Is he an action star?

Cafe Society
21

I’ve voted. Here’s how I made my decisions. I went with what I primarily know the actor for, and whether or not I consider there main body of work to be action. I didn’t rule someone out just because they’ve done work that isn’t action. I also tended to not consider sci-fi roles as action. Here are my comments on some of the names listed.

I didn’t include Shatner as an action star because I don’t consider Captain Kirk an action role.

Jim Belushi was a bit of a head scratcher. Maybe I just missed one of his action roles, but I tend to think of him as a comedy star rather than an action star. Seeing him on the list seemed out of place.

Peter Weller is another interesting case. I would have thought more people would list him as an action star. I’m only familiar with him for his role as Robocop, but I’m guessing based on the poll results so far (and without looking him up) that he must have some well known non-action roles.

22

I mostly associate him with Screamers, completely forgot he was the Robocop :o. But while all three movies feature shooty bang bang I wouldn’t say they’re really action films - *RoboCop *is a grim cyberpunk satire, *Screamers *is a grim post-apocalyptic road trip. Neither are the kind of popcorn, put-your-brain-on-a-shelf-and-enjoy stuff that Bruce Lee or Bruce Willis did.

23

I think Dave Bautista is the only guy I mentally disqualified based on the “star” part rather than the “action” part. He’s more talented that JCVD or Steven Segal, though so I imagine I’ll end up thinking of him as an action star by the end of his acting career, if he continues to get roles.

24

I know who all of them are. I don’t see the point of adding that option, it just makes the results needlessly complicated. All I selected were those I thought were action stars.

25

If 50 people respond, but only 5 know who Chow Yun-Fat is (and they all think that he’s an action star), then Chow Yun-Fat will get 5 responses and Arnold Schwarzeneggar will get 50. 100% of people will think that they’re both action stars.

If I don’t know how many people know a person, then I can’t tell the difference between a non-action star and a person who just isn’t commonly known (because they’re famous in a different marketplace or in a previous era or whatever).

26

Whew! Quite a list, but I went through the whole damn thing. The key word for a lot of those guys would be “was,” not “is.”

27

Is Ben Affleck really the most recognized actor in the world? Or is this just an artifact of the way the list is arranged?

28

I would not touch this list with my 10-foot pole.

29

Well, as of this writing 49 people know who Ben Affleck is and 46 people know who John Wayne is.

Since I refuse to believe anybody with a pulse doesn’t know who John Wayne is even if they might not have seen him in any movie, we can infer that at least 3 people quit the poll midway through (more if anybody didn’t know who Ben Affleck is, but c’mon, who doesn’t ? Do we have posters who have been stuck in an iron lung for the past 20 years ?)

30

Yeah, I really only flagged a relative handful of these as “action stars” since I limit that category to people who only or virtually only do actions roles. Keanu Reeves has done a ton of action roles, but no way I can consider him an “action star” - his portfolio is just too diverse.

31

Yep, I think it’s people quitting the poll early. You need to be a poll-taking version of an action star to do it all!

32

I somehow accidentally skipped Stallone, making the list, but I feel comfortable claiming that he would have won a spot if he had been there, based on the current results so I’ll be including him in the results.

To determine the results, I will calculate the current scores as voted by you all, but also a version with two extra null votes. This is a cheap and easy way to get some form of confidence rating, given that we don’t have the same number of responses for each candidate. The “two null” version orders people by how confident we are in their action starness.

In cases where there are more “star” voters than “knows” voters, I am increasing the “knows” to the number of “star” votes for that actor.

Here are the results (normal):

