Howdy,

I've been on a mission since the "least-heralded good movies" thread. My goal, to be completely honest, was to prove that Tom Cruise is the GOAT action star. The number of high-quality action films he's churned out over the last 30 years would surely dwarf that of Stallone or Schwarzenegger, who had some high highs but a lot of lows.

But maybe I'm wrong? Is there anyone I'm forgetting? Who has the best resume?


Results are below, but here's my methodology:

- I used IMDB scores to judge a movie's perceived quality. This seemed more reliable than Rotten Tomatoes. For example, Top Gun is a beloved film, but only scored 55% on RT. On IMDB, it's a 6.9. I don't really like Top Gun, myself, but I know I'm in the minority there. So I'm taking myself out of the process as much as possible and deferring to the masses.

- 6.5 was considered the cutoff for a quality film. It's pretty arbitrary, but it seemed to prove itself over time. That cut a lot of chaff like Terminator Genisys, Last Action Hero, Tango & Cash and the Jackal, but kept in some noteworthy 6.5s like Air Force One, Rambo 2 and Gone in 60 Seconds. It's not perfect though - Terminator: Dark Fate currently has a 6.5.

- The line between what makes an action movie or not can be pretty damn thin at times. I counted sports movies if the actor was playing an athlete, such as Rocky. Westerns were particularly hard to define. Tombstone is definitely an action-western, but I don't think Fistful of Dollars should count. But does Outlaw Josey Wales? Dirty Harry? What about a suspense thriller like Stallone's Escape Plan - does that count? (Personally, I think there need to be a few stunts. An actor's heart rate needs to go above resting a few times in a film to qualify. Sorry, Clint.)

- Worth mentioning... I'm looking for the action star GOAT of American film. Jackie Chan probably dwarfs the resumes below, but that's a debate for another day. I didn't count TV either, which sucks for Chuck Norris.



Here are some of the results, roughly in ascending order of greatness:


Will Smith
# of quality films: 8
Average quality film score: 7
# of great films (7.5-7.9) - 0
# of amazing films (8+) - 0

Will Smith quickly moved to other genres. His reputation mostly comes from box office success, rather than a huge roster of good action films. But he had a good run and is worthy of recognition.


Nicolas Cage
# of quality films: 10
Average quality film score: 7
# of great films (7.5-7.9) - 2
# of amazing films (8+) - 0

Nick Cage has a ton of bad movies, but enough quality ones (the Rock, Face/Off, Con Air, Gone in 60 Seconds) to be worth mentioning. (Also Face/Off is possibly the greatest film of all time...)


Kurt Russell
# of quality films: 7
Average quality film score: 7.3
# of great films (7.5-7.9) - 2
# of amazing films (8+) - 0

Kurt Russell is great, but he misses out on a strong franchise run like some of the guys ahead of him. Most of his films are one-offs.


Keanu Reeves
# of quality films: 10
Average quality film score: 7.3
# of great films (7.5-7.9) - 2
# of amazing films (8+) - 1 (the Matrix)

Keanu is our first multiple-franchise star on this list. All 3 Matrix films qualified, plus all 3 John Wicks. That makes up the bulk of his resume, but it's not all he's got either. Plus, he's still making action movies. Just might continue to climb the list.


Bruce Willis
# of quality films: 13
Average quality film score: 7.1
# of great films (7.5-7.9) - 2
# of amazing films (8+) - 1 (Die Hard)

I think I underrated Bruce's overall resume. 4 Die Hard movies make the cut, plus RED 1 and 2, Fifth Element and more. There's a lot to like.


Mel Gibson
# of quality films: 14
Average quality film score: 7.1
# of great films (7.5-7.9) - 2
# of amazing films (8+) - 1 (Braveheart)

Mel had 4 Lethal Weapon movies make the cut, two Mad Max films, and then Braveheart at the top. But he also had a slew of decent action-thriller type films like Ransom to pad the stats. If he hadn't gone crazy or switched to directing, he might be at the top of the list - who knows?


Sylvester Stallone
# of quality films: 13
Average quality film score: 7
# of great films (7.5-7.9) - 1
# of amazing films (8+) - 1 (Rocky)

Sly has a lot of bad films that didn't qualify, but the number of franchises gives him a great resume. 5 Rocky films (1-4, plus Balboa), 3 Rambo films (1, 2, 4), two Expendables movies. Even if Tango & Cash or Cobra didn't make the cut, he's got a stacked resume. One of the best.


Arnold Schwarzenegger
# of quality films: 11
Average quality film score: 7.2
# of great films (7.5-7.9) - 2
# of amazing films (8+) - 2 (Terminator, Terminator 2)

My personal favorite. Two Terminator movies, Predator, Total Recall, True Lies, Conan the Barbarian, Commando... it's perhaps more impressive that his resume isn't built on a few long franchises.

(I know some might not consider Terminator 1 to be an action film, and I normally wouldn't either, but his role was definitely action. There's a car chase and multiple shootouts.)


