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199 <div class="fl-col-content fl-node-content"><div class="fl-module fl-module-heading fl-node-1f3zpa0y86ws" data-node="1f3zpa0y86ws" aria-label="Heading"> 200 <div class="fl-module-content fl-node-content"> 201 <h2 class="fl-heading"> 202 <span class="fl-heading-text">Rambo</span> 203 </h2> 204 </div> 205</div> 206<div class="fl-module fl-module-pp-advanced-tabs fl-node-5bcf8c10229a9" data-node="5bcf8c10229a9" aria-label="Advanced Tabs"> 207 <div class="fl-module-content fl-node-content"> 208 209<div class="pp-tabs pp-tabs-vertical pp-tabs-vertical-left pp-tabs-style-2 pp-clearfix"> 210 211 <div class="pp-tabs-labels pp-clearfix" role="tablist"> 212 <div id="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-1" class="pp-tabs-label pp-tab-active pp-tab-icon-left" data-index="0" role="tab" tabindex="-1" aria-selected="true" aria-controls="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-1-content"> 213 <div class="pp-tab-label-inner"> 214 <div class="pp-tab-label-flex"> 215 216 <div class="pp-tab-title">Rambo</div> 217 218 </div> 219 </div> 220 </div> 221 <div id="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-2" class="pp-tabs-label pp-tab-icon-left" data-index="1" role="tab" tabindex="-1" aria-selected="false" aria-controls="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-2-content"> 222 <div class="pp-tab-label-inner"> 223 <div class="pp-tab-label-flex"> 224 225 <div class="pp-tab-title">Morrell On Rambo</div> 226 227 </div> 228 </div> 229 </div> 230 <div id="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-3" class="pp-tabs-label pp-tab-icon-left" data-index="2" role="tab" tabindex="-1" aria-selected="false" aria-controls="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-3-content"> 231 <div class="pp-tab-label-inner"> 232 <div class="pp-tab-label-flex"> 233 234 <div class="pp-tab-title">On the set of Rambo III</div> 235 236 </div> 237 </div> 238 </div> 239 <div id="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-4" class="pp-tabs-label pp-tab-icon-left" data-index="3" role="tab" tabindex="-1" aria-selected="false" aria-controls="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-4-content"> 240 <div class="pp-tab-label-inner"> 241 <div class="pp-tab-label-flex"> 242 243 <div class="pp-tab-title">Blade Article</div> 244 245 </div> 246 </div> 247 </div> 248 <div id="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-5" class="pp-tabs-label pp-tab-icon-left" data-index="4" role="tab" tabindex="-1" aria-selected="false" aria-controls="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-5-content"> 249 <div class="pp-tab-label-inner"> 250 <div class="pp-tab-label-flex"> 251 252 <div class="pp-tab-title">
252Steve Berry Essay</div> 253 254 </div> 255 </div> 256 </div> 257 <div id="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-6" class="pp-tabs-label pp-tab-icon-left" data-index="5" role="tab" tabindex="-1" aria-selected="false" aria-controls="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-6-content"> 258 <div class="pp-tab-label-inner"> 259 <div class="pp-tab-label-flex"> 260 261 <div class="pp-tab-title">Rare First Blood Posters</div> 262 263 </div> 264 </div> 265 </div> 266 </div> 267 268 <div class="pp-tabs-panels pp-clearfix"> 269 <div class="pp-tabs-panel"> 270 <div class="pp-tabs-label pp-tabs-panel-label pp-tab-active pp-tab-icon-left" data-index="0"> 271 <div class="pp-tab-label-inner"> 272 <div class="pp-tab-label-flex"> 273 <div class="pp-tab-label-wrap"> 274 <div class="pp-tab-title">Rambo</div> 275 </div> 276 </div> 277 278 <i class="pp-toggle-icon pp-tab-open fa fa-plus"></i> 279 280 <i class="pp-toggle-icon pp-tab-close fa fa-minus"></i> 281 </div> 282 </div> 283 <div id="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-1-content" class="pp-tabs-panel-content pp-clearfix pp-tab-active" data-index="0" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-1"> 284 <div itemprop="text"><p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-169" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Rambo_KINDLE1-375x500.jpg" alt="" width="190" height="254" srcset="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Rambo_KINDLE1-375x500.jpg 375w, https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Rambo_KINDLE1-375x500-225x300.jpg 225w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 190px) 100vw, 190px" />In 1972, I published my debut novel, <em>First Blood. </em>Called âthe father of the modern action novel,â it was widely and enthusiastically reviewed. It was taught in high schools and colleges. It became a 1982 film, starring Sylvester Stallone, and led to a series of films about Rambo, who joined the ranks of the top five internationally recognized thriller icons: Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, James Bond, and Harry Potter.</p> 285<p>Eventually, I wrote novelizations for <em>Rambo (First Blood Part II)</em> and <em>Rambo III</em>. I also wrote an in-depth essay, <em>Rambo and Me: The Story behind the Story.</em> In addition, I contributed a full-length audio commentary to home-video discs of <em>First Blood</em>, discussing my novel and the film.</p> 286<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-248" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Screen-Shot-2018-10-23-at-1.58.16-PM.png" alt="" width="190" height="271" srcset="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Screen-Shot-2018-10-23-at-1.58.16-PM.png 302w, https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Screen-Shot-2018-10-23-at-1.58.16-PM-210x300.png 210w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 190px) 100vw, 190px" />Gauntlet Press published signed, numbered collectors' editions of all three Rambo novels, with an abundance of extras, including informative essays that are essential to an understanding of the background to the series. There are unpublished chapters, script pages, photographs, publicity posters, and a ton of other items. These definitive versions are available only from Gauntlet Press and a few other on-line sources: 500 copies of the numbered version and 52 copies of the lettered version. Here's a link to <a href="https://www.gauntletpress.com/product-category/authors/david-morrell/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gauntlet Press</a> and more information. These special editions are now out of print but might be available at secondary markets, such as eBay and ABE books.</p> 287<div class="">On the left of this page (or below if you're on mobile), youâll find tabs. The second tab, Morrell on Rambo, offers a long revealing interview in which I cover many topics related to <i class="">First Blood</i>Â and Rambo, such as how the character got his name. Youâll also find tabs to photos taken on the <i class="">Rambo III</i> set, rare Rambo posters, a fascinating article about the Rambo knives, and Steve Berryâs essay about <i class="">First Blood.</i>Â </div> 288</div> </div> 289 </div> 290 <div class="pp-tabs-panel"> 291 <div class="pp-tabs-label pp-tabs-panel-label pp-tab-icon-left" data-index="1"> 292 <div class="pp-tab-label-inner"> 293 <div class="pp-tab-label-flex"> 294 <div class="pp-tab-label-wrap"> 295 <div class="pp-tab-title">Morrell On Rambo</div> 296 </div> 297 </div> 298 299 <i class="pp-toggle-icon pp-tab-open fa fa-plus"></i> 300 301 <i class="pp-toggle-icon pp-tab-close fa fa-minus"></i> 302 </div> 303 </div>