Jackie Chan 100
Vin Diesel 100
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson 100
Bruce Lee 100
Jet Li 100
Dolph Lundgren 100
Chuck Norris 100
Arnold Schwarzenegger 100
Steven Seagal 100
Jean-Claude Van Damme 100
Jason Statham 97.619047619
Chow Yun-fat 89.4736842105
Bruce Willis 86
Charles Bronson 84.6153846154
Tony Jaa 83.3333333333
Wesley Snipes 83.3333333333
Dave Bautista 82.3529411765
Jason Momoa 73.8095238095
Mr. T 70.5882352941
Tom Cruise 62.7450980392
Danny Trejo 60.9756097561
Clint Eastwood 60.7843137255
Chris Hemsworth 59.0909090909
Chris Evans 58.5365853659
Keanu Reeves 56.862745098
John Wayne 56
Harrison Ford 50
Jeremy Renner 50
Lou Ferrigno 48.8888888889
Mel Gibson 47.0588235294
Liam Neeson 45.8333333333
Burt Reynolds 42
Steve McQueen 41.3043478261
Jean Reno 40.625
Hugh Jackman 40
Bruce Campbell 39.5348837209
Gerard Butler 39.4736842105
Sean Connery 36.5384615385
Ving Rhames 36.3636363636
Lee Majors 36.3636363636
Kurt Russell 36
Ryan Reynolds 33.3333333333
Mark Wahlberg 32.6530612245
Samuel L. Jackson 32
Will Smith 31.3725490196
Chris Pratt 30.2325581395
Pierce Brosnan 29.4117647059
Antonio Banderas 28
Robert Downey Jr. 27.4509803922
Idris Elba 27.2727272727
Christopher Lambert 27.027027027
Nicolas Cage 25
Chris Pine 23.6842105263
Timothy Dalton 23.4042553191
Ron Perlman 23.2558139535
Christian Bale 22.9166666667
Danny Glover 22.9166666667
Kiefer Sutherland 22.9166666667
Roy Rogers 21.7391304348
Adam West 20.4081632653
Russell Crowe 20
Tom Hardy 20
Denzel Washington 19.6078431373
Tom Selleck 19.2307692308
Ben Affleck 18.8679245283
Mark Ruffalo 18.1818181818
Nathan Fillion 16.2790697674
Sean Bean 14.2857142857
Brad Pitt 14.2857142857
Burt Lancaster 12.8205128205
Mickey Rourke 11.6279069767
Clive Owen 11.1111111111
Peter Weller 10
John Travolta 9.8039215686
Cary Elwes 9.5238095238
Johnny Depp 7.6923076923
William Shatner 7.6923076923
Michael Keaton 6
Tom Berenger 5.7142857143
Edward Norton 4.2553191489
Owen Wilson 4.1666666667
John Malkovich 4.0816326531
Jeff Bridges 3.9215686275
Eddie Murphy 3.8461538462
Jim Belushi 2

With two null votes:

Steven Seagal 96.4285714286
Jackie Chan 96.3636363636
Chuck Norris 96.3636363636
Arnold Schwarzenegger 96.3636363636
Jean-Claude Van Damme 96.3636363636
Vin Diesel 96.2962962963
Bruce Lee 96.2962962963
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson 96.1538461538
Jet Li 96.0784313725
Dolph Lundgren 95.8333333333
Jason Statham 93.1818181818
Chow Yun-fat 85
Bruce Willis 82.6923076923
Charles Bronson 81.4814814815
Wesley Snipes 80
Dave Bautista 77.7777777778
Tony Jaa 75
Jason Momoa 70.4545454545
Mr. T 67.9245283019
Tom Cruise 60.3773584906
Clint Eastwood 58.4905660377
Danny Trejo 58.1395348837
Chris Hemsworth 56.5217391304
Chris Evans 55.8139534884
Keanu Reeves 54.7169811321
John Wayne 53.8461538462
Harrison Ford 48.1481481481
Jeremy Renner 47.7272727273
Lou Ferrigno 46.8085106383
Mel Gibson 45.2830188679
Liam Neeson 44
Burt Reynolds 40.3846153846
Steve McQueen 39.5833333333
Hugh Jackman 38.4615384615
Jean Reno 38.2352941176
Bruce Campbell 37.7777777778
Gerard Butler 37.5
Sean Connery 35.1851851852
Ving Rhames 34.7826086957
Lee Majors 34.7826086957
Kurt Russell 34.6153846154
Ryan Reynolds 31.8181818182
Mark Wahlberg 31.3725490196
Samuel L. Jackson 30.7692307692
Will Smith 30.1886792453
Chris Pratt 28.8888888889
Pierce Brosnan 28.3018867925
Antonio Banderas 26.9230769231
Robert Downey Jr. 26.4150943396
Idris Elba 26.0869565217
Christopher Lambert 25.641025641
Nicolas Cage 24.0740740741
Chris Pine 22.5
Timothy Dalton 22.4489795918
Ron Perlman 22.2222222222
Christian Bale 22
Danny Glover 22
Kiefer Sutherland 22
Roy Rogers 20.8333333333
Adam West 19.6078431373
Russell Crowe 19.2307692308
Tom Hardy 18.9189189189
Denzel Washington 18.8679245283
Tom Selleck 18.5185185185
Ben Affleck 18.1818181818
Mark Ruffalo 17.3913043478
Nathan Fillion 15.5555555556
Brad Pitt 13.7254901961
Sean Bean 13.6363636364
Burt Lancaster 12.1951219512
Mickey Rourke 11.1111111111
Clive Owen 10.5263157895
Peter Weller 9.5238095238
John Travolta 9.4339622642
Cary Elwes 9.0909090909
Johnny Depp 7.4074074074
William Shatner 7.4074074074
Michael Keaton 5.7692307692
Tom Berenger 5.4054054054
Edward Norton 4.0816326531
Owen Wilson 4
John Malkovich 3.9215686275
Jeff Bridges 3.7735849057
Eddie Murphy 3.7037037037
Jim Belushi 1.9230769231

