That didn’t take long. The 101 Action Movies list, currently has me in the swinging 60s, and it didn’t take long back then for American filmmakers to take on the super-spy genre, they’d already done it on television, but nothing could seem to take on the sheer popularity of the UK import of James Bond….
Tag: 101 action movies
Come Drink With Me (1966) – King Hu Hu Jinquan
The next entry on the 101 Action Movies knows kung-fu, and is also the first Asian film to show up on the list. From the famous Shaw Brothers comes this dazzling combination of martial arts and sword work. It’s a fun ride, though looking at it with the eyes of the 21st century, I would…
Thunderball (1965) – Terence Young
007 is back in his biggest adventure yet and the 101 Action Movies brings me one of my favorite Sean Connery Bond films. For me, this one has it all, exotic locations, scuba diving (something I haven’t done for years, but still love), Connery being suave and cool, banter with Q (Desmond Llewelyn) and…
Goldfinger (1964) – Guy Hamilton
James Bond returns in the installment that created the mold. With the third James Bond film, director Guy Hamilton perfects the Bond formula, as we see in this welcome addition to the 101 Action Movies list. We have the incredibly suave Connery as 007, beautiful women, including The Avengers star Honor Blackman as Pussy…
From Russia With Love (1963) – Terence Young
Anyone who knows me, knows that I love the Bond films, so it was really no surprise to me that a number of them would start to pop up the further I got into the 101 Action Movies list. Of the early James Bond films, From Russia With Love is closest to the source…
North By Northwest (1959) – Alfred Hitchcock
North By Northwest is my favorite of all of Hitch’s films. I was quite delighted to come across it on the 101 Action Movies list. It’s fun, charming, and races along full tilt right to its climax. It has an iconic score by Bernard Herrmann, and a top-notch cast featuring Cary Grant (I love his…
The Wages of Fear (1953) – Henri-Georges Clouzot
The 101 Action Movies has brought me another film I’d never heard of, and am now scratching my head over how I could ever have missed it. Clouzot has crafted a tense, nail-biter of a film, that is just as telling today as it was when it was first made. In a tiny village in…
The Three Musketeers (1948) – George Sidney
I won’t lie, I have a tender spot for the Disney version of The Three Musketeers from 1993 with Kieffer Sutherland. It’s just a joy, and the 1948 version is in much the same vein as Gene Kelly brings the classic role of D’Artagnan to life in this energetic and light-hearted take on Alexandre Dumas’ classic…
The Mark of Zorro (1940) – Rouben Mamoulian
The 101 Action Movies brings is a rip-roaring adventure starring Tyrone Power as Don Diego Vera and his alter-ego Zorro! This film relaunched the character of his previous on-screen appearance after Douglas Fairbanks had essayed the character in the silent era. I have to say, Zorro is a pretty cool character, and he’s like the…
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) – Michael Curtiz
This entry on the 101 Action Movies list is sheer technicolor star-filled pageantry, and a delightful romp through the realms of Sherwood and Nottingham. This is the standard by which all other Robin Hood films that follow were judged by, though I have to be honest, I’m more partial to the Disney animated version (though…
The Mind Reels 