Histor y Project. http://www.actuporalhistory.org/
index1.html. 2003-present. Interviews with the
surviving members of the original ACT UP/New
York designed to encourage other activists by
demonstrating effective tactics to bring about
change.
Kramer, Larry.Reports from the Holocaust: The Making
of an AIDS Activist.New York: St. Martin’s Press,
- Autobiographical reflections from the
founder of ACT UP. Kramer’s political activities
prior to founding ACT UP were central in creat-
ing in him an activist who was willing to challenge
popular notions.
Shepard, Benjamin Heim, and Ronald Hayduk, eds.
From ACT UP to the WTO: Urban Protest and Commu-
nity Building in the Era of Globalization. New York:
Verso, 2002. A study of militant activism includ-
ing the tactics used by ACT UP’s founders and
discussions of some of the associated breakaway
groups.
Jessie Bishop Powell
See also AIDS epidemic; AIDS Memorial Quilt;
Health care in the United States; Homosexuality
and gay rights; Reagan, Ronald; White, Ryan.
Action films
Definition Large-budget movies featuring stunts,
special effects, and action sequences
The soaring popularity of action films led Hollywood to
invest considerable resources in developing new effects tech-
nologies and to produce films with more explicit and sensa-
tionalist representations of violence. This popularity con-
tributed significantly to the studios’ growing emphasis on
producing a few costly, potentially lucrative, spectacle-
driven blockbusters, rather than a greater variety of more
modest, plot-driven films.
The action-film genre has its roots in early Holly-
wood productions starring the likes of Douglas Fair-
banks and Errol Flynn. However, it was the James
Bond franchise in the 1960’s, known for extended
action sequences, daring stunts, and big explosions,
that finally defined the action movie. The American
cinema of the 1970’s saw the birth of its own action
movies in such films as theDirty Harr yseries. It
would be George Lucas’s vision of the action adven-
ture in his 1977 filmStar Warsthat would help the ac-
tion genre grow from mass entertainment to mega-
blockbuster status in the 1980’s.
Trendsetters, Stars, and Blockbusters Raiders of the
Lost Ark(1981), the first film of the Indiana Jones se-
ries, helped take the action movie beyond the police
genre. It opened up possibilities for action movies to
look to more than just civil servants as heroes.First
Blood(1982), which solidified Sylvester Stallone’s ca-
reer, personalized the war movies of the 1970’s, rep-
resenting the action hero as a unit of one. Mel Gib-
son made his name in the postapocalypticMad Max
series (1979-1985). Gibson went on to play another
pain-filled part in theLethal Weaponfranchise (1987-
1998), which was structured safely within the con-
fines of the police action genre. Bruce Willis also
played a cop in 1988’sDie Hard. This film evolved out
of a decade of explosions and stunts and combined
the police action drama with international terrorism
to provide viewers with some of the most extreme
stunts of the 1980’s.
Other action stars, such as Arnold Schwarze-
negger, became staples of the genre. Perhaps the
most crucial actor to help popularize action films,
especially in the 1990’s, Schwarzenegger starred in
several small but successful action movies of the
1980’s as well, includingThe Terminator(1984) and
Predator(1987). The stunts of 1980’s action movies
did not exclusively involve explosions or guns; actors
like Chuck Norris provided martial arts techniques
that kept audience members on the edge of their
seats. Franchises of the past also evolved during the
1980’s. Lucas would complete hisStar Warstrilogy
withThe Empire Strikes Back(1980) andReturn of the
Jedi(1983). He and Steven Spielberg would also
bring back Indiana Jones for two more movies. All
four movies minted Harrison Ford as the definitive
action hero of the 1980’s, as he starred in fully one-
half of the ten most successful films of the decade.
The James Bond franchise, another strong player in
the action-film industry, produced five official mov-
ies and one unofficial movie; all were box-office suc-
cesses.
Action Films as a Cultural Mirror The popularity ofStates Agriculture in the United
1980’s can be traced to a few elements. First was the
desensitization of the American public by media cov-
erage of the Vietnam War in the 1970’s. With a televi-
sion in most living rooms, the American family could
sit down and watch the horrors of war on their televi-12 Action films The Eighties in America