2. Action Genre:
brief information
• 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.
• While action films have traditionally been a reliable source of revenue for movie studios, relatively
few action films garner critical praise, mainly because of their two-dimensional heroes or villains.
Nevertheless, Hollywood has been making more action films than ever, mainly because the
advancement in CGI have made it cheaper and easier to create action sequences and other visual
effects that required professional stunt crews and dangerous staging in the past. However, action
audiences' expectations have been mixed with the high level of computer generated imagery, and
films where computer animation is not believable are often met with criticism.
• While action has long been an element of films, the "action film" genre began to develop in the
1970s. The genre is closely linked with the thriller and adventure film genres, and it may
sometimes have elements of spy fiction and espionage.
3. Action: History
1920’s-1930’s
• Action films in this period were typical westerns and swash-buckling films. That
consisted of cowboys and Indianans, American civil war and many other
historical wars. And adventures on the sea and for other reasons.
• The actor Douglas Fairbanks played in many roles in these aspects of action
films.
5. Action: History
1940’s-1950’s
• 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 Navarone directly inspired producers
Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman to invest in their own spy-adventure based on the
novels of Ian Fleming.
• 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" were characterized by larger-than-life characters, such as the
resourceful hero: a veritable "one-man army" who was able to dispatch villainous
masterminds (and their disposable "henchmen") in ever-more creative ways, often
followed by a ready one-liner. The Bond films also utilized quick cutting, car chases, fist
fights, a variety of weapons and "gadgets", and ever more elaborate action sequences.
7. Action History:
1960’s-1970’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" were characterized by larger-than-life
characters, such as the resourceful hero: a veritable "one-man army" who was able to dispatch villainous masterminds
(and their disposable "henchmen") in ever-more creative ways, often followed by a ready one-liner. The Bond films also
utilized quick cutting, car chases, fist fights, a variety of weapons and "gadgets", and ever more elaborate action
sequences.
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
stuntwork of the Bond films. Dirty Harry essentially lifted its star Clint Eastwood out of his cowboy typecasting, and
became the urban-action film's first true archetype. Proving that the modern world offered just as much glamour,
excitement, and potential for violence as the old west, Dirty Harry signaled the end of the prolific "cowboys and
Indians" era of film westerns. The cross-pollenization of genres (such as spy-films and war movies, or westerns and
detective dramas) would become the norm in the 1980s. It should also be noted however, that the 1970s saw the
introduction of martial-arts film to western audiences.
• 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).
9. Action History:
1980’s
• The 1980s would see the action film take over Hollywood to become a dominant form of summer
blockbuster; literally "the action era" popularized by 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. The 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 John Rambo a
pop cultural icon.
• Later Lethal Weapon (1987), proved that low-budget action plots (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. In the film, Bruce Willis plays a New York police detective who inadvertently
becomes embroiled in a terrorist take-over of a Los Angeles office building high-rise. The film set a pattern for
a host of imitators, like Under Siege (1992), Sudden Death (1995) or Air Force One (1997), which used the
same formula in a different setting. By the end of the 1980s, the influence of the successful action film could
be felt in almost every genre- hybrids were becoming the norm; war-action hybrids (like First Blood and
Missing in Action), science fiction action (like The Terminator, and RoboCop), horror-action (like Aliens and
Predator), and even the occasional musical-action-comedy hybrid (like The Blues Brothers).
10. Action History:
Birth of Horror-
Action
• Predator and aliens was some of the first films that began turning the action genre on its
head. The gave birth to a new sub-genre of horror-action. It mainly involved humans of a
class of a soldier or higher authority to pose as the good guys in the action genre. And
instead of the enemy being another human with plans to destroy the world or cause
upset for a lot of the population. It was replaced with a monster or alien giving it a
reasonable amount of horror on the genre. Which personally i feel gives the genre more
of a depth and variety. Detail to the horror helps the raise of action in the film.
12. Action History :
1990’s
• In the 1990’s action films were becoming more and more frequent, showing
signs of higher levels of demand and popularity. Films like die hard 2, predator 2,
total recall were very popular and high grossing form cinema releases. It began
introducing all types of sub-genres of action together giving a wide variety of
choice for the audiences that seem to be enjoying the action genre. Like horror-
action, adventure-action, thriller-action and many others. Lethal weapon 3, point
break and batman returns are examples of the variety that was there in the
period. And many of them featured many well known popular actors like Keanu
reeves, Patrick Swayze, George Clooney, Mel Gibson, Danny glover, bruce willis
and many more.
13. Action history:
2000-2012
• In this period of time action films are being seen in a whole other way. As budgets increase
for action films to make them bigger and better and to include every sub-genre of action to
make them different but in the sense similar to other popular action films. With the help of
further editing like CGI ( computer generated imagery). For example the recent film G.I Joe
the rise of cobra was detailed by its production team that the films scenes were mostly
built up of 80% of CGI editing which gave it a far fetched futuristic fantasy feel to the film.
On top of the fact its a action film making it a big sub-genre to the action films to date. Due
to all this technology and investment it will be no surprise that action films in the future are
going be more far fetched and impressive and realistic even though it wont be real. All
down to new tech. Another example is the new battleship film being relaesed which
involves earth getting invaded by a superior foreign force from outer space. And nearly
everything you see in the trailer is due to CGI.