304 <div id="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-2-content" class="pp-tabs-panel-content pp-clearfix" data-index="1" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-2"> 305 <div itemprop="text"><p><strong>Letâs start with some basics. <em>First Blood</em> was your first novel, right?<em><br /></em></strong>Yes, it came out in 1972. Debut novels almost always sink, but I was fortunate. Just about every major newspaper and magazine gave it glowing reviews. A film studio bought the movie rights before it was published. It was translated into 26 languages. It was taught in high schools and colleges. When Stephen King taught creative writing at the University of Maine, it was one of the two texts he used. (The other was James M. Cainâs <em>Double Indemnity</em>.) Even after forty-five years, it has never been out of print.</p> 306<p><strong>The book introduced Rambo, who turned out to be one of the five most iconic thriller characters of the twentieth century, along with Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, James Bond, and Harry Potter.  How does it feel to have created a character recognized around the world? <em><br /></em></strong>Rambo is mentioned almost daily in conversation or in the media. The word is in the Oxford English Dictionary. Astro-physicists use the word Rambo to refer to a powerful group of dead stars. Heâs so much a part of world culture that when I sign copies of <strong><em>First Blood</em></strong>, I often call myself âRamboâs father.â Itâs like heâs a son who grew up and went in unexpected directions. Thereâs no way to predict the future of a character or a book. I tried to write the best novel I could. After that, it was out of my control. When I hear Rambo mentioned, Iâm often caught by surprise and take a second to remember that I created him.</p> 307<p><strong>How did you get the idea for the story?<br /></strong>I was raised in southern Ontario. In the mid 1960s, I came to the United States to study American literature at Penn State. At that time, Vietnam was hardly mentioned in Canada, so I had no idea what the war was about when I met students recently returned from Vietnam. I learned about their problems adjusting to civilian life: nightmares, insomnia, depression, difficulty in relationships, whatâs now called post-traumatic stress disorder. In 1968, the two main stories on the television news were Vietnam and the hundreds of riots that broke out in American cities after the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy. I got to thinking that the images of the war and the images of the riots werenât much different. Eventually I decided to write a novel about a returning Vietnam veteran who brings the war to the United States. Thatâs the short answer.</p> 308<p><strong>And what's the long answer?<br /></strong>Rambo is a complicated subject with all kinds of twists and turns. I have a long essay, <strong><em>Rambo and Me: The Story behind the Story</em></strong>, that's available as <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-169" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Rambo_KINDLE1-375x500.jpg" alt="" width="190" height="254" srcset="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Rambo_KINDLE1-375x500.jpg 375w, https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Rambo_KINDLE1-375x500-225x300.jpg 225w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 190px) 100vw, 190px" />one of my e-works and that's included in the Gauntlet Press collector's edition of <strong><em>Rambo (First Blood Part II</em>)</strong>. In it, I talk about all the things that were going on in the late 1960s that made me want to write the novel, particularly the riots and the student demonstrations against the Vietnam War. In my introduction to <strong><em>First Blood</em> </strong>and in my writing book, <strong><em>The Successful Novelist</em></strong>, I discuss how the key to the novel was the way scenes alternate between Ramboâs and Teasleâs viewpoints so that the reader doesnât know who to cheer for. They represent the two sides of American culture as I saw it in the late 1960s.</p> 309<p><strong>
309That device wasn't used in the movie.<br /></strong>No. In the film, the police chief gets less screen time than Rambo while in the novel he and Rambo are equal.</p> 310<p><strong>So, does that mean you don't like the film?<br /></strong>The opposite. I think the movie is excellent. Movies and books are different. Changes are inevitable. The film switches the locale from Kentucky to the Pacific Northwest. It removes the importance of Teasleâs war experience in Korea and the medals he received there. It makes Rambo a victim rather than somebody whoâs pissed off about what happened to him in Vietnam. Finally it changes the ending. But for all that, I love the movie. Ted Kotcheffâs direction, Jerry Goldsmithâs music, Andrew Laszloâs photography, Sylvester Stalloneâs acting, Richard Crenna, on and on. Itâs a terrific movie that seems more realistic with each year because its action scenes donât use computer effects. The realism of the stunts is amazing.</p> 311<p><strong> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-255" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/David-with-Richard-Crenna.jpg" alt="" width="233" height="159" />You mentioned Stallone's acting. </strong>Itâs all in the eyes and the body language. Richard Crenna had a long career. He appeared with countless film actors. He told me that, in all his years, he worked with only two actors who truly knew how to play to a camera, reacting rather than acting, using their eyes, skillfully handling props. Those actors were Steve McQueen and Stallone.</p> 312<p><strong>You talk about this sort of thing in detail in your audio commentary for the DVD of <em>First Blood<br /></em></strong>My full-length commentary is on most Blu-Ray DVDs of <strong><em>First Blood</em></strong>. Itâs a detailed explanation about the differences between the novel and the film, along with a lot of fun details such as that the rat cave in the film was actually a much more horrifying bat cave in the novel. In the movie, the rats that Sly struggles with in the cave were actually white lab rats that were dyed brown. Some DVD versions also have an excellent documentary, âDrawing First Blood,â that analyzes how the book became a movie. Iâm in the documentary, but for some reason, I look orange.</p> 313<p><strong>How do you feel about the other Rambo films?<br /></strong>I wasnât involved with them, so I think I can speak objectively. I enjoyed <strong><em>Rambo (First Blood Part II)</em></strong><em>. </em>Itâs a cross between a Western and a Tarzan movie. The fight in the helicopter is like a fight on a stagecoach. The arrows with the grenades on them. The wall of mud that Rambo steps out of, magically appearing. It all makes me smile. I met an instructor from Fort Bragg who said that he and his unit went to see the second movie and couldnât stop laughing when Rambo shoots a rocket launcher through the shattered windscreen of his downed helicopter. The POWs Rambo rescued are in the back, and in real life, the back blast from the rocket would have killed them all. But the movie wasnât meant to be realistic, and despite the errors, the Fort Bragg instructor said that he and his team loved it. Thanks to director George Cosmatos, it has wonderful energy.