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  1. Dartmouth Libraries
  2. Research Guides
  3. Dartmouth Libraries Guides
  4. Film Genres
  5. Action films

Film Genres

This guide highlights library resources for some of the more popular film genres.
  • Introduction
  • Streaming services
  • Action films
  • Amateur films
  • Animation
    • Stop-motion animation
  • Animé
  • B movies
  • Biographical films
  • Blaxploitation films
  • Children's films
  • Comedies
  • Cult films
  • Crime films
    • Gangster films
  • Detective & mystery films
  • Documentary films
  • Ethnographic films
  • Experimental films
  • Exploitation films
  • Film noir
  • Historical films
  • Horror films
    • Slasher films
  • Independent films
  • Indigenous films
  • James Bond films
  • LGBTQIA+
  • Mockumentary films
  • Musicals
  • Newsreels This link opens in a new window
  • Police films
  • Religious films
    • Bible films
  • Road films
  • Science fiction
    • Star Trek films
    • Star Wars films
  • Science films
  • Shakespeare on film
  • Short films
  • Silent films
  • Sports films
  • Superhero films
  • War films
    • Anti-war films
  • Vampire films
  • Westerns
  • Zombie films

Film Studies Librarian

Profile Photo
Lucinda M. Hall
Email Me
Contact:
Evans Map Room, Baker-Berry Library
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
(603) 646-0962
Website Skype Contact: d1128r8@kiewit.dartmouth.edu
Social: LinkedIn Page LibraryThing Page
Subjects: Film and Media Studies, Geography, Polar Studies

Other library resource(s)

  • Resource logoAction cinema from Oxford Bibliographies Online by James Kendrick
    • On Campus or VPN
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    ISBN: 9780199791286
    A hybrid genre that fuses the moral landscape of the western and the urban settings of film noir and police procedurals, the action film as we know it today is a relatively new genre, having taken shape in the late 1960s and early 1970s and become a fully recognized and immensely popular cinematic form in the 1980s.

Internet resource(s)

  • Action films from Filmsite

Keeping up with the journal literature

Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for all facets of Film Studies? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's you can download and read the articles you want.

You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.

Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's now available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.

Find new books in the library's collections

Find new books on action and adventure films. Starting from 2022 to the present.

A quick definition for action films

An extremely successful and influential mode of popular cinema that foregrounds spectacular movement of bodies, vehicles and weapons, and state-of-the-art special effects. These highly dynamic elements (with the actor’s physical performance a central attraction) are usually held together by a fast-paced, pared down, goal-orientated, narrative structure. Like the horror film or the thriller, the action film is defined in part by the type of experience it offers its audiences, namely, a visceral, exciting one of movement through (usually urban) space as the characters pursue a clearly specified objective, usually within a time-critical scenario. For its formal properties, narrative structure, and in the pleasures it offers it viewers, Speed (Jan de Bont, US, 1994) is considered by many to be an action film par excellence.

The action film is strongly associated with the adventure film, with swashbucklers, pirate films, historical epic films, and safari films all popular from the 1910s. The Douglas Fairbanks vehicle The Gaucho (F. Richard Jones, US, 1927) was described in contemporary reviews as an ‘action-adventure’ film and films such as The Adventures of Robin Hood (Michael Curtiz and William Keighley, US, 1938), starring Errol Flynn, contain all the elements normally associated with the contemporary genre. The Bond films of the 1960s and 1970s are also considered significant precursors. Often considered synonymous with US cinema, the action film is in fact central to almost all national cinemas. John Woo’s hyper-kinetic Hong Kong action films, for example, are variants of a longstanding martial arts film tradition that has shaped the cinemas of East Asia throughout the 20th century.  ...

Kuhn, A., & Westwell, G. (2020). Action film. In A Dictionary of Film Studies. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 24 Apr. 2023

Finding library resources for action & adventure films

To find what we have in the Library's collection, you can do a subject search for "action and adventure films" in the online catalog. That search will show you what film titles are classified as action films as well as books and other items about them.

As you look at the list under action and adventure films, the subject headings which include "history and criticism" talk about the genre itself. The headings which also include a country name are specifically talking about action films in that country.

