“The Kid’s Got to Die”: Rambo III’s Director Says Stallone Wanted His 9-Year-Old Co-Star Killed Off After the Boy Corrected His Lines

Sylvester Stallone’s performance in First Blood (1982) stands the test of time. The subsequent Rambo movies? Eh, not so much. While the sequels are bigger and bloodier than the original movie, that doesn’t automatically make them better. Rambo III (1988), in particular, remains a divisive film in the series (39% on Rotten Tomatoes ), and it wasn’t a smooth production behind the scenes. As covered in Nick de Semlyen’s The Last Action Heroes: The Triumphs, Flops, and Feuds of Hollywood’s Kings of Carnage, Stallone fired Highlander director Russell Mulcahy for his choice of enemies for Rambo to face. Peter MacDonald, who was promoted from second-unit director to the main chair, claimed otherwise and explained how Stallone’s ego ran rampant. “Sly was walking through the bazaar set and started pointing at guys, saying, ‘They don’t look right,’” MacDonald said. “And I suddenly realized that the ones being pointed at were all about five foot ten and over.

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