22 July, 2020

A Century of Film: Action Films

Posted by nighthawk4486 under Academy Awards, Erik, film, lists | Tags: , , , , , , , , , |
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A Century of Film


Action Films


The Genre

For a lot of people (and for me when I originally broke things into genres after first starting to track all of my movies back in 1989), this would be considered Action-Adventure.  And if that were the case, there would be a long, complex history going back to the early days of film history and the total numbers would be close to those of Horror or Musicals.  However, that’s not the case.  For me, an Action film centers around the action itself while for the most part Adventure films center around a journey of some sort.  But they crossed paths along the way.  Going forward, by 1959, Action was in dead last as a genre for total films but Adventure was in sixth place.  But, since then, Action is the fourth highest genre and Adventure is among the five lowest.


Most of the early Action films are films about racing sports or cop movies with more action than your typical noir film or even films with a military bent but not actually taking place during a war (of course, that’s only if you make certain to pull out Westerns as their own genre as well – otherwise Westerns dominate).  The genre really starts to pick up some steam in the fifties when samurai films became a big thing in Japan.  Once the sixties arrived, there were James Bond films, which showed that you could make good action films with serious budgets and biker films which showed you could make terrible action films with little to no budget.  Then came the seventies and with cop films and blaxploitation and martial arts films and even disaster films and suddenly Action films were everywhere.  Not only that, but the level of success, both artistically and financially, of a film like The French Connection showed how prominent action films could be.  After that, it was rare to have a year that didn’t have an Action film in the Top 10 at the box office, although, surprisingly, it would take until 1984 for another Action film to actually finish #1 and it wouldn’t be until 2007 and 2008 that consecutive #1 box office films would be Action films.

Sub-Genres

There aren’t a lot of Action sub-genres and there would be even fewer if I hadn’t sub-divided one of them into several smaller ones because it helps sort the movies in my spreadsheets.

Blaxploitation

  • Best Film:  Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song

A sub-genre shared between this and Crime.  Most of the films aren’t that good (10 films, 55.8 average) but most of them are at least enjoyable.

Comedy

  • Best Film:  Beverly Hills Cop

A sub-genre that started to come forth in the late 70’s and then really burst forth in the 80’s with films like 48 Hours, Beverly Hills Cop and Midnight Run.  It’s a subgenre that continues to produce films even if they don’t really shine.  Eddie Murphy helped establish the tradition of black leads in this subgenre and that has continued to be the case with actors like Martin Lawrence, Chris Tucker and Kevin Hart.

Comic Book

  • Best Film:  The Crow

Interestingly, not all of the films in this sub-genre actually came from comic books.  This is a mix of comics that weren’t Marvel or DC (The Crow, Hellboy, Kick-Ass), things that came from comic strips (The Shadow, The Phantom, The Spirit) or original films that felt like comic books (The Rocketeer, Darkman).  Most of them aren’t good (48.9 average) and The Crow is the best by 16 points.

Comic Book (DC – Batman)

  • Best Film:  The Dark Knight

Through 2011 there are 7 films in this sub-genre with a very wide range of quality.  They are all reviewed here.  There will be a lot more after 2011.

Comic Book  (DC – Superman)

  • Best Film:  Superman II

This group not only includes the four Christopher Reeve films (the first three of which are reviewed here, here and here) and the Routh film but also Superman and the Mole Men (the feature length pilot of the George Reeves show) and Supergirl.

Comic Book  (DC)

  • Best Film:  V for Vendetta

These are the few films made from DC Comics that aren’t Batman or Superman which, in descending order of quality are: V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing, Watchmen, Return of Swamp Thing, Steel, Catwoman.  It’s a terrible bunch except for V.

Comic Book  (Marvel – MCU)

  • Best Film:  Iron Man

This is still early through 2011 with just four films constituting what will later be a large shared universe: Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Captain America (there’s also Thor but I actually classify it as Fantasy).

Comic Book  (Marvel – Spider-Man)

  • Best Film:  Spider-Man 2

These are the three Sam Raimi films with Tobey Maguire but it will eventually consist of more films.

Comic Book  (Marvel – X)

  • Best Film:  X2

Five films to date, ranging from near great (X-Men, X2) to dud (X-Men Origins: Wolverine).

Comic Book  (Marvel)

  • Best Film:  Hulk

In 2011, there are three different franchises for Marvel from three different studios (the MCU films at Paramount, the X-Men films at Fox, the Spider-Man films at Columbia).  Before that, Marvel had piece-mealed out all its characters and we got mostly a bunch of crap with Ang Lee’s Hulk film the only decent one of a bunch that includes Daredevil, two Fantastic Four films, Ghost Rider, Elektra and two Punisher films.

Comic Book  (TMNT)

  • Best Film:  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Yes, through 2011, there’s just three films, made some 20 years ago but there will be more in the future, enough to earn it its own sub-sub-genre.

Cop

  • Best Film:  The French Connection

With James Bond in England, samurai films in Japan and martial arts films in China and Hong Kong, America didn’t really have any Action sub-genres early on.  Then came Bullitt.  There had been Cop Action films before but nothing like this and it opened a whole new world of Action films that continues to thrive today but have also included the first Action film to win Best Picture as well as one of the most highly regarded Action films of all-time (Die Hard).  The overall average is only 47.0 thanks to a lot of crap but I also list 18 films that are *** or better which makes this a prominent part of the Action genre.

Cop (Dick Tracy)

  • Best Film:  Dick Tracy

The comic strip character originally got four films back in the 40’s that sucked.  Then Warren Beatty gave it a big production (see way below) to add a fifth to the sub-genre.  Could also qualify under “Comic Book”.

Cop (Dirty Harry)

  • Best Film:  Dirty Harry

One of the results of Bullitt and the dropping of the Production Code was the film Dirty Harry.  That film (still the best of the series) would eventually become a five film series, none of which are bad but which likely would have been better if Eastwood had directed more than one of them.

Disaster

  • Best Film:  The Poseidon Adventure

I’m not a fan of this sub-genre for a good reason: most of the films suck.  The Poseidon Adventure, at high *** is over 10 points better than any other film and over 30 points better than the average.

James Bond

  • Best Film:  Casino Royale

One my favorite sub-genres of any film genre and one of the most successful film series of all-time.  I’ve reviewed all of them as part of my For Love of Film series and the reviews can be found here.

Martial Arts

  • Best Film:  Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

One of the most prolific sub-genres and one in which other countries shine.  Yes, I do include the two Kill Bill films here, so not all the best films are foreign (but most are) and all the worst films are from Hollywood.  I list 20 films here that are below ** and none of them are foreign and far too many have Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Samurai

  • Best Film:  Seven Samurai

They’re not all Kurosawa.  Indeed, two of the Top 5 weren’t made by Kurosawa (Harakiri, Gate of Hell).  But Kurosawa dominates the list.  The best sub-genre as there are 32 films that average a 73.75 and none of them are bad.

Sports

  • Best Film:  The Crowd Roars

If a Sports film has enough Action it ends up here though most are in Drama.  But no really good Sports film is here and only two are even good (the other is Grand Prix).  The 15 films here average a 38.9.

Spy

  • Best Film:  La Femme Nikita

Most Spy films are in Suspense but some end up here ranging from really good (La Femme Nikita) to utter crap (the 1998 Avengers, Avalanche Express).

Assorted

  • Best Film:  Throne of Blood  (Shakespeare)

Yes, Throne of Blood is also Samurai, but I list it as Shakespeare.  Other sub-genres are Animated (Anime), Fast & Furious (five films to this point), Heist (Ronin), Historical, Prison and True Story.

The Directors

Richard Donner

  • Films:  8
  • Years:  1978-2006
  • Average Film:  58.8
  • Best Film:  Superman II
  • Worst Film:  Assassins

Between two Superman films and four Lethal Weapon films, Donner was one of the first non-Bond directors to really have a major box office impact in the Action genre.

Hiroshi Inagaki

  • Films:  5
  • Years:  1955-1969
  • Average Film:  73.5
  • Best Film:  Samurai I: Miyamato Musashi
  • Worst Film:  Chushingua

After making the Samurai trilogy, Inagaki also added on at least two more Samurai films (possibly more that I haven’t seen).

Akira Kurosawa

  • Films:  8
  • Years:  1943-1980
  • Average Film:  87.4
  • Best Film:  Seven Samurai
  • Worst Film:  Sanshiro Sugata Part II

Kurosawa began with a samurai film (Sanshiro Sugata) and one of his last films was also a samurai film (Kagemusha) and he made six great ones in total.  If not for his (forced upon him) sequel to his first film, his average in this genre would be 91.3.

John Woo

  • Films:  8
  • Years:  1986-2008
  • Average Film:  56.4
  • Best Film:  Hard Boiled
  • Worst Film:  Hard Target

Woo’s numbers look worse than they should, first because The Killer is a Crime film, not an Action film and second because his first two films after coming to Hollywood average a 31.5 while his other six films average a 64.7.

Best Action Director  (weighted points system)

  1. Akira Kurosawa  (353)
  2. Christopher Nolan  (105)
  3. Zhang Yimou  (97)
  4. Ang Lee  (90)
  5. Quentin Tarantino  (75)

Analysis:  This adds up points on a weighted scale (90-1) for placing in the Top 20 at the Nighthawk Awards for Best Director in any given year.

The Stars

Toshiro Mifune

The star, not just of the majority of the Kurosawa films but also Inagaki’s Samurai trilogy which gives him a big leg up on any other action star.  He was also a great actor while in those films, something that can’t generally be said for most actors in the genre.
Essential Viewing:  Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, Samurai I, Yojimbo

Sean Connery

The original James Bond made being an action hero not just something that was thrilling but also something that was suave and charming.  And Bond films aren’t the only Action films he has made.
Essential Viewing:  Goldfinger, From Russia with Love, Thunderball, The Rock

Clint Eastwood

Eastwood’s list isn’t as impressive as it could be because his Westerns, which are very action-filled and very, very good, are listed as Westerns.  Mostly what he’s done in Action films is play a cop and he’s done it quite well.
Essential Viewing:  Dirty Harry, The Eiger Sanction, Sudden Impact, The Enforcer

Mel Gibson

As crazy a person he would become later, that doesn’t take away from the fact that Gibson was a major box office star primarily because of two Action franchises: Mad Max and Lethal Weapon.
Essential Viewing:  Road Warrior, Lethal Weapon, Mad Max

The Studios

The studios that have been the biggest here are the ones that have had the franchises.  Fox had Die Hard (among other Cop films) and the X-Men films.  UA had the Bond films.  Warners had all of the DC heroes and, among a lot of Cop films, also had the Dirty Harry films.  Then there are the foreign studios that brought in specific types of sub-genre like Rim Film, Shaw Brothers (Martial Arts for both) or Toho (Samurai films).

