John McLiam

When a boxer is killed because he wouldn't take a dive, his brother tries to find a way to avenge him even if only symbolically.

A Vietnam War veteran named John Rambo finds out that an old war buddy died from the effects of Agent Orange and makes his way to Hope, Washington, on foot in the early 1980s. Assuming Rambo is a vagrant, the local sheriff, Will Teasle, takes him to the edge of town and orders him to leave. Rambo is arrested after he turns around and heads back into town. Rambo becomes defiant while being processed at the police station, and Teasle's deputies-led by the cruel chief deputy Art Galt-abuse him, bringing back memories of the torture Rambo suffered in Vietnam. After battling his way out of the sheriff's office, Rambo takes back the knife that was taken from him and runs into the woods. Teasle sets up a search team that includes a helicopter, dogs, and rifles. Galt attempts to use a sniper rifle to kill Rambo from the helicopter while flagrantly disobeying Teasle's orders. The pilot momentarily loses control of the helicopter after Rambo hurls a rock at it. In a gorge below, Galt loses his footing and dies on the rocky rocks. Rambo tries to turn himself in to Teasle, claiming that Galt's death was an accident and that he does not want any more trouble, but he is shot at by the deputies and runs away. Despite learning that Rambo is a Medal of Honor recipient and Green Beret warrior, Teasle keeps looking for him. By employing guerrilla warfare, Rambo defeats every deputy. Rambo corners Teasle, puts a knife to his throat, and threatens him with "a war [Teasle] will not believe" if he does not give up the chase because the deputies are injured and unable to continue. He then withdraws deeper into the forest. Along with Col. Sam Trautman, Rambo's former commanding officer and mentor, the Washington State Patrol and Washington National Guard are sent to help Teasle. Teasle rejects Trautman's advice that Rambo will move on and be able to be arrested anywhere without any problems if he stops. Rambo refuses to surrender when Trautman tries to reach him via radio, accusing Teasle and his deputies of abusing him and saying that they "drew first blood." A National Guard unit encircles Rambo at the entrance to an abandoned mine. Rambo appears to be killed when the guardsmen fire a rocket launcher, destroying the mine entrance, despite Teasle's orders to wait for him. Teasle yells at the guardsman for defying his commands and insists that their commander, Clinton Morgan, unearth Rambo's remains. Rambo, on the other hand, escapes the mine via a ventilation shaft, takes control of a military truck that is loaded with ammunition and an M60 machine gun, and then returns to Hope to exact revenge by causing as much damage as he can. Rambo shoots the sheriff's station, blows up a gas station, destroys a sporting goods store, and cuts off power to most of the town in an attempt to divert the attention of the authorities. Knowing that Teasle is outmatched, Trautman makes another attempt to persuade her to leave Rambo. Perceiving Rambo's outburst as a personal assault, Teasle disobeys Trautman's orders once more and attempts to pursue Rambo on the station's roof. However, Rambo is able to shoot Teasle and cause injuries during a gunfight. Rambo is about to kill Teasle when Trautman shows up and reminds him that he is the last member of his group and threatens to kill him unless he surrenders. Rambo rants about the atrocities of war and his horrific experiences, such as witnessing his friends die in Vietnam, receiving bad treatment upon his return, losing his job, and being forgotten in spite of his sacrifices. Rambo sobs as he describes how a Viet Cong child soldier used a shoeshine box wired with explosives to kill a close friend. Teasle is taken to a waiting ambulance for hospital transport, while Rambo surrenders and is taken into federal custody after being consoled by a visibly distressed Trautman.

