Owen Wilson's Favorite Action Movie Isn't What You'd Expect
Owen Wilson might be best known for saying "Wow" and hanging out with Wes Anderson, but when it comes to action movies, his taste is surprisingly hardcore.
In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Wilson was asked to name a favorite film — and he didn't hesitate: Ted Kotcheff's First Blood (1982). Yep, the original Rambo movie. Not exactly what you'd expect from the Wedding Crashers guy.
"I remember going to see it with my brothers and a friend, and we loved it so much we went back the next day," he said.
He went on to describe the opening scene in detail — where Brian Dennehy's small-town sheriff picks up Stallone's drifter and gives him a friendly-but-not-really ride out of town, only for Rambo to quietly turn around and walk right back in.
"Why couldn't he have just walked through that town?" Wilson asked. "Why did that sheriff have to pick him up and kick him out? He wasn't bothering anybody."
It's clear he sees Rambo less as a super-soldier and more as some kind of existential loner, which honestly checks out if you've seen Wilson's work with Wes Anderson. (Rambo & the Royal Tenenbaums crossover, anyone?)
First Blood, based on David Morrell's novel, is the rare action movie that actually has something on its mind — PTSD, authority abuse, survival — in between all the explosions. Stallone once called it "overblown," and yes, the sequels turned it into more of a cartoon, but the original still hits hard.
So no, Wilson's not angling to play Rambo (yet), but if Stallone ever wanted to pass the torch, imagine Owen walking out of the woods with a headband and a machine gun, muttering "Wow... they drew first blood." You'd watch it.