Countries

Japan dominates because of the Samurai films (many of which are directed by Kurosawa and are brilliant of course) but China and Hong Kong also have a lot of Martial Arts films.  Every **** film from a foreign country falls into one of those two categories.

Oscar Submissions

Through 2011, I’ve seen 20 films that I classify as Action that were submitted for Oscar consideration.  Three of them actually won the Oscar (Gate of Hell, Samurai I, Crouching Tiger) which is pretty remarkable.  Four others earned nominations (Nine Lives, Kagemusha, Hero, Twilight Samurai) while Warriors of the Rainbow was a semi-finalist.  Japan is far and away the most successful (four submissions, all nominated, two wins) while Hong Kong has been the least (four submissions, no noms even though Come Drink With Me was a submission).  Of the twenty films, all but three are from China, Hong Kong, Japan or Taiwan.

ranked list explanation

note:  For the next few lists, any links are to reviews I have written.  Some of them go to the Adapted Screenplay posts that discuss the film and the literary source but don’t actually review the film (but link to places where I had already reviewed the film).  There are a few that are not linked now but will be in the coming months as I get to more of the Adapted Screenplay posts.  The middle list deliberately includes any Action films I have already reviewed as well as any that I saw in the theater.  I try to include significant films in the middle list but there’s not a lot of them.
note:  Please don’t try to make the following list match up with other lists I have made.  All my lists are fluid and they change.  That being said, all the ***.5 or **** films are in accordance with my forthcoming Top 1000 list.

The Top 50 Action Films

  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  2. Seven Samurai
  3. Throne of Blood
  4. The Dark Knight
  5. The French Connection
  6. Harakiri
  7. Batman Begins
  8. House of Flying Daggers
  9. The Hidden Fortress
  10. Casino Royale
  11. Kagemusha
  12. Kill Bill Volume 1
  13. Kill Bill Volume 2
  14. Gate of Hell
  15. Yojimbo
  16. Hero
  17. Spider-Man 2
  18. Samurai I: Miyamoto Musashi
  19. Die Hard
  20. Goldfinger
  21. Spider-Man
  22. Batman
  23. Enter the Dragon
    ***.5
  24. The Crow
  25. Ronin
  26. Oldboy
  27. From Russia with Love
  28. X2
  29. Superman II
  30. X-Men
  31. Ugetsu
  32. Iron Man
  33. Sanshiro Sugata
  34. Superman
  35. Hard-Boiled
  36. La Femme Nikita
  37. Fight Club
  38. The Heroic Trio
  39. Sanjuro
  40. Thunderball
  41. The French Connection II
  42. Beverly Hills Cop
  43. Quantum of Solace
  44. The Rock
  45. Midnight Run
  46. Face/Off
  47. That Man from Rio
  48. Bullitt
  49. Come Drink with Me
  50. The Executioners

Notable Action Films Not in the Top 50

The Bottom 10 Action Films, #812-821
(worst being #10, which is #821 overall)

  1. The Last Dragon
  2. Messenger of Death
  3. Murphy’s Law
  4. Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects
  5. Death Wish 4: The Crackdown
  6. Death Wish V: The Face of Death
    0 stars
  7. Death Race 2000
  8. 2012
  9. 10 to Midnight
  10. Death Race

note:  It’s worth noting that half of these Bottom 10 films (#2, 3, 4, 5, 9) were directed by the same man (J. Lee Thompson) and have the same star (Charles Bronson).

The Most Underrated Action Films

I’m actually passing on this.  All of the films that would make this list (**** or ***.5 films that have never been listed at TSPDT or earned major Oscar noms) are really good Comic Book films from the last 20 years because, with a few exceptions, the critics just don’t give them the appreciation they deserve.

Best Action Films By Decade

  • 1910’s:  n/a
  • 1920’s:  n/a
  • 1930’s:  n/a
  • 1940’s:  n/a
  • 1950’s:  Seven Samurai
  • 1960’s:  Harakiri
  • 1970’s:  The French Connection
  • 1980’s:  Kagemusha
  • 1990’s:  The Crow
  • 2000’s:  Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  • 2010’s:  n/a

Worst Action Films By Decade

  • 1910’s:  n/a
  • 1920’s:  n/a
  • 1930’s:  Pursuit
  • 1940’s:  Dick Tracy vs. Cueball
  • 1950’s:  n/a
  • 1960’s:  The Born Losers
  • 1970’s:  Death Race 2000
  • 1980’s:  10 to Midnight
  • 1990’s:  Death Wish V: The Face of Death
  • 2000’s:  Death Race
  • 2010’s:  Hobo with a Shotgun

The Most Over-Rated Action Films

  1. Se7en
    How this film, weighted down with a horrendous performance from Brad Pitt and a stupid story gets into the TSPDT’s Top 600 consistently boggles my mind.
  2. RoboCop
    Bloody, violent, disturbing, but not actually all that good.  Yet, it earned an Oscar nomination for Editing and has lately been landing in the Top 700 at TSPDT.
  3. The Towering Inferno
    One of only three Action films to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Picture which is just appalling because it’s terrible and it was nominated over Day for Night.  It also won Best Editing at the Oscars over Chinatown.

The Statistics

Total Films 1912-2011:  821  (6th)

Total Percentage of All Films 1912-2011:  4.25%

  • 1912-1929:  2  (14th)  –  0.41%
  • 1930-1939:  13  (12th)  –  0.69%
  • 1940-1949:  11  (13th)  –  0.64%
  • 1950-1959:  17  (13th)  –  0.90%
  • 1960-1969:  48  (12th)  –  2.49%
  • 1970-1979:  141  (4th)  –  7.33%
  • 1980-1989:  176  (4th)  –  7.30%
  • 1990-1999:  194  (4th)  –  6.67%
  • 2000-2011:  219  (5th)  –  5.37%

Stars:

  • ****:  2.80%
  • ***.5:  3.53%
  • ***:  17.90%
  • **.5:  18.27%
  • **:  21.80%
  • *.5:  8.77%
  • *:  18.27%
  • .5:  8.16%
  • 0:  0.49%

Biggest Years:

  • 1994:  34
  • 2010:  31
  • 1974, 1987:  26

Biggest Years by Percentage of All Films:

  • 1974:  13.07%
  • 1975:  10.93%
  • 1994:  10.33%
  • 2010:  10.10%

Best Years:

  • 1964:  2 Top 10, 3 Top 20
  • 2004:  2 Top 10, 4 Top 20

The Top Films:

  • Nighthawk Winner:  1956, 2000
  • Top 10 Films:  20
  • First Year in the Top 10:  1954
  • Latest Year in the Top 10:  2008
  • Longest Streak with at least one Top 10 Film:  2003-06
  • Longest Streak without a Top 10 Film:  1926-53
  • Best Decade for Top 10 Films:  2000’s  (7)
  • Worst Decade for Top 10 Films:  1920’s, 1930’s, 1940’s, 1990’s  (0)
  • Top 20 Films:  47
  • Longest Streak with at least one Top 20 Film:  1982-86
  • Longest Streak without a Top 20 Film:  1926-53
  • Best Decade for Top 20 Films:  2000’s  (12)
  • Worst Decade for Top 20 Films:  1920’s, 1930’s, 1940’s  (0)

Nighthawk Awards

  • Number of Films That Have Earned Nominations:  81
  • Number of Films That Have Won Nighthawks:  23
  • Number of Films With Multiple Nominations:  56
  • Number of Films With Multiple Wins:  16
  • Best Picture Nominations:  6
  • Total Number of Nominations:  301
  • Total Number of Wins:  72
  • Category With the Most Nominations:  Sound Editing  (52)
  • Director with Most Nighthawk Nominated Films:  Akira Kurosawa  (7)
  • Best Film with No Nighthawks:  Throne of Blood
  • Best Film with No Nighthawk Nominations:  Oldboy
  • Number of Films That Have Earned Comedy Nominations:  13
  • Number of Films That Have Won Comedy Awards:  3
  • Comedy Picture Nominations:  5
  • Total Number of Comedy Nominations:  26
  • Total Number of Comedy Wins:  3
  • Category With the Most Comedy Nominations:  Adapted Screenplay  (6)
  • Best Comedy Film With No Nominations:  xxxx
  • Number of Films That Have Earned Drama Nominations:  25
  • Number of Films That Have Won Drama Awards:  7
  • Drama Picture Nominations:  10
  • Total Number of Drama Nominations:  66
  • Total Number of Drama Wins:  18
  • Category With the Most Drama Nominations:  Director  (15)
  • Best Drama Film With No Nominations:  xxxx
  • Most 2nd Place Finishes:  House of Flying Daggers  /  The Dark Knight  (5)
  • Most 6th Place Finishes:  Kill Bill Volume 2  (3)
  • Most Top 10 Finishes:  Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  (17)
  • Most Top 20 Finishes:  Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  (18)
  • Best Film Without a Top 10 Finish:  Midnight Run
  • Best Film Without a Top 20 Finish:  n/a

Most Nighthawk Nominations:

  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  17
  2. Seven Samurai  –  13
  3. Throne of Blood  –  13
  4. Harakiri  –  13
  5. The Dark Knight  –  13
  6. Yojimbo  –  11
  7. Kagemusha  –  11
  8. House of Flying Daggers  –  11
  9. The French Connection  –  9
  10. Gate of Hell  –  8

Most Nighthawks:

  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  14
  2. Seven Samurai  –  13
  3. The Dark Knight  –  5
  4. Yojimbo –  4
  5. The French Connection –  4

Most Nighthawk Points:

  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  810
  2. Seven Samurai  –  690
  3. The Dark Knight  –  470
  4. The French Connection  –  390
  5. Harakiri  –  375
  6. Yojimbo  –  350
  7. Throne of Blood  –  350
  8. Kagemusha  –  330
  9. House of Flying Daggers  –  280
  10. Superman  –  245

Most Comedy Nominations:

  1. Sanjuro  –  4
  2. Superman  –  4
  3. Silver Streak  –  3
  4. Iron Man  –  3
  5. Thunderball  /  Batman Returns  /  The Good, the Bad, the Weird  –  2

Most Comedy Wins:

  1. Silver Streak  –  1
  2. Batman Returns  –  1
  3. The Good, the Bad, the Weird  –  1

Most Comedy Points:

  1. Sanjuro  –  170
  2. Superman  –  165
  3. Silver Streak  –  150
  4. Iron Man  –  135
  5. The Good, the Bad, the Weird  –  130

Most Drama Nominations:

  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  6
  2. The Dark Knight  –  6
  3. Seven Samurai  –  5
  4. The French Connection  –  5
  5. Yojimbo  /  Throne of Blood  /  Harakiri  –  4

Most Drama Wins:

  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  4
  2. Seven Samurai  –  4
  3. The French Connection  –  4
  4. Harakiri  –  3
  5. Yojimbo  /  Kagemusha  /  The Dark Knight  –  1

Most Drama Points:

  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  400
  2. The French Connection  –  370
  3. Seven Samurai  –  365
  4. Harakiri  –  300
  5. The Dark Knight  –  260
  6. Yojimbo  –  210
  7. Throne of Blood  –  170
  8. Kagemusha  –  160
  9. Gate of Hell  –  135
  10. Kill Bill Volume 2  –  120

All-Time Nighthawk Awards

note:  These are my all-time Top 5 in each category.  But in the Analysis section, I discuss not only how Action films have done in the Nighthawks but also in-depth discussions of how they have done in all the awards groups.  There are a few lists here that aren’t in my usual Nighthawk Awards.

