Action lm

Action lm is a lm genre in which one or more heroes

are thrust into a series of challenges that typically include physical feats, extended ght scenes, violence, and
frantic chases. Action lms tend to feature a resourceful character struggling against incredible odds, which
include life-threatening situations, a villain, or a pursuit
which generally concludes in victory for the hero.[1][2][3]

lms also used fast cutting, car chases, st ghts, a variety

of weapons and gadgets, and elaborate action sequences.

1.2 1970s
During the 1970s, gritty detective stories and urban crime
dramas began to evolve and fuse themselves with the new
action style, leading to a string of maverick police ofcer lms, such as Bullitt (1968), The French Connection
(1971) and The Seven-Ups (1973). Dirty Harry (1971)
essentially lifted its star, Clint Eastwood, out of his cowboy typecasting, and framed him as the archetypal hero
of the urban action lm. In many countries, restrictions
on language, adult content, and violence had loosened up,
and these elements became more widespread.

Advancements in CGI have made it cheaper and easier to

create action sequences and other visual eects that required the eorts of professional stunt crews in the past.
However, reactions to action lms containing signicant
amounts of CGI have been mixed as lms that use computer animations to create unrealistic, highly unbelievable events are often met with criticism.[4] While action
has long been a recurring component in lms, the action lm genre began to develop in the 1970s along with
the increase of stunts and special eects. The genre is
closely associated with the thriller and adventure lm genres, and it may also contain elements of spy ction and
espionage.[5]

1
1.1

In the 1970s, martial-arts lms from Hong Kong became

popular with Western audiences and inspired big budget lms such as Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon (1973).
Chuck Norris blended martial arts with 'cops and robbers in lms such as Good Guys Wear Black (1977) and
A Force of One (1979).
From Japan, Sonny Chiba starred in his rst martial
arts movie in 1973 called the Karate Kiba. His 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 in Champion of Death, Karate
Bearghter, and Karate for Life (19751977). Chibas
action lms were not only bounded by martial arts, but
also action thriller (Doberman Cop and Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon - both of 1977), jidaigeki (Shoguns
Samurai - 1978, Samurai Reincarnation - 1981), and science ction (G.I. Samurai - 1979).

History
Early action lms

Some historians consider The Great Train Robbery|[6] to

be the rst action lm.[7] During the 1920s and 1930s,
action-based lms were often "swashbuckling" adventure
lms in which actors, such as Douglas Fairbanks, wielded
swords in period pieces or Westerns.
The 1940s and 1950s saw action in a new form through
war and cowboy movies. Alfred Hitchcock ushered in
the spy-adventure genre while also establishing the use of
action-oriented set pieces like the famous crop-duster
scene and the Mount Rushmore nale in North by Northwest. The lm, along with a war-adventure called The
Guns of Navarone, inspired producers Albert R. Broccoli
and Harry Saltzman to invest in their own spy-adventure,
based on the novels of Ian Fleming.

1.3 1980s
In the 1980s Hollywood produced many big budget action blockbusters with actors such as Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis.[8][9]
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas paid their homage
to the Bond-inspired style with Raiders of the Lost Ark
(1981).[10] In 1982, veteran actor Nick Nolte and rising
comedian Eddie Murphy broke box oce records with
the action-comedy 48 Hrs, credited as the rst buddycop movie.[11] That same year, Sylvester Stallone starred
in First Blood, the rst installment in the Rambo lm series which made the character John Rambo a pop culture
icon.

