Greatest ’80s Action Movies, Ranked

The 1980s changed everything. Emerging from the counterculture movement, the '80s brought an explosion of unfettered consumerism and a boom in nationalistic pride. Hollywood hit its stride, with movies becoming more expensive, more over the top, and more profitable than ever before. 

Action movies ruled the box office and were usually helmed by muscle men who gunned down or knocked out any bad guy in their way. Renegade cops, warriors from another time and even bumbling everyman had their day in the sun, too, as the decade stretched toward the rom-com saturated 1990s. 

We'll never have another decade like the 1980s, and that's fine. Because we'll always have '80s movies. These are the best '80s action movies of all time.

30. Over the Top

Year: 1987

Director: Menahem Golan

Starring: Sylvester Stallone

Distributed by: Warner Bros.

Budget: $25 million

Box office: $16 million

Behold, the one and only movie ever made about arm wrestling. Is "Over the Top" a good film? No, not really. Then why is it on this list? Because the premise of arm wrestling as an action film is so stupid, the movie turns out to be fantastic in a so-bad-it's-good way. 

Sylvester Stallone plays a long-haul trucker named Hawk who's trying to repair his relationship with his son, and then also beat up kidnappers and win custody back at some point. He's also looking to be Arm Wrestling Champion of the World because he'll get a brand-spanking-new semi-truck if he wins, and also the respect of his kid.

And when he turns his hat backward? Watch out. Now you're arm wrestling with fire. 

29. Kickboxer

Year: 1989

Director: Mark di Salle, David Worth

Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Michel Qissi, Dennis Alexio

Distributed by: The Cannon Group

Budget: $1.5 million

Box office: $14.7 million

After his brother is nearly paralyzed by a psychotic kickboxer during a bout, Kurt Sloane (Jean-Claude Van Damme) swears to take revenge. 

"Kickboxer" is basically "Bloodsport," but not nearly as good. It's still very good for an '80s action flick, though, and it features an exceedingly painful-looking training sequence that has Van Damme's legs being stretched apart by rope.

Because what you really need to win a barbaric kickboxing fight is limber legs, not months of in-ring training. 

28. Cobra

Year: 1986

Director: George P. Cosmatos

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Brigitte Nielsen

Distributed by: Warner Bros. 

Budget: $25 million

Box office: $49 million

Sylvester Stallone was originally set to play Axel Foley in "Beverly Hills Cop," but he basically rewrote the script and turned it into an action movie and stripped Foley of his humor. Paramount wasn't keen on it, and Stallone left the project just two weeks before it started filming. Eddie Murphy (thankfully) got the role. 

The screenplay for "Cobra" is based on what Stallone had initially envisioned for "Beverly Hills Cop." Here's the plot: Stallone plays  Marion "Cobra" Cobretti, a member of the LAPD's Zombie Squad. He has to stop (read: murder) a gang called The New World, a group of radicals who believe in some kind of twisted Darwinism that involves killing the weak.  

"Cobra" is a great '80s action film, but thank God we didn't get Stallone's version of "Beverly Hills Cop."  

 

 

27. Road House

Year: 1989

Director: Rowdy Herrington

Starring: Patrick Swayze, Kelly Lynch, Sam Elliot, Ben Gazzara

Distributed by: United Artists

Budget: $17 million

Box office: $30 million

In "Road House," Patrick Swayze plays James Dalton, a tough-as-nails bouncer who finds a job at a club in Jasper, Missouri. But it's not just any job.

There's a corrupt businessman named Wesley (Ben Gazzara) who essentially wants to hire Dalton after he extorts the club. Walton refuses, and Wesley goes about attacking Dalton's friends.

"Road House" is mostly punches and kicks, but there's also one throat-rippingly fantastic scene. 

 

26. Highlander

Year: 1986

Director: Russell Mulcahy

Starring: Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, Roxanne Hart, Clancy Brown

Distributed by: 20th Century Fox

Budget: $16 million

Box office: $12.9 million

It's the battle of the immortals in "Highlander," where only a severed head can win the fight. 

"Highlander" was a financial flop but developed a cult following, leading to several other films, comic books, books and TV series. But there can only be one true Highlander, and the original movie is the best of the franchise. 

Clancy Brown steals the show as Kurgan, who follows Connor (Christopher Lambert) through time, murdering everyone he loves. The final, epic sword fight between Kurgan and Connor Lambert on top of Silvercup Studios is top-notch action. 

 

25. 48 Hours

Year: 1982

Director: Walter Hill

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Nick Nolte

Distributed by: Paramount Pictures

Budget: $12 million

Box office: $78.9 million

Eddie Murphy made his film debut in "48 Hours." He plays convict Reggie Hammond, who's forced into helping inspector Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) find two escaped criminals after Cates arranged for his release. They have just 48 hours to do so. 