  • Best Picture
  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  2. Seven Samurai
  3. Throne of Blood
  4. The Dark Knight
  5. The French Connection

Analysis:  The first two win the Nighthawk while the next three (as well as Harakiri) earn nominations.  There are a total of 20 Top 10 films and 40 Top 20 films.  It’s worth noting that 18 of those 40 films are Foreign films.  In addition to the regular results, Harakiri and French Connection win the Drama award while Gate of Hell, Yojimbo and House of Flying Daggers earn Drama noms.  No Action films has won the Comedy award but five have earned a Nighthawk nom (Sanjuro, Thunderball, Silver Streak, Superman, Iron Man).  Ironically, the only **** Action film that I classify as a Comedy doesn’t earn a nom because Goldfinger is in 1964, a really tough year for Comedies.
The French Connection is the only Oscar winner while The Towering Inferno and Crouching Tiger earned noms.
The French Connection won the Globe for Drama with noms for Flight of the Phoenix and The Poseidon Adventure.  In Comedy, there have been no Globe winners but several nominees (Beverly Hills Cop, Midnight Run, Dick Tracy, The Tourist, Red).
There have been no BAFTA winners but there have been six nominees (Gate of Hell, Seven Samurai, The Train, French Connection, Kagemusha, Crouching Tiger).  Casino Royale is the only British Film nominee.
Crouching Tiger and Dark Knight both earned BFCA noms and PGA noms.  Crouching Tiger won the LAFC.

  • Best Director
  1. Ang Lee  (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
  2. Akira Kurosawa  (Seven Samurai)
  3. William Friedkin  (The French Connection)
  4. Christopher Nolan  (The Dark Knight)
  5. Akira Kurosawa  (Throne of Blood)

Analysis:  Lee and Kurosawa win the Nighthawk with noms for the other three as well as Teinosuke Kinugasa (Gate of Hell), Kurosawa yet again (Yojimbo, Kagemusha), Masaki Kobayashi (Harakiri) and Zhang Yimou (House of Flying Daggers).  Kobayashi and Friedkin win the Globe Drama with several additional directors that earn noms.  Ji-Woon Kim (The Good, the Bad, the Weird) wins the Comedy award in a very lackluster year (2010) with noms for Kurosawa (Sanjuro), Richard Donner (Superman), Tim Burton (Batman Returns) and Jon Favreau (Iron Man).
Friedkin won the Oscar while Ang Lee was nominated.  They both won the Globe and the DGA while John Frankenheimer (Grand Prix) and Nolan earned DGA noms.  Lee won the BAFTA as well as did Kurosawa for Kagemusha with noms for Peter Yates (Bullitt) and Friedkin.  Nolan earned a BFCA nom.  Zhang Yimou won two critics awards for House, sharing one of those with his own film Hero.

  • Best Adapted Screenplay:
  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  2. The French Connection
  3. The Dark Knight
  4. Batman Begins
  5. Harakiri

Analysis:  Crouching Tiger wins the Nighthawk.  Batman Begins doesn’t get a nom but Throne of Blood and Superman do.  French Connection wins the Drama award with a total of 10 films earning Drama noms (including Casino Royale) and six earning Comedy noms (three of which are Bond films).
French Connection won the Oscar with a nom for Crouching Tiger.  French Connection and (astoundingly) Towering Inferno earn Globe noms.  Crouching Tiger and Casino Royale earn BAFTA noms.  French Connection won the WGA with noms for French Connection 2, Spy Who Loved Me, Superman, For Your Eyes Only (the last three in Comedy), Crouching Tiger and Dark Knight.

  • Best Novel Adapted into an Action Film:
  1. Daredevil: Born Again
  2. Batman: Year One
  3. Miyamato Musashi
  4. From Russia with Love
  5. Casino Royale

Analysis:  This is a complicated category.  I’ve probably read more James Bond novels than all other novels made into Action films combined.  For instance, of the top five Adapted scripts above, two of them have source novels that have never been translated into English, one is adapted from a non-fiction book, one only really uses characters and the fifth very loosely comes from a source which is on this list.  That brings up the other thing: I’ve read source material for almost every comic book film but few of them use actual storylines, instead just taking the characters and making a film around them.  The Daredevil film used enough of Born Again, one of the greatest graphic novel collections ever written, to qualify although not as faithfully (or nearly as good) as the later television show would.  Again, Batman Begins uses enough of Year One that I feel it qualifies.  On the other hand, The Dark Phoenix Saga would have been listed (at #2 probably) if I thought Last Stand used enough of it but it doesn’t.

Best Original Screenplay:

  1. Seven Samurai
  2. Yojimbo
  3. Kill Bill Volume 1
  4. Kill Bill Volume 2
  5. Kagemusha

Analysis:  Seven Samurai and Yojimbo both win the Nighthawk while Hidden Fortress, That Man from Rio and Kagemusha earn noms.  Kagemusha wins the Drama award while both Kill Bill films earn Drama noms.  That Man from Rio, Silver Streak and The Good, the Bad, the Weird earn Comedy noms.
That Man from Rio, The Train (incorrectly – it should have been Adapted) and Beverly Hills Cop earn Oscar noms.  Se7en earns a BAFTA nom.  Silver Streak is the only WGA nom (and it’s when it had the Comedy category available for it).

  • Best Actor:
  1. Gene Hackman  (The French Connection)
  2. Toshiro Mifune  (Throne of Blood)
  3. Tatsuya Nakadai  (Harakiri)
  4. Chow Yun-Fat  (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
  5. Tatsuya Nakadai  (Kagemusha)

Analysis:  Hackman is the only Nighthawk winner.  The other four all earned Nighthawk noms as did Christian Bale for Dark Knight.  Nakadai (Harakiri) won the Drama award, Mifune added a Drama nom for Yojimbo as did Takashi Shimura for Seven Samurai.  Mifune also earned a Comedy nom for Sanjuro.
Hackman won the Oscar (he’s also the only nominee).  Hackman’s also the only Globe winner and the only other Drama nominee is Hackman again in the sequel.  There have been a few Comedy nominees: Gene Wilder (Silver Streak), Eddie Murphy (Beverly Hills Cop), Robert De Niro (Midnight Run), Jack Nicholson (Batman) and, somehow (what the fuck?) Johnny Depp for The Tourist.  Hackman won the BAFTA for both French Connection and Poseidon Adventure (combined award) while Shimura and Mifune were both nominated for the BAFTA for Seven Samurai (they didn’t have a supporting category at the time), Hackman was nominated for French Connection 2 and Daniel Craig was nominated for Casino Royale.  Hackman won the NYFC and NBR.  Michael Fassbender won the LAFC for four films in 2011 one of which was X-Men: First Class.

  • Best Actress
  1. Michelle Yeoh  (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
  2. Michelle Pfeiffer  (Batman Returns)
  3. Uma Thurman  (Kill Bill Vol. 2)
  4. Uma Thurman  (Kill Bill Vol. 1)
  5. Eva Green  (Casino Royale)

Analysis:  Only Yeoh and Pfeiffer manage Nighthawk noms in one of the genre’s weakest categories.  Thurman earns Drama noms for both films, Pfeiffer wins Comedy and Jamie Lee Curtis (True Lies) is nominated in a very weak year for Comedy.
There has never been an Oscar nominee in this category.  Meryl Streep (River Wild) and Thurman (both times) earned Drama noms at the Globes.  Curtis won the Globe – Comedy with a mind-boggling nom for Angelina Jolie in The Tourist.  Yeoh, Thurman (the first time) and my #6 (Zhang Ziyi in House of Flying Daggers) earn BAFTA noms.  Thurman (the second time) earns a BFCA nom.  Streep earns a SAG nom.

  • Best Supporting Actor:
  1. Heath Ledger  (The Dark Knight)
  2. Toshiro Mifune  (Seven Samurai)
  3. Gary Oldman  (Batman Begins)
  4. Aaron Eckhart  (The Dark Knight)
  5. Roy Scheider  (The French Connection)

Analysis:  Ledger and Mifune both win the Nighthawk.  Scheider and Gene Hackman (Superman) earn noms.  Eckhart and Alan Rickman (Die Hard) earn Drama noms.  Richard Pryor (Silver Streak) wins Comedy while Al Pacino (Dick Tracy) earns a nom.
Ledger wins the Oscar with noms for Ian Bannen (Flight of the Phoenix), Scheider, Fred Astaire (Towering Inferno) and Pacino.  Astaire and Ledger win the Globe with noms for Bannen, Joel Grey (Remo Williams), John Lone (Year of the Dragon), Pacino, Kevin Bacon (River Wild) and David Carradine (Kill Bill Vol. 2).  Astaire and Ledger win the BAFTA with noms for Robert Vaughn (Bullitt), Hackman, Jack Nicholson (Batman) and Pacino.  Kevin Spacey (Se7en) and Ledger win the BFCA.  Ledger wins SAG.  Spacey wins two critics awards (like the BFCA those are paired with his much better performance in Usual Suspects) while Ledger wins three.