The long-running success of the James Bond lms or

series (which dominated the action lms of the 1960s)
introduced a staple of the modern-day action lm: the
resourceful hero. Such larger-than-life characters were
a veritable one-man army; able to dispatch villainous masterminds after cutting through their disposable
henchmen in increasingly creative ways. Such heroes are
ready with one-liners, puns, and dry quips. The Bond
1

2 HONG KONG ACTION CINEMA

1987s Lethal Weapon starring Mel Gibson, Danny

Glover and Darlene Love was another signicant action
lm hit of the decade, and another buddy-cop genre
classic, launching a franchise that spawned 3 sequels.
The 1988 lm, Die Hard, was particularly inuential on
the development of the action genre. In the lm, Bruce
Willis plays a New York police detective who inadvertently becomes embroiled in a terrorist take-over of a Los
Angeles oce building high-rise.[12] The use of a maverick, resourceful lone hero has always been a common
thread from James Bond to John Rambo, but John McClane in Die Hard is much more of an 'everyday' person
whom circumstance turns into a reluctant hero.[13] The
lm set a pattern for a host of imitators, like Under Siege
(1992), which used the same formula in a dierent setting.

trix and Dark Knight series, is that hand-to-hand ghting

and Asian martial-arts techniques are now widely used in
science ction and superhero movies.
Sylvester Stallones The Expendables used nostalgia for a
perceived golden age of action lms by casting 1980s action stars alongside new actors in the genre such as Jason
Statham.[21]
In The Fast and the Furious series the action lm staple
of the car chase is the central plot driver as it had been in
Smokey and the Bandit lms in the 1970s.

1.6 2010s

By the end of the 1980s, the inuence of the successful The cross-over of action with science ction and superaction lm could be felt in almost every genre.[14]
hero lms continues with many Marvel Comics characters and settings being used for big budget lms.

1.4

1990s

Like the Western genre, spy-movies, as well as urbanaction lms, were starting to parody themselves, and with
the growing revolution in CGI (computer generated imagery), the real-world settings began to give way to increasingly fantastic environments.[15] This new era of action lms often had budgets unlike any in the history of
motion pictures.[16] The success of the many Dirty Harry
and James Bond sequels had proven that a single successful action lm could lead to a continuing action franchise.
Thus, the 1980s and 1990s saw a rise in both budgets and
the number of sequels a lm could generally have.[17] This
led to an increasing number of lmmakers to create new
technologies that would allow them to beat the competition and take audiences to new heights.[18] The success of
Tim Burton's Batman (1989) led to a string of nancially
successful sequels. Within a single decade, they proved
the viability of a novel subgenre of action lm: the comicbook movie.[19]

1.5

2000s

While action lms continued to ourish as the mediumbudget genre movie, it also fused with tent-pole pictures
in other genres.[20] For example, 2009s Star Trek had several science ction tropes and concepts like time travel
through a black hole. However, most of the lm was
structured around action sequences, many of them quite
conventional (hand-to-hand, shooting). While the original Star Wars featured some of this kind of ghting, there
was just as much emphasis on star-ship chases and dog
ghts in outer space. The newer lms featured more lightsaber duels, sometimes more intense and acrobatic than
the originals. Some fan lms also have similar duel scenes
like those the prequel trilogy. It was action with a science ction twist. The trend with lms such as The Ma-

2 Hong Kong action cinema

Main article: Hong Kong action cinema
Currently, action lms requiring extensive stunt work and
special eects tend to be expensive. As such, they are
regarded as mostly a large-studio genre in Hollywood, although this is not the case in Hong Kong action cinema,
where action lms are often modern variations of martial
arts lms. Because of their roots and lower budgets, Hong
Kong action lms typically center on physical acrobatics,
martial arts ght scenes, stylized gun-play, and dangerous stunt work performed by leading stunt actors. On the
other hand, American action lms typically feature big
explosions, car chases, stunt doubles and CGI special effects.
Hong Kong action cinema was at its peak from the 1970s
to 1990s, when its action movies were experimenting with
and popularizing various new techniques that would eventually be adopted by Hollywood action movies. This began in the early 1970s with the martial arts movies of
Bruce Lee, which led to a wave of Bruceploitation movies
that eventually gave way to the comedy kung fu lms of
Jackie Chan by the end of the decade. During the 1980s,
Hong Kong action cinema re-invented itself with various
new movies. These included the modern martial arts action movies featuring physical acrobatics and dangerous
stunt work of Jackie Chan and his stunt team, as well
as Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao; the wire fu and wuxia
lms of Tsui Hark, Yuen Woo-Ping, Jet Li and Donnie
Yen; the gun fu, heroic bloodshed and Triad lms of John
Woo, Ringo Lam and Chow Yun-Fat; and the girls with
guns lms of Moon Lee and Michelle Yeoh.