</p> 314<p><strong><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-256" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Screen-Shot-2018-10-23-at-2.13.27-PM.png" alt="" width="190" height="315" srcset="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Screen-Shot-2018-10-23-at-2.13.27-PM.png 272w, https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Screen-Shot-2018-10-23-at-2.13.27-PM-181x300.png 181w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 190px) 100vw, 190px" />What about <em>Rambo III</em>?<br /></strong>I wrote novelizations for the second and third films, which means that I saw all the drafts of the scripts. <strong><em>Rambo III</em></strong><em>âs</em> early versions featured a middle-aged Dutch female doctor, taking care of Afghan children injured or orphaned in the war with the Soviets. After Rambo rescues his mentor, Colonel Trautman, from the Soviets, the two join forces with the doctor and the children, helping them to get to safety. It was an emotional story that put soul into the action. In the final draft, all of that was gone. The story was reduced to: Trautman is captured; Rambo tries to rescue him and fails; Rambo tries to rescue him and succeeds. The repetition of rescue attempts hurts the filmâs structure. The day <strong><em>Rambo III</em></strong> opened in theaters, the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan. I guess they heard he was coming.</p> 315<p><strong>And the fourth Rambo film?<br /></strong>Some people think that the first film is called <strong><em>Rambo</em></strong>. But itâs not. It has the same title as my novel, <strong><em>First Blood</em></strong>. The fourth film is called <strong><em>Rambo</em></strong>, though, which must confuse a lot of people. Sly phoned me before making the movie and said that in retrospect he didnât care for the second and third films because they glorified the violence. He said he wanted to go back to the tone of my novel. This time around, the character is the way I imaginedâangry and burned-out. There's a scene in which Rambo forges a knife and talks to himself, basically admitting that he hates himself because all he knows is how to kill. He spends a lot of time in the rain as if trying to cleanse his soul. At the start, he gathers cobras in the jungle, and he's comfortable with them because he knows he has nothing to fear from another creature of death. The most telling line of dialogue is, âI didnât kill for my country. I killed for myself. And for that, I donât believe God can forgive me.â</p> 316<p><strong>Powerful stuff.<br /></strong>Yes, very daring. I just wish that the rest of the fourth film was like that. Many elements could have been better. The villains are superficial, and a lot could have been done with the connection between drug lords and the military in what the film calls Burma (it's actual name is Myanmar), dramatizing how money earned from the heroin trade motivates the regimeâs ruthlessness. Instead, theyâre merely depicted as psychopaths. In a baffling moment, heroin somehow gets equated with meth, which is something entirely different and has nothing to do with the poppies grown in that area of the world. Otherwise, there are a lot of nice moments, especially after the final gun battle when Rambo is back in the United States, walking along a road, wearing the same clothes that he wore at the start of <strong><em>First Blood</em></strong><em>. </em>If you think about it, the character in the first film, a victim, is different from the jingoistic character in the second and third film and is different again in the fourth film, where he is close to the character in my novel. A lot of Rambos.</p> 317<p><strong>In a way, there's a fifth film</strong>.<br />Yes, a small British film called <strong><em>Son of Rambow</em></strong>. The misspelling is deliberate. Itâs set in England in the 1980s. Two kids from unhappy homes decide to distract themselves by making their version of a Rambo film. They dress up as Rambo and Colonel Trautman. Itâs a tender, charming story that features scenes from some of the other movies.</p> 318<p><strong><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-504" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Rambo-III_special-edition_cover_0816_300dpi-194x300.jpg" alt="" width="194" height="300" srcset="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Rambo-III_special-edition_cover_0816_300dpi-194x300.jpg 194w, https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Rambo-III_special-edition_cover_0816_300dpi-768x1187.jpg 768w, https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Rambo-III_special-edition_cover_0816_300dpi-663x1024.jpg 663w, https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Rambo-III_special-edition_cover_0816_300dpi.jpg 1650w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 194px) 100vw, 194px" />You mentioned writing novelizations for <em>Rambo</em> (<em>First Blood Part II</em>) and <em>Rambo III</em>.  Some people might not be familiar with the word.<br /></strong>In the 1980s, film producers began to hire writers who expanded scripts into books that helped generate publicity for the movies. It was mostly work for hire, and the authors couldnât change the dialogue or the scenes. Basically all the novelizers were allowed to do was add description and explore what the characters were thinking. When the second Rambo film was in production, the producers asked if Iâd do a novelization. My instinct was to say ânoâ because of the limitations imposed on the writer. But for publicity purposes, the producers really, really wanted a novelization, and my contract stipulated that I was the only person who could write books about Rambo, so they couldnât go to anyone else. They finally agreed to give me the freedom that a novelizer almost never has.</p> 319<p><strong>What happened?<br /></strong>Well, the final draft script they sent me was about 85 pages long and was filled with lines like âRambo jumps up and shoots this guy. Rambo jumps up and shoots the other guy.â Not much to work with. So I asked if there were other scripts, and I was told, âYes, the one that James Cameron wrote, but we only used bits of it.â</p> 320<p><strong>You mean James Cameron of <em>Terminator 2, Titanic, and Avatar</em>?<br /></strong>Yes, but he wasnât that James Cameron yet. I asked to see the script and struck gold. In the end, my novelization was one-third original material from me, one third adaptation of James Cameron, and one third the final script. Those many differences between the film and the novelization had never been allowed beforeâor since. Most of the Cameron material involves the bookâs opening, where Colonel Trautman visits Rambo in a locked cell in the basement of an insane asylum. I can imagine what the producers thought when they opened Cameronâs script to <em>that</em>
