The golden age of badass, ultra-macho, blow-shit-up-real-good, action pics ran roughly from 1977 with “Smokey and the Bandit” to 1994 with “True Lies,” probably hitting a peak around 1985 to 1987 with movies like “Rambo: First Blood Part II,” “Aliens” “Predator,” “Die Hard” and “Top Gun.”
I’d also throw out an honorable mention to “The Blues Brothers.” Though much more of a comedy than anything else, it had many of the hallmarks of a great action movie - guns blazing, awesome car chase scenes, wanton destruction of public property, even shit blowing up.