# Female Action Star Mount Rushmore **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 21, 2019, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855 "2019-06-21T17:26:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2019, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855/41 "2019-06-23T03:47:47Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > The problem with female action stars, and why the game is/was so hard, is because it’s hard to find women who carried multiple action movies. A lot of people mentioned in this thread suffered from the same problem that I said Jolie suffers. Granted, she’s been in action-y type movies, but just because they’re in the movie, they don’t have much of an action part in them. Angelina Jolie has headlined multiple different action movies with roles that feature huge action parts. I agree with your point in general, but Angelina Jolie is 100% an exception to that rule. > [@snfaulkner](#): > > Re:my bolding: If you’ve only seen Jackie chan’s American releases, then yes. But nobody who has ever seen Police Story or any other of dozens of his hong Kong movies from the 80s and 90s could ever claim this and be credible. The Hong Kong version of Hollywood can / should have its own Mt Rushmore, I would think. Much like the Mt Rushmore of song & dance stars might have a Bollywood version. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2019, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855/42 "2019-06-23T03:54:35Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Angelina Jolie has headlined multiple different action movies with roles that feature huge action parts. > > I agree with your point in general, but Angelina Jolie is 100% an exception to that rule. > > The Hong Kong version of Hollywood can / should have its own Mt Rushmore, I would think. Much like the Mt Rushmore of song & dance stars might have a Bollywood version. Yes. It can and should, and probably their own threads, but only if you limit the other Mt Rushmore to just American releases. But if it’s a “best in the world” type thing, Jackie chan stays. Anyway, this should be a separate thread. I’ll gladly participate in it, but I might be too lazy to start it. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2019, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855/43 "2019-06-23T08:19:43Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > Michelle Yeoh has been in several hit U.S. movies since 2000. > > [Michelle Yeoh - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000706/?ref_=rvi_nm) I’ll grant that I didn’t double-check, but I’m not seeing anything in the IMDB filmography? I’m not sure which role she played in Guardians of the Galaxy 2, but I don’t believe that it was an action role. (It looks like she was just in the background in a scene.) Crazy Rich Asians wasn’t an action role. Some of her voice acting roles may be as action characters, but that doesn’t count. Possibly she was still doing live action in The Mummy 3, I haven’t seen it, but I would imagine that it’s fair to say that if an American who only ever saw Hollywood films knows of her, as an action star, it would be from Crouching Tiger. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2019, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855/44 "2019-06-23T08:44:57Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Wow. > > Linda Hamilton and Sigourney Weaver both fought off lots of bad guys physically in their major movies. I really don’t see how you can watch those movies and not think that. Linda Hamilton, Terminator 1, was the person who killed the Terminator. In T2, she foguht off multiple people breaking out of the asylum, shot at the T1000 many, many times even when severely wounded, and nearly killed him herself. Weaver was the main hero of Alien and Aliens (and Alien 3, which was terrible, but should still count). > > It’s a real stretch to say they weren’t action movie stars. Terminator 1 wasn’t an action film, it was a thriller. That was, definitely, Hamilton who won against the machine, but it was also Nick Nolte who defeated Robert De Niro in Cape Fear. Nolte isn’t an action star because of Cape Fear and Hamilton isn’t an action star because of Terminator 1. In a thriller, the person wins against the bad guy while scared. In an action film, the person wins against the bad guy while smug and confident. I might be misremembering her level of activity in T2. I think I recall her blowing the T1000’s body open with an explosive bullet, now that you say it. I’ll grant that that’s a lot better than Princess Leia. But I never felt like she was going to be the one to take out the T1000. It had to be Arnie just since he was the one fighting it through all the previous battles in the film. More importantly, that’s still just one film. Alien was a horror film, not an action film. Alien 3 was horror/drama. Only Aliens was an action film. If we want to make Sigourney an action star over Alien, then we would also need to make Kevin Bacon into an action star for Tremors. Cape Fear and Tremors are both big blockbuster films. The main character fights and wins over the baddie. I’m not being arbitrary. If we want to be honest about what is and isn’t an action star and not hold women to a different standard, then we would either need to exclude Hamilton and Sigourney or include Nolte and Bacon. