# What was the first "Action Movie"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2011, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829 "2011-06-17T13:44:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829/21 "2011-06-17T20:04:35Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Is there any action film that can’t be slotted into another genre with ease? What would you call Die Hard, if not an Action Film? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829/22 "2011-06-17T20:08:00Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Is there any action film that can’t be slotted into another genre with ease? Granted that it would be hard. That’s my biggest stumbling block going further back than the 60’s. I’d even say that there are elements of [Rebel Without a Cause (1955)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048545/) or even [The Wild One (1953)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047677/) that knock on the Action Movie door, but which are easily dismissed as Teenager or Hoodlum flims, or something equally dismissive. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829/23 "2011-06-17T20:08:54Z")
> [@CandidGamera](#): > > What would you call Die Hard, if not an Action Film? “Crime” or "Thriller"or perhaps even “Suspense”. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829/24 "2011-06-17T20:11:18Z")
I’ve heard [Battleship Potemkin - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battleship_Potemkin) (1925) as the first “Action Movie”. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829/25 "2011-06-17T20:11:31Z")
beaten to the punch ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829/26 "2011-06-17T20:13:01Z")
What would you call Commando, if not an Action Film? ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829/27 "2011-06-17T20:27:07Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > I’ve heard [Battleship Potemkin - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battleship_Potemkin) (1925) as the first “Action Movie”. I am posting from my Droid, so searching is clumsy. Is " Alexander Nevsky " older than Potmkin ? ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829/28 "2011-06-17T20:35:03Z")
If not Great Train Robbery, perhaps [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth\_of\_a\_nation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_of_a_nation) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829/29 "2011-06-17T20:35:13Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > What would you call Commando, if not an Action Film? I’d go with Action, but I could see a Blockbuster (staffed by drones) with a War section or a Special Forces section or something down that trail where you’d have to look for it. Could be part of why Blockbuster sleeps with the fishes. BTW, does anybody deal with the Red Box alternative to Netflix? How do their categories work? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829/30 "2011-06-17T20:36:10Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > What would you call Commando, if not an Action Film? [A slasher flick](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxAuh53QejY) (warning: incredibly gory) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829/31 "2011-06-17T20:39:32Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > [A slasher flick](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxAuh53QejY) (warning: incredibly gory) Did anybody else have a _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_ moment there? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829/32 "2011-06-17T20:43:12Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > What would you call Commando, if not an Action Film? War - I don’t think a film needs to take place in a war for that catagory. If it has soldiers and military weapons in it, I think it qualifies. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829/33 "2011-06-17T20:44:23Z")
Okay, y’all. Bending the definition of “action” just a bit, to coincide with puberty mentality, what about [The May-Irwin Kiss (Edison, 1896)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zURTEs8C1lo)? ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829/34 "2011-06-17T20:44:51Z")
I’d think only the last 15 minutes could count as “war” and that is a very loose definition of the “war” genre ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829/35 "2011-06-17T20:52:28Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > I’d think only the last 15 minutes could count as “war” and that is a very loose definition of the “war” genre Fair enough. I’ve never seen _Commando_; I was just going off of the Wiki summary which made it sound like there was a lot more combat involved. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829/36 "2011-06-17T21:01:30Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > _[The Great Train Robbery](http://history1900s.about.com/od/1900s/qt/trainrobbery.htm)_ This is the one that I immediately thought of when I saw the thread title. And for those who say that action films need car chases, how many fucking cars were around in 1903? And for those that say that it is a western, it may be set in the west, but it is about a train robbery. It isn’t about driving cattle, it isn’t about settling the great wide expanses, it isn’t about trekking across the country to settle the west or find gold in California. It’s a train robbery. Robbing trains is all sorts of action. I challenge anyone to find one other single theme of a classic western in that film. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829/37 "2011-06-17T21:04:03Z")
\*The Great Train Robbery \* is often the answer to any “first” question about cinema. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829/38 "2011-06-17T21:08:52Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > This is the one that I immediately thought of when I saw the thread title. And for those who say that action films need car chases, how many fucking cars were around in 1903? And for those that say that it is a western, it may be set in the west, but it is about a train robbery. It isn’t about driving cattle, it isn’t about settling the great wide expanses, it isn’t about trekking across the country to settle the west or find gold in California. It’s a train robbery. Robbing trains is all sorts of action. > > I challenge anyone to find one other single theme of a classic western in that film. To assist in that search for other “Western” themes, here’s [The Great Train Robbery (1903) Full COMPLETE Original Film RESTORED](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6r-105ZhZU) ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829/39 "2011-06-18T10:05:03Z")
Western??? Hell, it was shot in New Jersey !!! ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829/40 "2011-06-18T12:48:04Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > I challenge anyone to find one other single theme of a classic western in that film. The landscape photography, and the mounted gunfight, certainly look like they influenced later Westerns. As to whether the film is a Western or not, it’s a category that gets pretty fuzzy at the edges. I would call it one personally. Thanks **Zeldar** for the link, I’d heard of the film before but never watched it. Never thought to look on Youtube… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-action-movie/585829.md?page=3)