320. The scene probably wouldnât have worked in the movie, but I was happy to include it. The book spent 6 weeks on the <em>New York Times</em> bestseller list, another first for a novelization.</p> 321<p><strong>What about the novelization for <em>Rambo III</em>?<br /></strong>Well, that was a difficult time for me. My son, Matthew, had been diagnosed with a rare bone cancer, Ewingâs sarcoma. He had huge tumors growing out of his ribs and was in the hospital a lot, getting chemotherapy. Meanwhile I agreed to novelize the third Rambo film, partly to take my mind off what was happening to my son. The first script I received featured the middle-aged Dutch female doctor and the wounded children that I mentioned earlier. Ramboâs journey to Afghanistan was epical, including a huge dust storm. At one point, horsemen had ropes around each of Ramboâs arms and were pulling him apart.</p> 322<p><strong>Sounds wonderful.<br /></strong>I was very excited. But then a second script arrived, and the doctor and the kids werenât as important. Then a third script arrived, and <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-127" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/morrell_FirstBlood_TP-196x300.jpg" alt="" width="196" height="300" srcset="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/morrell_FirstBlood_TP-196x300.jpg 196w, https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/morrell_FirstBlood_TP-768x1173.jpg 768w, https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/morrell_FirstBlood_TP-670x1024.jpg 670w, https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/morrell_FirstBlood_TP.jpg 1571w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 196px) 100vw, 196px" /> the dust storm was gone. In the fourth script, the doctor and the kids were gone. With each successive draft, the story got simpler and simpler until it was merely a failed rescue attempt and a successful rescue attempt. Between visits to my son in the hospital, I finally phoned the producers (Andrew Vajna and Mario KassarâI really liked them) and said, âI canât write a book this way. Pick a script for me to expand.â But they told me thereâd be more revisions, so we agreed that Iâd use the script that featured the doctor and the kids. Once again, in violation of the rules of novelizations, at least half the book has material that isnât in the movie.</p> 323<p><strong>Your novel <em>First Blood</em> ends differently than the film. How did you justify being able to continue writing about the character?<br /></strong>I should warn people that what Iâm going to say contains a major spoiler. Skip ahead two questions if you haven't read my novel and donât want to be surprised. Nowâs your chance. Okay, at the end of my novel, Colonel Trautman kills Rambo with a shotgun. Itâs an allegory. Trautmanâs first name is Sam. Heâs Uncle Sam. Heâs the system that created Rambo, and that system destroys him. A version of that ending was filmed (Rambo commits suicide), but test audiences nearly rioted after cheering for Rambo and then seeing him die. So the producers went back to Hope, British Columbia, the location for the film, and shot a new ending in which Rambo lives. They had no intention of making sequels. They just wanted to have a movie that audiences liked. Then the film turned out to be so successful that they realized how lucky they were to be able to make sequels.</p> 324<p><strong>But you had a problem.<br /></strong>Again, just to alert people, this paragraph contains a spoiler also. Yes, my problem was that I killed Rambo, and now in the novelizations he would be alive. The logic really bothered me. One day, I crossed paths with my writer friend, Max Allan Collins, (among other things, he wrote the wonderful graphic novel, <strong><em>The Road to Perdition</em></strong>), who said that the problem was easily solved. âJust add an authorâs note,â he told me, âin which you say something like, âIn my novel <strong><em>First Blood</em></strong>, Rambo died. In the films, he lives.â â So thatâs what I did. Gauntlet Press released collector's edition of both the novelizations. with plenty of extras that explain the background of how the novelizations came to be written. One of the extras is a definitive 1985 L.A Times article by Pat H. Broeske, "The Curious Evolution of John Rambo." Another extra is a 1988 <em>Variety </em>article, "<strong><em>Rambo III</em></strong>: Budget Run Amok--How <strong><em>Rambo III</em></strong> Became the Most Expensive U.S. Movie Ever Made."</p> 325<p><strong>There's an amusing story about the way you describe the knives in the films.<br /></strong>The knives for the first two movies were designed by Jimmy Lile, the famed Arkansas knifemaker. Sly collects knives and knew Jimmy and asked him to design the first two knives. When I was researching the knives to write about them in the novelizations, I talked to Jimmy several times on the phone. He was fascinating. Then unfortunately he died, and another master knifemaker, Hall of Famer Gil Hibben took over. I eventually got to know Gil very well. Anyway, in a foreword to the second novelization, I praised the Rambo knives as works of art. Pauline Kael, the film critic, somehow got her hands on the novelization and included it in her review, saying that she could hardly wait for her set to arrive.</p> 326<p><strong>What happened to your son?<br /></strong>He had surgery that removed his right ribcage, but the surgeons couldnât get to all of the cancer, so my son then had a bone marrow transplant. He eventually died from septic shock because his immune system was compromised. One of my granddaughters, Natalie, died from the same rare bone cancer. Only a few hundred people get the disease each year in the United States. When Matt was sick, Sly phoned him late one afternoon. As it happened, Matt had two friends with him, and (you wouldnât believe this in a novel), they happened to be watching the videotape of <strong><em>First Blood</em></strong>. So Mattâs two friends watched him talk to Sly. I couldnât help smiling when Matt (a show business junkie like me) asked about the box office receipts on Slyâs latest film. They talked for about twenty minutes. It was a nice thing for Sly to do. In my career, Iâve had tremendous luck. My private life, my son and my granddaughter dying so young, thatâs another matter.</p> 327<p>
327As David indicated, much of the material in this discussion is the short answer. For an in-depth description of why he wrote <em><strong>First Blood</strong></em>, read his essay <em><strong>Rambo and Me</strong></em>:<em><strong> The Story Behind the Story,</strong></em> which is described on the E-WORKS page of this website and is included in the Gauntlet Press collector's edition of <strong><em>Rambo (First Blood Part II)</em></strong>.</p> 328<p>Davidâs introduction to his novel <em><strong>First Blood</strong></em>Â (included in the Gauntlet Press collector's edition of <strong><em>First Blood</em></strong> and in paperback editions of the novel)Â is also informative as is his full-length audio commentary on many Blu-Ray DVDs of the film.</p> 329<p>If you have questions about Rambo that David didnât answer in any of these places, you can <a href="https://davidmorrell.net/contact/">contact</a>Â him through this website.