Rambo-like effort needed to save famous Hope bridge

As the Rambo-themed First Blood: The Final Take celebration got underway Sunday alongside the banks of the majestic Coquihalla River in Hope, there was one question on everyone's mind: Will he be here?

By “he," they of course meant Sylvester Stallone, the Hollywood action star whose 1983 movie First Blood put the tiny B.C. town on the map and created a generation of “Rambo" fans.

On Sunday, 30 years later after that first Rambo movie was filmed in Hope, residents gathered amongst movie props and fans to celebrate the iconic Kawkawa Bridge, a key filming location that is being torn down beginning Monday.

“It's a sad state of affairs," Brian McKinney, an organizer and fan, said of the bridge's demise. “This movie has become a cult phenomenon. The people that love this movie are fanatics. But they're good fanatics."

Those include Simon Birmingham, a 30-something landscape gardener who traveled from Southampton, England, to attend the event.

“I've been a fan of First Blood since '83," he said. “It just touched me; I don't know why. I can watch it every day, I just never get sick of it."

Dressed in Rambo's trademark outfit -- a forest green U.S. army jacket, jeans and a headband -- Birmingham is a dead ringer for the early ‘80s Stallone, though, as he points out, he's worn the wrong shoes. His real Rambo boots are stuck in customs.

“Screen accuracy for me is quite important," Birmingham said, looking mournfully at his brown hiking boots. “It's a bit of a letdown, because they're not the boots he wears in the film."

Birmingham, in any case, doesn't win the day's Rambo look-a-like contest. That title goes to Pig, a hefty, panting English bulldog sporting a black wig and rope belt.

Though Stallone himself did not attend, organizers were nonplused. “We knew this event would be legendary, even without him here," Riley Forman said.

One celebrity was on hand, however: Stephen Chang, a B.C. actor who played a Viet Cong commander in First Blood's flashback scenes. Chang hams it for TV cameras and fans, striking martial arts poses and flashing a glinting replica knife.

“I feel good because this movie will never die," he said. “As a matter of fact, I still get residuals after 30 years!" At a nearby table, Chang, the former Mr. Hong Kong 1970, autographs glossy photos for $15 apiece.

As the day comes to an end and attendees trekked to a local cinema for a special First Blood screening, organizers were already looking ahead to their next Rambo event: a 30th anniversary party over Thanksgiving 2012.