A few months ago, we ran a poll asking our readers who the best action star of the eighties was. To be honest, I was expecting Sylvester Stallone to win, but Arnold Schwarzenegger took the lead in a landslide. It wasn’t even close. Arnold walked away with 63% of the vote – Sly was the runner-up with only 15.6%. It makes sense though, as Arnold Schwarzenegger really was the king of eighties and nineties action. Each movie he put out was an event, especially when he hit the nineties. But what are Arnie’s best movies? Here are the five we think are the best, which – of course – will no doubt provoke some discussion, as how do you only choose five movies? These are the ones that made the cut (in chronological order):
The Terminator:
The fact is, Arnold Schwarzenegger wouldn’t be the icon he is today without having made this movie. One could argue he was a star before, as Conan the Barbarian was a big hit in 1982, but The Terminator made him contemporary and scary. James Cameron really captured lightning in a bottle with this one, and Schwarzenegger is one of the most terrifying villains of his era, an unstoppable menace with no mercy and no physical limitations. Of course, Arnold’s not the only reason this movie is amazing – Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor is one of the best movie heroines of all time, while Michael Biehn is unforgettable as Kyle Reese. Plus, Cameron’s muscular direction makes what could have been a low-budget B-movie timeless.
Commando:
In some ways, this movie was just as important to Arnie’s career as The Terminator, because it was another contemporary action movie, but one in which he got to be the hero. Not only that, but it set the tone for all of Schwarzenegger’s movies to follow, with him playing a somewhat sweeter-than-usual action hero, a doting dad, all of which serves as a cool counterpoint to the fact that he kills over 100 bad guys in the movie. Plus, it’s the first movie where Arnie started throwing off the one-liners that would become a trademark for him.
Predator:
Of all of Arnie’s eighties output, besides The Terminator, this is the one that’s stood the test of time. John McTiernan’s Predator has an amazing concept that was pretty fresh for the time. By 1987, we’d already had two Alien movies plus The Thing. The concept here was: what if one of these alien monsters went up against the greatest action hero of all time in a mano-a-mano showdown? Schwarzenegger’s Dutch is so iconic that it’s crazy to me he’s never really shown up in another Predator movie (yet), although I did appreciate the fact that the sequel opted to go a different, urban route with a more grounded hero.
Total Recall:
As a kid, this was the Schwarzenegger movie I watched most often. Paul Verhoeven’s Mars adventure is one of the most gloriously violent action movies ever made, but it’s also surprisingly smart and nuanced. To this day, whether or not the movie is just Schwarzenegger’s Quaid recall fantasy is fiercely debated. Whatever the case, it has some of the greatest action sequences of the era, an incredible score by Jerry Goldsmith, and Sharon Stone as an impossibly sexy villainess, which paved the way for her to become a star in Basic Instinct.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day:
As good as all the other movies on this list are, I think this one is Arnie’s masterpiece. It reteams him with James Cameron, who’s operating at the peak of his abilities, with Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor reimagined as a tough-as-nails survivor. Audiences nowadays may not appreciate just how wild it was to 1991 moviegoers that the Terminator, one of the greatest villains of the era, would become a hero. Cameron not only makes it work, but Schwarzenegger delivers the performance of a lifetime as an almost Pinocchio-esque hero learning what it means to be human – right down to a final sacrifice that didn’t leave a dry eye in the house.
Honorable Mention: True Lies:
OK, some of you will be wondering where True Lies is on this list. I hear ya – it’s definitely one of Arnie’s best. It perfectly marries the hardcore action formula with the comedic chops he showed off in movies like Twins (which also came pretty close to being on this list). It has crazy James Cameron action scenes, as well as an incredibly sexy performance by Jamie Lee Curtis. This one was shockingly unavailable for many years, although now that it’s back out, Cameron’s tinkering with its look has fans somewhat divided. Whatever the case, it’s another classic.
And there it is – that’s our list! I’ll admit there are loads of movies that aren’t here that are crucial to Arnie’s filmography, such as the first Conan, Twins, and Last Action Hero (which almost destroyed his career at the time but is a cult classic now). But to narrow it down to five, some tough choices had to be made. What would your top five be? Let us know in the comments!
