BoydCrowder13 said:

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Ford is certainly up there. Cruise will eventually pass them all though. He is the only one of those top guys (other than Reeves) still going strong as an action star. He will likely put out another 5 or 6 before he hangs it up.

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I actually really like Tom Cruise movies for the most part. He probably is the biggest action star of all time given the OP's criteria, but his characters aren't as iconic.

Harrison Ford's ability to pick good scripts and win roles for himself might be better than anyone in history. From Empire Strikes Back until Air Force One, a period of about 17 years, every single movie he did was money. Even the ones that weren't massive cultural phenomena - like Mosquito Coast or Regarding Henry - were still really, really good.

Forgot about Oblivion. I thought that was pretty good, too.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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What's crazy is that his two most iconic roles (and possibly THE most iconic roles of any actor) were total accidents. He was just reading for Lucas as a favor during the casting process on Star Wars, and he was a replacement for Tom Selleck when he couldn't do Raiders.

Talk about a lucky break.

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Yep.

Obviously I'm glad Ford got that part, but looking back on it I think Selleck would have knocked it out of the park as well.

Ford is an interesting person in this conversation because he's definitely been in action movies, but he himself doesn't exactly do a lot of impressive action stuff compared to most of the other people we're talking about. He kind of comes across as like an everyman action star if that makes sense.

Like I've never watched a Harrison Ford movie and thought 'filming this must have been exhausting' like with some of the roles Cruise, Stallone, etc had.

Makes sense, but Ford's movies have always been mixed genres.

There's multiple ways to look at this. Han Solo and Indiana Jones are better characters than Ethan Hunt, but Ethan Hunt is the better action character. On one hand, you can say that Ford is the greatest action star because of the movies his characters have been in, but on the other hand, you can say that Cruise is the greatest action star because his characters have the best action scenes.

rhutton125 said:

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- 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.
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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?
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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

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The Mad Max films were Australian, not American. Likewise the Spaghetti Westerns with Clint Eastwood were Italian, not American.

Wesley snipes? Three blades, demolition man, the fan, art of war, passenger 57, us marshalls

A quick shout out to my man Liam Neeson who rocked Darkman to a 6.4 score on IMDb long before A-Team, the Taken franchise, and other bad movies which were Taken disguised

SteveA said:

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'chuck Norris is hard because was a TV action star, which isn't really the conversation we're having.'
How old are you? Norris was a movie star before he was a tv star. Delta Force, lone wolf, missing in action to name a few...

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None of which would even put him in the top 5. When I think of Chuck Norris, I think of Walker, Texas Ranger, Total Gym infomercials and cheesy memes, not some mediocre Rambo knockoff movies.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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F&F > MCU

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Even Paul Walker's ghost would disagree with that.

Seems like Dwayne Johnson would be ranked high based on number of action movies, but guessing not enough of them were "quality"?

bobinator said:

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Chuck Norris is hard because was a TV action star, which isn't really the conversation we're having.

I think the question your methodology is answering is : Who is the movie star that's been in the most good action movies?

My argument is that that's not necessarily what people mean when they say 'action star.' I don't really have a good way to quantify that, but when I think of an action star I think of:

- The bring an impressive physical presence to their acting somehow (size, speed, cool skills, whatever)
- Their acting is basically only well known because of action movies (they aren't also just a great actor)
- They are either the main guy or the main bad guy in most of their movies
- Their movies can be awesome without really being 'good' in the hollywood sense

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Not to pick, but Norris was quite the action star in the 70s and 80s. He made some classics.

I know it's purely subjective on my end but I just have to say Arnold.

34... I knew he made movies but I didn't think any that were very good And to be honest I haven't seen those, but it seems like y'all kind of back up what I'm saying about 'action star.'

bobinator said:

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34... I knew he made movies but I didn't think any that were very good And to be honest I haven't seen those, but it seems like y'all kind of back up what I'm saying about 'action star.'

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Your take on action star is what I just assumed everyone thought Action Star meant.

Stalone, Arnold, Keanu, The Rock, Bruce Willis, JCVD, Statham, Ford, Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Mel Gibson, Cruise, Kurt Russel, Vin Diesel, Snipes, Seagal. Maybe some older ones like Bronson and McQueen.

There's a certain physicality to their roles, and I dont just mean death defying stunts or acrobatics.

I'm not even really sure any of the super hero movies really count, I've basically just now discovered that I don't think of them the same way as I do "classic" action movies. Maybe its just the quality of the movies, Im not sure.

Seems like Action Stars didn't exist until the 80s. Prior to the greatest decade, there was Chuck Norris (life before Walker), Bruce Lee, James Bond, and Steve McQueen. Those are good, but definitely nothing compared to the 80s and beyond.

This makes me think Stallone and Schwarzenegger should get some extra consideration for (re)inventing Action Stars.

Let's not forget that Cruise has Top Gun 2 coming out next year. Could be the greatest movie of all time.

Maybe I should have said Western audiences. Films in English, essentially. If I were to count Jackie Chan in this, I'd probably only count movies like Rush Hour, rather than something like Wheels on Meals that had to be discovered way later.

SteveA said:

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You haven't seen action until you've seen a man burried alive in his ramcharger and then use the nitro boost to dig yourself out!

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Facts

wangus12 said:

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SteveA said:

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You haven't seen action until you've seen a man burried alive in his ramcharger and then use the nitro boost to dig yourself out!

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Facts

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Lone Wolf McQuaid.... part western, part action, all badass.

i certainly don't consider star wars to be action movies.