Best Action Movies of 1982

When former Green Beret John Rambo is harassed by local law enforcement and arrested for vagrancy, the Vietnam vet snaps, runs for the hills and rat-a-tat-tats his way into the action-movie hall of fame. Hounded by a relentless sheriff, Rambo employs heavy-handed guerilla tactics to shake the cops off his tail.

Now the world champion, Rocky Balboa is living in luxury and only fighting opponents who pose no threat to him in the ring, until Clubber Lang challenges him to a bout. After taking a pounding from Lang, the humbled champ turns to former bitter rival Apollo Creed for a rematch with Lang.

A film adaptation of the classic sword and sorcery hero, Conan the Barbarian. A horde of rampaging warriors massacre the parents of young Conan and enslave the young child for years on The Wheel of Pain. As the sole survivor of the childhood massacre, Conan is released from slavery and taught the ancient arts of fighting. Transforming himself into a killing machine, Conan travels into the wilderness to seek vengeance on Thulsa Doom, the man responsible for killing his family. In the wilderness, Conan takes up with the thieves Valeria and Subotai. The group comes upon King Osric, who wants the trio of warriors to help rescue his daughter who has joined Doom in the hills.

A hard-nosed cop reluctantly teams up with a wise-cracking criminal temporarily paroled to him, in order to track down a killer.

When brilliant video game maker Flynn hacks the mainframe of his ex-employer, he is beamed inside an astonishing digital world...and becomes part of the very game he is designing. In his mission through cyberspace, Flynn matches wits with a maniacal Master Control Program and teams up with Tron, a security measure created to bring balance to the digital environment.

Andy is a new teacher at an inner city high school that is unlike any he has seen before. There are metal detectors at the front door and the place is basically run by a tough kid named Peter Stegman. Soon, Andy and Stegman become enemies and Stegman will stop at nothing to protect his turf and drug dealing business.

Dar, is the son of a king, who is hunted by a priest after his birth and grows up in another family. When he becomes a grown man his new father is murdered by savages and he discovers that he has the ability to communicate with the animals, which leads him on his quest for revenge against his father's killers.

Paul Kersey is again a vigilante trying to find five punks who murdered his housekeeper and daughter in Los Angeles.

The Soviets have developed a revolutionary new jet fighter, called 'Firefox'. Worried that the jet will be used as a first-strike weapon—as there are rumours that it is undetectable by radar—the British send ex-Vietnam War pilot, Mitchell Gant on a covert mission into the Soviet Union to steal the Firefox.

During the French Revolution, a mysterious English nobleman known only as The Scarlet Pimpernel (a humble wayside flower), snatches French aristos from the jaws of the guillotine, while posing as the foppish Sir Percy Blakeney in society. Percy falls for and marries the beautiful actress Marguerite St. Just, but she is involved with Chauvelin and Robespierre, and Percy's marriage to her may endanger the Pimpernel's plans to save the little Dauphin

Old West highwayman Bill Miner, known to Pinkertons as "The Gentleman Bandit," is released in 1901 after 33 years in prison, a genial and charming old man. Entering a world unfamiliar to him, he returns to the only thing that gives him purpose — robbery.

A mentally ill man in a small Texas town goes on a killing rampage and is fatally wounded by police. When doctors use an experimental serum to bring him back to life, the killer develops superhuman strength and the town sheriff must pursue him.

Two cabbies search San Francisco's Chinatown for a mysterious character who has disappeared with their $4000. Their quest leads them on a humorous, if mundane, journey which illuminates the many problems experienced by Chinese-Americans trying to assimilate into contemporary American society.

Karl Westover, an inexperienced farm boy, runs away after unintentionally killing a neighbor, whose family pursues him for vengeance. He meets Barbarosa, a gunman of near-mythical proportions, who is himself in danger from his father-in-law Don Braulio, a wealthy Mexican rancher. Don Braulio wants Barbarosa dead for marrying his daughter against the father's will. Barbarosa reluctantly takes the clumsy Karl on as a partner, as both of them look to survive the forces lining up against them.