Subgenres
Action comedy - A subgenre involving action and
humor.[22] The subgenre became a popular trend in
the 1980s when actors who were known for their
background in comedy, such as Eddie Murphy, began to take roles in action lms.[23] Comedy lms
such as Dumb & Dumber and Big Mommas House,
that contain action-laden sub-plots, are not considered part of the genre. Action scenes have a
more integral role in action comedies.[22] Examples of action comedies include 48 Hrs. (1982),
Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Midnight Run (1988), Bad
Boys (1995) Rush Hour (1998), and Lethal Weapon
(1987).[22][23]
Action horror - A subgenre combining the intrusion of an evil force, event, or supernatural personage of horror movies with the gunghts and frenetic
chases of the action genre. Themes or elements often prevalent in typical action-horror lms include
gore, demons, vicious animals, vampires and, most
commonly, zombies. This category can also take
elements from the fantasy genre. Examples include Army of Darkness, Resident Evil, Ghost Rider,
Planet Terror, Undead, Doomsday, Underworld,[24]
Constantine, Priest, The Crow, Dawn of the Dead,
Deep Rising, From Dusk till Dawn, Blade, Legion
and End of Days.[25]
Disaster lm - Having elements of thriller and
sometimes science ction lms, the main conict
of this genre is some sort of natural or articial
disaster, such as oods, earthquakes, hurricanes,
volcanoes, etc. Examples include Independence
Day, Daylight, Earthquake, 2012,[26] The Day After Tomorrow,[27] Poseidon, The Towering Inferno,
Dantes Peak, Deep Impact, Volcano, The Core,
Armageddon and Twister.
Martial arts - A subgenre of the action lm, martial
arts lms contain numerous ghts between characters. They are usually the lms primary appeal
and entertainment value, and are often the method
of storytelling, character expression and development. Martial arts lms contain many characters
who are martial artists. These roles are often played
by actors who are real martial artists. If not, actors usually fervently train in preparation for their
roles. Another method of going around this issue
is that the action director may rely more on stylized action or lm making tricks. Martial lms
include The Karate Kid, Kung Fu Hustle, Fearless,
Ninja Assassin, Ong-Bak, Shanghai Noon, Kill Bill,
Fist of Legend, Iron Monkey, Drunken Master, Enter
the Dragon, Mortal Kombat, The Raid: Redemption,
Flash Point, Champion of Death, Karate Bearghter,
Doberman Cop, Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon,
Shaolin Soccer, Big Trouble in Little China and The

