Looking Back At The Era Of Muscles And Masculinity: ‘80s Action Flicks

Anytime my mom and I used to watch an action film together, she’d say, “Heroes these days don’t even look like heroes.” As a '90s kid, I raised myself on the likes of Casey Ryback, John McClane, and Jason Bourne on one hand, and Iron Man, Dominic Toretto, and Batman on the other. By the time I was a teenager, John Wick had become the action hero legend, and Keanu Reeves, the king of our hearts. So naturally, I thought, what does she know!

That was until she forced me to watch one of her favorite action movies, First Blood (1982), starring the legendary Sylvester Stallone. One watch, and I realized, while I will probably always prefer John Wick over Rambo, my mom was not wrong in missing the “Schwarzenegger and Stallone” era of action films. Over four decades, the action genre has undergone a drastic shift, especially in terms of how we project our action heroes.

In this article, we’re looking back at my mom’s favorite era of action movies: the muscle-packed ‘80s.

An Overview of the ‘80s Action Movies

Up until the ‘80s, action movies weren’t about spectacle and were majorly centered on gritty crime dramas, with sleek heroes and stories that explored various issues of society. The ‘80s hit the film industry like a meteor and changed everything.

Sylvester Stallone began an era of action films with First Blood in 1982. A psychologically intense action hero who is a physical embodiment of brute strength with an emotional cause, Stallone’s John Rambo popularized the antihero trope in the genre.

Key Characteristics of the ‘80s Action Movies

1. Simple Stories; Complex Action

The ‘80s action flicks simplified stories within the three-act structure and shifted their focus to their heroes and villains, instead of stories. The narratives were as straightforward as the good guy versus bad guy, but now, the pursuits and the confrontations were where all the complexity lay.

2. Logic is Secondary; Adrenaline is Primary

By throwing logic and physics right out of the window, the ‘80s action flick embraced grandeur with a promise of a wild ride. The idea was as simple as the ‘80s narratives—cut people off from reality to take them on an adventure of a lifetime, by placing them in the shoes of iconic personalities such as Rambo and McClane, who were literal embodiments of the knight in shining armor (minus the horse, manners, and white tights!)

3. Larger Than Life Heroes

The ‘80s era of action films was all about tall, muscular, and superbly handsome heroes, who displayed superhuman strength and stoic masculinity. They would save the damsel in distress and fight an entire army all by themselves. Their personality would be larger than life, and characters like Rambo emphasized physical performance and body acting over witty dialogue.

The ‘80s action movies were also high on the style quotient with their dark shades, denim jeans, and leather jackets, and ended up greatly influencing the day-to-day fashion of common people.

These movies also mirrored the real-world global tensions, with the Cold War directly influencing their storylines. Espionage, nuclear war, and an overall us vs. them mentality became the central themes of many ‘80s action flicks.

The Most Iconic ‘80s Action Stars and Flicks

Arnold Schwarzenegger

You cannot think of the ‘80s action movies without Arnold Schwarzenegger. Here are his leading movies from the ‘80s:

1. James Cameron’s The Terminator

This story of humans vs. cyborgs not only shot Schwarzenegger to fame but also paved the way for an entire series of films under the franchise. His iconic black trench coat and black shades? Love! The movie became a benchmark for its seamless blend of sci-fi with horror and action in a dystopian vision of AI-led apocalypse. To this day, The Terminator’s iconic quote, “I’ll be back,” continues to remain among cinema’s most quoted lines, ranking among the top 100 movie quotes as per the American Film Institute.

2. Mark L. Lester’s Commando (1985)

Schwarzenegger saves the day as a retired Special Forces colonel in Commando, who takes on an entire army all by himself to save his daughter, who is abducted by his former subordinate. Bare bodied, smeared with black soot, who can forget an enraged Schwarzenegger firing a machine gun, all alone with his bare hands? How can you look away from that!

3. John McTiernan’s Predator (1987)

Predator features Schwarzenegger fighting an extraterrestrial in the forests of Central America. The narrative blends explosive action with intense suspense and horror, which broadened the genre’s appeal, inspiring multiple films that came after it. At the same time, its subversive narrative about an action hero against something inhuman spawned an entire franchise with multiple films under its banner.

Sylvester Stallone

From Marion “Cobra” Cobretti to John Rambo, Stallone is considered to be a pioneer of the 80s action flicks. Here are some of his most notable films:

1. Ted Kotcheff's First Blood (1982)

A Vietnam War veteran suffering from PTSD, Rambo’s story is a somber, survival-driven narrative, where the hero turns to spectacular violence and action in defense, and not show. Rambo’s arc popularised anti-heroes in action flicks, sparking discussions on toxic masculinity while keeping the ride as wild as we know it, both emotionally and action-wise.

2. George P. Cosmatos' Cobra (1986)

A quintessential Reagan-era action flick, Cobra solidified the image of a hyper-masculine, tough, and morally unwavering hero, with Stallone’s Lt. Marion “Cobra” Cobretti, the lone cop, as the protector of justice and the weak. The film is notable for combining slasher elements with urban cop action, blending intense violence with the era’s fascination with “saviors/protectors.”

3. Andrei Konchalovsky and Albert Magnoli's Tango And Cash (1989)

One of the pioneers of the buddy-cop genre, Stallone’s Tango & Cash stars Stallone in a subversive role of a millionaire cop, in partnership with Kurt Russel’s scrappy, wisecracking detective, which, although started on a not-so-sweet note, soon evolved into an iconic male friendship. The film is widely considered to be the decade’s cinematic excess, with its wild plot lines, “bromantic” energy, maximalist action, and a bunch of iconic one-liners. It was a narrative that gave us a peek into what the action genre’s future was evolving into.

Bruce Willis

1. John McTiernan's Die Hard (1988)

Although Bruce Willis is no Schwarzenegger or Stallone when it comes to brute masculinity and muscles, Die Hard and John McClane fundamentally reshaped the genre by replacing an invincible muscle-bound hero with a vulnerable and gritty all-too-human protagonist while keeping all the flavors of 80s action flicks. Die Hard continued the one-man-army trope, but set against the premise of a single-location, inspiring countless films such as Speed, Under Siege, Air Force One, etc.

Stay tuned for our next article, where we explore the 90s era of action movies: the buddy-cop genre and the CGI-action.