Title: Action film - Wikipedia
Headings: Action film
Action film
Contents
History
Early action films
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
Hong Kong action cinema
Subgenres
Action-adventure
Action-comedy
Action-horror
Action-thriller
Disaster film
Martial arts
Science fiction-action
Spy film
Swashbuckler film
Notable individuals
Actors
Female characters and actors
Directors
Producers
See also
References
Further reading
External links

Content: Common tropes of the genre include explosions, car chases, fistfights and shootouts. This genre is closely associated with the thriller and adventure genres and may also contain elements of drama and spy fiction. Screenwriter and scholar Eric R. Williams identifies Action Film as one of eleven super-genres in his screenwriters’ taxonomy, claiming that all feature-length narrative films can be classified by these super-genres. The other ten super-genres are Crime, Fantasy, Horror, Romance, Science Fiction, Slice of Life, Sports, Thriller, War and Western. Contents
1 History
1.1 Early action films
1.2 1970s
1.3 1980s
1.4 1990s
1.5 2000s
1.6 2010s
2 Hong Kong action cinema
3 Subgenres
3.1 Action-adventure
3.2 Action-comedy
3.3 Action-horror
3.4 Action-thriller
3.5 Disaster film
3.6 Martial arts
3.7 Science fiction-action
3.8 Spy film
3.9 Swashbuckler film
4 Notable individuals
4.1 Actors
4.2 Female characters and actors
4.3 Directors
4.4 Producers
5 See also
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links
History
Early action films
Some historians consider The Great Train Robbery (1903) to be the first action film. During the 1920s and 1930s, action-based films were often swashbuckling adventure films, in which actors such as Douglas Fairbanks wielded swords in period pieces or Westerns. Indian action films in this era were known as stunt films. The 1940s and 1950s saw "action" in a new form, through war and cowboy movies. Alfred Hitchcock ushered in the spy-adventure genre while also establishing the use of action-oriented "set pieces" like the famous crop-duster scene and the Mount Rushmore finale in North by Northwest (1959). The film, along with a war-adventure called The Guns of Navarone (1961), inspired producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman to invest in their own spy-adventure in the James Bond series, based on the novels of Ian Fleming .