Street Fighter series.[28] A variant of the genre is

Wuxia, a stylized action fantasy period genre typically set in Ancient Asia where skill in the martial arts can enable fantastic abilities like ying and
magic like abilities.
Sci- action - Sharing many of the conventions
of a science ction lm, sci- action lms emphasizes gun-play, space battles, invented weaponry,
and other sci- elements weaved into action
lm premises. Examples include G.I. Samurai,
Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Matrix, Total
Recall, Minority Report, The Island, Star Wars,
Aliens, I Robot, Transformers, Equilibrium, District
9, Serenity, Akira, Paycheck, Predator, Robocop,
Avatar, Mad Max 2, They Live, Escape From New
York and The Fifth Element.[29]
Spy lm: In which the hero is generally a government agent who must take violent action against
agents of a rival government or (in recent years) terrorists. They often revolve around spies who are
involved in investigating various events, often on a
global scale. This subgenre deals with the subject
of ctional espionage, either in a realistic way (such
as the adaptations of John Le Carr) or as a basis
for fantasy (such as James Bond). It is a signicant
aspect of British cinema,[30] with leading British directors, such as Alfred Hitchcock and Carol Reed,
making notable contributions and many lms set
in the British Secret Service. The subgenre showcases a combination of exciting escapism, heavy action, stylized ghts, technological thrills, and exotic
locales.[31] Not all spy lms fall in the action genre,
only those showcasing heavy action such as frequent
shootouts and car chases fall in action, spy lms with
lesser action would be in the thriller genre (see the
spy entry in the subgenres of thriller lm).[32] Action lms of this subgenre include Casino Royale,
the Mission: Impossible franchise, Ronin, True Lies,
Salt, From Paris with Love, The International, Patriot
Games, xXx, Colombiana and the The Bourne series.[33]
Action thriller - Featuring guns, cool explosions,
and amazing set pieces, this movie type rst developed in the 1970s in such lms as Dirty Harry and
The French Connection, and became the exemplar
of the Hollywood mega-blockbuster in the 1980s in
such works as Die Hard and Lethal Weapon. These
lms often feature a race against the clock, lots
of violence, and a clearoften amboyantly evil
antagonist. Though they may involve elements of
crime or mystery lms, those aspects take a back
seat to the action. Other signicant works include
Hard Boiled, True Romance, Point Break, The Warriors, Bullitt, The Seven-Ups, Cobra and Rambo:
First Blood Part II, Taken.[34] The story takes place
in limited location; a single building, plane, or vessel - which is seized or under threat by enemy agents,

NOTABLE INDIVIDUALS

but are opposed by a single hero who ghts an extended battle within the location using stealth and
cunning to attempt to defeat them.[35] The Die Hard
subgenre has become popular in Hollywood because
of its crowd appeal and the relative simplicity of
building sets for such a constrained piece. Examples include Under Siege (terrorists take over a ship),
Broken Arrow (terrorists hijack a nuclear weapon
from a B-2 bomber), Snakes on a Plane (poisonous
snakes take over a passenger plane), Speed, Under
Siege 2: Dark Territory and Derailed (hostages are
trapped on trains and buses), Sudden Death (terrorists take over an Ice Hockey stadium), Passenger 57,
Executive Decision and Air Force One (hostages are
trapped on a plane), Con Air (criminals take over a
transport plane), and Half Past Dead and The Rock
(criminals or terrorists take over a prison). Paul
Blart: Mall Cop is a recent spoof of this trend (as
Die Hard in a mall).
Superhero lm - Usually having elements of science ction and fantasy, they focus on the actions
of one or more superheroes, who usually possess superhuman abilities and are dedicated to protecting
the public. These lms are almost always actionoriented and the rst lm of a particular character
often includes a focus on the origin of the special
powers, including the rst ght against the characters most famous supervillain archenemy. Examples include The Dark Knight, Iron Man, SpiderMan, The Avengers, X-Men, The Incredible Hulk and
Superman.[36]

4
4.1

Notable individuals
Actors

Main article: List of action lm actors

Actor Sylvester Stallone starred as a troubled Vietnam war vet

who becomes a one man army in the popular Rambo action
lms.

actors had major roles in action lms, such as Michelle

Yeoh, Lucy Liu and ex-model Milla Jovovich. While
Keanu Reeves and Harrison Ford both had major roles in
action science ction lms (The Matrix and Blade Runner,
respectively), Ford branched out into a number of other
action genres, such as action-adventure lms.
US actor Matt Damon, who was nominated for an
Academy Award for his sensitive portrayal of a math
genius working as a janitor in Good Will Hunting,[38]
later metamorphosed into an action hero with the carchase and gunre-lled Jason Bourne franchise. European action actors such as Belgian-born Jean-Claude Van
Damme (Bloodsport, Hard Target, Timecop), Moroccanborn Jean Reno (Ronin), Swedish-born Dolph Lundgren
(Showdown in Little Tokyo, Universal Soldier, The Expendables), Irish-born Colin Farrell (SWAT, Daredevil,
Miami Vice), and English-born Jason Statham (The
Transporter, The Expendables, Crank), appeared in a
number of action lms in the 1990s and 2000s.

