CatBusRuss headed to GalaxyCon Des Moines to see if the capital of Iowa could help determine who was the baddest action hero(es) from forty years prior. 1985 was the last year where action movies were celebrated solely for being violent. One liners are fun, but chaos reigned supreme.
Sylvester Stallone may have had the box office with "Rocky IV" and "Rambo: First Blood - Part II", but this may have been the dawning of Arnold Schwarzenegger taking over the action hero crown from Sly. But is there a dark horse?
The Cannon Group may have only survived as long as it did because of their low-budget action flicks. Michael Dudikoff and Chuck Norris bring the martial arts while Charles Bronson returns to the Death Wish franchise.
And to make sure CatBus is not looking over any of the action legends, he reviews Sho Kosugi's fourth ninja film of the eighties, "Pray for Death". After Golan-Globus replaced his with the girl from "Breakin'", he started making hooded assassin flicks just to spite them.
Russ provides a TED Talk energy to this panel. Without having a cohost for the panel, our podcast host talks a lot and goes on some very pertinent tangents. These were the movies that Ronald Reagan loved. Are these movies truly more than right-wing escapism? Is this the machismo that modern male influencers trying to capture?
In the end, was it a good thing that PG-13 action movies would dominate the next 35 years? Are we mature enough as a society to know that these ultra-violent affairs should not be taken seriously?
There is a charm to these films. They are mindless crazy flicks. Please leave your brain at the door.
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