The action film is one of the staples of cinema especially when it comes to the summer blockbuster. They have arguably been around for decades but we thought we’d take a look at most influential action films in each decade starting with ……
Bullitt (1968)
Steve McQueen was the quintessential man’s man and he loved his cars, he REALLY loved his cars and director Peter Yates film had the actor as a cop who doesn’t play by the rules (don’t they all!). And here it sees him go after a crime lord who has killed the witness that McQueen’s Detective Bullitt was protecting. A great film anyway but what set it apart was it ground breaking car chase (that was never in the book the film it was adapted from or in the script either until McQueen took over the role after original star Spencer Tracy had died. Bullitt chases a villain through the notoriously steep hilled streets of San Francisco in a blistering ground breaking car chase unlike anything seen before on. And it was McQueen who was driving! An extremely able driver he would share driving duties for the chase with Bud Ekins a revered stunt driver. And it was car-nage with a camera being wrecked and even mistakes in the chase kept in the final film- in this instance McQueen misses a turn and reverses the car at speed burning out the tyres in the process. The mayor agreed to the streets being shut down foe weeks at a time whilst it was shot in an effort to promote the city to filmmakers. Two Mustangs and two Dodge Chargers were used and modified for the chase and were pretty much written off apart from one of Mustang’s. The almost 11 minute car chase set the bench mark for influential action films and it would be William Friedkin’s The French Connection that would top it.
Gone in 60 seconds (1974)
Forget the Nicolas Cage remake and instead take a look at the original. Written and directed by H. B. Haliki it contains the longest car chase in film taking up the majority of the films 97 minute running time. Halicki was a stuntman having worked on a number of films but this was his chance to indulge his love of cars and stunts in a thin story line involving an insurance investigator who along with his team are also car thieves. And what cars they stole with the film using 48 cars on screen that included Ferrari’s, Rolls Royce, Cadillac’s, Jaguars, Maserarti’s, Lamborghini, Mercedes, and more and few of them survived intact as Haliki who had cast himself in the lead role indulged his passion and skills to incredible effect. The film kept its real accidents and mishaps in the film, and it was shot with little if any consideration to safety with people in the streets often believing there was a real life chase going on. It’s little surprise that Haliki got injured with a spine compression after he did a huge jump in a mustang at the end of the film. It really was car-nage but Halicki’s often care free attitude to safety would almost inevitably catch up with him in an unofficial sequel shot in 1989. Directed by his wife Denice it was bigger and if possible even wilder. Halicki was driving a car in a scene and in a freak accident like something from Final Destination a huge water tower was set up to topple over but a supporting cable snapped cutting a lighting pole that fell on Halicki killing him instantly, He was only 48 years old. Filming was stopped and never began again and what had been filmed was released in 2003 as a short 31 minute film. Now we now that many will argue that the car chase in The French Connection makes it the most influential action films of the 1970’s and it is great but Gone in 60 Seconds is relentless and Haliki’s legacy from this 1974 film was the start of the stuntman turned director that would come to pre-eminence with Chad Stahelski who co-helmed John Wick in 2014.
Die Hard (1988)
By the 1980s we were well into the summer blockbuster action film and Arnie aside it was 1988’s Die Hard by John McTiernan that made comic actor Bruce Willis an action star and remains one of the best action films ever made. Using 20th Century Fox’s own HQ office block McTiernan set about crashing helicopters and vehicles into it, blowing up the roof and throwing Willis down lift shafts as well as the outside of the building. It spawned four sequels and granted the late Alan Rickman his Hollywood film debut making him an immediate star and was forever in demand thereafter. But its testament to McTiernan as a director that this remains a template of many movies including the recent Daisy Ridley actioner ‘ Cleaner,
Director John McTiernan talks about the making of Die Hard….
Hard Boiled (1992)
Hong Kong director John Woo was already wowing audiences with his action films with The Killer (1989) being his latest film in the genre. He followed it with perhaps his greatest film ‘Hard Boiled’ again featuring Chow Yun Fat as a hard bitten cop who teams up with an undercover agent and both go after a mob boss and his gang. It’s hardly an original plot but its execution was astonishing featuring outrageous set pieces and a through the roof body count that fully earned its 18 certificate. And what set pieces they were most notably a gun battle in a hospital and that poster shot of Chow with a baby? Just watch the film and you’ll see what we mean. As one of the most influential action films it cemented his reputation as an action director and caught the eye of Hollywood where his trademarks of slo-mo action, white doves flying and actors holding a pistol in both hand in Mexican stand offs that became de regueur after Tarantino purloining it for Reservoir Dogs became well known But his Hollywood career never took off as it should despite his Hollywood career highlight ‘Face Off (1997). After which he then helmed Mission Impossible 2 often seen as the weakest in the franchise and eventually went back home to Hong Kong
The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
So whilst 2002’s The Bourne Identity was a very good spy thriller it was the 2004 sequel that really upped the ante. Director Paul Greengrass took over from Doug Liman and was not an obvious choice but he grabbed the nettle and took Matt Damon’s amnesiac spy and upped the ante with tremendous action set pieces, Combining an almost documentary feel he shot all the stunts in real time – with CGI on the rise he ignored it completely for practical stunts with a car chase in a taxi inspired by those of William Friedkin’s French Connection and John Frankenheimer’s ‘Ronin’. But what set it apart was its use of everyday objects as weapons in brutal fight scenes that saw a rolled up newspaper used to lethal effect. So immediate was its effect was that it had a major impact on the Bond franchise which was had been dormant since 1999 and was in danger of being steamrollered and made obsolete by Bourne’s far more grounded action. Bourne gave the Bond films a much needed kick up the arse and came back with the excellent Casino Royale in 2006 under director Martin Campbell’s excellent tutelage.
The Raid (2011)
No one saw this coming in what was the most influential action film of the 2010’s! Welsh director Gareth Evans having relocated to Indonesia stumbled across a martial art and a brilliant exponent in Iko Uwais and wrote a film around him that saw the actor become isolated in a SWAT team raid on a tower block inhabited by an endless army of murderous gang members. A run of the mill story lifted to the utterly extraordinary by fight scenes that have never really been equalled let alone bettered. It was like mothing anyone in Western cinema had ever seen with truly jaw dropping, bone crunching action leaving audiences stunned that no one had been seriously injured if not killed. Hollywood were stunned and a remake was threatened and has yet to appear most likely because it’s difficult, if not impossible, to see how western cinemas stunt men could ever replicate the on screen insanity. It remains a bench mark for every action film since and despite an equally good sequel it would seem impossible to better.
Why The Raid 2 is actually the Raid 1! – Director Gareth Evans explains why…..
John Wick 4 (2023)
OK so the franchise began in 2014 and helmed by former stunt man Chad Stahelski he was directed each successive sequel achieving an unheard of phenomena where each sequel is better than the last and even more incredibly each sequel earning more at the box office than its predecessor. It reached its peak with John Wick 4. An epic action film running at almost three hours and taking its set pieces to ever higher and inventive levels (a particular highlight being the Gods eye view of Wick fighting his way from room to room). Nothing has really come close since and with the film ending as it does it would appear to be a brilliant ending to the franchise…if the studio will allow!
…….and those are the most influential action films in each decade!
related feature : Top 5 Car Chases according to the UK’s top stunt drivers! …. essential viewing for car stunt fans
related feature : ‘The Raid’ director Gareth Evans reveals the ideas behind The Raid 2 action scenes ….
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