Stallone Challenges Military Officials

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Sylvester Stallone says his latest "Rambo" film and its tag line are inspiring real-life opponents of Myanmar's military rulers.

"Either live for something, die for nothing -- it's your choice," the 61-year-old actor-director said Saturday in a phone call from Paris, where he is promoting the movie, the fourth in a series.

"Students have now used this film as a rallying point and are using the quote, thinking maybe the American military will intervene and save them," he said.

"Rambo" has the disaffected Vietnam vet John Rambo trying to find missionaries captured by Myanmar soldiers, who are shown razing villages and killing civilians.

Myanmar's military crushed pro-democracy protests led by students and Buddhist priests last year.

Stallone filmed "Rambo," which has yet to be released in Asia, on a river bordering Myanmar and neighboring Thailand.

He issued a challenge to the ruling military.

"If they think this movie is a fantasy, I welcome the opportunity to let me come over there and walk around the country without armed guards following me every inch of the way," he said.