Sylvester Stallone He is no stranger to using firearms of all types throughout his decades-long career as a Hollywood action star, but an expert has debunked the realism of one of his best-known films. Beginning his acting career in the late 1960s, Stallone's early film appearances were largely relegated to minor supporting roles and background characters, including an uncredited performance in the 1970s. M*A*S*H.
After her first significant roles in the 1973 independent film Rebel and the 1974 comedy The Lords of Flatbush, It was Stallone's decision to write the 1976 script Rocky which finally provided him with the vehicle that would transform him into a household name. During the 1980s, however, Stallone would begin his transformation into one of Hollywood's top action stars. Starting with 1982 First Blood, Stallone's tenure as the misunderstood Vietnam veteran John Rambo would ultimately spawn a decades-long franchise that would rival the Rocky films as his most popular role.
Stallone's Rambo: First Blood Part 2 gun technique is dismantled by weapons expert
Although 1982 First Blood Being based on a standalone novel of the same name, Stallone would mark his first turn as John Rambo in 1985. Rambo: First Blood Part II. After being abandoned during a mission to rescue US prisoners of war, Stallone's character returns to the mission's command center and continues destroying the computer room with a high-caliber machine gun taken from the side of a helicopter.
However, according to Insiderof How real is this? series, Stallone's effective form of revenge falls far short of proper firearms technique, earning a meager accuracy rating of four out of ten. Former US Army special operations veteran and firearms expert Patrick McNamara suggests that while Stallone does a good job of making the sequence feel real, it is largely ineffective to shoot from the hipespecially with anything other than a pistol.
You won't be able to fire this thing from the hip. You could fire a pistol from the hip. Whatever it is, when you bring it close to the body, you need the bipod down, because you need to fire those seven to nine round bursts. He did very well in making it look real, you could say. I mean, those muscles were tense.
McNamara also suggests that it's unrealistic to expect the M60-E3 model Stallone is using to fire so many shots in this manner without malfunctioning. Pointing out that while Stallone wraps the ammunition belt around his free arm to prevent it from twisting, the best method would be to use the original ammo canwhich in many cases is designed to be attached to the side of the gun.
The other thing you need to suspend reality is that an M60-E3 model can fire that number of rounds without malfunctioning. He wraps the belt around his arm. It's to make sure the thing isn't dangling. You know, you don't want the belt to hang down and twist, because then you won't be able to feed right away.
If you don't have an AG, assistant gunner, just use your own ammo can. And the ammunition in many of them is stuck to the side of the device, in the machine gun itself, and is therefore fed correctly. It just feeds nice and straight, and the belt doesn't twist, bind or bend.
Our Take on Stallone's Gun Handling Skills
The First Blood Part II Scene Is Iconic Regardless of Its Accuracy
Despite McNamara's assessment of Stallone's weapons handling skills in Rambo: First Blood Part II, his legacy is still closely tied to the kind of powerful action that made John Rambo one of Hollywood's most memorable characters. Even decades later, Stallone would continue his affinity for big guns and stylized action sequences in later films such as The Expendables franchise, and its most recent Rambo outing in 2020 Rambo: Last Blood. While its shape may not be 100% accurate, the iconic image of John Rambo firing his machine gun from his hip will forever remain linked to Stallone's action hero legacy.
Source: Insider's How real is this?