</p> 330</div> </div> 331 </div> 332 <div class="pp-tabs-panel"> 333 <div class="pp-tabs-label pp-tabs-panel-label pp-tab-icon-left" data-index="2"> 334 <div class="pp-tab-label-inner"> 335 <div class="pp-tab-label-flex"> 336 <div class="pp-tab-label-wrap"> 337 <div class="pp-tab-title">On the set of Rambo III</div> 338 </div> 339 </div> 340 341 <i class="pp-toggle-icon pp-tab-open fa fa-plus"></i> 342 343 <i class="pp-toggle-icon pp-tab-close fa fa-minus"></i> 344 </div> 345 </div> 346 <div id="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-3-content" class="pp-tabs-panel-content pp-clearfix" data-index="2" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-3"> 347 <link rel='stylesheet' id='pp-jquery-fancybox-css' href='https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/plugins/bbpowerpack/assets/css/jquery.fancybox.min.css?ver=3.5.4' media='all' /> 348<link rel='stylesheet' id='fl-builder-layout-499-css' href='https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/499-layout-partial.css?ver=0adf4ef229b3a5d984254d7822f73326' media='all' /> 349<div class="fl-builder-content fl-builder-content-499 fl-builder-template fl-builder-module-template fl-builder-global-templates-locked" data-post-id="499"><div class="fl-module fl-module-pp-gallery fl-node-5bd9ef65cbdf4" data-node="5bd9ef65cbdf4" aria-label="Image/Photo Gallery"> 350 <div class="fl-module-content fl-node-content"> 351 352<div class="pp-photo-gallery" data-items-count="5" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageGallery"> 353 <div class="pp-photo-gallery-item" data-item-id="456" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject"> 354 <div class="pp-photo-gallery-content"> 355 <a href="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/David-Morrell-with-P-Macdonald-and-S-Stallone-1987-1024x750.jpg" data-fancybox="images" title="David Morrell with P Macdonald and S Stallone 1987" data-caption="David with Sylvester Stallone and director Peter Macdonald" data-description="" itemprop="contentUrl"> 356 357 358 <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="pp-gallery-img no-lazyload skip-lazy" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/David-Morrell-with-P-Macdonald-and-S-Stallone-1987-1024x750.jpg" alt="" data-no-lazy="1" itemprop="thumbnail" width="1024" height="750" /> 359 360 <!-- Overlay Wrapper --> 361 <div class="pp-gallery-overlay"> 362 <div class="pp-overlay-inner"> 363 364 365 366 </div> 367 </div> <!-- Overlay Wrapper Closed --> 368 369 </a> 370 <meta itemprop="width" content="1024" /> 371 <meta itemprop="height" content="750" /> 372 </div> 373 <div class="pp-photo-gallery-caption pp-photo-gallery-caption-below" itemprop="caption description">David with Sylvester Stallone and director Peter Macdonald</div> 374 </div><div class="pp-photo-gallery-item" data-item-id="458" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject"> 375 <div class="pp-photo-gallery-content"> 376 <a href="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/David-with-S.-Stallone-RAMBO-III-Israel-copy-882x1024.jpg" data-fancybox="images" title="David with S. Stallone, RAMBO III, Israel copy" data-caption="David with Sylvester Stallone" data-description="" itemprop="contentUrl"> 377 378 379 <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="pp-gallery-img no-lazyload skip-lazy" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/David-with-S.-Stallone-RAMBO-III-Israel-copy-882x1024.jpg" alt="" data-no-lazy="1" itemprop="thumbnail" width="882" height="1024" /> 380 381 <!-- Overlay Wrapper --> 382 <div class="pp-gallery-overlay"> 383 <div class="pp-overlay-inner"> 384 385 386 387 </div> 388 </div> <!-- Overlay Wrapper Closed --> 389 390 </a> 391 <meta itemprop="width" content="882" /> 392 <meta itemprop="height" content="1024" /> 393 </div> 394 <div class="pp-photo-gallery-caption pp-photo-gallery-caption-below" itemprop="caption description">David with Sylvester Stallone</div> 395 </div><div class="pp-photo-gallery-item" data-item-id="459" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject"> 396 <div class="pp-photo-gallery-content">
397 <a href="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/David-with-Sylvester-Stallone-RAMBO-III-Israel-1024x803.jpg" data-fancybox="images" title="David with Sylvester Stallone, RAMBO III, Israel" data-caption="David with Sylvester Stallone" data-description="" itemprop="contentUrl"> 398 399 400 <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="pp-gallery-img no-lazyload skip-lazy" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/David-with-Sylvester-Stallone-RAMBO-III-Israel-1024x803.jpg" alt="" data-no-lazy="1" itemprop="thumbnail" width="1024" height="803" /> 401 402 <!-- Overlay Wrapper --> 403 <div class="pp-gallery-overlay"> 404 <div class="pp-overlay-inner"> 405 406 407 408 </div> 409 </div> <!-- Overlay Wrapper Closed --> 410 411 </a> 412 <meta itemprop="width" content="1024" /> 413 <meta itemprop="height" content="803" /> 414 </div> 415 <div class="pp-photo-gallery-caption pp-photo-gallery-caption-below" itemprop="caption description">David with Sylvester Stallone</div> 416 </div><div class="pp-photo-gallery-item" data-item-id="460" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject"> 417 <div class="pp-photo-gallery-content"> 418 <a href="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/David-with-Sylvester-Stallone-RAMBO-III-Israel-002-1024x777.jpg" data-fancybox="images" title="David with Sylvester Stallone, RAMBO III, Israel 002" data-caption="David with Sylvester Stallone" data-description="" itemprop="contentUrl"> 419 420 421 <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="pp-gallery-img no-lazyload skip-lazy" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/David-with-Sylvester-Stallone-RAMBO-III-Israel-002-1024x777.jpg" alt="" data-no-lazy="1" itemprop="thumbnail" width="1024" height="777" /> 422 423 <!-- Overlay Wrapper --> 424 <div class="pp-gallery-overlay"> 425 <div class="pp-overlay-inner"> 426 427 428 429 </div> 430 </div> <!-- Overlay Wrapper Closed --> 431 432 </a> 433 <meta itemprop="width" content="1024" /> 434 <meta itemprop="height" content="777" /> 435 </div> 436 <div class="pp-photo-gallery-caption pp-photo-gallery-caption-below" itemprop="caption description">David with Sylvester Stallone</div> 437 </div><div class="pp-photo-gallery-item" data-item-id="457" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject"> 438 <div class="pp-photo-gallery-content"> 439 <a href="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/David-with-Richard-Crenna-10-30-1024x653.jpg" data-fancybox="images" title="David with Richard Crenna-10-30" data-caption="David with Richard Crenna" data-description="" itemprop="contentUrl"> 440 441 442 <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="pp-gallery-img no-lazyload skip-lazy" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/David-with-Richard-Crenna-10-30-1024x653.jpg" alt="" data-no-lazy="1" itemprop="thumbnail" width="1024" height="653" /> 443 444 <!-- Overlay Wrapper --> 445 <div class="pp-gallery-overlay"> 446 <div class="pp-overlay-inner"> 447 448 449 450 </div> 451 </div> <!-- Overlay Wrapper Closed --> 452 453 </a> 454 <meta itemprop="width" content="1024" /> 455 <meta itemprop="height" content="653" /> 456 </div> 457 <div class="pp-photo-gallery-caption pp-photo-gallery-caption-below" itemprop="caption description">David with Richard Crenna</div> 458 </div> 459 </div> 460 461 </div> 462</div> 463</div> </div> 464 </div> 465 <div class="pp-tabs-panel"> 466 <div class="pp-tabs-label pp-tabs-panel-label pp-tab-icon-left" data-index="3"> 467 <div class="pp-tab-label-inner"> 468 <div class="pp-tab-label-flex"> 469 <div class="pp-tab-label-wrap"> 470 <div class="pp-tab-title">Blade Article</div> 471 </div> 472 </div> 473 474 <i class="pp-toggle-icon pp-tab-open fa fa-plus"></i> 475 476 <i class="pp-toggle-icon pp-tab-close fa fa-minus"></i> 477 </div> 478 </div> 479 <div id="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-4-content" class="pp-tabs-panel-content pp-clearfix" data-index="3" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-4"> 480 <div itemprop="text"><p><a href="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Screen-Shot-2018-10-29-at-1.30.56-PM.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-440 size-medium" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Screen-Shot-2018-10-29-at-1.30.56-PM-300x208.png" alt="" width="300" height="208" srcset="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Screen-Shot-2018-10-29-at-1.30.56-PM-300x208.png 300w, https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Screen-Shot-2018-10-29-at-1.30.56-PM.png 623w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100v