Actors from the 1950s and 1960s, such as John Wayne,

Steve McQueen and Lee Marvin, passed the torch in
the 1970s to actors such as Bruce Lee, Tom Laughlin, Charles Bronson, Chuck Norris, Clint Eastwood and
Sonny Chiba. In the 1980s, Mel Gibson and Danny
Glover had a popular string of buddy cop lms in
the Lethal Weapon franchise. Beginning in the mid1980s, actors such as the burly ex-bodybuilder Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone wielded automatic
weapons in a number of action lms. Stern-faced martial 4.2 Directors
artist Steven Seagal made a number of lms. Bruce Willis
played a Western-inspired hero in the popular Die Hard Notable action lm directors from the 1960s and 1970s
series of action lms.[37]
include Sam Peckinpah, whose 1969 Western The Wild
In the 1990s and 2000s, Asian actors Chow Yun-fat, Jet Bunch was controversial for its bloody violence and niLi, and Jackie Chan appeared in a number of dierent hilist tone.[39] Inuential and popular directors from the
types of action lms, and US actors Wesley Snipes and 1980s to 2000s include James Cameron (for the rst
Vin Diesel both had many roles. As well, several female two Terminator lms, Aliens, True Lies); Andrew Davis

5
(Code of Silence, Above the Law, Under Siege); John
Woo (Hong Kong action lms such as Hard Boiled and
US-made English-language lms such as Hard Target,
Broken Arrow and Face/O); John McTiernan (the rst
and third Die Hard lms, Predator, The Last Action
Hero); Ridley Scott (Black Rain, Black Hawk Down);
The Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix trilogy), Andrzej
Bartkowiak (Romeo Must Die, Exit Wounds, Cradle 2
the Grave, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li),
Robert Rodriguez (Mexico trilogy, From Dusk till Dawn,
Machete) and Michael Bay (the rst two Bad Boys lms,
The Rock, Transformers trilogy); Louis Leterrier (the rst
two Transporter lms, Unleashed). For a longer list, see
the List of action lm directors article.

4.3

Producers

Avi Lerner (born 13 October 1947) is a lm producer, primarily of American action movies.
Boaz Davidson (Hebrew: , born 8
November 1943) is an Israeli lm director, producer
and screenwriter. He was born in Tel Aviv, Israel
and studied lm in London.
Bob Weinstein (born October 18, 1954) is an American lm producer. He is the founder and head of
Dimension Films, former co-chairman of Miramax
Films, and current head, with his brother Harvey
Weinstein, of The Weinstein Company.
Don Simpson (October 29, 1943 January 19,
1996) was an American lm producer, screenwriter,
and actor. Simpson, along with his producing partner Jerry Bruckheimer, produced such hit lms as
Flashdance (1983), Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Top
Gun (1986), and The Rock (1996). Their lms
would go on to earn $3 billion.
Harvey Weinstein (born March 19, 1952) is an
American lm producer and lm studio executive.
He is best known as co-founder of Miramax Films.
He and his brother Bob have been co-chairmen
of The Weinstein Company, their lm production
company, since 2005. He won an Academy Award
for producing Shakespeare in Love, and garnered
seven Tony Awards for producing a variety of winning plays and musicals including The Producers,
Billy Elliot the Musical, and August: Osage County.
Jerry Bruckheimer (born September 21, 1945) is an
American lm and television producer. He is known
as the producer with many machine guns in his lms
and has achieved great success in the genres of action, drama, and science ction. His best-known
television series are CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Without a Trace, Cold
Case, and The Amazing Race. Some of his bestknown lms include Beverly Hills Cop, Flashdance,

