Lieutenant Colonel Podovsky
| “ | Pride is a poor substitute for intelligence. | „ |
| ~ Podovsky giving instructions to the captive Rambo |
Lieutenant Colonel Podovsky is the main antagonist in the 1985 film Rambo: First Blood Part II. He is a sadistic Soviet commander who interrogates John Rambo and ends up trying to kill him.
He is portrayed by Steven Berkoff, who also portrays General Orlov and Victor Maitland.
Biography
Podovsky, along with his men, are working with the North Vietnamese communists and holding several American soldiers prisoner in a prison camp. Podovsky is first seen when Rambo and an escaped prisoner are captured. With his best Russian soldier, Sergeant Yushin, Podovsky interrogates Rambo through various methods of torture including electrocution and scalding, and orders that Rambo call Murdock and instruct him to never conduct further searches for prisoners of war. Instead of giving the demands, Rambo sends a threat to Murdock telling him he will come after him and fights his way out of the room with the help of his partner, Co Bao. Podovsky sends Lieutenant Tay and some of his men into the jungle to kill Rambo. This fails, but Co is killed instead and Rambo flies into a rage and kills Tay and all of his men. In response, Podovsky sends a number of Russians to find and kill Rambo. After Sgt. Yushin is killed by Rambo, Podovsky decides to take it upon himself to kill Rambo and flies off in his helicopter. After an intense helicopter chase through the jungles, Rambo's chopper is badly damaged from enemy fire and appears to crash land in a river. Podovsky flies down by the downed helicopter and sees that Rambo is seemingly dead. As Podovsky is about to finish the job with a missile, Rambo pulls a hidden rocket launcher and fires it through a hole in the windshield at Podovsky's helicopter, blowing him to bits.