  • action and adventure films
    Call number range PN 1995.9 .A3 on Baker Level 4.
  • action and adventure films [... insert name of country ...]
    This subject search finds action films created in a specific country.
  • action and adventure films history and criticism
    This subject search finds works which discuss and critique this particular genre.
  • martial arts films
  • swashbuckler films
  • See the James Bond tab to the left

Introductory reading(s)

  • Cover artThe action and adventure cinema by Yvonne Tasker, ed.
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .A3 A28 2004
    ISBN: 9780415235075
    This exciting collection addresses action and adventure from the silent to the contemporary period exploring diverse questions of aesthetics, industry and ideology. Action has established itself as one of the leading commercial genres of the New Hollywood cinema, generating extensive debate in the process. ...
  • Cover ArtA companion to the action film by James Kendrick, ed.
    • On Campus or VPN
    • E-Book
    Call Number: eBook
    ISBN: 9781119100492
    An authoritative guide to the action-packed film genre With 24 incisive, cutting-edge contributions from esteemed scholars and critics, A Companion to the Action Film provides an authoritative and in-depth guide to this internationally popular and wide-ranging genre. As the first major anthology on the action film in more than a decade, the volume offers insights into the genre's historical development, explores its production techniques and visual poetics, and provides reflections on the numerous social, cultural, and political issues it has and continues to embody. ...
  • Cover artContemporary action cinema by Lisa Purse
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .A3 P87 2011
    ISBN: 9780748638185
    Action cinema is a popular and familiar form which reflects the cultural, industrial and historical landscape from which it emerges.
  • Cover artThe Hollywood action and adventure film by Yvonne Tasker
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .A3 T37 2015
    ISBN: 9780470659250
    The Hollywood Action and Adventure Film presents a comprehensive overview and analysis of the history, myriad themes, and critical approaches to the action and adventure genre in American cinema.
  • Cover artMasters of the shoot-'em-up: conversations with directors, actors and writers of vintage action movies and television shows by Tadhg Taylor
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .A3 T39 2015
    ISBN: 9780786494064
    This collection of interviews features American, British and Australian writers, directors and actors recounting their notable work in the action genre and the fun of blowing things up.

Selected book title(s)

  • Cover artAction movies: the cinema of striking back by Harvey O'Brien
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .A3 O27 2012
    ISBN: 9780231163316
    Action Movies: The Cinema of Striking Back is a study of action cinema, exploring the ethics and aesthetics of the genre with reference to its relatively short history.
  • Cover artThe Asian influence on Hollywood action films by Barna William Donovan
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .A3 D66 2008
    ISBN: 9780786434039
    Filmmakers of the Pacific Rim have been delivering punches, chops and flying kicks to the Hollywood movie industry for years. This history showcases the influence of Eastern popular culture on America cinema and the ways in which its storytelling and cinematic techniques have migrated from grainy, low-budget martial arts movies to box-office blockbusters.
  • Cover artBeyond bombshells: the new action heroine in popular culture by Jeffrey A. Brown
    • On Campus or VPN
    • E-Book
    Call Number: eBook
    ISBN: 9781496803191
    Beyond Bombshells analyzes the cultural importance of strong women in a variety of current media forms. Action heroines are now more popular in movies, comic books, television, and literature than they have ever been. ...
  • Cover artThe good, the tough and the deadly: action movies and stars, 1960s-present by David J. Moore
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .A3 M66 2016
    ISBN: 9780764349959
    This massive study on action movies and stars from around the world, from the 1960s to the present, is filled with more than a thousand in-depth movie reviews that cover every action star who's crossed over from the world of martial arts, sports, professional wrestling, and stunt work.
  • Cover artHindi action cinema: industries, narratives, bodies by Valentina Vitali
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .I8 V575 2008
    ISBN: 9780195692440
    This book examines the connections between the ways in which a film is made and circulated within a given socio-economic juncture, and the various strategies by which it addresses us.
  • Cover artTarzan on film by Scott Tracy Griffin
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry Oversize PN 1995.9 .T3 G75 2016
    ISBN: 9780857685681
    In this authoritative volume, writer and historian Scott Tracy Griffin traces the development of the history-making Tarzan franchise, from the motion-picture industry's early silents and serials, through the high point of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer era featuring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan, to modern worldwide hits like 'Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan', 'Lord of the Apes' and Walt Disney Studios' animated 'Tarzan.'