480w, 300px" /></a></p> 481<p>David Morrellâs debut novel, First Blood, inspired the most-famous knife in modern history, created one of the worldâs most recognizable characters, has never been out of print since 1972, and has been translated into thirty languages. This fascinating Blade magazine article describes the history of the knives.</p> 482<p><strong><a href="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/The-Man-Who-Created-Rambo.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read the complete article, download the PDF.</a></strong></p> 483</div> </div> 484 </div> 485 <div class="pp-tabs-panel"> 486 <div class="pp-tabs-label pp-tabs-panel-label pp-tab-icon-left" data-index="4"> 487 <div class="pp-tab-label-inner"> 488 <div class="pp-tab-label-flex"> 489 <div class="pp-tab-label-wrap"> 490 <div class="pp-tab-title">Steve Berry Essay</div> 491 </div> 492 </div> 493 494 <i class="pp-toggle-icon pp-tab-open fa fa-plus"></i> 495 496 <i class="pp-toggle-icon pp-tab-close fa fa-minus"></i> 497 </div> 498 </div> 499 <div id="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-5-content" class="pp-tabs-panel-content pp-clearfix" data-index="4" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-5"> 500 <div itemprop="text"><p>(Warning: There are spoilers in this essay. If you havenât read <strong><em>First Blood</em> </strong>but intend to and you donât want to be surprised by the bookâs harrowing climax, read Steve Berryâs essay afterward.)</p> 501<p>In the summer of 1968, America was erupting. The Vietnam War was literally tearing the nation a
501part, riots and demonstrations so polarizing the country that one generation seemed utterly confounded by the other. Recently arrived in the United States on a student visa was a twenty-five year old Canadian named David Morrell. He was married, with an infant daughter, preparing for a career as a teacher, fascinated by the United States, eager to learn about something he knew nothing about: the Vietnam War.</p> 502<p>What he discovered deeply disturbed him. But something Socrates once said came to mind. <em>No one commits wrong intentionally. </em>For Morrell, that truism about how we rationalize everything we do became worth exploring, so he decided to write a novel that would allegorize the Vietnam War. Not to make a point. Or take sides. That could have been a problem since the terms of his visa specifically stated, on threat of deportation, that he should refrain from expressing political opinions. Instead, Morrell decided to tactfully objectify Americaâs bitter philosophical and cultural divisions, transposing the brutality of Vietnamâand the radical conflicts that the war generated at homeâto a rural Kentucky town, creating a miniature version of the Vietnam War on American soil.</p> 503<p>Instead of shotgunning the narrative with many points of view, he focused on only two. Rambo, the Vietnam veteran, Green Beret, former POW, and Medal of Honor recipient. A man haunted by the war, repulsed by the violence he found in himself, embittered by the hostility he sometimes faced from those he fought to protect. In rebellion, he allowed his hair and beard to grow, shunned all possessions, and wandered the back roads of America, looking like a hippie. Searching, he represented those disaffected by the war.</p> 504<p>Wilfred Teasle represented the Establishment. A Korean War hero, recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, Eisenhower Republican, chief of police in Madison, Kentucky. As troubled as Rambo, heâs old enough to be Ramboâs father, haunted by a different set of war memories, but equally as controlled by them. By alternating back and forth between each manâs anger, Morrell allowed the reader to identify with each manâs motivations. As with Socratesâ<em>no one commits wrong intentionally</em>âthese two likewise draw from deep, well-meant convictions, making one mistake after another, their rationalized fury eventually guaranteeing a mutual destruction.</p> 505<p>Morrell was careful not to favor one character over the other. He wanted the reader to understand <em>both</em> sides and become dismayed as the two protagonists proved incapable of doing the same. At one point, Teasle sends for the Special Forces officer who trained RamboâColonel Sam Trautman, whose first name Morrell meant to echo that of Uncle Sam. In the end, after Rambo kills Teasle, Trautman kills Rambo, thus completing the allegory inasmuch as the representative of the system that created Rambo is the person who destroys him and turns out to be the only winner.</p> 506<p>The palpable vividness of the prose in <strong><em>First Blood</em></strong> is matched by the bookâs unrelenting pace. Until its publication in 1972, few thrillers dramatized so much intense, continuous action. From the moment Rambo breaks out of jail totally naked and hijacks a motorcycle, escaping into the nearby mountains to fight a private war, the novel set a new standard for speed. It also established a fresh approach to writing action, based on the research Morrell did for his Masterâs thesis on Hemingwayâs style. Hemingway didnât use clichéd expressions such as âA shot rang out,â and Morrell was determined not to write that way, either.</p> 507<p>Often referred to as âthe father of the modern action novel,â <strong><em>First Blood</em></strong> has sold millions of copies around the world and remains in print to this day. Inevitably, Hollywood discovered the tale and created four films, not to mention a Saturday morning cartoon series. The fact that the second and third films (and the cartoon) are false to Morrellâs initial concept is irrelevant. The films exist in worlds of their own and, collectively, manufactured a pop-cultural iconâRamboâone that aided an emasculated America, in the 1980s, to feel good about itself again: Ronald Reaganâs so-called ânew morning.â</p> 508<p>Reagan himself elevated Rambo as his standard-bearer in numerous press conferences, once remarking that, having watched a Rambo film, he knew what to do the next time there was a terrorist crisis. Morrell himself experienced the phenomena when, one day in 1986, he was on a publicity tour in England and picked up the <em>London Times</em> to find a disturbing headline: US Rambo Jets Bomb Libya.</p> 509<p>Not exactly what he had in mind when he first created that all-too-real conflict between Rambo and Teasle. A novel that questioned war and its devastating aftermath, a story that brought to life lingering cultural wounds left by the Vietnam debacle, became a shorthand political metaphorâa rallying cry for even more violence. Morrell himself commented on the irony that a 1970s novel about the political polarization of America (for or against the Vietnam War) became the basis for films, in the 1980s, that resulted in a similar polarization (for or against Ronald Reagan).</p> 510<p>Eventually the <em>
