Trautman. -
rascal67 — 11 years ago(August 15, 2014 12:47 AM)
..give me a break with all the posters that proclaim self righteous indignation of the unfairness of Teasel running Rambo out of town. He point bank tells Rambo why is is doing what he doing in the car ride.
Teasle was doing his job the wrong way. He judged and harassed Rambo, even before he had time to sit down and put a cup of coffee to his lips. He could have at least waited until there was a complaint. Rambo could have even become a useful citizen of the town. Going by the corrupt and cruel nature of the cops, I would say that they were just barely on the right side of the law themselves.
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avortac — 11 years ago(September 20, 2014 07:39 PM)
You have to let the dog sniff you - that calms him down. Otherwise, he will think there's something wrong with you, and is suspicious of you and may start barking and exhibiting irritating and even dangerous behaviour.
But once the owner relaxes the leash and lets the dog freely sniff you, the dog calms down, and there won't be any problems.
This same principle would have applied in the movie (and the book).
If the cop would have just let the bum freely buy some food and lodging, he would have remained calm, and soon be on his way - it wasn't as if the bum was going to stay permanently and make the boring town his home. He wasn't going to be trouble or start a criminal career there. He wasn't going to buy a house and start farming (and even if he had, what'd be the harm in that?).
So what, what kind of clothes he wears, how often he showers, how often he shaves or what style of hair he wears? What's the big deal, as long as he BEHAVES well?
The subtext of the movie was of course that he had been driven out of so many towns, that the 'veteran' murderer was sick and tired of being treated that way (basically, unfairly, unjustly and discriminatorily, especially since he expected to be rewarded from his cruelty and sins against humanity in the war, instead people saw that the emperor was naked, indeed, and treated him accordingly), and THIS TIME, he was going to make a stand, because otherwise, it would NEVER change.
He didn't want to continuously just go from town to town, just to be driven out (for some reason, he never considered a shave, a shower, and to use a flagless, non-military-looking jacket - I mean, why BROADCAST what you are, and then get pissed off when people treat you like what you look like?) over and over again, for all eternity.
He wanted to stop somewhere and get some food and rest, especially after 'serving' the 'country' he 'loves' by murdering and slaughtering innocent human beings by the masses.
The cop wasn't acting like a peace officer, or even like a policy enforcer - he was acting like an unlawful thug, who thinks he owns the town and can do anything to other people with impunity.
The cop didn't respect, protect or uphold the bum's rights, but instead, violated against them.
Plus, hiking another how-many-miles-was-it, probably wasn't a pleasant thought in the rain, at that point, when he had already walked for who-knows-how-many-miles.
(Apparently buses don't run in or through the town, and taxi cabs don't exist)
Teasle was superficially wrong. But he was definitely karmically right - you want to be a murderer? Stay away from decent people. Teasle should've incarcerated him for the murders he did under the 'military' guise during the war - a murder is a murder, no matter where you commit it, what you are wearing while committing it, or who orders you to commit it. You are still a murderer, no matter how you try to rationalize it.
Law is law for everyone in every situation, there are no exceptions.
(Acts and statutes are different, they can differ - but they are not the law)
Also, instead of asking: "Is there any law against me getting something here?" (or whatever he said, I am paraphrasing from memory), he could have said: "I will do whatever you say, anything you demand, as long as you first prove to me
that I am obliged to do it." - That's CONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE, which means that there is no dispute, and you are not in dishonor for disobeying something, because you ACCEPTED (not REJECTED), and you are not being silent, or saying a simple 'yes' to his demands, because you have conditions attached. It's very powerful)
The cop would have to then PROVE that he has the right to boss him around, which, he of course cannot do. So he has no leg to stand on, and has to let him do whatever he pleases (or he would face a firestorm in a court - that is, if the court is fair, which it probably wouldn't have been anyway).
In addition to this, the bum could actually BILL the cop for every injustice and perversion of law, every unreasonable command given, and especially every physical touching / violence he has to endure in his hands. Like, let's say 20 000 dollars per punch or a hit, and of course 5000 dollars per wasted hour for his time.
After the cops would have to pay a 50000 bill to the bum, who could then of course live very lavishly with that money in their boring, little town, the cop would think twice before attempting another unlawful arrest again. At least of Rambo.
But I guess this is not that kind of a movie (or a book), and Rambo is supposed to be a bit clueless and mentally unstable because of the war. In the book, he is a real psycho, although so is Teasle, and the ending is surreal and a bit weird - and in some way, disturbing. The movie ending is actually better.
P.S. It's not TEASEL, it's TEASLE. Try to learn to spend a few seconds looking at the names before attempting to write them, if you are an 'american typoist'.
http://americantypo.site11.com/typos -
witster18 — 11 years ago(February 23, 2015 11:38 AM)
only issue is that Rambo wasn't being a nuisance! not doing anything accept walking. he didn't even ask for food, he asked for a place to eat(to which he was told there was a diner 30 miles out of town), then he was tortured FOR WALKING there are no points in this film where rambo is a "nuisance" none. There can be problems with bums being a nuisance, turning around asking everyone that passes for money in places where their presence may hurt the business etc, but none of that applies to the opening scene of first blood. none of it.