Tom Cruise
# of quality films: 13
Average quality film score: 7.3
# of great films (7.5-7.9) - 5
# of amazing films (8+) - 0

I set out to prove that he was the GOAT, and he almost made it. His career is an interesting mix - 5 quality Mission Impossible films, Top Gun, a slew of strong sci-fi films like Edge of Tomorrow and Minority Report, and then some one-offs like Collateral and Last Samurai. The average score of his qualifying films is high, and he's not done yet - there are two more Mission Impossibles in the works.

But nobody can compete with who I found to be the true GOAT:



Harrison Ford
# of quality films: 13
Average quality film score: 7.8
# of great films (7.5-7.9) - 3
# of amazing films (8+) - 7 (Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Last Crusade, Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2049)


It can't be topped. 4 Star Wars films, 3 Indiana Jones films, 2 John Clancy's, 2 Blade Runners, the Fugitive and Air Force One. 7 of those films were rated with an 8 or above. And he's really dialed down the number of films made since ~2003, for the most part. I think he wins by almost any metric.



There's one other name that warrants discussion, and that's Clint Eastwood. Depending on how you want to rate his westerns and Dirty Harry films, he's either the greatest ever or barely qualifies as an action star at all.

Qualifying films (19), where your mileage may vary:
The Good the Bad and the Ugly, For a Few Dollars More, Unforgiven, Fistful of Dollars, Outlaw Josey Wales, Where Eagles Dare, Dirty Harry, Kelly's Heroes, Escape from Alcatraz, High Plains Drifter, Pale Rider, Magnum Force, In the Line of Fire, Hang 'Em High, the Enforcer, Absolute Power, Sudden Impact, Coogan's Bluff, Joe Kidd

Personally, I wouldn't count a lot of those as action. But if you do, and you like your action heroes to spend most of the film standing around... he just might be #1.


Thank you for your time. I hope this was time well-wasted for you, and that we may partake in worthwhile discussion of why we all like explosions and guns and stuff.

John Wayne

Eh, I'm hesistant to give him credit for every single MCU appearance, some of those were glorified cameos. Not to mention the fact that the Sherlock movies are pretty forgettable.

Doesn't belong in the convo, IMO.

Where's Sean Connery?

F&F > MCU

Unrelated:

I would argue that in order for a film to count for an actor, he would have to be lead or co-lead of the film, or antagonist. Like that film with Sly and Arnie escaping from prison, that would be a co-lead.


Also, I would submit that Bale be added to consideration. 3 amazing batmans, equilibrium, reign of fire, 310 to Yuma, and a terminator. Hell equilibrium is one of the best action films ever made.

Just want to say, I don't think the quality of an action film should really be a criteria for how good an action star is.

C@LAg said:

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Robert Downey Jr.
3 iron man
4 avengers
1 spider-man
2 sherlock holmes
1 captain america

all above 7.5

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Do you consider him to be an action star? He's pretty much cgi'd most of the time, he doesnt actually do much "action"

I will say that I think I disagree with the premise of your approach. I think the difference between an 'action star' and just a great actor is an action star can make a movie awesome even if the movie is objectively not very good.

It's hard to argue against Cruise based on your methodology, but you could also probably just make a good case that Cruise is the biggest hollywood star of all time, action or otherwise.

If anything, I almost think an action star is more of an action star if their non-action movies never made it big.

So a perfect example is Van Damme.

Van Damme is in some HORRIBLE movies. And he's basically never been any good in a movie that wasn't an action movie. But he's still a huge movie star based almost solely on his action movies. So surely there has to be some kind of bonus for that.

Otherwise I think your list is just trending toward "movie star" rather than action star.

I'm of the opinion that Harrison Ford is the greatest movie icon of my generation (was born in 1974). He has been Han Solo, Indiana Jones, Rick Deckard, Jack Ryan and Dr Richard Kimball. In addition to those all-time iconic characters, he has played great one-offs like President Marshall, John Book and others.

And really, growing up as an American boy in the late '70's and 80's, there are no two people in movies that I and others like me idolized more than Han Solo and Indiana Jones.

Plus, his iconic quotes / one-liners are second only to Arnold.

"Never tell me the odds!"

"It's not the years honey, it's the mileage."

"Get off my plane."

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Plus, his iconic quotes / one-liners are second only to Arnold.

"Never tell me the odds!"

"It's not the years honey, it's the mileage."

"Get off my plane."

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"I know"

I mean, how ****ing awesome was that?

bobinator said:

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I will say that I think I disagree with the premise of your approach. I think the difference between an 'action star' and just a great actor is an action star can make a movie awesome even if the movie is objectively not very good.

It's hard to argue against Cruise based on your methodology, but you could also probably just make a good case that Cruise is the biggest hollywood star of all time, action or otherwise.

If anything, I almost think an action star is more of an action star if their non-action movies never made it big.

So a perfect example is Van Damme.

Van Damme is in some HORRIBLE movies. And he's basically never been any good in a movie that wasn't an action movie. But he's still a huge movie star based almost solely on his action movies. So surely there has to be some kind of bonus for that.

Otherwise I think your list is just trending toward "movie star" rather than action star.

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