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2019, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855/45 "2019-06-23T09:25:40Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > I’d probably go with Angelina Jolie, Scarlett Johansson, Milla Jovovich, and Linda Hamilton. > > For context, Jackie Chan wouldn’t be on my Mt Rushmore of male action heroes, which would be Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, then a choice of two among Bruce Willis, Tom Cruise, Dwayne Johnson, Vin Diesel and Jason Statham. So I wouldn’t look to Jackie’s costars for my female Mt Rushmore either. I’ll grant that it’s a very different style of action and that, by simple virtue of being half the size of your average Hollywood action hero, Jackie might not hit the spot for many people. Being able to beat up 20 office worker looking guys isn’t the same thing as beating up an invisible alien who can bench press 500 pounds and has a nuke in his apartment. I wouldn’t agree with you in terms of who does and doesn’t go on, but I’ll grant that your list is probably a reasonable view of the matter. But, I think that you would agree, Jackie is an undisputable action star. If you’re equal with him, Rushmore worthy or not, you’re a legitimate action star. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2019, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855/46 "2019-06-23T09:40:49Z")
ctrl+f “Gina carano” 0/0 results. That’s it. This thread is invalidated. Everybody go home. For those who still can’t place the name, she was the evil henchwoman in Deadpool and has starred in a bunch of action flicks. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855/47 "2019-06-24T15:06:55Z")
Gonna Carano isn’t an action star. Not enough but roles. A couple of decent films. More bad films. All small budget. A few times as henchmen. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855/48 "2019-06-24T15:42:30Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Angelina Jolie did decently in all of her films. I liked Mr. and Mrs. Smith and between her and Pitt, I think she does a better action hero. But, none of her films are very memorable. Same for Scarlett Johansson; decent filmography but her solo films don’t stand out as being particularly memorable or like she was fundamental to their success. I’d argue the Lara Croft stuff was, pretty much, Angelina Jolie: The Movie. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855/49 "2019-06-24T16:31:27Z")
Hmmm… I think a definite requirement to be put on Mt Crushmore is a solid library of action roles, definitely more than two or three. Sigourney and Linda H, while excellent in their few outings, don’t deserve it any more than Natalie Portman, Chloe Moritz, or others with only a couple of punches in their ass-kickery discount card. Six hole punches required for the free roundhouse kick. Michelle Yeoh Charlize Theron Milla Jovovich So who gets number 4? I agree with others that Angelina Jolie doesn’t feel authentic on the Mountain–she didn’t forge her career on action, she seemed more of an opportunist that the studios inserted into action blockbusters to boost the marquee power rather than an action draw on her own merits. Picky semantics? Yep, but roundhouse kicks don’t care, and any of the above three will send a villain’s jaw convincingly across the border into dislocation county while Angelina will barely draw a flinch. Lucy Lawless by secret ballot. Done. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855/50 "2019-06-24T16:52:56Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > Hmmm… > > I think a definite requirement to be put on Mt Crushmore is a solid library of action roles, definitely more than two or three. Sigourney and Linda H, while excellent in their few outings, don’t deserve it any more than Natalie Portman, Chloe Moritz, or others with only a couple of punches in their ass-kickery discount card. Six hole punches required for the free roundhouse kick. > > Michelle Yeoh > Charlize Theron > Milla Jovovich > > So who gets number 4? I agree with others that Angelina Jolie doesn’t feel authentic on the Mountain–she didn’t forge her career on action, she seemed more of an opportunist that the studios inserted into action blockbusters to boost the marquee power rather than an action draw on her own merits. Picky semantics? Yep, but roundhouse kicks don’t care, and any of the above three will send a villain’s jaw convincingly across the border into dislocation county while Angelina will barely draw a flinch. > > Lucy Lawless by secret ballot. Done. Charlize? Based on what? Mad Max, Atomic Blonde and Aeon Flux? Mad Max was great, but Atomic Blonde only did a decent amount at the Box Office and Aeon Flux didn’t do jack. Just because they are IN a lot of movies doesn’t make them part of Rushmore ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855/51 "2019-06-24T18:08:58Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Charlize? Based on what? Mad Max, Atomic Blonde and Aeon Flux? Mad Max was great, but Atomic Blonde only did a decent amount at the Box Office and Aeon Flux didn’t do jack. Just because they are IN a lot of movies doesn’t make them part of Rushmore I think most people would disagree with your criteria. I don’t care about how well it did at the box office, Atomic Blonde has one of the best fight scenes of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855/52 "2019-06-24T18:09:59Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I’d argue the Lara Croft stuff was, pretty much, Angelina Jolie: The Movie. Does anyone go back and rewatch Tomb Raider? I remember that it was pretty big when it came out (the first one), but I haven’t ever gotten the sense that it’s a film that people will throw in as a nostalgic rewatch. For that genre, I’d expect The Mummy or Indiana Jones to go in ahead of Tomb Raider. I have literally no memory of it beyond knowing that I have seen