'80s action movies

[Kenny Dalglish 1979]

We'll never see the likes of these again.

[Steve Austin]

You'll see them plenty on ITV4     Not a bad top 10 with the exception of Mad Max, never liked that film 

[Cartman]

They always put me in mind of a skit Alexei Sayle did of them once - Things Exploding, followed by the sequel - Things Exploding 2!

[Arthur Pringle]

I think 'First Blood' was the first film I saw on video.

'The Exterminator' was one of my favourites, too nasty for tv though, there's a decapitation scene before the opening credits even begin, to this day it's probably the most realistic decapitation effect ever seen in a film, so much so it was cut from video releases. The review in 'Elliots Films On Video' guide says- 'stomach churning opening sequence that will not survive the UK censor'

You can actually see the scene on youtube, how times have changed, at one time a video shop could be prosecuted for hiring it in its pre 18 certificate uncensored version.

[Dirty Epic]

I've alway thought Schwarzenegger's Commando was the ultimate 80's action flick.

More so than the Rambo/Terminator movies or anything else similar the who premise of the film along with Arnie's closing scenes where he single handedly slays a guerrilla army in the thousands just epitomises these films for me.



The patchy Arnie crime caper Raw Deal does come close by the end too.  Mind you love the use of "The Warriors" theme in the trailer!



Predator seems restrained in comparison and has a more plausible story too...

Always felt that Cobra was a bit unfairly savaged and criticised for it's violent storyline but it was cut to hell and it's interesting it came back as the Fair Game the closer to the novel it was based on and much better received when in essence it was the same film minus Stallone. Suppose it maybe piggybacked onto Se7en  around that time maybe! 

Tarantino etc. and changing times probably made these films a bit passé by the 90's. Yes these films are usually crap but for escapist no brainer action they can be enjoyable if you're in the mood for them.

[Three Litre]

Who decided on the plot for Alien 3??

It effectively completely rewrote the ending of Aliens (the only other good one apart from Alien) where they decided that the little girl they rescued, Newt (not the well known amphibian) and the marine that Ripley fancied and the roboty thing got killed (roboty thing sort of worked).

Totally stupid. Plus the series just descended into a gore fest from this point on, the one after 3 is even more awful from that point of view.

I must admit though I did used to think how could they make the marines in Aliens so stupid, then the second gulf war happened so maybe not ..................

[Kenny Dalglish 1979]

This is a very interesting video about another action classic.  It was however really more of a futuristic black comedy/satire/sci-fi thriller about losing and regaining identity which was true in the case of Murphy.