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This was filmed at the Salmon Hatchery on the Capilano River
THE MINE
WHERE IS THE MINE NOW?
This location was another hard find only to find out later Jayme's uncle was a security guard for the Capilano locations which included the Mine, National guard, Manhunt and boar scenes. Robert Andrew Burns also confirmed all of this recently and can't thank him enough. The exterior of the mine was built as a set above the Cleveland Dam in North Vancouver. This is part of the GVRD and is a park. There are no signs of this set as the location had to be put back to its original condition after filming. In order to get to it, you have to cross the Dam and take the trail that goes up and to the left. Once at the top, take the first trail to the left and the mine was up on the hill to the right. The Manhunt and Boar scenes were filmed beside the mine as well.
THE INTERIOR OF THE MINE
The interior set was built in an old BC Hydro warehouse
This set was at the old Dominion Bridge plant on the corner of Lougheed hwy and Boundary road. It was leased to the Loremer Canada Film Company as a film studio. It was also used for the close up shots of Sly in the Army Truck. See ARMY TRUCK
The rats used in the filming were imported from UBC and dyed brown.
This is also the place where filming wrapped up as seen in the photo on the right. With weather delays, filming ran from Nov 81 - Mar 82
DELETED FLASH BACK SCENE WHILE RAMBO IS THE MINE
Thanks to Robert Andrew Burns
Mr. Burns has been an incredible resource and I can't thank him enough for his stories of being on set for many of the scenes. In some of the DVD versions in First Blood there are deleted scenes. One has him in a bar in Vietnam and meeting a woman there. These were filmed at the the old Dominion Bridge plant shown above. Here he is pictured with Sly and photos of the set that didn't make it on to the screen.
PORKY THE BOAR
I interviewed Hugh Oaks, who at the time of filming, was the owner of the Vancouver game farm. The crew of First Blood requested a boar of which he said he'd be able to deliver. On the morning of filming he drove out from Abbotsford on his way to North Vancouver when Porky escaped. He was stuck in rush hour traffic when Porky knocked his gate loose and ran down a hill. Porky ended up being wrangled up after the Police and Fire Department got involved. Mr. Oaks managed to get Porky to the set although a little late and filming began. The crews constructed a pen for Porky and got him ready for his big scene. The stuntman stood on the edge with a rubber knife, the director yelled action and the stuntman jumped on Porky stabbing him a couple of times. The stuntman then jumped out of the pen and the director yelled cut. He wanted the stuntman to do the scene again when Mr. Oaks advised him that would be a very bad idea. The director asked him why?, and Mr. Oaks informed him that Porky would be on to the stuntman who could be seriously injured. The stuntman agreed with Mr. Oaks and called it a day. Mr. Oaks then stood just outside of the pen and camera with a treat so Porky would move while being filmed. The director yelled CUT, handed Mr. Oaks $500 bucks, which was big money back then and took Porky back home.
*** A big thank you for Mr. Oaks for sharing his great story ***