  • Best Supporting Actress:
  1. Zhang Ziyi  (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
  2. Judi Dench  (Casino Royale)
  3. Mariko Okada  (Samurai I: Miyamoto Musashi)
  4. Misa Uehara  (The Hidden Fortress)
  5. Shelly Winters  (The Poseidon Adventure)

Analysis:  One of Action’s weakest categories.  Ziyi wins the Nighthawk while Winters earns a nom.
Winters is the only Oscar nominee.  She also won the Globe with noms for Jennifer Jones (Towering Inferno) and Barbara Carrera (Never Say Never Again), two of the worst Globe nominees in this category ever.  Winters and Ziyi were BAFTA nominees.  Jamie Lee Curtis earns a SAG nom here for True Lies.

  • Best Ensemble
  1. The Dark Knight
  2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  3. Batman Begins
  4. Seven Samurai
  5. The French Connection

Analysis:  This adds up all the acting points across the categories.

  • Best Editing:
  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  2. The French Connection
  3. Seven Samurai
  4. The Dark Knight
  5. Casino Royale

Analysis:  Only Crouching Tiger and Seven Samurai win the Nighthawk though 15 other films (including the other three) earn nominations.
Four films win the Oscar, all within the span of a decade: Grand Prix, Bullitt, French Connection, Towering Inferno.  Another 13 films earn Oscar nominations.  French Connection and Speed win the BAFTA with 8 more nominees with five of them coming since the turn of the century.
ACE has been one of the strongest (and earliest) guilds for Action films.  Bullitt won the only award in the genre and there were two noms in the 60s, four in the 70s, five in the 90s and five more this century.

  • Best Cinematography:
  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  2. House of Flying Daggers
  3. The Dark Knight
  4. Seven Samurai
  5. Kagemusha

Analysis:  House and Kagemusha don’t win the Nighthawk but Harakiri and French Connection do.  There are another 11 nominees including three more Kurosawa films.
Towering Inferno won the Oscar (over Chinatown!!!) as did Crouching Tiger.  After two early nominations (The Crusades in 1935, Dive Bomber in 1941) it would be another three decades before there would be another nominee, then two in the early 70’s (French Connection, Poseidon Adventure) as well as the winner then another big gap until 1990 (Dick Tracy) and then five more later films – two Martial Arts films (Crouching Tiger, House) and three Batman films (Forever, Begins, Dark Knight).
Though there’s only been one BAFTA winner (From Russia with Love, winning the British only color category) this has been one of the stronger categories there with 10 nominees.
Seven films have earned an ASC nom (three of them Batman films) but no Action film has yet managed to win.
Crouching Tiger won four critics awards.  In 2004, Action did well with House winning two and Hero winning two more.  There have also been single awards for Bullitt, Se7en and Dark Knight.

  • Best Original Score:
  1. John Williams  (Superman)
  2. Tan Dun  (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
  3. Harold Faltermeyer  (Top Gun)
  4. Monty Norman  (Dr. No)
  5. Shigeru Umebayashi  (House of Flying Daggers)

Analysis:  There are five Nighthawk winners but it’s the top two, Samurai I, Seven Samurai and House that are the winners.  There are also 13 nominees, four of which are Kurosawa samurai films.
A weird history here.  Flying Tigers (1941) was one of the first Action films nominated in any category then almost a 30 year gap before several nominations (Shaft, Poseidon Adventure, Towering Inferno, Spy Who Loved Me, Superman (which, maddeningly, did not win)) then over 20 more years before one final film which actually won the Oscar (Crouching Tiger).
Shaft was the first Globe nominee and the only winner.  There have been seven more Globe nominees since.  Towering Inferno and Crouching Tiger won the BAFTA with noms for Shaft, Spy Who Loved Me, Beverly Hills Cop, Kill Bill, Casino Royale and Dark Knight.
The Dark Knight earns a BFCA nom.  Crouching Tiger wins two critics awards while 48 Hours also wins one.

  • Best Sound:
  1. The French Connection
  2. Die Hard
  3. The Dark Knight
  4. Casino Royale
  5. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Analysis:  This is a genre with a lot of 9 point work; aside from the list above there is also Seven Samurai, Kagemusha, Fight Club and Batman Begins.  Of those nine films, six win the Nighthawk (the top five as well as Seven Samurai) while Grand Prix and The Crow also manage wins.  There are 29 Nighthawk nominees as well with this one of the genre’s best categories including six more comic book films and three more Bond films.
Surprisingly, only two films have won the Oscar: Grand Prix and Speed.  But it’s done very well getting nominations with 31 over the years including a run of 16 in 12 years from 1986 to 1997 including two nominations five different times.  Speed and Casino Royale are the only BAFTA winners.  Another 14 films earn noms but, oddly, only three from 1986 to 1997 (and only one of those – Dick Tracy – earned an Oscar nom).  Even more surprisingly, no Action film has won CAS though 14 films have earned noms including seven in the award’s first five years (93 to 97).

  • Best Art Direction:
  1. Batman
  2. House of Flying Daggers
  3. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  4. Dick Tracy
  5. Kagemusha

Analysis:  All five are 9 point sets as is Hero.  However, because of tough competition, the only Nighthawk winners are Seven Samurai, Kagemusha, Dick Tracy and Crouching Tiger.  There are also 11 nominees, all of which are either foreign or Batman films.
Batman, Dick Tracy and Crouching Tiger win the Oscar with only a handful of other nominees (Seven Samurai, Poseidon Adventure, Towering Inferno, Spy Who Loved Me, Kagemusha, Dark Knight).  Only Rollerball and Dick Tracy win the BAFTA though 12 films manage nominations including five Bond films and three Batman films.  Casino Royale, Curse of the Golden Flower and Dark Knight have won the ADG with another 9 nominations (mostly in the contemporary category).  Crouching Tiger and House of Flying Daggers won the LAFC award (the only critics group that gives it out).

  • Best Visual Effects
  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  2. Spider-Man 2
  3. Iron Man
  4. Superman Returns
  5. Die Hard

Analysis:  Five films win the Nighthawk: Thunderball, Poseidon Adventure, Superman, Crouching Tiger and Iron Man.  Another 33 films earn Nighthawk noms including 9 Bond films, 5 DC films and 7 Marvel films.
Four films win the Oscar (Thunderball, Poseidon Adventure, Superman, Spider-Man 2) and 16 more earn nominations including five comic book films in the last decade.
Twister is the only BAFTA winner but 21 films have earned noms, 13 of those coming this century including seven comic book films and two Bond films.  2012 earned a BFCA nom.
Twenty four Action films have earned noms at the VES but only four (Spider-Man 2, Dark Knight, Casino Royale, Captain America) have actually won an award.

  • Best Sound Editing
  1. The Dark Knight
  2. Die Hard
  3. Ronin
  4. Casino Royale
  5. Fight Club

Analysis:  These are all 9 point editing jobs as are Seven Samurai, Crouching Tiger and Batman Begins.  A whopping 13 films win the Nighthawk although Ronin and Fight Club aren’t among them.  But the others are Yojimbo, Goldfinger, Thunderball, Grand Prix, French Connection, Superman, The Crow and The Rock.  There are also 39 more films that earn Nighthawk noms.
Five films win the Oscar (Goldfinger, Grand Prix, RoboCop, Speed, Dark Knight) with another 18 earning a nomination.  Of those 23 films, eight earn no other Oscar noms and 14 are nominated for Sound.  The exception is Iron Man (its other nom was VE).
This has been the big guild for Action films with 19 films winning an MPSE award, two winning multiple awards (Top Gun, Dark Knight) and a total of 65 films earning a nomination.

  • Best Costume Design:
  1. House of Flying Daggers
  2. Dick Tracy
  3. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  4. Hero
  5. Kagemusha

Analysis:  All five of these as well as Seven Samurai are 9 point designs.  Yet, House doesn’t win the Nighthawk (it loses to The Aviator, as does Hero).  Gate of Hell, Samurai I and Yojimbo all win the Nighthawk though.  There are also nine Nighthawk nominees, all of which are Foreign films (five Samurai, four Hong Kong / China Martial Arts films).
Astoundingly, Gate of Hell is the only Action film to win the Oscar.  Several have earned nominations (Ugetsu, Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Poseidon Adventure, When Time Ran Out, Dick Tracy, Crouching Tiger, Curse of the Golden Flower) but, as you can see, House wasn’t one of them.
Kagemusha and Crouching Tiger win the BAFTA with noms for Batman, Dick Tracy, House and Dark Knight.  Curse of the Golden Flower and Dark Knight win the CDG with a lot of films earning noms, mostly in the Contemporary category.

  • Best Makeup
  1. Dick Tracy
  2. The Dark Knight
  3. Batman Returns
  4. House of Flying Daggers
  5. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Analysis:  Seven films win the Nighthawk: Gate of Hell, Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Come Drink with Me, Dick Tracy, House of Flying Daggers and Dark Knight.  Another 13 films earn nominations.
Dick Tracy won the Oscar with noms for Remo Williams, Batman Returns, Dark Knight and the second Hellboy.
Dick Tracy won the BAFTA with noms for Robocop, Batman, Batman Returns, Crouching Tiger, House of Flying Daggers and Dark Knight.
Charlie’s Angels won the MUAHSG and earned a second nom while the sequel simply won an award.  There were also noms for Die Another Day, Spider-Man, X2 and Daredevil.

  • Best Technical Aspects
  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  2. House of Flying Daggers
  3. The Dark Knight
  4. Kagemusha
  5. Seven Samurai

Analysis:  This is a totaling up of all the points in the tech categories.  It’s not a surprise that four of these are period pieces that earn significant points for their sets and costumes.  Crouching Tiger actually earns a 79 (a 7 in Makeup, a 9 in everything else) which is the fifth highest point total in history (behind the three Lord of the Rings films and Star Wars).

  • Best Original Song:
  1. “Take My Breath Away”  (Top Gun)
  2. “It Can’t Rain All the Time”  (The Crow)
  3. “A View to a Kill”  (A View to a Kill)
  4. “You Gotta Love Someone”  (Days of Thunder)
  5. “A Love Before Time”  (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)

Analysis:  Though it barely makes the top 5, “A Love Before Time” is the only Nighthawk winner.  “A View to a Kill” can’t even manage a nomination in the incredibly stacked year of 1985 and “Take My Breath Away”, even though it’s a nine point song ends up in fourth place in the just as stacked year of 1986.  The 13 songs with Nighthawk noms include three Bond songs (“Nobody Does It Better”, “For Your Eyes Only”, “You Know My Name”).
Five songs have won the Oscar including three in four years (“Theme from Shaft”, “The Morning After”, “We May Never Love Like This Again”) and then two a decade later (“Take My Breath Away”, “Sooner or Later'”).  Six other songs have earned noms three of which were Bond songs.
Only two songs from Action films have won the Globe (“Take My Breath Away”, “Sooner or Later”) but a whopping 15 more have earned noms including six Bond songs.  In total, that’s 17 Action films earning at least a nomination, far better than the genre has done at the Globes in any other category.
Spider-Man and Quantum of Solace both earned BFCA noms.

