Ranking 10 Most Prolific Actor-Director Duos Of All Time

Collaborations: Elvis, Escape From New York, The Thing, Big Trouble In Little China, Escape From L.A.

The diversity of output Kurt Russell and John Carpenter worked on together is more impressive than any other tandem on this list. Although the total number of films they collaborated on may not jump off the page, it's nearly impossible to argue with the results.

Russell doesn't get as much credit as he deserves for his place in the 80s action hero oeuvre, but he occupied a much-needed, subversive gray area between somewhere between Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis.

That was Carpenter's machination. He saw a kid who did a spot-on Elvis Presley impersonation, took a chance on him as a charismatic bruiser, and created a series of wonderfully strange popcorn flicks that still stand the test of time. (Yes, even Big Trouble In Little China. Shut up.)

Russell and Carpenter genuinely seem like the only two guys on the planet who could have made Snake Plissken so thoroughly interesting. If you inserted the other half of Tango & Cash into that role, it dies a miserable death. And sure, Richard Donner did a fantastic job with Lethal Weapon, but if he takes the reigns of the Escape movies, they assuredly lose their bizarre edge.