After starring in "The Sacketts", Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott team up again but this time as Mac and Dal Traven, in a movie based on a classic Louis L'Amour novel. They are brothers, who meet up at the end of the Civil War fighting on opposite sides. They go home only to find their family in dire need and their sisters and brother kidnapped by ruthless raiders. They set out to rescue their family.

Feature length pilot for the TV Series Knight Rider

Rick, a down-and-out American boxer, is hired to transport a sword to Japan, unaware that the whole thing is a set up in a bitter blood-feud between two brothers, one who follows the traditional path of the samurai and the other a businessman. At the behest of the businessman, Rick undertakes samurai training from the other brother, but joins his cause. He also becomes romantically involved with the samurai's daughter.

An unlikely Hollywood hooker helps a detective set a trap for a mutilator pimp.

Two men want to escape from East Germany (under Communist rule) but they will only go if they can take their families with them. Based on a true story.

When SAS Captain Peter Skellen is thrown out of the service for gross misconduct due to unnecessary violence and bullying, he is soon recruited by The People's Lobby, a fanatical group aiming to hold several US dignitaries hostage. But Skellen's dismissal is a front to enable him to get close to the terrorist group. Can he get close enough to stop the Lobby from creating an international incident?

Cheech and Chong are hired to drive a limo from Chicago to Las Vegas by two shady Arabs - Mr. Slyman and Prince Habib. Unbeknownst to them, five million dollars of dirty money has been stuffed throughout the car.

Tim Burstall directs then-up-and-comers Mel Gibson and Sam Neill in this action-packed Cannes Film Festival selection about the grim realities of World War II, a gritty drama based on actual events. Sent to rescue survivors from the site of a plane crash in the South Pacific, Capt. P.G. Kelly (Gibson) and his elite squad of Australian commandos must keep tabs on a defecting Japanese official who could hold the secret to peace.

A casino security guard is forced into violence from when the Hong Kong mob threatens his friends.

A couple of youngish adventurers go into the wilderness of British Columbia in search of a lost colleague. Their plane crashes and they find themselves at the mercy of a crazed old Scottish miner, who has lived in isolation for many decades searching the mountain caves for a chamber of long lost gold. He is prepared to do anything - including murder - to keep his gold for himself.

A mercenary with a three-bladed sword rediscovers his royal heritage when he is recruited to help a princess foil a brutal tyrant and a powerful sorcerer's plans to conquer the land.

In the near future, after an unspecified holocaust, survivors are herded into prison camps. There, they are hunted for sport by the leaders of the camp. Paul, one of the newest prisoners, is determined not to go down as quietly as the others.

While working as a cook for the Cosa Nostra, an Asian immigrant who everyone calls Bruce because of his resemblance to Bruce Lee, is duped into making deliveries of "Chinese Flour"- cocaine - all across the U.S.

The complete innocent, Michael Jordon, is drawn into a web of secrecy and government secrets when a girl carrying a mysterious package gets into a taxi with him. When she is later murdered, Michael is the chief suspect and on the run.

Terrorists take over a plutonium bomb and threaten to detonate it in a Saudi Arabian oil field. A special anti-terrorist unit is sent in to stop them.

Early Sam Raimi/Bruce Campbell short.

A group of martial arts students are en route to an island that supposedly is home to the ghosts of martial artists who have lost their honor. A Hitler lookalike and his gang are running a female slavery operation on the island as well. Soon, the two groups meet and all sorts of crazy things happen which include cannibal monks, piranhas, zombies, and more!

Lyle Swann is a successful off-road racer who mistakenly gets sent back in time 100 years. When a band of outlaws robs Swann of his motorcycle, he's forced to outfox the gangsters and give in to the seductions of a gorgeous local lady. With only his smarts and a map from an Exxon station, Lyle must try to make it out of the Old West alive and find a way back to modern times.

Centers on the events leading up to the cataclysmic 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington, with the story beginning on the day volcanic activity started on March 20, 1980, and ending on the day of the eruption, May 18, 1980.

