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In the 1980s, action movies got big.
Really, really big.
Whether you want bazooka blasts by the barrel or hard-hitting fistfights, ’80s action movies are second to none.
Road House packs the heat and goes for the jugular.
Bloodsport
Year:1988Director:Newt Arnold
Kumite!
Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior
Year:1981Director:George Miller
All roads lead back to Mad Max.
The film has inspired everything from the band Motley Crue to theBorderlands video games.
Wheels on Meals
Year:1984Director:Sammo Hung
Talk about serving!
Hong Kong maestro Sammo Hung writes, directs, and co-stars in this 1980s action comedy classic.
To top it off, he has just 24 hours to get the job done.
A high-stakes, high-velocity classic, Escape From New York is truly an escape into Carpenter’s unparalleled vision.
Joining Hung are convicts working in exchange for pardons and U.S. citizenships.
Streets of Fire
Year:1984Director:Walter Hill
Dance for the restless and the broken-hearted.
Year:1982Director:Walter Hill
The buddy cop movie’s origin story is found in 48 Hrs.
Conan the Barbarian
Year:1982Director:John Milius
And now, let me tell you the days of high adventure.
All hail the king, baby.
The simplistic plot of Yes, Madam!
In a decade when action heroism almost exclusively belonged to musclebound men, Yes, Madam!
Batman
Year:1989Director:Tim Burton
Oh yes let’s get nuts.
RoboCop
Year:1987Director:Paul Verhoeven
Your move, creep.
Beverly Hills Cop
Year:1984Director:Martin Brest
you might already hear its catchy theme song, can’t you?
Unbeknownst to his superiors, he’s secretly there to investigate the murder of a close friend.
Chow’s legendary collaborations with director John Woo reached its apex with 1989’s The Killer.
The end result is extraordinary, a ballet of bullets and bloodshed that made his style famous forever.
That is, until the dream ends.
Police Story
Year:1985Director:Jackie Chan
Every action star has thatone moviethat defines their career forever.
For Bruce Willis, it’s Die Hard.
For Arnold Schwarzenegger, it’s The Terminator.
For Jackie Chan, it’s Police Story.
Aliens
Year:1986Director:James Cameron
Space is an intimidating but silent vacuum.
but in James Cameron’s 1986 banger Aliens, everyone can hear you scream, “Hell yeah!”
Predator
Year:1987Director:John McTiertnan
“If it bleeds, we can kill it.”
If that isn’t about the spirit of Christmas, I don’t know what is.
Han Solo and Jack Ryan ain’t got nothing on a man with a whip and fedora.
The Terminator didn’tjustmake a star out of Schwarzenegger or make James Cameron a valuable commercial director.
But its experimentation and muscular showmanship proved that smart sci-fi action movies aren’t box office poison.
Take out The Terminator from our memory, and who knows what our world might look like?