Top Gun, The Rock, Con Air, Armageddon, Bad

Boys, Enemy of the State, Black Hawk Down, Pearl
Harbor, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the National
Treasure franchise. He also serves as a Director at
ZeniMax Media.
Jerry Weintraub (born September 26, 1937) is an
American lm producer and former chairman and
CEO of United Artists. He now lives in Palm
Desert, California.
Joel Silver (born July 14, 1952) is an American
lm producer, known for action lms like Lethal
Weapon and Die Hard. He is owner of Silver Pictures and co-founder of Dark Castle Entertainment.
Menahem Golan (born May 31, 1929) (Hebrew:
) is an Israeli director and producer. He
has produced movies for stars such as Sean Connery,
Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van
Damme, and Charles Bronson, and was known for
a period as a producer of comic book-style movies
like Masters of the Universe, Superman IV: The
Quest for Peace, Captain America, and his aborted
attempt to bring Spider-Man to the silver screen.
Using the pen name of Joseph Goldman, Golan has
also written and polished lm scripts. He was
co-owner of Golan-Globus with his cousin Yoram
Globus. Golan produced about 200 lms, directed
44, and won 8 times the Violin David Awards and
The Israel Prize in Cinema.
Yoram Globus (born 21 October 1941), is an Israeli
lm producer who is famous for his association with
Cannon Films Inc., a company he ran with his cousin
Menahem Golan.
The WachowskisLana Wachowski (born June 21,
1965) and Andrew Paul Andy Wachowski (born
December 29, 1967), known together professionally
as the Wachowskis, are Polish-American lm directors, screenwriters, and producers.

5 See also
Hong Kong action cinema
List of action heroes
List of action lms
List of movie genres
List of women warriors in literature and popular culture
List of genres
Martial arts lm

6 NOTES

Notes

[21] Webster, Andy (January 18, 2013). Action Star With

Savoir-Faire and a Killer Kick. New York Times.

[1] Marin, Rick (May 9, 1993). FILM; Battle of the Action

Heroes. The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
[2] Maslin, Janet (December 2, 1984). FILM VIEW;
SHORT ON TALK, BIG AT THE BOX OFFICE. The
New York Times. Retrieved 2011-01-02.
[3] A New Generation Of Macho Men. Sun Sentinel. Retrieved 2010-12-01.
[4] Action Top rated Most Viewed - AllMovie.
rovi.com. Retrieved 2013-01-31.

All-

[5] Rainer, Peter (June 27, 1993). FILM COMMENT :

Endangered Species : The American action-fantasy epic
is in danger of becoming terminally musclebound and
knuckle-headed. The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved
2010-10-27.
[6] The Great Train Robbery. Rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
[7] What is the First Action Film?".
[8] Broeske, Pat H. (January 10, 1993). FILM; Wanted:
New Action Stars. The New York Times. Retrieved
2011-01-12.
[9] New Hunks Move Over, Arnold. A New Bread Of
Tough-talking Hero Is Ready To Take On The Bad Guys
- And For Less Money.. Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved
2010-12-31.
[10] Sager, Dane. What The Film!? - RAIDERS OF THE
LOST ARK. Under The Gun Review. Retrieved 9 May
2013.
[11] 48 Hrs.. The Numbers: Box Oce Data, Movie Stars,
Idle Speculation.
[12] Die Hard. Rotten Tomatoes.
[13] Shone, Tom (19 July 2013). How Die Hard set the stage
for 25 years of action lms. Guardian.
[14] Greydanus, Steven D. Die Hard. Decent Films Guide.
[15] VREESWIJK, Simon. A History of CGI in Movies.
Stikky Media.
[16] The History of Film The 1990s The Era of Mainstream Films and Indie Cinema, the Rise of ComputerGenerated Imagery, the Decade of Re-makes, Rereleases, and More Sequels. AMC Filmsite.
[17] Robbins, Shawn. Analysis: Why Action Franchises Really Do 'Die Hard'". Box Oce: The Business of Movies.
[18] Anders, Charlie Jane. Whats the next technology that
will change the way you watch movies?". io9.
[19] Bowes, Danny. Big Screen Batman: Batman (1989)".
Tor.com.
[20] Binder, Jack. Summer 2012 Studio Tentpole Film Budget List. Film Budget Inc. Blog.