  • Best Animated Film:
  1. n/a

Analysis:  Through 2011 there are just three and none of them reach past ***.

  • Best Foreign Film:
  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  2. Seven Samurai
  3. Throne of Blood
  4. Harakiri
  5. House of Flying Daggers

note:  Four films win the Nighthawk: Seven Samurai, Hidden Fortress, Kagemusha and Crouching Tiger.  Another 13 films earn nominations three of which are Kurosawa samurai films (Sanshiro Sugata, Throne of Blood, Yojimbo) as well as four other samurai films not by Kurosawa (Ugetsu, Gate of Hell, Samurai I, Harakiri).
Gate of Hell, Samurai I and Crouching Tiger all won the Oscar.  Nine Lives, Kagemusha, Hero and Twilight Samurai all earned noms.
Rider on the Rain and Crouching Tiger won the Globe with noms for The Assassination Bureau, Kagemusha, La Femme Nikita, Hero, House of Flying Daggers and The Promise.  Crouching Tiger won the BAFTA while House was nominated.  Crouching Tiger also won the BFCA with noms for House, Oldboy and Red Cliff.
Crouching Tiger won three critics awards and House won two.  There were one award each for Gate of Hell, That Man from Rio and Road Warrior.

  • Best Film (by my points system):
  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  2. The Dark Knight
  3. Batman Begins
  4. Seven Samurai
  5. House of Flying Daggers

Analysis:  This just totals up all the points as I assign them.  Crouching Tiger has the fifth highest point total in history behind only The Wizard of Oz and the three Lord of the Rings films.

  • Best Film  (weighted points system)
  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  2. The Dark Knight
  3. Seven Samurai
  4. Batman Begins
  5. House of Flying Daggers

Analysis:  Seven Samurai and Batman Begins actually tie.

Best Films With No Top 5 Finishes:

  • Some Like Hot
  • Sullivan’s Travels
  • City Lights
  • The Great Dictator
  • Sideways
  • The Big Chill
  • When Harry Met Sally

note:  These are all the high **** films that don’t earn a Top 5 which just shows how hard it is to make it into any of the lists.

Worst Film with a Top 5 Finish:

  • 1941

note:  The only bad film with a Top 5 finish with Grinch being the only other one below a high ***.

Nighthawk Notables

  • Best Film to Watch Over and Over:  The Dark Knight
  • Best Line  (comedic):  “I already told you I don’t want to join your super-secret boy band.” (Robert Downey Jr in Iron Man 2)
  • Best Line  (dramatic):  “Some men aren’t looking for anything logical.  They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with.  Some men just want to watch the world burn.”  (Michael Caine in The Dark Knight)
  • Best Opening:  Casino Royale
  • Best Ending:  Spider-Man 2
  • Best Scene:  the subway chase in The French Connection
  • Most Gut-Wrenching Scene:  Bruce Willis with the broken glass in his feet in Die Hard
  • Most Heart-Wrenching Scene:  the end of The Crow
  • Best Death Scene:  Chow Yun-Fat in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  • Best Kiss:  Kirsten Dunst and Tobey Maguire upside down in the rain in Spider-Man
  • Best Use of a Song:  “You Lost That Loving Feeling”  (Top Gun)
  • Best Soundtrack:  The Crow
  • Best Guilty Pleasure:  Cannonball Run
  • Funniest Film:  Silver Streak
  • Worst Film I Saw in the Theater:  Daylight
  • Worst Film by a Top 100 Director:  Fast Company (David Cronenberg)
  • Read the Book, SKIP the Film:  Daredevil  (Daredevil: Born Again)
  • Performance to Fall in Love With:  Eva Green in Casino Royale
  • Sexiest Performance:  Zhang Ziyi in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  • Highest Attractiveness / Acting Ability Ratio:  Daniela Biancha in From Russia with Love
  • Coolest Performance:  Sean Connery in Goldfinger
  • Best Opening Credits:  Superman
  • Best Poster:  The Dark Knight
  • Best Tagline:  “Why so serious?”  (The Dark Knight)
  • Best Teaser:  The Dark Knight
  • Best Trailer:  Spider-Man 2
  • Best Cameo:  Bruce Campbell in Spider-Man
  • Sexiest Cameo:  Lana Wood in Diamonds are Forever
  • Funniest Cameo:  Denholm Elliott in The World is Not Enough

note:  It doesn’t include categories that are covered in some of the lists above like Worst Film, Most Over-rated Film, Best Ensemble, etc and some categories are covered in the Franchise list at the end of the post.

Soundtracks I Own:  Superman, Top Gun, The Crow

At the Theater

By the end of 2011, I had probably seen over 1000 films in the theater at some point or another.  I had certainly been to the movies well over 1000 times.  My Action films in the theater go like this: Superman II, Batman (multiple times), Tango & Cash, Dick Tracy, Die Hard 2, Air America, Bird on a Wire, Backdraft, The Last Boy Scout, Point Break, Batman Returns, Lethal Weapon 3, Point of No Return, The Crow, True Lies, The Shadow, Speed, GoldenEye, Crimson Tide, Se7en, Batman Forever, Die Hard: With a Vengeance, The Rock, Broken Arrow, Daylight, Air Force One, Tomorrow Never Dies, Con Air, Batman and Robin, Ronin, The Replacement Killers, The Avengers, Fight Club, The World is Not Enough, Crouching Tiger, X-Men, Charlie’s Angels, Spider-Man (multiple times), Die Another Day, both Kill Bill films, X2, Hulk, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, House of Flying Daggers, Spider-Man 2 (multiple times), Batman Begins (multiple times), Casino Royale, Superman Returns, X-Men: The Last Stand, Spider-Man 3, Dark Knight (multiple times), Iron Man and Iron Man 2.

You may notice that there are a lot of bad films front-loaded there (there are five films on the list below **).  The average of films through 1998 is a 57.7.  But the average after that (even including the two Angels films) is 79.4, so I started seeing lots better films (or they started making better Action films).

Awards


Academy Awards

  • Number of Films That Have Earned Nominations:  81
  • Number of Films That Have Won Oscars:  19
  • Number of Films With Multiple Nominations:  34
  • Number of Films With Multiple Wins:  9
  • Best Picture Nominations:  3
  • Total Number of Nominations:  168
  • Total Number of Wins:  36
  • Category With the Most Nominations:  Sound Mixing  (33)
  • Number of Films with Nominations I Haven’t Seen:  0
  • Directors with Most Oscar Nominated Films:  Tony Scott  (5)
  • Best Film with No Oscar Nominations:  Throne of Blood
  • Best English Language Film with No Oscar Nominations:  Casino Royale

Oscar Oddities:

  • The only films with more than one nomination to win all of their nominations are Grand Prix (3 for 3) and Speed (2 for 2).
  • Only five major awards have been won by Action films, four of them by The French Connection (Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Actor) and the other by The Dark Knight (Supporting Actor).
  • Only two films have been nominated in all five major Tech categories (Editing, Cinematography, Score, Sound, Art Direction) and it wasn’t French Connection, Crouching Tiger or Dark Knight.  It was Poseidon Adventure and Towering Inferno.
  • Tony Scott’s five films have 10 combined noms, the same as Ang Lee’s one film and have a combined 200 points.
  • It took until 1935 before an Action film earned an Oscar nom (The Crusades), until 1942 before one earned multiple noms (Flying Tigers), until 1954 for one to win an Oscar (Gate of Hell) and until 1964 for one to be nominated in a major category (That Man from Rio).
  • The French Connection broke all rules for Action films as the first Picture, Director and major acting category nominee and it won all three (still the only to win any).

Most Oscar Nominations

  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  10
  2. The Poseidon Adventure  –  9
  3. The French Connection  –  8
  4. The Towering Inferno  –  8
  5. The Dark Knight  –  8
  6. Dick Tracy  –  7
  7. Superman  –  4
  8. Top Gun  –  4
  9. Die Hard  –  4
  10. nine films  –  3

Most Oscar Wins:

  1. The French Connection  –  5
  2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  4
  3. Grand Prix  –  3
  4. The Towering Inferno  –  3
  5. Dick Tracy  –  3

Most Oscar Points:

  1. The French Connection  –  465
  2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  365
  3. The Towering Inferno  –  265
  4. The Poseidon Adventure  –  220
  5. The Dark Knight  –  220
  6. Dick Tracy  –  170
  7. Grand Prix  –  130
  8. Superman  –  110
  9. Speed  –  105
  10. Top Gun  /  RoboCop  /  Die Hard  –  85

Critics Awards

  • Number of Films That Have Won Critics Awards:  12
  • Number of Films With Multiple Awards:  6
  • Best Picture Wins:  1
  • Total Number of Awards:  36
  • Category With the Most Awards:  Cinematography  (11)

Most Awards:

  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  11
  2. House of Flying Daggers  –  7
  3. The Dark Knight  –  4
  4. Se7en  –  3
  5. Hero  –  3

Most Points:

  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  529
  2. House of Flying Daggers  –  360
  3. The Dark Knight  –  213
  4. Hero  –  176
  5. Se7en  –  153

Most Points by Critics Group:

  • NYFC:  The French Connection  –  70
  • LAFC:  Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon–  240
  • NSFC:  House of Flying Daggers–  140
  • BSFC:  House of Flying Daggers –  180
  • CFC:  Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon –  140
  • NBR:  The French Connection  –  70

Golden Globes

  • Number of Films That Have Earned Nominations:  44
  • Number of Films That Have Won Globes:  9
  • Number of Films With Multiple Nominations:  15
  • Number of Films With Multiple Wins:  2
  • Best Picture Nominations:  8  (3 Drama / 5 Comedy)
  • Total Number of Nominations:  69
  • Total Number of Wins:  12
  • Category With the Most Nominations:  Song  (17)
  • Best Film with No Globe Nominations:  Seven Samurai
  • Best English Language Film with No Globe Nominations:  Batman Begins

Globe oddities:

  • Only two Action films have been nominated for Best Director.  They both won (French Connection, Crouching Tiger).
  • Of the 44 Action films nominated for the Globes, 17 were nominated for Song, 8 for Foreign Film and 7 for Actor.  There is no overlap among those 32 films.
  • The only Action film nominated for all three split awards (Picture, Actor, Actress) and indeed, the only Action film nominated for both Actor and Actress, is The Tourist, one of the worst films ever nominated in any of those categories.

