RAMBO MISSION KNIFE TURNS 35

Three years after First Blood took the box office by storm in 1982, Rambo: First Blood Part II* struck the public consciousness like a thunderclap. Sylvester Stallone brought the Vietnam veteran anti-hero back with a vengeance, and he carried a knife like none other.

Rambo: First Blood Part II was more than equal to the challenge of being a sequel to the hard-hitting original, and actually was the highest grossing film of the first four produced around the action character. In step with the fervor of excitement that came with the 1985 debut of the second movie, the knife that John Rambo used in the sequel rightfully gained an enthusiastic following all its own.

Like the first Rambo knife, the second was built by the incomparable BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® member Jimmy Lile, aka the “Arkansas Knifesmith.” It was born out of a conversation that grew into a working partnership and an agreement sealed with a handshake. Stallone met Lile through Joe Ellithorpe, owner of the famed Pony Express, perhaps the best-known gun store in Southern California. When the actor mentioned an upcoming film