The action genre remains fairly strong to this day, whether it’s in the form of superhero movies or buddy heist movies like Play Dirty, they’re still released fairly regularly. But there were two decades that most agree served as the apex for the genre: the 1980s and the 1990s. Today we’re covering the 1980s, but not the major actioners everyone has already seen, but rather the excellent actioners (some of them genre-blenders) that aren’t fully under the radar but nonetheless completely deserve to be seen by even more action lovers and general cinephiles alike. The only qualification was that they either were not blockbusters at the time of release or were blockbusters that nonetheless seem to have had their fame diminish throughout subsequent decades.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Meaning, we didn’t include any heavy hitters like the ’80s Bond movies, Escape from New York, The Road Warrior, Raiders of the Lost Ark, 48 Hrs., Conan the Barbarian, Tron, Beverly Hills Cop, The Terminator, Commando, Aliens, Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Predator, or the Rambo movies. Their fanbases are already as massive as they deserve to be.
5) Southern Comfort
Walter Hill looks on the surface level like a war film, but it’s not. It’s more of a backwoods action thriller like Deliverance. The narrative follows a squad of Louisiana Army National Guard soldiers engaging in a training exercise in a nearby bayou. After they commandeer three pirogues (basically canoes) from some Cajun hunter-trappers and attempt to scare them by firing blanks, the Cajuns return live fire, kicking off a And Then There Were None style scenario, turning the squad’s training exercise into a fight for survival.
Southern Comfort benefits from a few factors. First is the typically assured direction by Walter Hill. Then there’s the casting, including standout work from Keith Carradine (Deadwood), Powers Boothe (The Avengers), and Tremors‘ Fred Ward.
Stream Southern Comfort for free with ads on Tubi.
4) Midnight Run
Buddy action comedies aren’t going anywhere. In fact, Prime Video just had a successful one in Heads of State, starring Idris Elba and John Cena. But there hasn’t been a truly great once since The Nice Guys which, like 21 Jump Street, Bad Boys, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Hot Fuzz, and Men in Black, has a mixture of comedy and action, with an extra lean in either one of those two directions.
Ranking right up there with those aforementioned titles is Midnight Run, starring Robert De Niro and the late, great Charles Grodin (King Kong). Technically the pair of lead characters only features one cop, but it adheres to the dynamic that makes other ’80s buddy cop movies Lethal Weapon, 48 Hrs., Beverly Hills Cop so rewatchable to this day.
Stream Midnight Run for free with ads on Tubi.
3) Bloodsport
Admittedly, Bloodsport may not quite qualify for this list. It was a gargantuan hit for Cannon Films back in 1988 (it had a tiny budget) and it’s not as if Jean-Claude Van Damme has been forgotten.
The reason it’s included here is because Van Damme starred in many movies after his leading man debut here and, frankly, most of them aren’t particularly great. Because of that, there are probably plenty of people who have lumped Bloodsport in and never given it a shot. That’s a mistake, because this is a film with considerable charm and some great chemistry between Van Damme and Donald Gibb.
Stream Bloodsport for free with ads on Tubi.
2) To Live and Die in L.A.
William Friedkin is primarily known for directing the one-two punch of The French Connection and The Exorcist, but he also has at least three films that are highly deserving of being seen in a similarly glowing light. First is his follow-up to those aforementioned critical and commercial successes, Sorcerer. Then there’s his final film, Killer Joe (2011).
In between those two is To Live and Die in L.A., one of the absolute best neo-noir action thrillers ever made. Whether it’s the film’s unpredictability (especially when it comes to one scene), the lead performances by John Pankow and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation‘s William Petersen, the villainous performance by Willem Dafoe, or the soundtrack by Wang Chung, this is a movie that both breezes by and sticks with you.
Stream To Live and Die in L.A. for free with ads on Tubi.
1) Black Rain
Black Rain quadrupled its budget back in 1989, but it certainly seems to have been mostly forgotten in time outside of a devoted but relatively small following. This is especially true considering how it was directed by Ridley Scott and stars Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia. In it, Douglas and Garcia play two NYPD detectives who must escort and arrested yakuza member back to Japan. Unfortunately for them, they’re going to have a hard time getting the job done, much less getting back to the states alive.
Black Rain is a little over-plotted at times, but for the most part it costs on Douglas’ charm, a few top-tier set pieces, and its fog and neon light-coated visual aura. This is a cult film for good reason.
Stream Black Rain on Hoopla.
Most Viewed
-
Image courtesy of Lucasfilm
