So people had done it before, but I think they just perfected the formula. You'd had Clint Eastwood, and you had, you know, Charles Bronson in "Death Wish." Bruce Lee was doing his thing. MARTÍNEZ: If they wrote the playbook, what is the playbook for what they wrote?ĭE SEMLYEN: Well, one-liners, body counts, the whole kind of one-man army model. The absolute impact that those two had on pop culture - I just don't think we've seen it since. And then Arnold came shortly afterwards - "Conan The Barbarian" and "The Terminator." And they just became instantly iconic. Sly kind of started the whole one-man army thing, in a way. But yeah, they were really the guys who started it all. You know, they've both just starred in their own TV series, which is the first for each. MARTÍNEZ: But Sly and Arnold are clearly the straws that stir this alpha male movie star cocktail.ĭE SEMLYEN: They're kind of the titans who are still yet to be surpassed in the genre, and they're still at it. SYLVESTER STALLONE: (As John Rambo) They drew first blood, not me.ĪRNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: (As The Terminator) I'll be back.īRUCE WILLIS: (As John McClane) Welcome to the party, pal. MARTÍNEZ: That's Nick de Semlyen, author of a new book called "The Last Action Heroes." In it, he focuses on eight action stars - Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris and Jackie Chan. And you have Chuck Norris recreating Vietnam but actually winning. And then these action stars arrive, and they were bringing something else to the table. NICK DE SEMLYEN: I think a lot of it was to do with the climate at the time, with America just had Vietnam, Watergate. There were big blockbusters that really leaned into a lot of things, including the Cold War with the Soviet Union. In the 1980s, the action in action movies went to a whole 'nother level.
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