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baratheveggie — 10 years ago(August 29, 2015 06:26 PM)
I read somewhere that in the book Teasle is behaving towards Rambo the way he is behaving because he was himself a veteran but of Korean war that didn't get much media or cultural coverage compared to Vietnam war. Nobody speaks about Korean war and yet everyone in the world knows about Vietnam and what a disaster it was. I guess Teasle doesn't like that fact, even though Vietnam veterans got a lot of hate, he's still jealous his war evaded the history spotlight.
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barttp — 9 years ago(December 01, 2016 08:24 PM)
I even heard Stallone himself saying once in an interview that Teasle's attitude towards Rambo had nothing to do with Rambo being a vagrant, that it was only "the war of wars" and he was trying to show Rambo that "my war was better than yours".
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ArthurDental — 10 years ago(September 02, 2015 04:46 PM)
So you saw a bunch of hypocritical hipsters (that's why they're hipsters, genius) and that means Teasel is not a complete maniac.
Typical backwater small-town minds.
No wonder you guys (I'm not talking about small-town folks here) are beating up and shooting innocent black people left and right. -
franco_xxl — 10 years ago(September 07, 2015 08:51 AM)
Well, I don't condone the way Teasel handled the situation in general.
But to be honest, it's only the first car ride out of town that is the real crime, after that the situation just escalates in a way to a point of no return- Teasel is being an a**hole for driving him out of town, because he can "feel" that Rambo is trouble.
This is where he went wrong. - Rambo walks back towards town He's refusing to follow a police officers order. Teasle might be an a-hole, but he's still a police officer.
- Rambo is resisting arrest, not violently, but still resisting.
- Teasle pulls out a huge Knife from the back of Rambos pants, that he uses for "hunting".
Stop to think about it. At this point, any police officer; good, bad, corrupted or valiant would probably think, "oh, I think I just did a good job. This guy IS trouble". - At the station, Rambo is refusing to get his finger prints taken.
- Galt (not Teasel!) is abusing Rambo in the shower. "clean him up".
- Galt, Mitch and Ward is going to give the man a shave before court, which trigger torture-flashback and, well, there we go
Galt is the biggest prick in the story. While Teasel might behave like an ahole towards Rambo, at least he does it because he feels it's for the best of his town. Galt though, is a sadistic prick that physically and mentaly abuses a prisoner, that even his younger colleagues can see "is crazy".
There is no way that Teasel could've handled point 2-5 in another way than he did It all started with him driving him out of town, which - while being an ahole - was a call he made. Right or wrong.
What if he'd let him into town, and later that night, two locals were gutted in a bar fight over a flag on a jacket?
I kick a s s for the lord.
- Teasel is being an a**hole for driving him out of town, because he can "feel" that Rambo is trouble.
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trenchcoatwizard — 9 years ago(September 06, 2016 06:51 PM)
- Rambo walks back towards town He's refusing to follow a police officers order. Teasle might be an a-hole, but he's still a police officer.
Rambo has no moral or legal obligation to follow his orders. It is only illegal to knowingly refuse to follow a lawful order, as given by a police officer, and Teasle has no legal power to tell Rambo that he cannot enter the town.
"No man yet found drinks his tea blacker"
- Rambo walks back towards town He's refusing to follow a police officers order. Teasle might be an a-hole, but he's still a police officer.
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CrazyJim2004 — 9 years ago(January 30, 2017 04:47 PM)
But to be honest, it's only the first car ride out of town that is the real crime, after that the situation just escalates in a way to a point of no return
No, nearly everything shown from when they meet to when Rambo escapes the jail is blatant illegal use of power by Teasle and his department.
2) Rambo walks back towards town He's refusing to follow a police officers order. Teasle might be an a-hole, but he's still a police officer.
Refusing to follow an officer's order is not in itself illegal if the order violates the suspect's rights. In this case, prohibiting someone from entering public property without legal grounds do so is extremely illegal, like losing your badge and possibly serving prison time kind of illegal.
Stop to think about it. At this point, any police officer; good, bad, corrupted or valiant would probably think, "oh, I think I just did a good job. This guy IS trouble".
That's horrible, corrupted logic. If I randomly run over somebody with my car and it is later revealed that they were planning to rob a bank, it doesn't make me a hero. You can't use hindsight to defend reckless behavior on the grounds that it inadvertently prevented a crime or misdeed from occurring. That isn't doing a good thing. That is using sadistic logic to put a moral spin on a horrible thing. You can't say what a good or valiant cop would do in this situation because a good or valiant police officer would not have unlawfully forced someone out of town. Without cause, there is no effect.
Galt is the biggest prick in the story. While Teasel might behave like an a**hole towards Rambo, at least he does it because he feels it's for the best of his town.
Once again, I will disagree. Galt is employed by Teasle. They are clearly friends. Overlooking his erratic behavior is not in the best interest of his job. By allowing this person on his force, he is enabling the reckless and illegal tactics being used.
What if he'd let him into town, and later that night, two locals were gutted in a bar fight over a flag on a jacket?
That's neither here nor there. Cops are not allowed to enforce law based on who they perceive to be a criminal based on appearance. Furthermore, even if the officer had grounds to believe there was suspicion of a crime, how is it lawful procedure or even good problem-solving to simply throw the suspect over into the next town. If I suspect someone of being a violent criminal, the solution is to let them go commit crimes in another town?
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