Most Globe Nominations:

  1. The French Connection  –  4
  2. The Poseidon Adventure  –  4
  3. The Towering Inferno  –  4
  4. Dick Tracy  –  4
  5. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  /  The Tourist  –  3

Most Globes:

  1. The French Connection  –  3
  2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  2
  3. Rider on the Rain  –  1
  4. Shaft  –  1
  5. The Poseidon Adventure  /  The Towering Inferno  /  Top Gun  /  True Lies  /  The Dark Knight  –  1

Most Globe Points:

  1. The French Connection  –  300
  2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  155
  3. The Poseidon Adventure  –  145
  4. The Towering Inferno  –  140
  5. The Tourist  –  120

Guild Awards

  • Number of Films That Have Earned Nominations:  96
  • Number of Films That Have Won Guild Awards:  25
  • Number of Films With Multiple Nominations:  117
  • Number of Films With Multiple Wins:  8
  • Best Picture Nominations:  2
  • Total Number of Nominations:  223
  • Total Number of Wins:  41
  • Category With the Most Nominations:  Sound Editing  (65)
  • Best Film with No Guild Nominations:  Seven Samurai
  • Best English Language Film with No Guild Nominations:  Goldfinger

Most Guild Nominations:

  1. The Dark Knight  –  16
  2. Iron Man  –  11
  3. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  9
  4. Spider-Man 2  –  8
  5. Spider-Man 3  –  6
  6. Crimson Tide  –  5
  7. Kill Bill Volume 1  –  5
  8. Batman Begins  –  5
  9. Casino Royale  –  5
  10. 2012  –  5

Most Guild Wins:

  1. The Dark Knight  –  8
  2. The French Connection  –  3
  3. Spider-Man 2  –  3
  4. Bullitt  –  2
  5. Top Gun  –  2
  6. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  2
  7. Casino Royale  –  2
  8. Curse of the Golden Flower  –  2
  9. 17 films  –  1

Most Guild Points:

  1. The Dark Knight  –  575
  2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  330
  3. The French Connection  –  235
  4. Spider-Man 2  –  220
  5. Iron Man  –  215
  6. Casino Royale  –  140
  7. Crimson Tide  –  130
  8. Spider-Man 3  –  120
  9. Batman Begins  –  105
  10. Kill Bill Volume 1  /  2012  –  100

Highest Guild Point Percentage:

  1. The French Connection  –  16.26%
  2. The Dark Knight  –  9.85%
  3. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  7.21%
  4. Top Gun  –  6.78%
  5. Bullitt  –  6.52%
  6. Grand Prix  –  6.01%
  7. The Towering Inferno  –  4.89%
  8. Superman  –  4.74%
  9. The Poseidon Adventure  –  4.61%
  10. Crimson Tide  /  Spider-Man 2  –  4.27%

The BAFTAs

  • Number of Films That Have Earned Nominations:  42
  • Number of Films That Have Won BAFTAs:  12
  • Number of Films With Multiple Nominations:  23
  • Number of Films With Multiple Wins:  6
  • Number of Nominated Films I Haven’t Seen:  0
  • Best Picture Nominations:  68
  • Total Number of Nominations:  127
  • Total Number of Wins:  20
  • Category With the Most Nominations:  Visual Effects  (22)
  • Best Film With No BAFTA Nominations:  Throne of Blood
  • Best English Language Film With No BAFTA Nominations:  Kill Bill Vol. 2

notes:

  • The 14 nominations for Crouching Tiger is by far the most for a foreign film in any genre and tied for the 3rd most BAFTA noms ever.
  • Crouching Tiger is the only Action film nominated for Picture, Director and Screenplay.
  • Crouching Tiger, Casino Royale and Dark Knight are the only films to be nominated in the main 5 Tech categories (Editing, Cinematography, Score, Sound, Art Direction).
  • Crouching Tiger and Poseidon Adventure are the only films to be nominated for multiple acting awards.

Most BAFTA Noms:

  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  14
  2. House of Flying Daggers  –  9
  3. Casino Royale  –  9
  4. The Dark Knight  –  9
  5. Dick Tracy  –  7
  6. Batman  –  6
  7. Bullitt  –  5
  8. The French Connection  –  5
  9. Kill Bill Vol. 1  –  5
  10. four films  –  4

Most BAFTA Wins:

  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  4
  2. The French Connection  –  2
  3. The Towering Inferno  –  2
  4. Kagemusha  –  2
  5. Dick Tracy  /  Speed  –  2

Most BAFTA Points:

  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  485
  2. Casino Royale  –  280
  3. The French Connection  –  235
  4. The Dark Knight  –  220
  5. Kagemusha  –  195
  6. House of Flying Daggers  –  190
  7. Dick Tracy  –  170
  8. The Towering Inferno  –  155
  9. Bullitt  –  145
  10. Kill Bill Vol. 1  –  125

Broadcast Film Critics Awards
(Critic’s Choice Awards)

  • Number of Films That Have Earned Nominations:  10
  • Number of Films That Have Won BFCA:  3
  • Number of Films With Multiple Nominations:  2
  • Number of Films With Multiple Wins:  0
  • Best Picture Nominations:  2
  • Total Number of Nominations:  14
  • Total Number of Wins:  3
  • Category With the Most Nominations:  Foreign Film  (4)
  • Best Film with No BFCA Nominations:  Batman Begins

Most Nominations:

  1. The Dark Knight  –  4
  2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  2
  3. eight films  –  1

Most Wins:

  1. Se7en  –  1
  2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon –  1
  3. The Dark Knight  –  1

BFCA Points:

  1. The Dark Knight  –  180
  2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  90
  3. Se7en  –  60
  4. Kill Bill Vol. 2  –  35
  5. four films  –  20

All Awards

Most Nominations:

  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  49
  2. The Dark Knight  –  42
  3. The French Connection  –  23
  4. House of Flying Daggers  –  20
  5. Dick Tracy  –  19
  6. The Towering Inferno  –  18
  7. The Poseidon Adventure  –  17
  8. Casino Royale  –  15
  9. Iron Man  –  14
  10. Spider-Man-2  –  13

Most Awards:

  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  24
  2. The French Connection  –  15
  3. The Dark Knight  –  14
  4. House of Flying Daggers  –  8
  5. The Towering Inferno  –  7
  6. The Poseidon Adventure  –  5
  7. Dick Tracy  –  5
  8. Bullitt  –  4
  9. Top Gun  –  4
  10. Speed  /  Se7en  /  Spider-Man-2  /  Casino Royale  –  4

Total Awards Points

  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  1872
  2. The Dark Knight  –  1363
  3. The French Connection  –  1278
  4. House of Flying Daggers  –  643
  5. The Towering Inferno  –  591
  6. The Poseidon Adventure  –  495
  7. Dick Tracy  –  443
  8. Casino Royale  –  406
  9. Bullitt  –  341
  10. Spider-Man-2  –  318

Highest Awards Points Percentage:

  1. The French Connection  –  11.29%
  2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  –  10.22%
  3. The Dark Knight  –  6.84%
  4. The Towering Inferno  –  5.69%
  5. The Poseidon Adventure  –  5.30%
  6. Dick Tracy  –  3.49%
  7. Bullitt  –  3.42%
  8. House of Flying Daggers  –  3.39%
  9. Superman  –  2.76%
  10. Kagemusha  –  2.52%

note:  This is why I do the percentage, because it gives a historical perspective.
note:  As of the end of 2011, It Happened One Night is still third all time in awards percentage.

Lists

I won’t do a lot of lists because that’s the whole point of TSPDT – they put a ridiculous amount of lists in the blender and come out with the “definitive” one.  Their lists includes lists by genre, so you can always go there and look at their source lists.

The TSPDT Top 25 Action Films:

  1. Seven Samurai (#10)
  2. Ugetsu (#46)
  3. Throne of Blood (#273)
  4. A Touch of Zen (#326)
  5. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (#384)
  6. Yojimbo  (#404)
  7. Fight Club (#458)
  8. The Road Warrior (#471)
  9. Oldboy (#475)
  10. Kagemusha (#505)
  11. Die Hard (#506)
  12. Se7en (#541)
  13. The French Connection (#592)
  14. The Dark Knight (#604)
  15. Harakiri (#684)
  16. RoboCop (#686)
  17. The Killer (#722)
  18. Superman (#746)
  19. Dirty Harry (#748)
  20. Assault on Precinct 13 (#818)
  21. Enter the Dragon (#880)
  22. Léon (#883)
  23. Get Carter (#920)
  24. Kill Bill Vol. 1 (#944)
  25. The 47 Ronin (#976)

note:  These are the current (2020) rankings from TSPDT and TSPDT really moves things around a lot.  Just two years ago, Enter the Dragon wasn’t even in the Top 1000 and Midnight Run was.  In fact, since 2012, Midnight Run has toppled over 600 spots.  Superman hadn’t been in the Top 1000 for over a decade when it leapt into the Top 700 in 2018.

The IMDb Voters Top 10 Action Films

  1. The Dark Knight
  2. Fight Club
  3. Seven Samurai
  4. Se7en
  5. Léon
  6. Harakiri
  7. Oldboy
  8. Die Hard
  9. Yojimbo
  10. Batman Begins

note:  The Top 6 are all in the Top 35 at the IMDb and the whole list is in the Top 127 which just shows how much Action fans vote at the IMDb.

