80s and 90s "B" action movies

[MtlJeff]

So, All this talk of "Demolition Man" in the Caddies using carts thread has made me want to start this thread in the 19th hole. I'm a 39yr old movie lover, and there's a part of me that just loves B action movies from the 80s and 90s. Me and my brother grew up watching them, and still regularly randomly text each other quotes from all of the classics. 

 

They just don't make movies like this anymore. The villains were outrageous, the plots were outrageous, the heros would say cliche'd catchphrases after every kill. It was just really compelling stuff

 

I would like to discuss this in this thread:

 

1) Most ridiculous villains

2) Best one-liners

3) Most preposterous plots

4) Anything else you want to discuss

 

etc

 

What are some of your favorites?

[GHIN n Juice]

American Ninja with Michael Dudikoff. Peak 80s “B” movie.  

[cardoustie]

AMEN!

 

All the old Arnie stuff like Commando is gold

 

JCVD fighting in a swimming pool ?  Yes please govna

 

Sly in Cobra = money.

 

The pandemic has me chasing down all this old stuff as well

 

I am 54 this year and I think this time frame of action flicks brings me back to my youth ... theatres, beta max, VHS and charges at the video store for not rewinding

 

”I’ll be back”

 

Is Karate Kid an action movie?  “Wax on Wax off”

 

The original Die Hard was so solid

 

Jeff have you seen POLAR ?  Recent but old school feel

 

 

[GHIN n Juice]

Would Red Sonja qualify as a “B” movie?  Fits all the criteria but did have Arnold in it 🤷‍♂️

[GHIN n Juice]

3 minutes ago, cardoustie said:

AMEN!

 

All the old Arnie stuff like Commando is gold

 

JCVD fighting in a swimming pool ?  Yes please govna

 

Sly in Cobra = money.

 

The pandemic has me chasing down all this old stuff as well

 

I am 54 this year and I think this time frame of action flicks brings me back to my youth ... theatres, beta max, VHS and charges at the video store for not rewinding

 

”I’ll be back”

 

Is Karate Kid an action movie?  “Wax on Wax off”

 

The original Die Hard was so solid

 

Jeff have you seen POLAR ?  Recent but old school feel

 

 

Cobra, yes!  Completely forgot about that one.  

[GHIN n Juice]

Over the Top had the best line, 

 

“What I do is I just try to take my hat and I turn it around, and it's like a switch that goes on. And when the switch goes on, I feel like another person, I feel, I don't know, I feel like a... like a truck. Like a machine.”

 

Every time I see someone flip their hat backwards I immediately think, “It’s like a switch.” Lol

Edited March 21, 2021 by GHIN n Juice

[5 O'Clock Charlie]

Iron Eagle - "You just lost a refinery"

 

[MtlJeff]

LOL! Love the replies

 

So to me, Commando is the alltime 80s action movie. It's just too perfect in every way...

 

Villain: Let's talk about Bennett OK....This is supposedly an ex-special forces type dude. He is clearly not in that great of shape, and hides his fat under what looks to be some sort of chain link shirt. That combined with the mustache, it really looks like he's on his way to the dance club right after his mission. All of his dialog is very awkward. This is one of the alltime poorly cast villains, but in such an awesome 80s way

 

Cliche lines: Pretty much every 2nd line. "I let him go" "i lied!" "Let off some steam", "don't bother my friend, he's dead tired"....it's all brilliant

 

At one point i'm pretty sure Arnold just rips the door off a car. 

 

Commando is awesome

[MtlJeff]

Other movies that i absolutely love:

 

Demolition Man: Wesley Snipes looks like a cross between Dennis the menace and the Fresh Prince, and is somehow one of the greatest criminals of all time. He has tons of great lines in this. Good cast too, Denis Leary, Sandra Bullock, Benjamin Bratt...Good times. 

 

Cliffhanger: John Lithgow is hamming it up as a villain, like to an 11 on 10 in this. He's comically evil. Me and my brother randomly text each other lines from this movie weekly. The most common one being "you've got problems of your own, HAL!". The villain team in this is great. Really diverse group

 

Hard Target: I love this movie. It's got early Arnold Vosloo as a villain. Wilford Brimley as some sort of frenchman. Hunting people for sport. I mean i'm in every time it's on. 

 

Sudden Death: Powers Boothe probably sets the standard for over the top, hamming it up villains in this. This movie features JCVD making a save in a stanley cup game 7, right after roundhouse kicking someone while wearing goalie pads

 

Under Siege 2: Another comically over the top villain (Eric Bogosian) who is some sort of hybrid between a computer hacker and like, Jim Carrey's the Riddler. Katherine Heigl is in this and young Morris Chesnut. The main henchman is basically a Bennett from Commando clone except better dressed. 

 

OH man...there's so many more

 

Later we can also discuss movies like Drop Zone, Money Train ....And other movies featuring Gary Busey

[MtlJeff]

1 hour ago, cardoustie said:

AMEN!

 

All the old Arnie stuff like Commando is gold

 

JCVD fighting in a swimming pool ?  Yes please govna

 

Sly in Cobra = money.