The action takes place in Montana in the 1880s among the tributary streams that eventually flow together into the Missouri River, an area known as the Missouri Breaks. Tom Logan, (Jack Nicholson) is the likable leader of an amiable gang of horse thieves. They make their living stealing horses or rustling cattle from ranchers, laughing all the way, spending their money on whiskey and whores. Logan and his gang are particularly upset by the hanging of a friend by rancher David Braxton (John McLiam), an egomaniacal gay local land baron who took the law into his own hands. Braxton has horses, and a daughter, worth stealing. Logan's men pull off a daring train robbery, only to lose much of the money. The gang retaliates against Braxton by hanging his foreman Pete Marker (Richard Bradford) on the same noose. Posing as an aspiring cattle rancher, Logan buys an abandoned ranch next to Braxton's to serve as a relay station for moving stolen horses across the plains. While his men ride off across the Missouri River and north of the border to steal Canadian Mounted Police horses, Logan plants crops at their new farm and enters into a relationship with Braxton's virginal daughter, Jane (Kathleen Lloyd). He knows how to court a woman by brewing Chinese tea in the Wild West. Jane is on bad terms with her father and has taken a shine to Logan in any event, seems to be fascinated by the bad guys and demands sex, saying: "Do you want to have sexual intercourse?" while flirting with Logan. Braxton, obsessed with his rustling problem, his daughter, and avenging his friend's murder, sends for Robert E. Lee Clayton (Marlon Brando), a notorious regulator from Medicine Hat, Wyoming, who, for a price, will take care of rustlers personally, one at a time. Regulators were mercenary frontier agents famous for their ruthlessness and their ability to kill without warning from long distances with their trademark Creekmore rifles. Clayton arrives with a fancy wardrobe, a perfumed scent, an Irish brogue and a rifle with which he is deadly accurate from afar. Clayton bursts in on the funeral of the murdered foreman dressed like a western dandy in fringed leather coat and scarf, bellowing and yanking the corpse up out of the open casket to borrow a few of the ice cubes used to keep the body from decomposing as a compress for a tooth-ache. Clayton is portrayed comically, but he is a sadistic, perverse, and psychotic killer who comes across as much more lawless than the criminals he's hunting. Quickly suspicious of Logan, who doesn't strike him as much of a farmer, Clayton dons a variety of disguises to pick off Logan's gang, one by one. Impersonating a preacher "Jim Ferguson," Clayton tries to cajole Little Todd into confessing that he is part of the gang. He kills Todd by dragging him with a rope through the raging Missouri, seemingly aware of the fact that Todd cannot swim. Clayton spies on Logan with binoculars and taunts Braxton about his daughter's affair with a horse thief. Braxton attempts to discharge him but Clayton is determined to finish what he starts. He amuses himself by shooting two more of Logan's partners from a distance and then by wearing a granny dress while brutally killing Logan's closest friend, Cal (Harry Dean Stanton) with a handmade weapon. Logan knows it's kill or be killed by Clayton. He also wants vengeance against Braxton for having hired the regulator in the first place, despite his feelings for Jane. Now it's up to Logan to hunt down Clayton. One night after a campfire goes dark with Clayton serenading his horse, Logan gets his revenge catching up with him while he's asleep and then slitting his throat: "You know what woke you up? You just had your throat cut!" Logan then comes after Braxton. There's a shootout where Braxton, who everyone now believes is infirm with a stroke, pulls out a gun while he's sitting in a wheelchair and shoots the unawares Logan. Logan then shoots back killing Braxton. Logan abandons his farm and packs up to leave the area and Jane, although he acknowledges that he and Jane might renew their relationship another time, another place.

Two men who have been friends since childhood find themselves on opposite ends of the law. After a train robbery committed in New Mexico, a small gang sets-out to divide the loot. However, a disagreement over the shares causes one gang member, Billy Massey, to take the whole loot and run toward the Mexican border. The sheriff of Cumbres, Chuck Jarvis, learns of the train holdup and organizes a posse. Unfortunately, gang member Billy Massey is a very close childhood friend of the sheriff. No matter how disappointed the sheriff is, he's determined to do his duty and apprehend Billy. Local district attorney P. J. Wilson is a law-and-order hardliner with higher political aspirations. He demands the sheriff recover the railroad property immediately or else there will be consequences. Sheriff Chuck Jarvis hires a few Indian trackers and sets-out to find Billy. However, Billy's former gang members are also looking for him to recover the loot. Billy doubles-back to Cumbres and goes to the sheriff's house. While the sheriff's wife, Kate, serves Billy supper, the sheriff arrives and, after a short tense moment, persuades Billy to surrender and face a fair trial. With Billy in custody, sheriff Chuck Jarvis sends for the district judge and hires a lawyer for Billy. But strict district attorney P. J. Wilson is determined to hang Billy, no matter what. Now the sheriff has the double problem of protecting Billy's life from the lynching mob instigated by Wilson and from Billy's old gang members who are heading to town to kill Billy. —nufs68