510Oxford English Dictionary </em>cited <strong><em>First Blood</em></strong> as the source for the creation of a new word. Rambo. Complicated, troubled, haunted, too often misunderstood. Precisely like <strong><em>First Blood</em></strong> itself.</p> 511<p style="text-align: center;">*</p> 512<p>Steve Berry is one of the worldâs most popular thriller novelists. He began writing in 1990, and although he is an attorney and his undergraduate degree is in political science, Steveâs interest in travel and history led him to write international suspense thrillers. His many <em>New York Times</em> bestsellers include <em>The Third Secret</em>, <em>The Templar Legacy</em>, <em>The Venetian Betrayal, The Charlemagne Pursuit</em> and <em>The Jefferson Key.</em> His latest is <em>The Columbus Affair</em>. His books have been translated into 40 languages and sold in 51 countries. He is a former co-president of International Thriller Writers. You can learn more about him at www.steveberry.org.</p> 513<p>(Steve Berryâs essay about <em>First Blood</em> originally appeared in <strong><em>Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads</em></strong>, a non-fiction collection nominated for Edgar, Anthony, and Macavity awards. One hundred modern thriller authors wrote essays about their favorite classic thrillers.)</p> 514</div> </div> 515 </div> 516 <div class="pp-tabs-panel"> 517 <div class="pp-tabs-label pp-tabs-panel-label pp-tab-icon-left" data-index="5"> 518 <div class="pp-tab-label-inner"> 519 <div class="pp-tab-label-flex"> 520 <div class="pp-tab-label-wrap"> 521 <div class="pp-tab-title">Rare First Blood Posters</div> 522 </div> 523 </div> 524 525 <i class="pp-toggle-icon pp-tab-open fa fa-plus"></i> 526 527 <i class="pp-toggle-icon pp-tab-close fa fa-minus"></i> 528 </div> 529 </div> 530 <div id="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-6-content" class="pp-tabs-panel-content pp-clearfix" data-index="5" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="pp-tab-5bcf8c10229a9-6"> 531 <div itemprop="text"><p><div id="attachment_517" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/First-Blood-poster.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-517" class="wp-image-517 size-large" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/First-Blood-poster-1024x691.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="691" srcset="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/First-Blood-poster-1024x691.jpg 1024w, https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/First-Blood-poster-300x202.jpg 300w, https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/First-Blood-poster-768x518.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-517" class="wp-caption-text">RARE POSTER THAT MENTIONS KIRK DOUGLAS INSTEAD OF RICHARD CRENNA.</p></div></p> 532<hr /> 533<p><div id="attachment_525" style="width: 562px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-01-at-1.44.31-PM.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-525" class="wp-image-525 size-full" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-01-at-1.44.31-PM.png" alt="" width="552" height="765" srcset="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-01-at-1.44.31-PM.png 552w, https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-01-at-1.44.31-PM-216x300.png 216w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 552px) 100vw, 552px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-525" class="wp-caption-text">A rare look at Kirk Douglas as Trautman</p></div></p> 534<p>d</p> 535</div> </div> 536 </div> 537 </div> 538 539</div> 540 </div> 541</div> 542</div> 543</div> 544 </div> 545 </div> 546 </div> 547</div> 548</div><span class="cp-load-after-post"></span> </div><!-- .fl-post-content --> 549 550</article> 551 552<!-- .fl-post --> 553 </div> 554 </div> 555</div> 556 557 558 </div><!-- .fl-page-content --> 559 <footer class="fl-builder-content fl-builder-content-53 fl-builder
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605<script id="independent-analytics-script" > 606 // Do not change this comment line otherwise Speed Optimizer won't be able to detect this script 607 608 (function () { 609 function sendRequest(url, body) { 610 if(!window.fetch) { 611 const xhr = new XMLHttpRequest(); 612 xhr.open("POST", url, true); 613 xhr.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "application/json;charset=UTF-8"); 614 xhr.send(JSON.stringify(body)) 615 return 616 } 617 618 const request = fetch(url, { 619 method: 'POST', 620 body: JSON.stringify(body), 621 keepalive: true, 622 headers: { 623 'Content-Type': 'application/json;charset=UTF-8' 624 } 625 }); 626 } 627 const calculateParentDistance = (child, parent) => { 628 let count = 0; 629 let currentElement = child; 630 631 // Traverse up the DOM tree until we reach parent or the top of the DOM 632 while (currentElement && currentElement !== parent) { 633 currentElement = currentElement.parentNode; 634 count++; 635 } 636 637 // If parent was not found in the hierarchy, return -1 638 if (!currentElement) { 639 return -1; // Indicates parent is not an ancestor of element 640 } 641 642 return count; // Number of layers between element and parent 643 } 644 const isMatchingClass = (linkRule, href, classes, ids) => { 645 return classes.includes(linkRule.value) 646 } 647 const isMatchingId = (linkRule, href, classes, ids) => { 648 return ids.includes(linkRule.value) 649 } 650 const isMatchingDomain = (linkRule, href, classes, ids) => { 651 if(!URL.canParse(href)) { 652 return false 653 } 654 655 const url = new URL(href) 656 const host = url.host 657 const hostsToMatch = [host] 658 659 if(host.startsWith('www.')) { 660 hostsToMatch.push(host.substring(4)) 661 } else { 662 hostsToMatch.push('www.' + host) 663 } 664 665 return hostsToMatch.includes(linkRule.value) 666 } 667 const isMatchingExtension = (linkRule, href, classes, ids) => { 668 if(!URL.canParse(href)) { 669 return false 670 } 671 672 const url = new URL(href) 673 674 return url.pathname.endsWith('.' + linkRule.value) 675 } 676 const isMatchingSubdirectory = (linkRule, href, classes, ids) => { 677 if(!URL.canParse(href)) { 678 return false 679 } 680 681 const url = new URL(href) 682 683 return url.pathname.startsWith('/' + linkRule.value + '/') 684 } 685 const isMatchingProtocol = (linkRule, href, classes, ids) => { 686 if(!URL.canParse(href)) { 687 return false 688 } 689 690 const url = new URL(href) 691 692 return url.protocol === linkRule.value + ':' 693 } 694 const isMatchingExternal = (linkRule, href, classes, ids) => { 695 if(!URL.canParse(href) || !URL.canParse(document.location.href)) { 696 return false 697 } 698 699 const matchingProtocols = ['http:', 'https:'] 700 const siteUrl = new URL(document.location.href) 701 const linkUrl = new URL(href) 702 703 // Links to subdomains will appear to be external matches according to JavaScript, 704 // but the PHP rules will filter those events out. 705 return matchingProtocols.includes(linkUrl.protocol) && siteUrl.host !== linkUrl.host 706 } 707 const isMatch = (linkRule, href, classes, ids) => { 708 switch (linkRule.type) { 709 case 'class': 710 return isMatchingClass(linkRule, href, classes, ids) 711 case 'id': 712 return isMatchingId(linkRule, href, classes, ids) 713 case 'domain': 714 return isMatchingDomain(linkRule, href, classes, ids) 715 case 'extension': 716 return isMatchingExtension(linkRule, href, classes, ids) 717 case 'subdirectory': 718 return isMatchingSubdirectory(linkRule, href, classes, ids) 719 case 'protocol': 720 return isMatchingProtocol(linkRule, href, classes, ids) 721 case 'external': 722 return isMatchingExternal(linkRule, href, classes, ids) 723 default: 724 return false;