Finding scholarly articles and journal title(s)

Articles and other writings about movies can be found in many publications. Our collection does not include a journal or magazine which looks exclusively at action and adventure films. Other film journals within our collection will cover action films. You can use Film & Television Literature Index to find relevant articles.

  • Resource logoFilm & television literature index by EBSCO Publishing
    • On Campus or VPN
    • Database
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    Use this index to find articles about action and adventure films.
  • Resource logoWeb of science citation databases by Clarivate
    • On Campus or VPN
    • Database
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    The online version of 3 separate ISI indexes: Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index and, Social Sciences Citation Index.

Selected movie title(s)

Find more action films in the library's collections.

  • Movie poster artBig Hero 6 by Don Hall & Chris Williams
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #18510
    Robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada learns to harness his genius, thanks to his brilliant brother Tadashi and their like-minded friends: adrenaline junkie Go Go Tamago, neatnik Wasabi, chemistry whiz Honey Lemon, and fanboy Fred. When a devastating turn of events catapults them into the midst of a dangerous plot unfolding in the streets of San Fransokyo, Hiro turns to his closest companion - a robot named Baymax - and transforms the group into a band of high-tech heroes determined to solve the mystery.
  • Movie poster artBlack Sea by Kevin Macdonald
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #18888
    A rogue submarine captain pulls together a misfit crew to go after a sunken treasure rumored to be lost in the depths of the Black Sea. As greed and desperation take control on board their claustrophobic vessel, the increasing uncertainty of the mission causes the men to turn on each other to fight for their own survival.
  • Movie poster artEnd of watch by David Ayer
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #15758
    Two young officers are marked for death after confiscating a small cache of money and firearms from the members of a notorious cartel, during a routine traffic stop.
  • Movie poster artInglourious basterds by Quentin Tarantino
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #5509
    During World War II, a group of Jewish-American guerrilla soldiers, led by Lt. Aldo Raine, become known as "The Basterds." They are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds soon cross paths with a French-Jewish woman who runs a movie theater in Paris which is targeted by the soldiers. A plot is set in motion to kill the Nazi leadership, including Adolph Hitler, at a movie premiere.
  • Movie poster artJohn Wick by Chad Stahelski
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #18370
    When sadistic young thugs senselessly attack a brilliantly lethal ex-assassin, they have no idea that they've just awakened the boogeyman. With New York City as his bullet-riddled playground, Wick embarks on a merciless rampage, hunting down his adversaries with the skill and ruthlessness that made him an underworld legend.
  • Movie poster artLooper by Rian Johnson
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #15668
    In the year 2074, the mob sends problem people back in time to 2034, where a hired gun waits to eliminate them. Joe is one such hired gun, good at what he does. But problems arise when the mob tries to 'close the loop,' and Joe comes face-to-face with his future self during a hit. When Joe's future self escapes after he hesitates to finish the assignment, Joe must chase himself down and finish the job.
  • Movie poster artLucy by Luc Besson
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #18355
    An action-thriller that tracks a woman accidentally caught in a dark deal who turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic.
  • Movie poster artMachete kills by Robert Rodriguez
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #17507
    In his latest mission, Machete is recruited by the U.S. President to stop a crazed global terrorist who is planning to start a nuclear war. Meanwhile, Machete has a bounty on his head, and he faces death from a series of deadly assassins.
  • Cover artRichard Adams's Watership down by Ross Martin
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #4038
    A faithful big-screen adaptation of Richard Adams's classic British dystopian novel about a community of rabbits seeking safety and happiness after their warren comes under terrible threat.
  • Cover artStand by me by Rob Reiner
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #169
    ISBN: 9780800141622
    This film about friendship and the indelible experiences of growing up takes place in a small Oregon town as four boys set out on a two-day search for a missing teenager's body, a search that turns into an odyssey of self-discovery.
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  • Last Updated: May 13, 2025 10:50 AM
  • URL: https://researchguides.dartmouth.edu/filmgenres
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