Top 10 U.S. Domestic Box Office  (through December 31, 2011)

  1. The Dark Knight  –  $533.34 mil
  2. Spider-Man  –  $407.02 mil
  3. Spider-Man-2  –  $373.58 mil
  4. Spider-Man-3  –  $336.53 mil
  5. Iron Man  –  $318.41 mil
  6. Iron Man 2  –  $312.43 mil
  7. Batman  –  $251.18 mil
  8. Twister  –  $241.72 mil
  9. Beverly Hills Cop  –  $234.76 mil
  10. X-Men: The Last Stand  –  $234.36 mil

Top 10 U.S. Domestic Box Office (all-time, adjusted to 2020)

  1. Thunderball –  $700.87 mil
  2. The Dark Knight –  $698.12 mil
  3. Spider-Man –  $661.76 mil
  4. Beverly Hills Cop –  $629.19 mil
  5. Goldfinger –  $621.23 mil
  6. Batman –  $590.05 mil
  7. The Towering Inferno –  $571.09 mil
  8. Spider-Man-2 –  $563.68 mil
  9. Superman –  $537.68 mil
  10. The Poseidon Adventure –  $514.43 mil

Not Action Films

There are several genres that have strong cross-over with Action.  For the purposes of this list, I simply listed the first 10 films on the IMDb’s Top 250 that could very reasonably qualify as Action films but which I don’t list as the primary genre.

  1. The Lord of the Rings  (Fantasy)
  2. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly  (Western)
  3. Star Wars  (Sci-Fi)
  4. The Matrix  (Sci-Fi)
  5. Saving Private Ryan  (War)
  6. The Usual Suspects  (Crime)
  7. Terminator 2: Judgment Day  (Sci-Fi)
  8. Gladiator  (Drama)
  9. Once Upon a Time in the West  (Western)
  10. Raiders of the Lost Ark  (Fantasy)

Books

incomplete due to COVID

Reviews

The Best Action Film I Haven’t Yet Reviewed

Kill Bill, Volumes 1 and 2

(2003 / 2004, dir. Quentin Tarantino)

I have a copy of the Kill Bill script on my computer.  It was originally down-loaded (several computers back) on 10 April, 2004, just after the premiere of the second film but before it was officially released.  I’m certain I didn’t read the script before I went to go see the film on opening day because that’s not my style.  I mention it to point out that it was one complete script (with a number of noteworthy changes from what actually made it to the screen) which is why I consider the second part to be original up in the awards.  This film was designed to be one film and then Tarantino decided to break it in two so he wouldn’t have to cut it down considerably.  That includes the structure of the film, the way we only learn certain information afterwards, how we are dropped right into the story and things develop from there.  The easiest way is to think of it as one film and then proceed from there.

It had been a long wait for a new Tarantino film.  The people who were prominent in my movie-going life in 2003 were not the same people who had been prominent in 1997.  It would be a different experience seeing this film and there was the question if maybe Tarantino wasn’t as great as people had thought he was.  But it turned out that he was.  He still had the incredible eye for action and movement across the screen.  He still had the brilliant way of how he structured the script and the same brilliant editing style matched to his writing style by Sally Menke (she would edit all of his films until her death).  It showed that he still had an unmatched ear for dialogue and that lines that might sound dumb in another film, had a way, when combined with the way that Tarantino worked with his actors, to sound exactly right.

This was a branching out of genres for Tarantino.  His three previous films had all been Crime films (with a dark element of humor to them) and while there were definitely criminal actions happening in this film, it was first and foremost an Action film, indeed, a Martial Arts film, and the only truly great films in the sub-genre not made in east Asia.  There had been action in his films before, but it was much more undisciplined, a man tackling somebody or a few punches thrown.  There was nothing like the precision of that knife swinging down and a woman grabbing a frying pan to deflect it, turning into a fierce, pitched battle in the middle of a kitchen.  And yet, there was still the humor.  What kind of Action film has the two fighters pause and hide their weapons because the young daughter of one of the fighters has arrived home from school and neither her mother nor the woman very much determined to kill her mother want the daughter to know what’s going on.  It’s the human touches in the middle of these two films that really make them stand out.

This was a Tarantino film (actually two of them) and that meant it was never going to be for everybody.  Even people who loved his films and in some ways loved these films, weren’t always pleased with what they were seeing (of two prominent people in my life, both objected to the anime scene, one because she preferred her anime to have sex but not violence and the other because she preferred her anime to have violence but not sex).  But it was stylish to the hilt, with scenes in black and white, a complicated storyline that moved back and forth through time, slowly allowing us to learn things and even occasionally deliberately withholding things, so that we might be as floored as a mother who turns a corner to find her daughter holding a gun on her, a daughter she thought was dead, and if that daughter looks familiar, perhaps you’ve seen her more grown up in one of the best uses of a song in the last decade.  Normally that kind of aside would have been a parenthetical, but it’s relevant here because it allows me to point out once again how brilliant Tarantino is with music and how every piece perfectly fits the action, no matter where he might have gone to find it.

This is a phenomenally brilliant Action film.  It has everything you could want in such a film.  It has amazing action scenes with a sexy heroine who overcomes ridiculous odds to succeed.  It has great, snappy dialogue.  It has fights scene you don’t see coming and then a conclusion that is so quick and painful that it’s over before anyone has realized it with pain and suffering that is beyond the physical.  It was a sign that Tarantino hadn’t lost a step, something he’s continued to prove time and again since these films were made.

The Worst Action Film I Haven’t Yet Reviewed

10 to Midnight

(1983, dir. J. Lee Thompson)

In 1986 and 1989, my Nighthawk Awards review of the worst film of the year were both horrible Cop films with Charles Bronson as a cop who turns vigilante directed by his old friend J. Lee Thompson.  This film is actually worse than either of those two films (just barely) but wasn’t reviewed as the worst film of 1983 because Ed Wood’s Night of the Ghouls somehow finally got a theatrical release that year.  So, instead, I’m getting to it here.

This film is sort of the type of revenge fantasy that the two of them would make several times together.  I covered my feelings on this sort of film in the 1986 post linked in the previous paragraph (although I didn’t mention this film somehow).  This one is a bit different, because the crimes go on throughout the movie and most of the time, Bronson plays a cop who is trying to track the killer down because the killer seems to be honed in on Bronson’s daughter.

This one is about a a guy who is constantly spurned by women so he kills them.  In the end, after killing a bunch of friends of Bronson’s daughter (instead of the daughter) and claiming that he’ll say he’s crazy, Bronson shoots him instead.  This film falls into cliches, both in terms of the killer who’s not crazy but will say he is and the cop who feels he’s doing the right thing by simply killing the man.

I don’t know what to say other than that it’s badly made, badly written and very badly acted.  It has a premise that’s offensive on both sides of the coin.  But, especially today, when we live in a world where so many cops seem to believe that they have the right to kill people, this film just goes over the edge.  It seems like this is a blueprint for people who really do seem to believe that they have to right to decide when someone should live or die.  But it’s not the moral question that’s the problem.  It’s that the moral question is basically sidestepped in a piece of shit film written with no intelligence and no quality and then presented to us as the answer to how to go forward.

Bonus Review

Dick Tracy

(1990, dir. Warren Beatty)

In the fall of 1994, I went to the Eagles concert in Portland.  I ended up interviewed in line to get in by a local news reporter wondering how I was interested in a band that broke up when I was just a kid.  I mentioned that I had grown up listening to Don Henley which lead me to the Eagles but also that I had older siblings who had listened to the Eagles.  Because I have several older siblings ranging up to nine years older than me I have always trended older (music is just an example).  But I have also always been a big comic strip fan.  Our overflowing bookcase not only has complete runs of the hip strips from when I was growing up in the 80’s (Bloom County, Calvin & Hobbs, The Far Side) but also things like Doonesbury, Peanuts, Dykes to Watch Out For and The K Chronicles.  My oldest brother had a book when we were growing up called The Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy: 1931–1951, a book that covered complete major storylines of the strip.  Even though Dick Tracy was an old-fashioned out-of-date strip when I was growing up in the 80’s, I had a fond attachment to the strip as it was originally presented.  That made me one of the rare teenagers in 1990 who couldn’t wait for Warren Beatty’s new movie bringing the celebrated character to life.

Dick Tracy had come to the screen before.  Like many comic strips or books, it was made into a serial early on.  Unlike many of them, it started getting turned into feature films as well.  The problem was that these RKO features were, first, terrible, and second, in black and white.  It’s true that the daily strip was also in black and white but a key part of Tracy’s look was that bright yellow fedora and trenchcoat.  When Warren Beatty decided to make a feature film out of the character and really bring it to life, he understood the appeal of that color.  Yes, in a sense, it’s a ridiculous look and it makes Tracy an easy target for those gunning for him.  But that color is offset against all the other vibrantly brilliant colors in the film.  The Art Direction for the film rightly won the Oscar while the Costume Design was nominated (and should have won).  This may be far from a perfect film, but the color design of the film really makes it stand out.  It makes you wonder what would have happened if film noir had somehow mated with a Zhang Yimou film.

It’s perhaps the story where there is the real problem with the film.  The story does feel like it might have come straight from one of the strips itself.  It makes full use of the array of strange-looking goons that had populated the strip in the classic years (many of the villains in the film are actually in my book which shows how old they all were since my book was published in 1970 and it stops in 1951).  They provide a great array for the makeup artists to do their work (another rightly deserved Oscar and the makeup in this film is some of the best ever done for film).  But the story of a big gangster facing off against the square jawed Tracy (he’s not quite a complete square since he does fall at least somewhat for the bad girl but then again, the bad girl is played by Madonna which would be understandable if “played” weren’t a really generous description of Madonna’s performance in this film anytime she’s not singing) is pretty standard.  The film had a deliberately old-fashioned look to it (which was to its credit) but the script was also old-fashioned and that’s why, even though it had the third biggest opening weekend of the year, it was only the ninth highest grossing film of the year.  Indeed, I enjoyed it when I saw it on opening day (I even had the free shirt that was given away) but I’m not sure that I ever went back to it and saw the whole film again until yesterday when I watched it for this review.

Dick Tracy was kind of a mass of contradictions.  It was a big weekend release but Disney was disappointed with the totals.  It was considered kind of a flop but was still one of the Top 10 for the year.  It was noir in its style but filled with bright colors.  It had a lot of gunplay but very little blood and was still a Disney film.  It wasn’t considered a critical hit but then it was a big awards contender.  It was announced by the news on Oscar nomination morning as one of the big films but its 7 nominations were all in Tech categories except for Al Pacino (and he really didn’t deserve his nomination).  It’s kind of fun and it’s great to look at, but in a sense it’s also disappointing because Madonna’s performance is so bad and the script is so mundane.  It’s worth watching at least once for the technical wonders it puts on screen.  Overall, it earns 52 points in the Tech categories for me, which places it in the Top 120 all-time.  Moreover, that’s part of the contradiction because no film has more Tech points without earning any points for Picture, Director or writing.  Indeed, at a 70, it ranks lower than any film with that many Tech points and its only fellow *** films with more points are Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Titanic.  So see it definitely once (it’s also fun to watch the semi-reunion of Bonnie and Clyde as Beatty cast Michael J. Pollard as a fellow cop and Estelle Parsons as Tess’ mother) but you probably won’t be motivated much to see it again.

