I think the point is solely the fact that the two names are homonyms. The French pronunciation of the name Rimbaud sounds like "Rambo". I had a college professor who joked about the similar-sounding names while we studied Decadence in Literature.

Rimbaud when pronounced in French sounds exactly like Rambo.

Rimbaud might be great, but Rambo is still the best.

Dear Peter,

Arthur Rimbaud with his rebellious, sensual verse was a key figure in the development of modern French poetry. Born in 1856 he wrote his first ingenious poetry at the age of 17! He decided to not longer be a writer at the age of 21! He fought along with the communards, dealt with weapons and died of a massive tumor at the age of 37. He influenced many artists, as different as Klaus Mann or Jim Morrison. His relationship to poet Paul Verlaine is quite well described in that 1996 Leo DiCaprio/David Thewlis film "Total Eclipse". I won't cite any verse by him. Please check out your local independent book store ;-) As far as I recall in one of the Rambo movies it is revealed that John got in fact baptised after Rimbaud, or his father was ....

That language joke has been used in Julie Delpy's movie, 2 Days in Paris.

David Morrell, who wrote the novel FIRST BLOOD where the Rambo character comes from, said he named the character after the poet.

By the way, Rambo was not a heroic character in FIRST BLOOD, he was all of the horrors of the Viet Nam War dropped into small town America. By the end of the novel, they have no choice but to call in the military to kill Rambo in order to end his voilence. Kind of got changed for the film.

- Bill