"48 Hours" might not be the first buddy-cop movie (that was for a 1974 film called "Freebie and the Bean"), but it was the best one of its time. Nolte gives a memorable performance as a racist cop, and Murphy was nominated for a Golden Globe. 

24. Rambo: First Blood Part II

Year: 1985

Director: George P. Cosmatos

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna

Distributed by: TriStar

Budget: $44 million

Box office: $300.4 million

While "First Blood" was just barely an action movie, "Rambo: First Blood Part II" goes ham with the action. Armed with a plethora of new weapons and a bucket of baby oil, Sylvester Stallone finds all kinds of new ways to kill people. There are 75 on-screen deaths, in fact. 

This film takes place a few years after the Vietnam War has ended, and John Rambo secretly returns to Vietnam in search of POW camps and American soldiers who are MIA. He finds them, of course, and then brings hell to the Vietnamese once again. 

23. Red Dawn

Year: 1984

Director: John Milius

Starring: Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Gray, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Ben Johnson, Powers Boothe

Distributed by: MGM/UA Entertainment

Budget: $17 million

Box office: $38.4 million

"Red Dawn" is possibly the most deliriously far-right, big-budget movie that's ever been made. The movie opens with Soviet, Cuban and Nicaraguan forces parachuting into a small Colorado town and just absolutely murdering everyone they find, starting at the town's high school.

They're just gunning down innocent kids as they flee, even bringing out rocket launchers to destroy fleeing vehicles. In one scene, a few dozen American civilians are lined up to be executed, so they start singing the national anthem before being blown away.

Why is all this happening? We're told by Powers Boothe's character that we're now in World War 3 for no real reason other than big guys on the playground decided to fight. But both sides are too afraid to bring out the nukes, so much of the fighting has resorted to ground warfare. 

A team of kids — made up of a half-dozen familiar stars — use guerilla tactics to repel the evil communist forces. They do, of course. This movie bleeds red white and blue. But mostly red. There are a very patriotic 118 on-screen deaths in this one. 

There will never be another movie like "Red Dawn." 

 

22. Beverly Hills Cop II

Year: 1987

Director: Tony Scott

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton

Distributed by: Paramount Pictures

Budget: $28 million

Box office: $300 million

Eddie Murphy returns as Axel Foley in the sequel to "Beverly Hills Cop," making his way back to Los Angeles after police captain Andrew Bogomil (Ronny Cox) gets shot by a criminal group. It's just "Beverly Hills Cop" but more of it, and that's fine with us. 

Paramount originally wanted a "Beverly Hills Cop" TV series following the success of the first film, but couldn't find anyone to replace Murphy, who wasn't interested in taking the role. They instead settled on a second film (and a third, released in 1994) and set it in Beverly Hills again.

Original concepts had Foley traveling to London, but Murphy didn't want to travel. 

21. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Year: 1984

Director: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Jonathan Ke Quan

Distributed by: Paramount Pictures

Budget: $28.17 million

Box office: $179.9 million

In "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," Indy has to find missing children and a valuable gemstone from  human-sacrificing cultists. To do so, he'll have to infiltrate a booby-trapped temple and face off with the evil-worshipping maniacs. 

"Temple of Doom" is darker and gorier than "Raiders of the Lost Ark," which is something that bothered some people at the time. Following complaints about the PG rating, Spielberg suggested that the MPAA add an additional rating between PG and R.

The PG-13 rating appeared a couple of months after the movie released. 

20. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

Year: 1985

Director: George Miller, George Ogilvie

Starring: Mel Gibson, Tina Turner

Distributed by: Warner Bros.

Budget: $10 million

Box office: $36.2 million

In "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome," Max arrives at Bartertown, a remote trading town that runs on pig feces.

There are two competing forces of power here. Master Blaster is a duo consisting of a little person and a mentally disabled giant who run the subterranean methane plant. And Aunt Entity rules the world above. Max is conned into getting into the Thunderdome with Master Blaster to put him down for good. 

"Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome" is the weakest film in the "Mad Max" franchise, but it does a lot right. The increased budget makes for a memorable Thunderdome fight (plus, it gave us the term Thunderdome), and the action sequences are great. Unfortunately, the middle of the movie with the feral children is a real drag. 

19. Escape from New York

Year: 1981

Director: John Carpenter

Starring: Kurt Russell, Isaac Hayes

Distributed by: AVCO Embassy Pictures

Budget: $6 million

Box office: $25.2 million

With "Escape from New York," John Carpenter unveiled one of the most iconic movie characters of all time: Snake Plissken. Sporting a bad attitude and a black eye patch, Snake is the quintessential tough anti-hero of action movies. 