Two young couples decide to run away from home and go to Athens in order to find the exciting life that they couldn't live at the country. The guys get busted for robbing a gas station while the girls start working at a night club. Daisy meets a young and handsome man named Panos. He is a motorcycle racing driver. They immediately start a destructive relationship. Panos tastes his first joint with her and soon they become heroin-addicts, willing to do anything in order to get their daily fix. The film goes on describing their downfall until the apocalyptic ending.

It's the 21st century, the Oil Wars have made a mess of the planet and the land outside major cities is lawless. After Hunter comes to the aid of Corlie, who has run away from the villainous Straker, he takes her to the peaceful community of Clearwater. Unfortunately for the citizens of Clearwater, Straker fully intends to get Corlie back.

A comedy/musical utilizing both new songs and parodies from the original (Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance), as well as references to popular films of the time, including Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark. In your typical boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy fights girl with swords plot, the story revolves around Mabel ...

On the 7th month of the lunar calendar, all ghosts and spirits are active and get to walk the earth for the month so that they can find a way to reincarnate. During one of these nights, a young kid named Chun Sing (Billy Chong), is visited by his dead Father. Chun Sing's father states that he was murdered by a man named Kam Tai Fu (Lo Lieh). And as you may have guessed, Chun Sing must avenge his father's death. It won't be easy though because Kam Tai Fu has some help in the form of a Black Magician (Ta Hsi Yen) and his evil gung fu.

Ron, a young man in his late teens or early 20s, but emotionally younger, has no visible, employable assets, yet rails at his status in life -- blaming everyone for the fact that his dreams are not coming true.

A man seeks violent revenge on a group of thugs who violently murdered his family.

Brain is the world's greatest computer, and also the most intelligent being on planet Earth. One day, Brain decides to abandon its terrestrial moorings, and it's up to The Defenders to track it down. Unfortunately, Brain has developed an amazing army of deadly giant robots, including one with a huge "17" emblazoned on its chest-plate, with which it plans to subjugate its creators. A young boy whose family was killed by Brain's followers manages to activate Daitetsujin 17, which thereafter comes to his rescue whenever he is in danger from Brain's minions.

Three young friends trying to break into the entertainment business inadvertently anger a mob boss, setting in motion a chain of events that results in their being hunted by every thug and killer in town.

An adventurer hunting for treasure in Greece accidentally frees a monster that forces local villagers to sacrifice virgins.

Mike loves his fast cars and his hot women. When he fancies the girlfriend of the local street racing king, Fox, he gets way in over his head in racing for his girl, his money and his life. Through racing, sex, nightclubs and small road trips the film depicts what it was like to be a teenager in Australia in the 1980's.

A group of college students accidentally see a local redneck kill his wife. A deadly game of cat-and-mouse ensues, with the students trying to escape the area while the killer sets out to eliminate the witnesses who can tie him to the murder.

A veteran pilot finds himself knee-deep in trouble when his ex-girlfriend shows up at his doorstep in a terrible state. She knows the whereabouts of an immense fortune, and the Mafia is hot on her trail.

3 boys are told they are Japanese orphans and raised by I-Ho Ninja Society. They learn they are Chinese and the Society tries to kill them. This movie has been condensed from a three part series.

To maintain his powers, the evil wizard Traigon must sacrifice his firstborn child to the god Caligara. His wife, however, has other ideas and runs away after giving birth with her twin daughters. Before dying, she hands the girls over to the warrior Krona who promises to raise them as great soldiers. Twenty years later, Traigon returns and begins hunting down his daughters once again. Will the twins, with the help of the Barbarian Erlik and the Viking Baldar, be able to defeat their father?

On one of his last trips before retirement, a plane of an illegal gunrunner in Vietnam is shot down where he hooks up Annie Belle, a humanitarian rebel.

As film-maker Harlan Hollis drives to a James Dean festival, he's unaware that killers are tracking his every move. The fast and furious race to avoid their net, stay alive and discover who is behind this lethal plan, will take Hollis through a fiery battle, turning highways and city streets into a blazing junkyard.