Violence--we hate it in real life, we love it in the movies. Is there a difference? Of course. From the author of Strange New World: Sex Films of the 1970s and Cool TV of the 1960s comes the most detailed study yet of one hundred of the most enjoyable violent movies.

From Cagney and Corman to Jackie Chan and Chow Yun Fat, from Coffy and Black Caesar to Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction, from Republic serials to the Die Hards, from Shaft and Get Carter to Schwarzenegger and Stallone, these are films faked the hard way, with real stunts, real explosions, real muscles, real imagination, strong scripts, serious carnage, and real cars on real roads.

Written with a sense of humor, but packed with information, here are one hundred of the best, most violent action movies ever. Where they came from, why they're great, and what's in 'em that makes them great. Jon Abbott is currently appearing regularly in Infinity magazine. He has been writing professionally about 20th century pop culture for over thirty years, with over four hundred articles on TV and film published in over two dozen different magazines, trade, specialist, and populist, and numerous best-selling books on Amazon. He lives in Brighton, England.
About the Author: About the Author

Jon Abbott was born in Lambeth, London, England in June, 1956.

Thanks to Huckleberry Hound and Supercar, Jon Abbott has been writing professionally about popular culture for over thirty years, during which time he has written more than four hundred articles on American film and television for over two dozen different trade, specialist, and populist publications in the U.K. These have included City Limits, Television Weekly, Video Today, Starburst, Stills, Media Week, Adult Movies on Video, What Video, What Satellite, TV Zone, Time Out, The Face, DarkSide, Video Buyer, Video World, Cult Times, Comedy Review, SFX, Home Entertainment, Dreamwatch, and Infinity.

He has a wide range of interests in 20th century film, television, art and music, including gangster films ranging from Cagney through to Corman and Scorsese, classic cartoons, 1950s sci-fi movies, 1960s TV and comics, and 1970s cinema.

He is particularly fond of the work of Laurel and Hardy, Hanna-Barbera, Irwin Allen, Gerry Anderson, Elvis Presley, Clint Eastwood, Stallone and Schwarzenegger, Jackie Chan, and Stephen J. Cannell. He's also a fan of Republic serials, The Untouchables, The Outer Limits, The Man from UNCLE, The Invaders, the original Star Trek, Godzilla and Gamera films, Chow Yun Fat, Fawlty Towers, Frasier, and The Sweeney (list edited for space).

About the book

If it's hypocritical to enjoy lurid, violent films yet abhor real violence (as I do), then it seems even more hypocritical to deny the buzz one gets from a violent movie. This book has been written for the pleasure of the audience that shares my enjoyment of the Stallone/Schwarzenegger style of film and their predecessors, and that laughs and hoots along with me as bullet-riddled thugs dance and fall, and buildings and cars explode. I attempted to produce it with the same honesty that I did with Strange New World, my study of 1970s sex films, another frowned-upon genre that I enjoy and examined with a complete absence of self-imposed guilt. I love this stuff and I want other people to love it as much as I do. So please enjoy my books and enjoy these films...