Best Action Movies of 1974

In New York, armed men hijack a subway car and demand a ransom for the passengers. Even if it's paid, how could they get away?

An American bartender and his prostitute girlfriend go on a road trip through the Mexican underworld to collect a $1 million bounty on the head of a dead gigolo.

At the opening party of a colossal—but poorly constructed—skyscraper, a massive fire breaks out, threatening to destroy the tower and everyone in it.

After his wife is murdered by street punks, a pacifistic New York City architect becomes a one-man vigilante squad, prowling the streets for would-be muggers after dark.

With the help of an irreverent young sidekick, a bank robber gets his old gang back together to organise a daring new heist.

The Four Musketeers defend the queen and her dressmaker from Cardinal Richelieu and Milady de Winter.

A voluptuous black woman takes a job as a high-class prostitute in order to get revenge on the mobsters who murdered her boyfriend.

Harry Kilmer returns to Japan after several years in order to rescue his friend George's kidnapped daughter - and ends up on the wrong side of the Yakuza, the notorious Japanese mafia...

Various interconnected people struggle to survive when an earthquake of unimaginable magnitude hits Los Angeles, California.

In the far future, a savage trained only to kill finds a way into the community of bored immortals that alone preserves humanity's achievements.

A melon farmer battles organized crime and a hit man who wants to kill him.

When an in-flight collision incapacitates the pilots of an airplane bound for Los Angeles, stewardess Nancy Pryor is forced to take over the controls. From the ground, her boyfriend Alan Murdock, a retired test pilot, tries to talk her through piloting and landing the 747 aircraft. Worse yet, the anxious passengers — among which are a noisy nun and a cranky man — are aggravating the already tense atmosphere.

Insurance investigator Maindrian Pace and his team lead double-lives as unstoppable car thieves. When a South American drug lord pays Pace to steal 48 cars for him, all but one, a 1973 Ford Mustang, are in the bag. As Pace prepares to rip-off the fastback, codenamed "Eleanor", in Long Beach, he is unaware that his boss has tipped off the police after a business dispute.

Professor Van Helsing had been asked to help against the tyranny of skeletal creatures that are responsible for terror and death amongst the peasants in rural China. He is the only person qualified to deal with the cause of these phenomena, for the undead are controlled by the most diabolical force of all.... Count Dracula. But he is not alone- to aid him comes a mystical brotherhood of seven martial arts warriors.

Truck Turner and his partner Jerry, who make their living as bounty hunters in Los Angeles, are hired to hunt down Gator, a pimp who has skipped bail.

A vengeful Southern sheriff is out for blood after his wife is brutally killed by a pair of drifters. Low-budget film set in Georgia in 1953 and at the time of release, purported to be based on a true story.

A terrorist demands a huge ransom in exchange for information on how to disarm the seven bombs he has planted aboard a trans-Atlantic cruise ship.

Down-on-their-luck racers Larry and Deke steal from a supermarket manager to buy a car that will help them advance their racing chances. Their escape does not go as planned when Larry's one-night stand, Mary, tags along for the ride.

After escaping home, three young friends form a dynamic alliance of untamed youth. They meet an old man named Spikes with the experience only a master gunfighter can offer. The gang of men go on a crime spree and are converted to outlaws with a price on their heads.

Two San Francisco detectives want to bring down a local hijacking boss. But they'll have to get to him before a hitman does.

A sadistic small-town sheriff has a habit of deliberately forcing speeders to their deaths on the mountain roads leading into town. The brother of one of the victims rolls into town in his hot rod to investigate his brother's death.

A Victorian gentleman hopes to find his long-lost son, who vanished whilst searching for a mysterious Viking community in a volcanic valley somewhere in uncharted Arctic regions. The gentleman puts together an expedition team to go on the search, but when they reach their destination they must escape from some Viking descendants who will kill to keep their existence a secret.

A British agent's son is kidnapped and held for a ransom of diamonds. The agent finds out that he can't even count on the people he thought were on his side to help him, so he decides to track down the kidnappers himself.

Two Los Angeles vice squad officers find themselves up against their corrupt superiors when they try to bring a crime boss to justice. During the course of their investigation, the two cops disguise themselves as gay men and raid a gay bar.

A record producer, a PR man, and a black belt in karate foil a white supremacist plot to poison the water supply.

After one of its members witnesses a political assassination, an outlaw motorbike gang becomes the target of a string of murders, prompting a cop to join their ranks to determine who is responsible.

Police Lieutenant Lon McQ investigates the killing of his best friend and uncovers corrupt elements of the police department dealing in confiscated drugs.

