The Explosive Truth Revealed: The Epic Rivalry That Altered Commando Forever

The rivalry between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone played a significant role in the development of the action movie Commando. After the success of Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator, Schwarzenegger seized the opportunity to portray a classic militaristic action hero in Commando, released in 1985. Coincidentally, in the same year, Stallone, Schwarzenegger's chief action movie competitor, released Rambo: First Blood Part II, the sequel to his 1982 hit First Blood.

The clash between Commando and Rambo II was perceived by audiences as an epic showdown between the leading action stars of the '80s. Interestingly, the people working behind-the-scenes on Commando shared this perspective, as revealed by Commando writer Steven E. de Souza. In an interview with Radio Times, de Souza delved into how the desire to match the violence depicted in Rambo II influenced changes in the Commando script. These changes, in turn, caused alterations to the movie's ending. Read on to discover de Souza's insights on this matter.

I concurred with Arnold's belief that the film would be a success. During that time, there was a rivalry between Rambo and Commando that had persisted for a long time. However, Arnold predicted that people would continue to discuss this film because it had a self-awareness and didn't take itself too seriously. On the other hand, Rambo was known for taking himself very seriously. Unfortunately, I attribute the messed up ending of Commando to Sylvester Stallone. Mark L. Lester, the director of Commando, had watched a preview of Rambo II and noticed that Stallone kills a significant number of people in the film. As a result, Lester felt compelled to include an extravagant scene in Commando where a private army is annihilated. This excessive shooting of hundreds of men was not part of the original script and caused the film to exceed its budget. Eventually, the production team had to admit that they didn't have enough funds to film what was initially planned.

How The Commando Ending Was Changed

In the climactic scene of Commando, John Matrix, played by Schwarzenegger, successfully infiltrates the villa where his daughter Jenny (played by Alyssa Milano) is being held captive by the antagonists. This leads to an intense and memorable fight in the basement between Matrix and the main villain, Bennett (portrayed by Vernon Wells). Matrix emerges victorious by impaling Bennett with a steam pipe, delivering the iconic line, "Let off some steam, Bennett." De Souza reveals that due to budget constraints, this scaled-back ending was filmed on the Fox lot, with the writer having only 24 hours to create a new scene.

The original Commando script, written by de Souza, initially planned for the movie's climax to take place on a private island with only a few security men being defeated by Schwarzenegger. However, due to the additional and costly action scenes added by Lester, filming that sequence on location became impractical. As a result, the ending was instead filmed in a rather unremarkable basement. While this scaled-back ending is effective in its own way, it deviates from de Souza's original vision. If Stallone had not set such a high standard for violence in Rambo: First Blood Part II and if Schwarzenegger's team hadn't felt the need to surpass that standard, Commando fans would have experienced a significantly different and potentially even more thrilling climax.

Source: Radio Times