it. I feel like a pretty key aspect of being an action star is that people will want to go back and rewatch at least one of your films for nostalgic “that’s back when they _really_ knew how to do action!” Arnie: Predator Stallone: Rambo II Van Damme: Bloodsport Statham: Crank Lee: Enter the Dragon Chan: Police Story **Yeoh: Supercop 2** ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855/53 "2019-06-24T18:31:45Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > Michelle Yeoh > Charlize Theron > Milla Jovovich > > So who gets number 4? I agree with others that Angelina Jolie doesn’t feel authentic on the Mountain–she didn’t forge her career on action, she seemed more of an opportunist that the studios inserted into action blockbusters to boost the marquee power rather than an action draw on her own merits. What you’re saying disqualifies Angelina Jolie also applies to Charlize Theron. She didn’t forge her career in action either, and her first action role (the execrable Aeon Flux) felt exactly like a studio insertion to boost marquee power rather than because she was an action draw on her own merits. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855/54 "2019-06-24T19:27:41Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > I think most people would disagree with your criteria. I don’t care about how well it did at the box office, Atomic Blonde has one of the best fight scenes of all time. I don’t think they would disagree at all. You can’t be put on the Mount Rushmore of anything if the thing you’re being put on the mountain for failed. Aeon Flux and Atomic Blonde don’t even really have cult status like, say, The Fifth Element. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855/55 "2019-06-24T20:23:30Z")
Your definition of success is too narrow. Atomic Blonde was successful in portraying a compelling badass. Are van Gogh or Edgar Allen Poe disqualified from being named greats? ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855/56 "2019-06-24T20:39:56Z")
During the eighties and nineties, Rothrock was either in action movies and similar cheap karate flicks or she was the action-double for female stars who were being portrayed as kicking someone’s ass with martial arts techniques. You didn’t think it was really Sharon Stone bashing Ahhnold around (yeah, okay, it was all a planted dream) in Total Recall, did you? Before she got famous crossing the Pacific with the Chan films, Yeoh was in dozens of Hong Kong/Chinese martial-arts and action flicks like Silver Hawk and the Heroic Trio and Yes Madam! (with Rothrock). In fact, she was in several films with Chan but wasn’t getting star billing because she wasn’t in a star or co-star role. Johansson has been kicking butts from Iron Man II through Endgame (I never watched the MCU Hulk so I don’t know…) so that’s almost 2 decades worth of MCU Action. I’d count her in. I’m not sure who I’d put up there as the fourth face. Maybe Jolie for all the one-offs and the Tomb Raiders – which were apparently liked enough to warrant an attempt to reboot it. Did the reboot do well enough to warrant a sequel? –G! ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855/57 "2019-06-24T21:00:44Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Imagine if Chuck Norris was female, and talented. Rothrock is…_talented_? I would have described it as _Imagine if Chuck Norris was female and even less talented._ She qualifies as an action star in the same way as Millard Fillmore qualifies as past US President. Unless quantity is a deciding factor, not Mount Rushmore worthy, IMO. For the same reason, Brigitte Nielsen does not make my cut. Yeah, they did the job, but they weren’t really any good at it. Only one mention of Jennifer Lawrence? She should certainly be in the running. One might consider Uma Thurman, but I don’t think she has enough work (I’m assuming we count villain work). Same could be said for Halle Berry and Lucy Liu (I consider Charlie’s Angels to be action comedy). And I agree with those who say Pam Grier should most probably be featured on any female action hero Mount Rushmore. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855/58 "2019-06-24T21:38:55Z")
Would Geena Davis get at least an honorable mention? ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855/59 "2019-06-24T23:32:38Z")
I feel like there HAS to be a few 1940s-60s actresses who specialized in Westerns and rugged outdoor adventures (which is arguably more impressive than being a sci-fi comic book hero). Shelley Winters? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855/60 "2019-06-25T02:03:23Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > Only one mention of Jennifer Lawrence? She should certainly be in the running. As Mystique, doesn’t she pretty much just get replaced with CGI for all the action sequences? Hunger Games feels more like “adventure” to me than “action”. I don’t know, I’ll grant that I haven’t seen most of her actiony work, but it doesn’t feel to me like anyone’s first instinct would be to list her as an action star. > [@Yllaria](#): > > Would Geena Davis get at least an honorable mention? I really like The Long Kiss Goodnight and I always thought that Cutthroat Island was fun (and better than Pirates of the Caribbean) but I’m the only person who seems to have liked the Geena/Harlin films. I think they had the misfortune of being the right sort of film for an earlier and later time period, respectively. Long Kiss was a late 80s film, released in the mid-90s. Cutthroat was a mid-oughts film released in the mid-90s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-action-star-mount-rushmore/835855.md?page=4)