a history of action movies

1. A history of action movies
Will Dyer

2. introduction
Action film is a film genre where one or
more heroes is thrust into a series of
challenges that require physical feats,
extended fights and frenetic chases. They
occasionally have a resourceful character
struggling against incredible odds such as,
life-threatening situations, an evil villain,
and/or being chased in several ways of
transportation (car, bus, truck, etc.), with
victory achieved at the end after difficult
physical efforts and violence. Story and
character development are generally
secondary to explosions, fist fights, gunplay
and car chases.

3. 1920’s and 30’s
• During the 1920s and 1930s, action-based
films were often "swashbuckling" adventure
films in which Douglas Fairbanks wielded
swords in period pieces or Westerns.

4. 1940’s and 50’s
• The 1940s and 1950s saw "action" in the form of war and cowboy
movies. Alfred Hitchcock almost single-handedly ushered in the
spy-adventure genre, also firmly establishing the use of action-
oriented "set pieces" like the famous crop-duster scene and the
Mount Rushmore finale in "North by Northwest". That film, along
with a war-adventure called "The Guns of Navaronne" directly
inspired producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman to invest
in their own spy-adventure based on the novels of Ian Fleming.

5. 1940’s and 50’s pics
Alfred Hitchcock
Albert R. Broccoli

6. 1960’s
• The long-running success of the James Bond series
(which easily dominated the action films of the 1960s)
essentially introduced all the staples of the modern-
day action film.
• The "Bond movies“ bought a new breed of action to
the table with larger-than-life characters, such as the
resourceful hero: who was able to dispatch villainous
masterminds and their somewhat awful henchmen.
• The Bond films also utilized quick cutting, car chases,
fist fights, a variety of weapons and gadgets that had
never been seen in the action genre before.

7. Early bond pics
Sean Connery the
1960’s James Bond
Connery’s
DB5

8. 1970’s
• In the 1970s, Bond saw competition as gritty detective stories and
urban crime dramas began to fuse themselves with the new action
style, leading to a string of maverick police officer films, such as
those defined by Bullitt (1968), The French Connection (1971) and
Dirty Harry (1971).
• All of which featured an intense car chase inspired by the popular
stunt work of the Bond films. Dirty Harry essentially lifted its star
Clint Eastwood out of his cowboy background and became the
urban-action film's first true archetype. Dirty Harry signaled the end
of the prolific cowboys and Indians era of film westerns.

9. 1970’s cont…
• Also inspired by the success of James Bond; specifically
the Asian-influenced "You Only Live Twice", martial-
arts-themed action movies exploded onto the western
cinema screens with Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon
(1973), and his imported films like Way of (or Return
of) the Dragon (1972).
• The latter also introduced action fans to then-rising
star Chuck Norris as well. Though Jackie Chan's Rush
Hour is often credited as popularizing the martial arts
action film in the United States, Chuck Norris had been
blending martial arts with cops and robbers since Good
Guys Wear Black (1977) and A Force of One (1979).

10. Other national action movies.
• From Japan, Sonny Chiba starred in the Karate
Kiba in 1973. It was the first movie for him about
martial arts. Chiba's breakthrough international
hit was The Street Fighter series (1974), which
established him as the reigning Japanese martial
arts actor in international cinema.
• He also played the role of Mas Oyama at the next
three movies of martial arts, Champion of Death,
Karate Bearfighter and Karate for Life (1975 -
1977).

11. 1970’s pics
Clint
Eastwood in
Dirty Harry
famous for its
one-liners

12. 1980’s
• The 1980s would see the action film take over
Hollywood to become a dominant form of summer
blockbuster; many actors such as Sylvester Stallone,
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Chuck Norris.
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas even paid their
homage to the Bond-inspired style with the mega-hit
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
• In 1982, veteran actor Nick Nolte and rising comedian
Eddie Murphy smashed box office records with the
action-comedy 48 Hrs, which is credited as the first
buddy-cop movie. That same year, Sylvester Stallone
starred in First Blood, the first installment in the
popular Rambo film series.

13. Mid-Late 1980’s
• The Rambo: first blood film proved to be successful and
was followed with a sequel in 1985, Rambo: First Blood Part
II which became the most successful film in the series and
made the character Rambo a pop cultural icon.
• In 1987 Lethal Weapon a low-budget action film proved to
still be as popular as the big-budget action packed films
(like a maverick cop with martial arts skills fighting drug
traffickers), given the "Hollywood A-list" treatment (bigger
budgets, more talented casts, etc.) could prove to be
financial windfalls for the studios.
• The 1988 film Die Hard was particularly influential on the
development of the action genre staring one of actions
most famous faces Bruce Willis.

14. 1980’s pics

15. 1990’s
• The 1990s was an era of sequels and hybrid action for example the
western genre, the spy-movies and urban-action films. The growing
improvement in CGI (computer generated imagery), to imitate the "real-
world" settings began to give way to increasingly fantastic environments.
• Along with the new technology becoming available the budgets of the
1990’s films were like none other seen in the history of action films in.
• The success of the many Dirty Harry and James Bond sequels had proven
that a single successful action film could lead to a continuing action
franchise. As a lead on to the success of these films the 1990s saw a rise in
both budgets and the number of sequels a film could generally have.
Where in earlier decades, sequels were frowned upon by most directors
and actors.
• With the increase of technology this lead to directors almost competing
with each other to see who could create the best up to date action film of
not only the 1990’s but of the history of action films.

16. 1990’s notable actors
Matt Damon most
famous for his roles in
good will hunting and
the Bourne films.
Jean Claude Van
Dolph Damme well
Lundgren well known for his
known in the prelific role in
1990’s for timecop which
appearing in generated
Universal $ 103,646,581
soldier along world wide at
side Jean the box office.
Claude Van
Damme .

17. More notable actors
Jet Li who came
onto the action
scene with his role
as a villain in the
English hit Lethal
weapon 4
The world famous
Jackie Chan made his
Hollywood
breakthrough in the
successful Rumble in
the Bronx.

18. 1990’s notable directors
James Cameron
responsible for
directing Titanic and
the terminator films.
Larry (left) and
Andrew Michael Bay most
Wachowski most famous for directing the
famous for 90’s hit bad boys and the
directing the massive Armageddon
matrix flims. film.

19. 2000’S
• Action movies were really beginning to find
some power in the film industry with massive
budgets and incredible special effects. CGI has
taken the action films by storm with movies
like avatar smashing records at the box office.