Post-2011

All-Time:  Skyfall lands in the Top 5 all-time for Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Editing and Original Song.  Avengers: Infinity War lands in the Top 5 for Visual Effects and Sound Editing with Endgame for Visual Effects.  Anne Hathaway is in the Top 5 for Supporting Actress for Dark Knight Rises.  Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse gives Action an Animated Film champion.  Mad Max: Fury Road, as anyone can guess, takes over the Over-rated #1 spot.

Full Ranking List:  Because I have completed my Top 1000 list and have started doing larger lists, this list is comprehensive.  The full list now has 1032 films, so Death Race is now #1032.  You can figure on a bell curve where most films will drop from the original list, so I won’t re-list all the films from above, but I will go ahead and list (but not link) all the ***.5 films or better so everything can be slotted in.  Films in bold that are **** or ***.5 are post-2011 films.  After the ***.5 the only films listed are ones that I have reviewed, ones I saw in the theater or that I thought were notable enough to include.

  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  2. Seven Samurai
  3. The Dark Knight
  4. Throne of Blood
  5. The French Connection
  6. Harakiri
  7. Batman Begins
  8. House of Flying Daggers
  9. Skyfall
  10. The Hidden Fortress
  11. Casino Royale
  12. Kagemusha
  13. Kill Bill Volume 1
  14. Kill Bill Volume 2
  15. Gate of Hell
  16. The Dark Knight Rises
  17. Yojimbo
  18. Hero
  19. Black Panther
  20. Avengers: Endgame
  21. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
  22. Spider-Man 2
  23. Avengers: Infinity War
  24. The Avengers
  25. Samurai I: Miyamoto Musashi
  26. Die Hard
  27. Goldfinger
  28. Spider-Man
  29. Batman
  30. Enter the Dragon
  31. Wonder Woman
    ***.5
  32. The Crow
  33. Ronin
  34. Oldboy
  35. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
  36. Captain America: Civil War
  37. From Russia with Love
  38. X2
  39. Superman II
  40. X-Men
  41. Ugetsu
  42. Iron Man
  43. X-Men: Days of Future Past
  44. Sanshiro Sugata
  45. Superman
  46. Hard-Boiled
  47. La Femme Nikita
  48. Fight Club
  49. SPECTRE
  50. Spider-Man: Homecoming
  51. The Heroic Trio
  52. Spider-Man: Far from Home
  53. Sanjuro
  54. Thunderball
  55. The French Connection II
  56. Beverly Hills Cop
  57. Quantum of Solace
  58. The Rock
  59. The Avengers: Age of Ultron
  60. Midnight Run
  61. Face/Off
  62. That Man from Rio
  63. Bullitt
  64. Come Drink with Me
  65. The Executioners
  66. Silver Streak
  67. The Good, the Bad, the Weird

***

Sub-Genres:  There have been a lot of Comedies (but not good ones).  There have been a handful of Cop films and more Martial Arts films but none that rise above ***.  There have been two more James Bond films (with a third coming as soon as COVID allows it) and one of them is the best of the bunch.  Then there have been Comic Book films.  A lot of them.  Far too many for a lot of people but it’s nice for me that my passion has taken over the world.  In order, there has been one more Batman film (a great one), a new sub-sub-genre, the DC Extended Universe, with seven films to date and one more coming with the end of COVID with a wide range of quality from low **** to high *, 12 more MCU films (that I list as Action) including some truly great ones, three more Spider-Man films, seven more X-films, two more Marvel films (that really sucked) and two more terrible TMNT films.

Nighthawks:  The two biggest films have been Skyfall and Black Panther, both of which earn 9 Nighthawk nominations though Skyfall earns more points (landing just outside the Top 10).  Skyfall is just the second Action film to win Song.  Spider-Verse is the first Action film to win Animated Film

Academy Awards:  Annoyingly for me, of course, Mad Max dominates this.  It ties the record for most Oscar noms (10), sets a new record for wins (6) and has the third most Oscar points (360).  It was also the first film since 2000 to be nominated for Picture and just the third ever to be nominated for Picture and Director.  Black Panther is also notable, becoming just the sixth Action film nominated for Picture.  Spider-Verse is the first to win Animated Film.  Twice as many Action films win Makeup as had previous to 2011 (Mad Max, Suicide Squad).  Mad Max is the first to win Costume Design since 1954.

Critics:  Mad Max wins more Picture awards (two) than all other Action films combined.  It also sets new critics highs for wins (10) and points (602).  Spider-Verse wins three Animated Film awards.

Golden Globes:  Mad Max is the first Picture – Drama nominee since 1972 and only the second Action film nominated for Picture and Director.  Deadpool and Black Panther also add to the Picture totals.  The pre-2011 Song winner total is doubled by the post-2011 total (Skyfall, SPECTRE).  Spider-Verse is the first Animated Film nominee (and winner).

BAFTA:  Skyfall is the first British Film winner.  It’s also in the Top 5 in noms (8) and points (300).  Mad Max manages 4 wins, tied for the most.

BFCA:  All pre-2011 BFCA records evaporate against Mad Max (9 noms, 6 wins, 380 points) and Black Panther (10 noms, 3 wins, 300 points).

Awards:  Mad Max sets new highs for noms (54), wins (33), points (1970) and is third in percentage (9.01%).  Black Panther is in the Top 5 (32, 11, 914, 4.05%) with Skyfall close behind (29, 11, 873, 4.07%).

Soundtracks:  Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Theater:  This list is extensive.  There have been a lot of Action films I have seen in the theater since 2011 (though a surprising few I didn’t see): Skyfall, Dark Knight Rises, Avengers (twice), X-Men: Days of Future Past (twice), SPECTRE, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Justice League, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Avengers: Infinity War (twice), Black Panther, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Avengers: Endgame (four times), Spider-Man: Far From Home, Shazam!, Birds of Prey.  What’s more, three of the highest films on my list to see when theaters re-open and I feel safe to go back to them are No Time to Die, Wonder Woman 1984 and Black Widow and I’ll go to a drive-in if I have to, especially for the first one.

Top 10 U.S. Domestic Box Office  (through July 2020)

  1. Avengers: Endgame  –  $838.37 mil
  2. Black Panther  –  $700.05 mil
  3. Avengers: Infinity War  –  $678.81 mil
  4. The Avengers  –  $623.35 mil
  5. The Dark Knight  –  $535.23 mil
  6. Avengers: Age of Ultron  –  $459.00 mil
  7. The Dark Knight Rises  –  $448.13 mil
  8. Wonder Woman  –  $412.56 mil
  9. Iron Man 3  –  $409.01 mil
  10. Captain America: Civil War  –  $408.08 mil

note:  This is a notable difference from Comedy where only one film has made this list since 2011 and it barely made the list.  Here the list has been completely re-written with only one pre-2011 film still on the list (though it’s high enough that it will likely be quite a while before it leaves the list).

Nighthawk Notables

Action films have had such a plethora of great and very good films since 2011, that I felt, like Sci-Fi, they deserved their own Notables just for this era

  • Best Film to Watch Over and Over:  The Avengers
  • Best Line  (comedic):  “Target acquired.  Target engaged.  Target angry!” (Brent McGee in The Avengers)
  • Best Line  (dramatic):  “I can save today.  You can save the world.”  (Chris Pine in Wonder Woman)
  • Best Opening:  Avengers: Infinity War
  • Best Ending:  The Dark Knight Rises
  • Best Scene:  Thor arrives in Wakanda in Avengers: Infinity War
  • Most Heart-Wrenching Scene:  the fade of Peter in Avengers: Infinity War
  • Best Death Scene:  Tom Holland in Avengers: Infinity War
  • Best Kiss:  Gal Gadot and Chris Pine in Wonder Woman
  • Best Use of a Song:  “Time in a Bottle”  (X-Men: Days of Future Past)
  • Best Original Song from a Bad Film:  “Heathens” (Suicide Squad)
  • Best Soundtrack:  Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
  • Best Guilty Pleasure:  Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
  • Funniest Film:  Ant-Man and the Wasp
  • Read the Book, SKIP the Film:  GI Joe: Retaliation  (GI Joe comics by Larry Hama)
  • Most Surprisingly Good Performance in an Otherwise Terrible Film:  Margot Robbie in Suicide Squad
  • Sexiest Performance:  Scarlett Johansson in The Avengers  /  Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises
  • Highest Attractiveness / Acting Ability Ratio:  Tao Okamato in The Wolverine
  • Coolest Performance:  Samuel L. Jackson in The Avengers
  • Best Teaser:  Avengers: Infinity War
  • Best Trailer:  The Dark Knight Rises
  • Best Voice Performance:  Bradley Cooper in Avengers: Infinity War
  • Best Cameo:  Liam Neeson in The Dark Knight Rises
  • Funniest Cameo:  Brad Pitt in Deadpool 2
 

5 Responses to “A Century of Film: Action Films”

  1. Mark Says:

    22 July, 2020 at 8:08 pm

    I don’t know if you’ve ever heard this debate, but the question must be asked: in your opinion, is Die Hard a Christmas movie?

  2. nighthawk4486 Says:

    22 July, 2020 at 8:53 pm

    @ Mark –

    I am aware of the debate. Technically, it takes place at Christmas. But, even aside from the action of it, I wouldn’t personally think of it as such for the same reason that Christmas is when I most miss living in Boston – to me, Christmas is all about snow. So I certainly never think of it as a Christmas movie.

  3. Anand Says:

    23 July, 2020 at 2:50 am

    “John Wick” would be at the top of the overrated Action films list for me – it was acclaimed and got two even more acclaimed sequels (with the box office successively skyrocketing as a result) but I think it’s a terrible film with a predictably wooden performance from Keanu and a really bland and kind of repulsive revenge plot.

    Given your hatred for Keanu, I’d guess you’d agree with me.

  4. nighthawk4486 Says:

    23 July, 2020 at 9:44 am

    @ Anand –

    I agree with everything you say here except that I classify them as Crime films.

  5. F.T. Says:

    14 February, 2021 at 7:31 pm

    Doth my eyes deceive me, or has Mad Max: Fury Road crawled its way up into the lower reaches of the three-star range?

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