 

The pandemic has me chasing down all this old stuff as well

 

I am 54 this year and I think this time frame of action flicks brings me back to my youth ... theatres, beta max, VHS and charges at the video store for not rewinding

 

”I’ll be back”

 

Is Karate Kid an action movie?  “Wax on Wax off”

 

The original Die Hard was so solid

 

Jeff have you seen POLAR ?  Recent but old school feel

 

 

 

There's some movies that i can't include in this

 

For example, Die Hard is a legit classic, good movie. I have a hard time including it in the corny stuff we're talking about here. Even though Alan Rickman is a peak villain and Willis does have a lot of good lines (Now i have a machine gun, ho ho ho!)

 

For some reason Die Hard just became too good of a movie to be in the same sentence as Under Siege

 

I kinda feel the same way about "True Lies". It's one of my alltime favorite action movies, however it's a legit good movie. It's friggin James Cameron. 

 

I don't know what the differentiator is, in that i can't explain it. But movies like Die Hard or True Lies are too good to be discussed here. 

 

I think the question maybe is : Could Wesley Snipes have reasonably been cast in this? If the answer is yes, we can discuss it. If the answer is no, this movie is too good....Can't be discussed here

[Qqq123xx]

How can you not include this movie, the leading ladies for one. 

 

 

 

 

[Qqq123xx]

And one of the worst movies ever.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 21, 2021 by Qqq123xx

[mokedaddy]

It’s 1991 but the Last Boy Scout is super quality b movie writing.

 

also from the early 90s The Adventures of Ford Fairlane .

Edited March 21, 2021 by mokedaddy

[MtlJeff]

Oh yeah, the last boyscout counts

 

I think the genre really ended with the Nic Cage trifecta. 

-Con Air

-Face/Off

-The Rock

 

That was maybe the end of that style of action movie. Eventually it became more dark, and the dialog less jokey (think like "Taken", or "Man on Fire" etc)

 

Face/Off is definitely my favorite of the 3. It's just a great plot.

 

Ooooh now that i'm thinking about Travolta, i feel like i need to watch "Broken Arrow" again. 

[cardoustie]

Loved under siege and Erika

[DeNinny]

I could post in this thread all day long.  I'll just start with the movie "They Live" starring the legendary Rowdy Roddy Piper.  Best quote:  "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick a**... and I'm all out of bubblegum."

Edited March 21, 2021 by DeNinny

[kcstock]

I recently re-watched The Final Countdown.

Loved this as a kid, but the effects don't hold up to 2021. lol

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080736/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

 

[kcstock]

Big fan of Blade too.

 

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120611/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_6

 

 

[DeNinny]

Gotta love "The Long Kiss Goodnight" 

 

"Life is pain"

 

"You're gonna die screaming"

[DeNinny]

You want cheesy plot?  How about "Gymkata" starring olympic gymnast Kurt Thomas who becomes the ultimate martial artist by combining it with gymnastics.

Edited March 21, 2021 by DeNinny

[miamistomp]

 A little earlier time period but great B films

 

 

\

 

[DeNinny]

"Enter the Dragon" starring Bruce Lee is my ultimate and all time favorite action movie.  It's a masterpiece.

[MtlJeff]

Oh sheeeeeeeettttt....I forgot one of my alltime favorites. 

 

Wait for it......Timecop

 

It's so good. It's the same director as Sudden Death. It's got Ron Silver as the evil politician, it's got Mia Sara of "Ferris Bueller" fame as JCVD's wife. 

 

It's got one of my alltime favorite scriptwriting holes at the end , when Van Damme gets back from saving the world to his time travel policing agency. And having changed the Future, he asks people what happened to Senator McComb and they all laugh at him like he's stupid. MAYBE HE JUST CHANGED THE FUTURE IDIOTS! 

 

I also learned from Timecop that the same matter can't occupy the same space at the same time. Valuable life lessons

[MtlJeff]

OK, to further this dialog here...Can anyone think of more ridiculous villains than these?

 

Bennett (Commando): As mentioned, the simply ridiculous attire and physique that in no way makes him look like a special forces mercenary. The mustache, the awkward dialog. He just seems so incredibly out of place.

 

Travis Dane (Under Siege 2): He's such a comical caricature of an evil villain. It's like they told Bogosian , "be a 14 on 10 when it comes to eccentric". Like i said above, he's like a combination of Jim Carrey's The riddler, and a computer hacker. He's prepostrous

 

Now, 2 blatant knock-off villain characters that i just can't forgive

 

Joshua Foss (Sudden Death): First of all, an evil villain named "Joshua" just can't be forgiven. There has never been a criminal named Josh. Secondly, he's such A BLATANT Alan Rickman in Die Hard knock off that it can't be forgiven. It's also like they told Powers Boothe "be worse than Rickman, you're not just robbing people but you actually love committing murders". He's like a caricature of evil

 

Ty Moncrief (Drop Zone): Ok, Ty Moncrief is almost as terrible a name as Joshua Foss. Secondly, this entire movie might as well be called "Point Break except with Skydiving". Third , Gary Busey was literally in Point Break. His character in drop zone is such a Swayze ripoff it cannot be ignored. Except you have Busey instead of Swayze. And that is why Point Break is amazing and Drop Zone is a B flick

[Cwebb]

Mad Max, The Road Warrior 

 

Escape from New York

 

Uncommon Valor

 

 

[Qqq123xx]

[cardoustie]

Snaaaaake

[cardoustie]

Road House ... ??  Jeff ?

[cardoustie]

It could be an action movie ... one of my favourites from this era ... Sixteen Candles

 

 

[cardoustie]

Predator and Terminator have to be in there ... even if Terminator is not B