Action movies typically feature a lone character or group facing life-threatening situations while trying to achieve a goal against a villain. In the 1920s-1930s, swashbuckler films featured heroic characters using swords in Europe. The Three Musketeers (1928) was an early example. During the 1940s-1950s, war and western films were popular, and Alfred Hitchcock introduced spy-adventure films. The James Bond films dominated the 1960s with gadgets and car chases, starting with Dr. No in 1962. In the 1970s, films like Dirty Harry and martial arts films influenced the genre. The 1980s saw blockbusters like Indiana Jones and Terminator launch franchises. Golden

1. Spy/ Detective/Lone Wolf

2. Action movie is a genre where usually a lone
character or maybe a group of characters that
usually have a problem or scenario that need
solving. They occasionally have a resourceful
character going against life threatening
situations, with a main villain/bad guy trying
to cause harm or stopping the character
achieving what their trying to achieve.

3. In the 1920’s and 30’s action movies were
‘swashbuckler’ which is an action adventure
subgenre, this genre usually interlinks with
the sword-and-sandal genre, in
‘swashbuckler’ films there is usually a main
heroic character that uses sword and shield to
fight, and were generally set in western
Europe.

4. The Three Musketeers, based on the Novel The
Three Musketeers by Alexandre Pumas, pere.
The film was directed Fred Niblo, the film
then had a sequel called the Iron Mask which
was then released in 1929.

5. In the 1940’s and 50’s action movies were in the
form of war and cowboy films. Out of the
1940 and 1950’s also bought the first spy-
adventure genre and the use of action
orientated ‘set pieces’, this was bought to us
by a British film director and producer called
Alfred Hitchcock.

6. The Guns of Navarone is a war based film from
the 1957 novel called the Guns of Navarone
written by Alistair MacLean, and narrated by
James Robertson Justice. The film is based in
World War 2, about a team of commandos
sent to destroy a German fortress.

7. The first James Bond Dr. No, directed by
Terence Young was released in 1962, then
followed by From Russia with Love,
Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice
then On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the
James Bond films dominated the 1960’s
action movies.

8. Dr. No was released in 1962, the film was
produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R.
Broccoli, Sean Connery playing James Bond.
Dr. No was released on a low budget of $1
million, and ended up with a box office of
$59.6 million. After the film was released it
then had a spin off comic book and
soundtrack album as part of its marketing.

10. James Bond movies were almost the first to
introduce the ‘one man army’, James Bond is
always a resourceful hero who has ever-more
creative ways to dispose villains, Bond
movies always have guns, quick car chases,
and gadgets, something that a lot of
characteristics that other action films
developed from the James Bond movies.

11. 1970 bought films such as Bullitt, The French
Connection and Dirty Harry these all came
under the ‘new action style’, all containing car
chases and gritty detective stories inspired by
the stunt work from James Bond. The 1970’s
also saw the era of ‘cowboys and indians’
genre come to an end, war films, detective
and western films become the ‘norm’ in 1980

12. The 1970’s also bought martial arts films to
western cinemas. Bruce lee’s films Enter the
Dragon and Return of the Dragon exploded
onto western cinemas. Chuck Norris also
made his first appearance in The Way of the
Dragon in 1972. The first of The Streetfighter
series was also released in 1974.

13. Dirty Harry was released in 1971, directed by
Don Siegel. Clint Eastwood plays the star role
a inspector called Harry Callahan. The film
was then followed by 3 sequels called
Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer(1976),
Sudden Impact (1983) and The Dead Pool
(1988).

14. Action films became very dominant in
Hollywood in the 80’s, also popularizing
actors such as Sylvester Stallone, Arnold
Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis. The first of a
few very big film sequences were released in
the 80‘s such as the first Indiana Jones,
Rambo, Terminator and Preadtor, the first of
the Alien Vs. Preadotors.

15. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) directed by
Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas
and main character played by Steven Ford. It
the first of 5 Indiana Jones movies, Raiders of
the Lost Ark still being one of the highly
grossed films of all time then went on to win
eight Academy Awards in 1982.

16. Growing revolution in CGI (computer generated
imagery) real world setting were increasing
creating more futuristic and realistic
environments. For this reason the 90’s saw an
increase in budgets of films, Dirty Harry and
James Bond also proved that a successful film
could lead to a continued action sequence.

17. Golden Eye (1995), directed by Martin
Campbell and written by Michael France, was
the seventeenth James Bond film to be
released, it was also Pierce Bronson’s first
appearance as James Bond. The film received
an award for ‘Best Achievement in Special
Effects’ and had a worldwide gross of $350.7
million.

18. 2000’s have bought many big sequels onto the
big screen such as The Lord of the Rings,
Mission Impossible, Star Wars, Batman and
the Bourne Trilogy. Mission Impossible 2
being the highest grossed film with a
worldwide gross of $546,388,105.

19. Mission impossible 2, second of the 3, soon to
be 4 Mission Impossible sequel, produced by
John Woo and distributed by Paramount
Pictures. Also starring Tom Cruise as main
character Ethan Hunt, who also produced the
film. The film is the most highly grossed film
of the 2000’s.