About Teasel running him out of town…
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — First Blood
InfidelDog — 11 years ago(June 25, 2014 02:28 PM)
Oh please 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. The speech that this is a quiet town and that some would say it's even boring and he gets paid to keep it that way, and Rambo repeats the word boring. He even goes on further that if he lets him stick around soon he will have a town full of drifters to deal with. He is maintaining the peace of his sleepy little town.
Now before everyone here starts their rant on rights and this is a free country, let me tell you a scene I witnessed recently that ties into this.
I was at a coffee shop in a trendy revitalized part of downtown where I see all these trendy hipsters hanging out. A bum shows up an starts panhandling outside and hanging around said hipsters. Someone must of called the cops because they showed up in less than five minutes and run him off. Did anyone there protest? Did anyone there state he has a right to stand outside? What I saw is everyone look away like there was nothing to see here. I'll bet that the same hipsters would protest the treatment of the same bum if they heard or read abut it.
What Teasel did was run a bum out of town before he started getting phone calls that a bum is hanging out. Did Teasel know he was a vet? Did Teasel know he just lost the last member of his elite unit?
I believe that Rambo had a right to get something to eat too but what gets me is the hypocrisy I read on this board. You would all be the first ones on the phone complaining about a bum if he wandered into your neighborhood. -
saintanger3 — 11 years ago(June 28, 2014 05:40 PM)
Yeah, I read all of that and Terasle was still an arse. He had no right to force an American citizen and serviceman out of the town. The man did nothing wrong and only wanted to eat.
Teasle was wrong froms start to finish and he was the commander of a corrupt and violent police force. -
jim_marks25 — 11 years ago(June 28, 2014 06:22 PM)
Well, chances are Teasel would have left well enough alone then Rambo would have went into town, got his food, and left. Instead he had to act like a total douchbag, and do what he did. He said he wanted the town to stay boring, but his actions got his boring town destroyed, some of his men killed, and himself hurt.
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tlw013-1 — 11 years ago(June 29, 2014 12:21 PM)
There is no defense for Teasle's actions. Someone passing through town and wanting to grab some breakfast on the way is a far cry from a homeless "bum" loitering and panhandling. If Rambo had been driving through town rather than walking, the confrontation would've never happened and the man would've continued on his not-so-merry way. It's a simple and sad reality the the Sheriff and a large number of his deputies were simply corrupt, abusive and power-hungry. They were lucky only one of them died, for violating a direct order, and it wasn't even at Rambo's hands.
Crimefighting is not a "preventative maintenance" practice. It can't be. Rambo was punished and discriminated against for a slew of presumptions and possibilities that one man couldn't see beyond. -
Futurefan — 11 years ago(July 05, 2014 01:20 AM)
Teasle saw Rambo walking into town and quickly judged him as a bum and a drifter just because he had long hair and dirty clothes.
He acted so arrogant like he owned the whole town. He was the sheriff of the town, nothing more. His job is to fight crime, not harass people who may not look presentable. -
GreenGoblinsOckVenom86 — 11 years ago(June 29, 2014 02:17 PM)
That's what I hated about the way Teasle is portrayed in the movie. In the book Teasle lets Rambo get a bite to eat. It's not til Rambo comes back into town a third time that he decides to arrest him. It's also doesn't help that there's no redemption between Rambo and Teasle at the end of the movie like there is in the book.
"You want me to roll 6,000 of these!? What? Should I quit my job!?" George Costanza, Seinfeld -
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.