To also try and incorporate popularity into the mix, I have also calculated a popularity value for each actor. This is simply the number of “knows” divided by the highest response value in the set (“knows” or “star”).

This below table is ordered according to the square root of (the square of the value in the first table above plus the square of the popularity). That is, it’s the length of the hypotenuse of the popularity and the star vote.

I believe that this would be a modern SDMBer’s approximate view of the rankings of everyone.

With popularity included (Green >= 137, Olive >= 120, Orange >= 100, Red >= 95):

Arnold Schwarzenegger
Sylvester Stallone (POSITED)
Jackie Chan
Bruce Lee
Chuck Norris
Steven Seagal
Vin Diesel
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Jet Li
Dolph Lundgren
Charles Bronson
Bruce Willis
Jason Statham
Wesley Snipes
Mr. T
Chow Yun-fat
Tom Cruise
Clint Eastwood
Keanu Reeves
Harrison Ford
John Wayne
Jason Momoa
Mel Gibson
Dave Bautista
Sean Connery
Burt Reynolds
Hugh Jackman
Chris Hemsworth
Liam Neeson
Ben Affleck
Will Smith
Nicolas Cage
Kurt Russell
Pierce Brosnan
Robert Downey Jr.
Tom Selleck
Samuel L. Jackson
Danny Trejo
Antonio Banderas
Lou Ferrigno
Johnny Depp
William Shatner
Denzel Washington
Mark Wahlberg
Eddie Murphy
Chris Evans
John Travolta
Russell Crowe
Steve McQueen
Jeff Bridges
Adam West
Michael Keaton
Jim Belushi
Jeremy Renner
Brad Pitt
Christian Bale
Danny Glover
Kiefer Sutherland
John Malkovich
Timothy Dalton
Tony Jaa
Ving Rhames
Lee Majors
Owen Wilson
Bruce Campbell
Roy Rogers
Edward Norton
Idris Elba
Chris Pratt
Ryan Reynolds
Mark Ruffalo
Ron Perlman
Nathan Fillion
Gerard Butler
Mickey Rourke
Sean Bean
Cary Elwes
Peter Weller
Chris Pine
Christopher Lambert
Burt Lancaster
Jean Reno
Tom Hardy
Clive Owen
Tom Berenger

33

That’s like saying that Gene Kelly wasn’t a dancer because he was also in Inherit the Wind, or the Robin Williams wasn’t a comedic actor because of Awakenings.

34

Clearly someone unfamiliar with his true life’s passion, hosting poetry slams.

I’ll see all of you at Chanslam 2020 in Santa Fe.

35

Maybe Brendan Fraser posts here?

36

It would be helpful if it was clearer whether it was meant that they are only, or primarily action stars, or whether it’s just yes, they qualify as that, possibly among other things. I found myself happily quantifying John Wayne as an action star, Westerns being the action movies of their time. Likewise I’ve seen Brad Pitt do some dramatic work, but in my head he’s an action star. But Chow Yun-Fat, I simply can not bring myself to limit him in that way.

So yeah, my definition skipped about a bit. . .

37

He is?

38

Why is Dustin Hoffman not on the list? He even reportedly thought of himself as an action star when he jumped from a hovering helicopter onto a ship in Outbreak (1995).

39

I love this! You have basically invented a logical rating system for action stars, and the results look exactly right.

I like how Harrison Ford is exactly at 50. That seems about right. And in the weighted list, just about everyone seems to be right about where they should be to me. Cool.

40

I know everyone on the list, so I skipped the “I know” part, and voted only on who I believe is an action star, and, yes, Tom Mapother is definitely one.