[22] Sarno, Gregory G. (2005). Chapter 1: Elements of Action Comedy. Lights! Camera! Action!: Crafting an Action Script. iUniverse. pp. 35. ISBN 978-0-595-360574. Retrieved September 22, 2009.
[23] Action >> Action Comedy. Allmovie. Macrovision Inc.
Retrieved February 5, 2013.
[24] Underworld (2003) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast. AllMovie. 2003-09-19. Retrieved
2013-01-31.
[25] Horror Films. Filmsite.org. Retrieved 2013-01-31.
[26] 2012 - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi.
Allmovie.com. 2009-11-13. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
[27] The Day After Tomorrow - Cast, Reviews, Summary,
and Awards - AllRovi. Allmovie.com. 2004-05-28. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
[28] Street Fighter (1994) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis,
Showtimes and Cast. AllMovie. Retrieved 2013-01-31.
[29] The Fifth Element (1997) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis,
Showtimes and Cast. AllMovie. 1997-05-07. Retrieved
2013-01-31.
[30] The Spying Game: British Cinema and the Secret State,
2009 Cambridge Film Festival, pp54-57 of the festival
brochure.
[31] Georey Macnab, Spy movies - The guys who came
in from the cold"". The Independent. 2009-10-02. Retrieved 2013-01-31.
[32] Thriller and Suspense Films. Filmsite.org. Retrieved
2013-01-31.
[33] The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast. AllMovie. 2007-08-03. Retrieved 2013-01-31.
[34] Action Thriller Top rated Most Viewed - AllMovie
[35] Broeske, Pat H.; Wells, Jerey (December 1, 1995). The
'Hard' Stu. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 20,
2010.
[36] Superman: The Movie (1978) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast. AllMovie. Retrieved 201301-31.
[37] Broeske, Pat H. (January 10, 1993). FILM; Wanted:
New Action Stars. The New York Times. Retrieved
2010-12-20.
[38] Matt Damon at the Notable Names Database
[39] Sam Peckinpah at the Internet Movie Database

References
Inness, Sherrie A. (ed.) Action Chicks: New Images of Tough Women in Popular Culture, Palgrave
Macmillan, 2004.
Kim, L. S. "Making women warriors: a transnational reading of Asian female action heroes in
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Jump Cut: A
Review of Contemporary Media. No. 48, Winter,
2006.
Osgerby, Bill, Anna Gough-Yates, and Marianne
Wells. Action TV : Tough-Guys, Smooth Operators
and Foxy Chicks. London: Routledge, 2001.
Spectacular Bodies : Gender, Genre, and the Action
Cinema. London and New York: Routledge, 1993.
Tasker, Yvonne. Action and Adventure Cinema.
New York: Routledge, 2004.

External links
Most popular action lms on Wikipedia as published
on Wikitop, with user comments on trac jumps
IMDB Popular Action Titles
Moviefone.com - Action Movies
Welkos, Robert W. (November 26, 1996).
Wanted: Actor to Take Action. Los Angeles
Times.
Taylor, John (April 1, 1991). Hollywoods New
Action Toys. New York Magazine. Retrieved
2010-12-01.

9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

9.1

Text

Action lm Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_film?oldid=678382249 Contributors: Damian Yerrick, Koyaanis Qatsi, Andre

Engels, Eclecticology, Ray Van De Walker, SimonP, Camembert, AntonioMartin, Rbrwr, Edward, Kchishol1970, Tubby, Jahsonic, Gabbe,
Karada, Minesweeper, Ahoerstemeier, KoyaanisQatsi, Tpbradbury, Jeq, Phil Boswell, Robbot, Lowellian, Postdlf, Academic Challenger,
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9.2

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9.3

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