Shortly before being sent to prison for robbing the Federal Reserve, Snake is given a task that will save him from life behind bars: save the president of the United States, who has just been captured by the Duke of New York. Snake has 22 hours to do so before a deadly serum blows up his heart. 

"Escape from New York" is a wild, slightly surreal ride that isn't meant to be taken too seriously. If it's not weird enough for you, try the sequel, "Escape from L.A.," which is basically a satire of the first film. 

18. Top Gun

Year: 1986

Director: Tony Scott

Starring: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards, Tom Skerritt

Distributed by: Paramount Pictures

Budget: $15 million

Box office: $357.3 million

"Top Gun" opens with an adrenaline-pumping training F-14 training exercise, where we're introduced to the hotshot Maverick (Tom Cruise) and Goose (Anthony Edwards). Maverick is the best pilot around, but he's dangerous, and it lands him in trouble with his instructor and gains the scorn of Iceman (Val Kilmer). 

That's not all. "Top Gun" has an amazingly overdramatic death scene and one of the corniest love scenes in any '80s movie.

Maverick still can be our wingman anytime. 

17. First Blood

Year: 1982

Director: Ted Kotcheff

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna

Distributed by: Orion Pictures

Budget: $15 million

Box office: $125.2 million

"First Blood" is a stripped-down action movie that's more of a character study about a vet with PTSD. "First Blood" follows John Rambo, a drifter from out of town who's arrested, beaten and humiliated by the local police force for no good reason.

That abuse triggers flashbacks to the torture he endured during the Vietnam War. He snaps and beats down officers trying to dry-shave him with a razor blade and escapes the police station.

The cops go to great lengths to hunt him down like a wild animal, and Rambo has to use his special forces training to survive. 

16. Lethal Weapon 2

Year: 1989

Director: Richard Donner

Starring: Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci

Distributed by: Warner Bros. 

Budget: $28 million

Box office: $227.85 million

Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh team up again, this time in pursuit of South African diplomats who are using diplomatic immunity to push drugs. 

"Lethal Weapon 2" introduces Joe Pesci's character, Leo Getz, who plays an exceedingly obnoxious federal witness.

It's not as great as the first film, but it's still pretty damn good. 

15. Big Trouble in Little China

Year: 1986

Director: John Carpenter

Starring: Kurt Russell, Dennis Dun

Distributed by: 20th Century Fox

Budget: $25 million

Box office: $11 million

Unlike most other action movies, the lead character, Jack Burton (Kurt Russell), is an overly confident buffoon who isn't actually the real hero of the film. That's Wang Chi (Dennis Dun), the guy who is constantly saving Burton's skin and winning the fights.

We might follow Burton's story, but it's Wang's quest — something we almost never see in any film, much less an action movie from the 1980s. 

"Big Trouble in Little China" is a blend of martial arts, fantasy and action meshed with comedy. It's real weird, but sublimely good, and thankfully has garnered a cult following after it flopped at the box office. 

14. Conan the Barbarian

Year: 1982

Director: John Milius

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Earl Jones

Distributed by: Universal Pictures

Budget: $20 million

Box office: $68.85 million

"Conan The Barbarian" is the movie that launched Schwarzenegger's career. Originally, filmmakers were considering Charles Bronson or Sylvester Stallone for the role, but after seeing "Pumping Iron," they agreed that Arnold's massive physique was perfect for the Conan role. 

"Conan" also launched a whole new genre of sword-and-sorcery movies, most of which were terrible, including its sequel. Over 35 years later, "Conan" is the best example of the genre. 

The plot is simple: Conan must avenge his parents by murdering Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones), who is the leader of a snake cult. 

13. The Running Man

Year: 1987

Director: Paul Michael Glaser

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonso, Jesse Ventura, Yaphet Kotto

Distributed by: TriStar

Budget: $27 million

Box office: $38 million

"The Running Man" is very loosely based on one of Stephen King's early books. The film is set in a dystopian future (2019), where an oppressive government keeps its citizens entertained with a hugely popular reality game show, "The Running Man." 

The rules? A criminal is strapped to a rollercoaster-like device and shot into an arena maze with pro wrestling-like bounty hunters called stalkers, and it's either kill or be killed. Schwarzenegger plays Ben Richards, a former helicopter pilot who's framed for murder during a food riot. With his crimes digitally altered and shown to the public, he faces an uphill battle trying to clear his name — and slaughter the stalkers. 

