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Would the movie had been better had James Cameron's actual screenplay was used?

posted 3 years ago by TMC-4 (19563)
5 replies | jump to latest

James Cameron initially wrote a script and it was basically a full-blown James Cameron version of Rambo II. It had more characters, more tech, and was all in all, a bigger movie.

Sylvester Stallone didn't like that and rewrote the script to make a simpler, cheaper movie. Then they had George P. Cosmatos involved, a director with an already poor track record, but he was probably also studio controllable.

[–] Oblivioid (1283) 2 years ago

LOL. easy answer is No, because the film turned out perfectly as the quintessential action film of the 1980s, perhaps of all time.

A James Cameron version would have been at minimum 2.5 hours in length with a blown out of proportion heroin in Agent Co Bau, who would've ended up being the lead.

The film as made is tight, at 90 minutes, with a clear hero in the title character with clear motivations. The movie never wears out its welcome.

[–] WilloughbyStain (194) 2 years ago

Simpler maybe, but I'm not sure that Stallone rewrote Cameron's script to be "cheaper"; this was very high budget for the time.

[–] TMC-4 (19563) 2 years ago

Wasn't for the longest time, the joke that James Cameron wrote the action and Sylvester Stallone wrote the politics?

https://geektyrant.com/news/james-cameron-explains-how-he-wrote-rambo-ii-and-aliens-at-the-same-time

https://www.dailyhindnews.com/rambo-2-on-c8-when-stallone-largely-rejects-james-camerons-screenplay/

https://www.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/RamboFirstBloodPartII

[–] WilloughbyStain (194) 2 years ago

It was, but that was a pretty disingenuous claim on Cameron's part. Cameron's draft still had Vietnam holding on to prisoners, and US government bureaucrats not wanting them released because it would be "embarrassing". Pretty much everything that made the film controversial was in that draft; if anything the finished film was more remorseful and less triumphant, and added elements of nuance by having Trautman mention the US reneging on reparations and describing Vietnam as "wrong".

[–] Obifuntoknowme (1104) 2 years ago

Plus if Cameron had directed it we probably wouldn’t have gotten another sequel until 10-15 years later…Avatar anyone? lol

I’m glad Cameron didn’t do it and love the film we got.