Jones is a secret agent who has gone into semi-retirement, concentrating instead on teaching the martial arts to inner city youths. The karate school is run by a kindly old coot named Pops ,played by Scatman Crothers. His gambling debts, however, bring the local thug, Pinky, down on him. To make matters worse, Pinky is then hired by some white thugs who want to get a hold of the property Pops' school occupies so they can build a shopping mall. When things get heavy, Black Belt Jones leaps into action. Only he's not alone. Pops' daughter, Sidney, shows up to lend a hand, proving herself every bit as agile and powerful a martial artist as Jones.

A small time diamond merchant jumps at the chance to supervise the purchase and cutting of a large first class diamond. But when the diamond is stolen from him, he is blackmailed into pulling off a major heist at the Diamond Exchange, located at 11 Harrowhouse.

An important drug lord settled in Marseille is suspected of having ordered the killing of an American agent, but it is impossible to impute him due to his political influences, so the dead agent's boss decides to hire the services of a hitman to kill him.

Henry is a woman who would do anything for her husband Pete, including borrow money so he has a chance of making his dreams come true. But now there's the loan sharks to deal with...

When her boyfriend is brutally murdered, after refusing to be shaken down by the local gangsters running their protection racket, Sugar Hill, decides not to get mad, but BAD! Calling upon the help of aged voodoo queen Mama Maitresse, Sugar entreats her to call upon Baron Zamedi, the Lord of the Dead, for help in gaining a gruesome revenge. In exchange for her soul, the Dark Master raises up a zombie army to do her bidding. The bad guys who thought they were getting away clean are about to find out that they're DEAD wrong.

Mama and daughters get forced by circumstances into bootlegging and bank robbing, and travel across the country trailed by the law.

Rod Slater is the newly appointed general manager of the Sonderditch gold mine, but he stumbles across an ingenious plot to flood the mine, by drilling into an underground lake, so the unscrupulous owners can make a killing in the international gold market.

Following a series of bomb attacks in London, a group of terrorists seize Britain's ambassador to Scandinavia. With the ambassador now a hostage in his residence, another group hijacks an airliner at the capital's airport, announcing that the passengers will not be freed until their demands are met. Colonel Nils Tahlvik, Scandinavia's resourceful and ruthless head of security, seeks to take an uncompromising stance against the terrorists yet his attempts meet resistance from unknown forces at every turn...

In order to write an expose on how cheerleading demeans women, a reporter for a college newspaper infiltrates the cheerleading squad.

Australian stuntman Grant Page travels to Hong Kong to find Bruce Lee's successor and looks at the cultural phenomenon that Asian martial arts has become in the West. He talks to actors such as Angela Mao, Stuart Whitman and George Lazenby - who were all making movies in Hong Kong at the time - and fights Carter Wong twice.

Desirée lives deep in the swamp and supports herself and her siblings by poaching. After an accident involving Deputy Billy and a friend, the Sheriff, Deputy and a family of locals go after Desirée. Soon the hunters become the hunted as she exacts her revenge for their violence against her family.

A man, thought to be dead, returns to his hometown in Florida. He finds his wife re-married and the town now ruled by corrupt forces.

Female gladiators fight to the death. Inspired by the story of Spartacus, follow the adventures of a bevy of slave girls who, upon finding themselves thrust into the gladiator ring, mount a vicious rebellion to fight their way to freedom.

Based on an incident that occurred off the coast of Florida in 1973, this film tells the story of four men who find themselves trapped in a mini-submarine in the ocean depths.

Golden Sand City is filled with brothels and casinos funded by drug lord Yim Kung Ho (evil Mr. Yem) and policed by the iron fist of his henchman Panther (Leopard Head). Vigilantes Inspector Big Dragon (Bruce Liang), Little Mouse, and Black Cat plan to bring Yum Kung Ho and his evil empire to its knees, but face fierce opposition in the deadly Panther, who has the stolen pearls sought after by Big Dragon and his new ally Mei Ling.

The true story of two New York City cops. Greenberg & Hantz fought the system, became detectives and were known on the streets as "Batman & Robin".

Former secret agent Robert Elliot (Coburn) will be promoted to government advisor. In order to make sure no-one will ever know about his dirty past.

A young woman is convicted on drug offenses and sent to a women's penitentiary run by a repressed and oppressive female warden. When the prison's sadistic doctor begins conducting illegal "therapeutic" experiments on the inmates, the ladies plot their revenge.

A man is accidentally locked in a department store overnight and finds himself held at bay by six vicious Doberman guard dogs.

An ex-police officer operating a private detective business comes face to face with a syndicate-backed dope ring.

Three ad agency executives are pressured into taking a motorbike trip to Baja by a big-ticket client. Along the way, the client is spurned by a young woman whose boyfriend sticks up for her. The client later disables their van, leading to their deaths in the desert. When the executives piece together what has happened, it leads to a showdown.

Two rural West Virginia brothers leave home, rob an armored car and become fugitives.