The Real Rambo: How Controversial Green Beret Bo Gritz Inspired Stallone’s Iconic Warrior

For over four decades, Sylvester Stallone’s portrayal of John Rambo has stood as one of Hollywood’s most enduring symbols of vengeance, patriotism, and post-war trauma. With five explosive films spanning from 1982’s First Blood to 2019’s Rambo: Last Blood, the character evolved from a haunted Vietnam veteran into a one-man army capable of wiping out entire battalions. But behind the Hollywood spectacle lies a real-life figure whose controversial legacy helped shape Rambo’s violent mythology: former Green Beret Bo Gritz.

Often referred to as “The Real Rambo,” Gritz was a decorated soldier who served six tours in Vietnam and retired in 1979 as a lieutenant colonel. His military record reads like a legend—over 20 air medals, four Bronze Stars, three Silver Stars, and two Purple Hearts. But it wasn’t just his battlefield heroics that drew the attention of Hollywood. It was his brash personality, his conspiracy-laced rhetoric, and his uncompromising worldview that ultimately became the DNA of Stallone’s cinematic antihero.

While First Blood was based on David Morrell’s novel, the Rambo seen in Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) bore an uncanny resemblance to Gritz. By that time, Gritz had become a media magnet, infamous for claiming he had killed over 400 people and for openly criticizing the U.S. government’s withdrawal from Vietnam. His paranoia, obsession with unfinished war business, and deep-rooted distrust of authority echoed through Stallone’s fictional warrior, who returned to Vietnam in the second film to rescue American POWs—mirroring Gritz’s real-life accusations that the government had abandoned captured soldiers.

Hollywood’s fascination with Gritz extended beyond Rambo. He consulted with Francis Ford Coppola during the making of Apocalypse Now, contributing to the enigmatic Colonel Kurtz character played by Marlon Brando. His bold presence also helped inspire Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith in the 1980s series The A-Team. But it was Stallone who distilled Gritz’s volatility and wartime trauma into a character that would become larger than life.

The parallels didn’t stop at First Blood Part II. In Rambo III (1988), the protagonist trains and fights alongside Afghan mujahideen—an eerie echo of Gritz’s own admission that he once trained Afghan fighters on U.S. soil. And in 2008’s Rambo, the character ventures into the Burmese jungle to rescue Christian missionaries—strikingly similar to Gritz’s later-life embrace of ultra-Christian and ultra-conservative ideologies.

By the time Rambo: Last Blood was released in 2019, the connection came full circle. An aging, reclusive Rambo seeks solace on a ranch, much like Gritz himself, who now lives out his days in semi-isolation on a rural property. But peace, for both men, proved elusive.

While Rambo remains a fictional construct, Bo Gritz’s shadow looms large. The blood-soaked crusades, the unfiltered nationalism, the deep psychological scars—all find their origin in a man who blurred the line between hero and extremist. In many ways, Rambo is not simply a tribute to a soldier’s strength—it’s a reflection of a real-life warrior’s chaos, controversy, and uncompromising conviction.