"The Running Man" has memorable characters and is delightfully cheesy. It's easily one of Schwarzenegger's best films. 

12. Beverly Hills Cop

Year: 1984

Director: Martin Brest

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton

Distributed by: Paramount Pictures

Budget: $14 million

Box office: $316.4 million

Eddie Murphy's fame helped propel "Beverly Hills Cop" to be the 15th highest-grossing 1980s movie, but the script and costars made it a classic. 

In the first film, we're introduced to Axel Foley, who takes an off-duty visit to investigate the murder of his best friend. An angry police chief, a bumbling partner and tons of ad-libbed, foul-mouthed lines from Murphy make this an endlessly rewatchable buddy-cop action-comedy. 

11. Commando

Year: 1985

Director: Mark L. Lester

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vernon Wells, Rae Dawn Chong, Alyssa Milano,  Bill Duke, Dan Hedaya

Distributed by: 20th Century Fox

Budget: $9 million

Box office: $57.5 million

"John, I'm not going to shoot you between the eyes. I'm gonna shoot you between the balls!"

"Don't disturb my friend, he's dead tired."

"Let off some steam, Bennett."

"Commando" might not have Schwarzenegger's most famous lines, but it does have a lot of great ones. 

In many ways, "Commando" is the quintessential '80s action movie. Schwarzenegger is shirtless every chance he gets, and there are a staggering 88 kills with most of them occurring at the movie's bloodbath of an ending.

Vernon Wells hams it up as Bennett and makes the movie that much better. 

10. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

Year: 1981

Director: George Miller

Starring: Mel Gibson, Bruce Spence, Vernon Wells, Kjell Nilsson

Distributed by: Warner Bros. 

Budget: $3 million

Box office: $23.7 million

"Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior" popularized the post-apocalyptic genre and its punk aesthetics even more than its predecessor. Gibson plays Max, an Australian high patrol officer with nothing to lose after his wife and child were killed by a mad biker gang (that happens in the first film). 

Following the success of "The Road Warrior," "Mad Max" had a greatly increased budget, which led to even bigger stunts and more ridiculous characters. Lord Humongous (Kjell Nilsson) is the nipple-suit-clad, hockey-masked leader of a murderous outlaw gang that seeks to steal fuel from a band of survivors.

It's up to Max to stop them. 

 

9. The Terminator

Year: 1984

Director: James Cameron

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn

Distributed by: Orion Pictures

Budget: $6.4 million

Box office: $78.3 million

Before the Terminator franchise featured Arnold as the primary good guy, the T-800 was a stone-cold murder machine. 

"The Terminator" is grittier than any of the subsequent films and notably more violent. We also get the "I'll be back" line from this film. Aside from being a fantastic '80s action film, it should easily be on any top 100 films of all time.

Maybe even top 50. 

8. Bloodsport

Year: 1988

Director: Newt Arnold

Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Donald Gibb, Bolo Yeung

Distributed by: Warner Bros.

Budget: $1.1 million-$2.3 million

Box office: $11.8 million                                                                                                                                                        

In "Bloodsport," Jean-Claude Van Damme plays Frank Dux, who has to avenge his friend and win a brutal and illegal fighting tournament in Hong Kong. He'll have to fight his way through a number of other competitors, all with their own unique style (we're pretty sure this is where fighting games came from), and then face the final boss: Chong Li (played by Bolo Yeung).  

"Bloodsport" is Jean-Claude Van Damme's best movie. It's basically "Kickboxer," except it takes everything that movie did and made it 10 times better. Training montages? Check. Revenge plot? Check. Van Damme doing splits? Check. Slow-motion fight scenes with Van Damme screaming "baahhh!"? Also check. 

"Bloodsport" was based on tall tales from the real-life Frank Dux, who claimed he won a secret no holds-barred martial arts tournament called Kumite, among other things.

It is also one of the very few movies filmed in Kowloon Walled City. 

 

7. They Live

Year: 1988

Director: John Carpenter

Starring: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster

Distributed by: Universal Pictures

Budget: $4 million

Box office: $13 million

What if everything you know is a lie? That's what the mysterious man-with-no-name (Roddy Piper) discovers after finding a box of sunglasses in an alleyway.

Put them on, and all of a sudden, you see all sorts of subliminal messaging on billboards and signs, everywhere, instructing you to obey and consume. And then there are the grotesque, skeletal, blue-skinned aliens that walk among us. 

"They Live" is one of John Carpenter's best films, and it features one of the longest (and greatest) fight scenes of all time. Both Keith David and Piper beat the hell out of each other during the filming of it — accidentally, of course. 

