History Film / RamboIII

* ChromosoneCasting: There is no female role in the main cast, and few women appear in the film.

The film begins with Trautman tracking down Rambo and asking him to join him on a mission to Afghanistan to assist the Afghan [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters freedom fighters]] who are [[FightingForAHomeland fighting against the Soviets]] in the Soviet-Afghan war. Despite being shown pictures of suffering civilians, Rambo refuses and Trautman goes alone. But when Trautman is ambushed and captured by the Soviets, Rambo must go in and rescue him. Just like the James Bond film ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'', ''Rambo III'' features Afghan mujahideen as good guys, before they morphed into [[TerroristsWithoutACause generic terrorists]] following the September 11th attacks.

---> '''Soviet Commander''': Who do you think he is? God?
---> '''Trautman''': God would have mercy. He won't.

---> '''Rambo''': Are you listening?
---> '''Soviet Commander''': Who are you!?
---> '''Rambo''': Your worst nightmare.

-->''Rambo and Trautman stand alone against an entire Soviet battalion*''
-->'''Trautman:''' What do we do?
-->'''Rambo:''' Well, surrounding them is out.
-->'''Trautman:''' Hell of a time for humor, John.

* CaliforniaDoubling: Israel and the American Western Desert for Afghanistan.

* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: ''Rambo III'' saw Rambo team up with freedom fighters from Afghanistan. [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters "Freedom fighters" who soon came to be known by another name: The Taliban.]] By no means the movie's fault, but still...

* ImYourWorstNightmare

The film begins with Trautman tracking down Rambo and asking him to join him on a mission to Afghanistan to assist the Afghan [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters freedom fighters]] who are [[FightingForAHomeland fighting against the Soviets]] in the Soviet-Afghan war. Despite being shown pictures of suffering civilians, Rambo refuses and Trautman goes alone. But when Trautman is ambushed and captured by the Soviets, Rambo must go in and rescue him. Just like the James Bond film ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'', ''Rambo III'' [[ValuesDissonance features Afghan mujahideen as good guys]], before they morphed into [[TerroristsWithoutACause generic terrorists]] following the September 11th attacks.

--> '''Soviet Commander''': Who do you think he is? God?
--> '''Trautman''': God would have mercy. He won't.

---> '''Soviet Commander''': Who do you think he is? God?
---> '''Trautman''': God would have mercy. He won't.

--->'''Colonel:''' "Got any ideas?"\\

-->''*Rambo and Trautman stand alone against an entire Soviet battalion*''

* PrecisionF-Strike: Despite its R rating, this movie is incredibly light on profanity, so it really stands out when Rambo drops the movie's lone F-bomb ("Fuck 'em!") just before the final fight with the Soviets.

** Not necessarily so: The warriors whom Rambo fought besides were ''[[ChurchMilitant mujihadeen]]''; many but by no means all joined the Taliban after the end of the Cold War; some would instead join the drug-dealing Uzbek warlords and the communist remnant that the Taliban fought and had almost defeated. Not every ''mujihad'' is part of the Taliban, just as not every Talib is a ''mujihad''. Ironically, the Uzbek warlords and the communists would later be portrayed as heroes, once they proved to be useful as a U.S. proxy army.
*** If you want to think the specific mujihadeen in the film are not future Taliban supporters, you may latch onto the fact that there's a sequence where they play Buzkashi, a traditional Afghan sport which was banned under Taliban rule.
** At the time of the film's release, it's anti-Soviet tone was criticized by some for being out of date in the age of ''glasnost'' and ''perestroika''. This, after all, was the period when Soviet villains were increasingly [[RenegadeRussian renegades]]. The movie does address this with Trautman's line, "You talk peace and disarmament to the world, and here you are wiping out a race of people!" However, at the time of the film's release, Gorbachev's administration had acknowledged defeat in Afghanistan and the Soviet army was actually in the process of withdrawing, making the BigBad[='s=] insistence that they're on a verge of a "complete victory" a little ridiculous, not that anyone could have known that at the time it was filmed. On the other hand, maybe this means he's a renegade after all. Or the film is just set before the withdrawal started.

* RedsWithRockets:

* Dedication: At the end of the movie, the words "This film is dedicated to the gallant people of Afghanistan" can be seen.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: This was filmed just before TheGreatPoliticsMessUp. To a 21st century audience The Afghan War is likely to be seen as TheWarOnTerror. this has UnfortunateImplications regarding Afghan rebels to a contemporary audience.