Bill Simmons Picks the Best Action Stars of All Time, Year by Year
We all know that action movie fans love to take their favourite action stars and pit them against each other, fanning the flames of age old arguments like Stallone vs. Schwarzenegger and Van Damme vs. Seagal. It has almost become an unofficial sport, if you will, which is why it’s no surprise that sports journalist Bill Simmons recently came up with an interesting twist on these epic debates. This week he posted an article over on Grantland called “The Action Hero Championship Belt”, in which he goes back through action movie history and retroactively decides which actor was the reigning action star of each year.
What’s interesting is that he takes the view that the “body of work” for a particular action star generally matters more than any one individual movie. The more prolific you are, the better. That certainly feels like the stat-oriented perspective of a sports fan, but it’s still kind of fun to see how he breaks it all down. My only complaint is that there is some overlap between various years, leading to some unfair wins for Stallone in my opinion (and I don’t buy Simmons’ excuse for excluding Will Smith in 1996). Do you agree with his picks for the action hero championship belt? Check out the full list of winners after the jump.
- 1968-1973: Steve McQueen (Bullitt, Le Mans, The Getaway, Papillon)
- 1973-1980: Clint Eastwood (Magnum Force, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, The Eiger Sanction, The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Enforcer, The Gauntlet, Every Which Way But Loose, Escape From Alcatraz, Any Which Way You Can)
- 1980-1982: Chuck Norris (The Octagon, An Eye for an Eye, Silent Rage, Forced Vengeance)
- 1982-1984: Sylvester Stallone (First Blood)
- 1984-1986: Arnold Schwarzenegger (Conan the Destroyer, The Terminator, Red Sonja, Commando)
- 1986: Sylvester Stallone (Cobra)
- 1986-1987: Arnold Schwarzenegger (Raw Deal, Predator, The Running Man)
- 1988: Bruce Willis (Die Hard)
- 1989: Mel Gibson (Lethal Weapon 2)
- 1990-1992: Arnold Schwarzenegger (Total Recall, Kindergarten Cop, Terminator 2: Judgment Day)
- 1992: Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven)
- 1993: Sylvester Stallone (Cliffhanger, Demolition Man)
- 1994-1996: Arnold Schwarzenegger (True Lies, Eraser)
- 1996: Sylvester Stallone (Daylight)
- 1997-2000: Nicolas Cage (Con Air, Face/Off, Snake Eyes, 8MM, Gone in Sixty Seconds)
- 2001-2002: Vin Diesel (The Fast and the Furious, Knockaround Guys, xXx)
- 2003-2004: Uma Thurman (Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Kill Bill: Vol. 2)
- 2004: Denzel Washington (Man on Fire)
- 2005-2006: Jason Statham (Transporter 2, Revolver, Crank)
- 2007: Jackie Chan (Rush Hour 3)
- 2008: Liam Neeson (Taken)
- 2009-2011: Vin Diesel (Fast & Furious, Fast Five)
- 2011-2014: Liam Neeson (The Grey, Taken 2, Non-Stop)