10 Movies That Prove The '80s Was The Golden Age Of Action
1. Die Hard
Die Hard is regularly named as the greatest action movie of all-time, mostly because that's exactly what it is.
John McTiernan's stone-cold classic isn't just the genre's finest example, but it's also perhaps the single most influential. Not only did it mark a seismic shift away from the musclebound heroes that had defined the '80s in favor of more relatable characters that audiences could actually relate to, but it spawned an entire sub-genre that's still going strong today.
The 'Die Hard in a *insert location/mode of transport here*' gave us countless all-timers in their own right, only reinforcing the iron grip of influence that John McClane's first big screen appearance will more than likely hold over the action movie until the end of time.
We're now over 30 years removed and the debate about whether or not it's a Christmas movie still rages on an annual basis, which is just one of the many ways that Die Hard refuses to give up any of its cultural importance, despite the more recent sequels running the franchise into the ground.