Rebel Ridge has been the Netflix phenomenon of the month so far. High profile releases may be getting screened at the Venice Film Festival, but Jeremy Saulnier's gritty action film is racking up streams on the platform everybody seems to have.
The film manages the rare feat of feeling both wholly original and indebted to the genre classics that came before it. The premise, in which a former military man decides to take on a corrupt small town, should be familiar to anybody who has seen First Blood (1982). If you haven't, though, you are in for a treat.
First Blood is currently streaming on Tubi
The Sylvester Stallone-led film is the perfect film to pair with Rebel Ridge, and it's currently for free on Tubi. First Blood is the first installment in the Rambo series, and it is far and away the most grounded. While John Rambo, a former Green Beret, effectively fights war single-handedly in the sequels, First Blood is a small story about the character's struggles with the sheriff of a small town.
Both Rebel Ridge and First Blood revolve around conflicts between veterans the sheriffs who take an immediate dislike to them. Rebel Ridge's sheriff is played by Don Johnson, who turns in a wonderfully sleazy performance. First Blood, meanwhile, sees the role of the bigoted sheriff go to the legendary Brian Dennehy.
Rebel Ridge almost included a First Blood reference
Jeremy Saulnier, the writer and director of Rebel Ridge, has not been shy about the influence that First Blood had on him. He has frequently cited the film during interviews, and even joked about his Netflix pitch being a mashup of First Blood and Michael Clayton (2007). "That’s the easiest thing for people to latch onto," he told Creative Screenwriting.
Saulnier almost deepened the connections between Rebel Ridge and First Blood by including a reference to one of the characters in the latter film. He ultimately decided against it, though, as he felt it would have been too on the nose. "When films are overly sort of referential or self-referential, it kind of bugs me," he explained to Slash Film. "So I was disciplined about that."
Overt reference or not, Rebel Ridge does its predecessor proud. Besides, any excuse to go back and watch First Blood is worth making.