725 } 726 } 727 const track = (element) => { 728 const href = element.href ?? null 729 const classes = Array.from(element.classList) 730 const ids = [element.id] 731 const linkRules = [{"type":"extension","value":"pdf"},{"type":"extension","value":"zip"},{"type":"protocol","value":"mailto"},{"type":"protocol","value":"tel"}] 732 if(linkRules.length === 0) { 733 return 734 } 735 736 // For link rules that target an id, we need to allow that id to appear 737 // in any ancestor up to the 7th ancestor. This loop looks for those matches 738 // and counts them. 739 linkRules.forEach((linkRule) => { 740 if(linkRule.type !== 'id') { 741 return; 742 } 743 744 const matchingAncestor = element.closest('#' + linkRule.value) 745 746 if(!matchingAncestor || matchingAncestor.matches('html, body')) { 747 return; 748 } 749 750 const depth = calculateParentDistance(element, matchingAncestor) 751 752 if(depth < 7) { 753 ids.push(linkRule.value) 754 } 755 }); 756 757 // For link rules that target a class, we need to allow that class to appear 758 // in any ancestor up to the 7th ancestor. This loop looks for those matches 759 // and counts them. 760 linkRules.forEach((linkRule) => { 761 if(linkRule.type !== 'class') { 762 return; 763 } 764 765 const matchingAncestor = element.closest('.' + linkRule.value) 766 767 if(!matchingAncestor || matchingAncestor.matches('html, body')) { 768 return; 769 } 770 771 const depth = calculateParentDistance(element, matchingAncestor) 772 773 if(depth < 7) { 774 classes.push(linkRule.value) 775 } 776 }); 777 778 const hasMatch = linkRules.some((linkRule) => { 779 return isMatch(linkRule, href, classes, ids) 780 }) 781 782 if(!hasMatch) { 783 return 784 } 785 786 const url = "https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/plugins/independent-analytics-pro/iawp-click-endpoint.php"; 787 const siteId = ""; 788 const body = { 789 href: href, 790 classes: classes.join(' '), 791 ids: ids.join(' '), 792 siteId: siteId, 793 ...{"payload":{"resource":"singular","singular_id":313,"page":1},"signature":"55e0c41dc6e9b60268421072ba757829"} }; 794 795 sendRequest(url, body) 796 } 797 let hasSearched = false; 798 function search() { 799 if(hasSearched) { 800 return; 801 } 802 hasSearched = true; 803 804 if (document.hasOwnProperty("visibilityState") && document.visibilityState === "prerender") { 805 return; 806 } 807 808 if (navigator.webdriver || /bot|crawler|spider|crawling|semrushbot|chrome-lighthouse/i.test(navigator.userAgent)) { 809 return; 810 } 811 812 let referrer_url = null; 813 814 if (typeof document.referrer === 'string' && document.referrer.length > 0) { 815 referrer_url = document.referrer; 816 } 817 818 const params = location.search.slice(1).split('&').reduce((acc, s) => { 819 const [k, v] = s.split('='); 820 return Object.assign(acc, {[k]: v}); 821 }, {}); 822 823 const url = "https://davidmorrell.net/wp-json/iawp/search"; 824 const body = { 825 referrer_url, 826 utm_source: params.utm_source, 827 utm_medium: params.utm_medium, 828 utm_campaign: params.utm_campaign, 829 utm_term: params.utm_term,
830 utm_content: params.utm_content, 831 gclid: params.gclid, 832 ...{"payload":{"resource":"singular","singular_id":313,"page":1},"signature":"55e0c41dc6e9b60268421072ba757829"} }; 833 834 sendRequest(url, body) 835 } 836 document.addEventListener('mousedown', function (event) { 837 if (navigator.webdriver || /bot|crawler|spider|crawling|semrushbot|chrome-lighthouse/i.test(navigator.userAgent)) { 838 return; 839 } 840 841 const element = event.target.closest('a') 842 843 if(!element) { 844 return 845 } 846 847 const isPro = true 848 if(!isPro) { 849 return 850 } 851 852 // Don't track left clicks with this event. The click event is used for that. 853 if(event.button === 0) { 854 return 855 } 856 857 track(element) 858 }) 859 document.addEventListener('click', function (event) { 860 if (navigator.webdriver || /bot|crawler|spider|crawling|semrushbot|chrome-lighthouse/i.test(navigator.userAgent)) { 861 return; 862 } 863 864 const element = event.target.closest('a, button, input[type="submit"], input[type="button"]') 865 866 if(!element) { 867 return 868 } 869 870 const isPro = true 871 if(!isPro) { 872 return 873 } 874 875 track(element) 876 }) 877 document.addEventListener('play', function (event) { 878 if (navigator.webdriver || /bot|crawler|spider|crawling|semrushbot|chrome-lighthouse/i.test(navigator.userAgent)) { 879 return; 880 } 881 882 const element = event.target.closest('audio, video') 883 884 if(!element) { 885 return 886 } 887 888 const isPro = true 889 if(!isPro) { 890 return 891 } 892 893 track(element) 894 }, true) 895 document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function (e) { 896 search(); 897 }); 898 document.addEventListener("iawpSearch", function (e) { 899 search(); 900 }); 901 })(); 902 </script>
902 903
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vendor: 1 bytes, line 903
903
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vendor: 1 bytes, line 904
904
905<script id="jquery-throttle-js" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/plugins/bb-plugin/js/libs/jquery.ba-throttle-debounce.min.js?ver=2.11.1.1"></script>
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905
906<script id="jquery-fitvids-js" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/plugins/bb-plugin/js/libs/jquery.fitvids.min.js?ver=1.2"></script>
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906
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vendor: 1 bytes, line 907
907
908<script id="jquery-magnificpopup-js" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/plugins/bb-plugin/js/libs/jquery.magnificpopup.min.js?ver=2.11.1.1"></script>
vendor: 1 bytes, line 908
908
909<script id="bootstrap-js" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/themes/bb-theme/js/bootstrap.min.js?ver=1.7.20"></script>
vendor: 1 bytes, line 909
909
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vendor: 1 bytes, line 913
913
914<script id="fl-automator-js" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/themes/bb-theme/js/theme.min.js?ver=1.7.20"></script>
vendor: 1 bytes, line 914
914
915<script id="masonry-js" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-includes/js/masonry.min.js?ver=4.2.2"></script>
vendor: 1 bytes, line 915
915
916<script id="jquery-masonry-js" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-includes/js/jquery/jquery.masonry.min.js?ver=3.1.2b"></script>
vendor: 1 bytes, line 916
916
917<script id="jquery-isotope-js" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/plugins/bbpowerpack/assets/js/isotope.pkgd.min.js?ver=3.0.1"></script>
vendor: 1 bytes, line 917
917
918<script id="pp-jquery-fancybox-js" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/plugins/bbpowerpack/assets/js/jquery.fancybox.min.js?ver=3.5.7"></script>
vendor: 1 bytes, line 918
918
919<script id="fl-builder-layout-499-js" src="https://davidmorrell.net/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/499-layout-partial.js?ver=0adf4ef229b3a5d984254d7822f73326"></script>
919 920 921
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Line numbers count LF bytes from the start of the resource, as the search results do. Vendor segments are library code the classifier recognised; they are stored but not indexed. Bytes are shown as Latin1 characters, one per byte.