 

6. Raiders of the Lost Ark

Year: 1981

Director: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman

Distributed by: Paramount Pictures

Budget:  $18 million

Box office: $390 million

"Raiders of the Lost Ark" gave us Indiana Jones, the bumbling, Nazi-punching archeologist who became one of the most iconic movie heroes of all time. 

Set in 1936, Indiana Jones has to beat out the Nazis from finding a powerful ancient relic that would help them win World War II and take over the world. He'll need to escape from dangerous traps, fight overwhelming odds and even deal with snakes in one the greatest action-adventure films ever made.

There's not a single thing to hate about "Raiders." 

5. Lethal Weapon

Year: 1987

Director: Richard Donner

Starring: Mel Gibson, Danny Glover

Distributed by: Warner Bros. 

Budget: $15 million

Box office: $120.2 million

Mel Gibson plays an LAPD sergeant with a death wish and Danny Glover is too old for this **** in "Lethal Weapon." Released in 1987, "Lethal Weapon" raised the bar in buddy-cop comedies and arguably remains the best one in the genre, three decades later. 

Roger Murtaugh (Glover) is paired with Martin Riggs (Gibson), a former special forces soldier who is haunted by the death of his wife and carries a hollowed-out bullet that he plans to one day use on himself.

Together, the two find themselves unravelling a criminal drug ring that has ties to the Vietnam War. 

 

4. RoboCop

Year: 1987

Director: Paul Verhoeven

Starring: Peter Weller, Kurtwood Smith, Nancy Allen, Miguel Ferrer, Daniel O'Herlihy

Distributed by: Orion Pictures

Budget: $13 million

Box office: $53.4 million

"RoboCop" is set in a dystopian future where a private organization is well on its way to privatizing the entire city of Detroit, including the police force.

But cops cost money, with their pensions and salaries. They need a new way to cut costs while also bringing lethal street justice to the scum on the streets — while also letting the corrupt higher-ups get away with murder. 

Their first solution? Robots. But those are utter (and hilarious) failures, so they try something new: Bring in a cop on the verge of death, shove whatever's left of him in a robot body and reprogram his brain. That's what happens to Alex Murphy, who's blown away by gunfire in one of the most viciously violent scenes to ever be shown in theaters. 

"RoboCop" is a brilliant film that's also funny. We'd buy it for a dollar. 

3. Die Hard

Year: 1988

Director: John McTiernan

Starring: Bruce Willis,  Alan Rickman

Distributed by: 20th Century Fox

Budget: $28 million

Box office: $141.6 million

Bruce Willis established himself as a leading actor with his role as John McClane in "Die Hard," one of the greatest action movies. Period. 

Set on Christmas Eve, McClane is an NYPD detective who winds up involved in a terrorist plot to rob a 40-story skyscraper in Los Angeles. Not even armed with a pair of shoes to fight those Germans, McClane scrapes by each deadly encounter throughout the entire movie, using ingenuity (and eventually a machine gun) to gain the upper hand. 

Yippee ki yay.

2. Aliens

Year: 1986

Director: James Cameron

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen

Distributed by: 20th Century Fox

Budget: $18.5 million

Box office: $131 million

Departing from the sci-fi/horror formula of "Alien," James Cameron spun its sequel into a full-blown action movie with multiple aliens and a new big bad: the queen. 

After 57 years, Lt. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is found by a salvage team and brought out of cryogenic sleep. She's recruited to help a group of colonial marines search a deserted space colony where xenomorphs are believed to have torn the place apart. Once there, the group gets trapped in a derelict station, and it's up to the marines, Ripley and a small girl named Newt to defend themselves from the oncoming onslaught. 

And who could forget the one-liners? "Get away from her, you b****!" "Game over, man! Game over!"

1. Predator

Year: 1987

Director: John McTiernan

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura

Distributed by: 20th Century Fox

Budget: $15 million

Box office: $98.3 million

"Predator" encapsulates everything about '80s action movies — huge guns, muscle men, one-liners, explosions — while also adding something new to the mix: a monster villain. 

Schwarzenegger plays Dutch, a retired special ops Vietnam War veteran and commanding officer of an elite mercenary team. He and his group of equally oiled, muscled-up commandos are tasked with saving government officials from an unnamed fictional country. 

After the team dispenses of an enemy encampment, "Commando"-style, they learn that they're facing something far deadlier: a highly advanced alien species that likes to skin people and remove their heads. 

"Predator" spawned an entire franchise of films, novels, comic books, toys and video games. The Predator itself is one of the coolest movie monsters ever made —  and one ugly mother.

As far as '80s action films go, you can't beat "Predator." Get to the choppa!