The Hollywood action thriller has always been a popular genre, making box office legends out of actors such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stalone, and Chuck Norris. Films such as The Rambo series, The Terminator, and Lone Wolf McQuade all found critical and commercial success, each one-upping the ante, forcing future films such as Die Hard and Lethal Weapon to go bigger and bolder.
The 1980s offered up many enduring action classics but there were many great ones, some smaller some big, that slipped through the cracks. Many were critically praised and starred major actors but for one reason or another, the public never got the chance to see or gave the chance to a certain film. This includes some truly undervalued ’80s action thrillers full of great performances, smart screenplays, and excellent direction.
Band of the Hand (1986)
Paul Michael Glasser directed, and Michael Mann produced, this exciting Florida-set film about a Vietnam vet who trains five juvenile delinquents, helping them work together to fight off local drug lords played by James Remar and Laurence Fishburne.
Made at the height of the pop-culture popularity of Mann’s Miami Vice, Band of the Hand certainly possesses that show’s look and feel. Stephen Lang is great as the vet who shows these wayward youths how to become a team and the young fresh-faced cast (including Lauren Holly and John Cameron Mitchell) does good work. Critics weren’t kind and the film failed at the box office. It has a retrospective charm, an excellent soundtrack, and well-done action moments.
Black Rain (1989)
Ridley Scott was already a respected filmmaker proving himself adept at crafting films that could entertain in artful and philosophical ways. In 1989 he took on Black Rain, the story of a New York cop escorting a Yakuza killer back to Japan. After his prisoner escapes, he teams with a Japanese cop and the film becomes a fish-out-of-water action thriller.
Michael Douglas and Ken Takakura are the two cops from different sides of the world who are constantly butting heads. Andy Garcia steals the film as Douglas’ partner who tries his best to keep the peace. Scott’s film oozes his signature visual style and has good characterizations. The finale is a well-done action set-piece of cops versus Yakuza gunmen. The film did okay at the box office but critics were mixed and it never made a big profit.
8 Million Ways To Die (1985)
Jeff Bridges starred in Hal Ashby’s 8 Million Ways to Die, a slick and extremely well-acted L.A.-set cop thriller. Bridges is an alcoholic cop thrown off the force due to a botched drug raid where innocent people were killed. After sobering up, he becomes the protector of a young woman (Rosanna Arquette) trying to break free of Andy Garcia’s violent drug dealer.
This is a solid crime thriller with tense action and some powerful acting from Jeff Bridges and Andy Garcia. The production was troubled, as Oliver Stone’s screenplay was re-written without his consent, removing much of the power from the novel it was based on. Director Ashby was losing his battle with cocaine and fought with studio executives who replaced him and edited the film against his original vision. While compromised, the film works thanks to the parts of the script that survived and the performances. The studio buried the film with a lackluster release.
Shoot To Kill (1988)
An exciting thrill in every moment, Roger Spottiswoode’s Shoot to Kill found Sidney Poitier as an FBI agent on the trail of a serial murderer who has joined a hiking expedition. Tom Berenger is the professional climber who helps him navigate the rugged terrain.
Both Poitier and Berenger are working at the top of their games, finding a perfect balance of the city man/wilderness man perspectives. The action is bold and the tension is Hitchcockian. While the film turned a small profit, it isn’t very well remembered today and is hard to find.
Frantic (1988)
Roman Polanski crafted his most undervalued thriller with 1988’s Frantic. Harrison Ford is a doctor whose wife is kidnapped. Ford searches the city, receiving lackluster help from the American consulate.
Harrison Ford delivers one of his best performances, as a man determined to find his wife at all costs. Polanski keeps the audience on the edge of their seats while Ennio Morricone’s score pulsates along. The film was well-received by critics but failed at the American box office.
Flashpoint (1984)
Kris Kristofferson and Treat Williams are two Texas Border Patrol officers who stumble on a buried jeep containing a skeleton, sniper rifle, and a suitcase with a million dollars. It may all be connected to the Kennedy assassination. As the two partners make plans to prove the money is untraceable so they can start new lives, a team of sinister government men enters, creating a deadly foe.
The two leads are great and critics praised the smart screenplay. Tangerine Dream’s score wraps the film in a quite palpable tension. The studio wasn’t sure how to market the film and dumped it in a few theaters, never allowing it to catch on. This should have been one of the most popular films of 1984, a fantastic year for cinema.
52 Pick-Up (1986)
John Frankenheimer directed this slick and sleazy action thriller where a philandering Roy Scheider’s mistress (Kelly Preston) is killed and he is blackmailed for his wealth but instead, turns the tables on the villains and sets out to kill them all.
Based on a novel by Elmore Leonard, set around the ’80s porn world, and chock full of violence, the film proved a bit too unsavory for audiences. While critics were kind, the film didn’t do well in cinemas despite crisp direction, a great cast, and exciting action.
Extreme Prejudice (1987)
Walter Hill delivered one of his finest with his ode to Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch, 1987’s Extreme Prejudice. Nick Nolte brings his towering presence as a Texas Ranger who goes up against his childhood friend, who is now a drug lord in Mexico.
Though set in modern times, Hill crafted his film as a Western complete with tequila, bandits, and plenty of well-choreographed shootouts. The film wasn’t a big financial success but was well-received critically. It is now considered to be one of Walter Hill’s best films.
Southern Comfort (1981)
Set a few years after Vietnam, Powers Boothe and Keith Carradine are part of a National Guard unit trapped in the Louisiana swamps who are being hunted by cajun trappers.
Walter Hill directed a thriller on par with 1971’s Deliverance as his backwoods-set film is full of tension and well-crafted action moments. There are scenes as wire-tight as any great action thriller and Hill’s style fits well with the material, as does Ry Cooder’s moody score. Not a financial success, most critics agree that Southern Comfort is top shelf Walter Hill and a purposeful allegory of the Vietnam War.
Year Of The Dragon (1985)
The pairing of Michael Cimino and Mickey Rourke proved to be a powerhouse of great filmmaking with 1985’s Year of the Dragon. Adapted from the Robert Daley novel, the film is the story of Stanley White, an NYC detective who takes over the Chinatown beat and tries to bring down the head of the Chinese triads played by John Lone.
Oliver Stone’s screenplay, Cimino’s direction, and Rourke’s acting are explosive. The film is a cop thriller epic that never lets up. Critics were mixed and audiences stayed away but the film’s reputation has grown over time.
