This is a list of notable Hollywood movies with an action/adventure theme (with GEMs highlighted). Note that the list is sortable by each column. (Multiple levels of sorting are possible by sorting more than one column in succession, from lowest to highest.)
Most of the listed movies can be borrowed from your local public library in DVD form and are also available for streaming. Watching these movies online usually requires a small fee or a subscription to streaming platforms such as YouTube, Amazon Prime, Disney+ or Netflix. The ‘Video at’ column in the list below indicates one streaming option to watch these movies online, though it may also be available on other platforms. A ‘$’ sign indicates a small fee (usually $3.99 or less) for viewing the film. In a few cases, the movie is available for free online viewing, and in these cases the direct link to watch the movie is provided in a separate column.
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Year
Movie
GEM!
Director
Selected Cast
Video at
Link (free)
Wikipedia
More
1930
All Quiet on the Western Front
Lewis Milestone
Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Arnold Lucy, Ben Alexander
Tubi (free)
1931
Cimarron
Wesley Ruggles
Richard Dix, Irene Dunne, Estelle Lee
YouTube $
1935
Captain Blood
Michael Curtiz
Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Ross Alexander, Lionel Atwill
YouTube $
1937
Prisoner of Zenda, The
John Cromwell
Ronald Colman, Madeleine Carroll, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
YouTube $
1938
Adventures of Robin Hood, The
Michael Curtiz, William Keighley
Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains, Eugene Pallette, Ian Hunter
YouTube $
1941
Maltese Falcon, The
John Huston
Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet
YouTube $
1944
Double Indemnity
Billy Wilder
Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson
YouTube $
1946
Big Sleep, The
Howard Hawks
Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Martha Vickers
YouTube $
1950
Gunfighter, The
Henry King
Gregory Peck, Helen Westcott, Millard Mitchell, Karl Malden
Tubi (free)
1953
Shane
George Stevens
Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Brandon deWilde, Jack Palance
PlutoTV (free)
1955
Desperate Hours, The
William Wyler
Humphrey Bogart, Fredric March, Martha Scott, Dewey Martin
YouTube $
1956
Searchers, The
John Ford
John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, Natalie Wood
YouTube $
1959
North by Northwest
Alfred Hitchcock
Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis
YouTube $
1959
Rio Bravo
Howard Hawks
John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan
YouTube $
1960
Magnificient Seven, The
John Sturges
Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, James Coburn, Horst Buchholz, Brad Dexter
Tubi (free)
1961
Guns of Navarone, The
J. Lee Thompson
Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quinn, Stanley Baker, Anthony Quayle, Irene Papas
YouTube $
1962
Dr. No
Terence Young
Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Joseph Wiseman, Jack Lord
YouTube $
1963
From Russia with Love
Terence Young
Sean Connery, Pedro Armendáriz, Lotte Lenya, Robert Shaw, Bernard Lee, Daniela Bianchi
YouTube $
1964
Fistful of Dollars, A
Sergio Leone
Clint Eastwood, Gian Maria Volonté, Marianne Koch
YouTube $
1964
Goldfinger
Guy Hamilton
Sean Connery, Gert Frobe, Shirley Eaton, Honor Blackman, Harold Sakata
YouTube $
1965
For a Few Dollars More
Sergio Leone
Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volonté
YouTube $
1966
Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The
Sergio Leone
Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Eli Wallach
Tubi (free)
1967
You Only Live Twice
Lewis Gilbert
Sean Connery, Akiko Wakabayashi, Mie Hama, Tetsurō Tamba, Bernard Lee
YouTube $
1968
Bullitt
Peter Yates
Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Jacqueline Bisset
YouTube $
1968
Once Upon a Time in the West
Sergio Leone
Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Jason Robards, Claudia Cardinale
Prime Video
1968
Thomas Crown Affair, The
Norman Jewison
Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway
Prime Video $
1968
Where Eagles Dare
Brian G. Hutton
Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood, Mary Ure, Michael Hordern, Patrick Wymark
YouTube $
1969
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
George Roy Hill
Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross
YouTube $
1969
MacKenna's Gold
J. Lee Thompson
Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Telly Savalas, Camilla Sparv, Keenan Wynn, Julie Newmar, Ted Cassidy, Lee J. Cobb, Raymond Massey, Burgess Meredith, Anthony Quayle, Edward G. Robinson, Eli Wallach
Sling TV (free)
1969
True Grit (Version 1)
Henry Hathaway
John Wayne, Kim Darby, Glen Campbell, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper
Prime Video
1970
Airport
George Seaton
Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jean Seberg, Jacquiline Bisset, Helen Hayes, George Kennedy
YouTube $
1971
Diamonds Are Forever
Guy Hamilton
Sean Connery, Jill St. John, Charles Gray, Lana Wood, Jimmy Dean, Bruce Cabot
YouTube $
1971
Dirty Harry
Don Siegel
Clint Eastwood, Andy Robinson
Prime Video
1971
French Connection, The
William Friedkin
Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider, Tony Lo Bianco, Marcel Bozzuffi
Prime Video $
1972
Poseidon Adventure, The
Ronald Neame
Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Carol Lynley, Shelley Winters, Roddy McDowall, Leslie Nielsen
Prime Video $
1973
Day of the Jackal, The
Fred Zinnemann
Edward Fox, Michael Lonsdale
Prime Video
1973
Enter the Dragon
Robert Clouse
Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Jim Kelly, Ahna Capri, Bob Wall, Shih Kien
YouTube $
1973
Live and Let Die
Guy Hamilton
Roger Moore, Jane Seymour, Yaphet Kotto
YouTube $
1974
Death Wish
Michael Winner
Charles Bronson, Vincent Gardenia
Prime Video
1974
Odessa File, The
Ronald Neame
Jon Voight, Maximilian Schell, Maria Schell
YouTube $
1974
Towering Inferno, The
John Guillermin
Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Fred Astaire, Richard Chamberlain, O. J. Simpson, Robert Vaughn, Robert Wagner
YouTube $$
1975
Jaws
Steven Spielberg
Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton
YouTube $
1976
Marathon Man
John Schlesinger
Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider, William Devane, Marthe Keller
Prime Video
1976
Outlaw Josey Wales, The
Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood, Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Bill McKinney, John Vernon
YouTube $
1976
Shootist, The
Don Siegel
John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, Jimmy Stewart, ohn Carradine, Harry Morgan
Prime Video
1977
Spy Who Loved Me, The
Lewis Gilbert
Roger Moore, Barbara Bach, Curt Jurgens
YouTube $
1981
Body Heat
Lawrence Kasdan
William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Richard Crenna
YouTube $
1981
Eye of the Needle
Richard Marquand
Donald Sutherland, Kate Nelligan, Ian Bannen, Christopher Cazenove
Tubi (free)
1981
For Your Eyes Only
John Glen
Roger Moore, Carole Bouquet, Topol, Lynn-Holly Johnson, Julian Glover
Prime Video $
1981
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Steven Spielberg
Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott
Disney+
1983
WarGames
John Badham
Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, Dabney Coleman, John Wood
Prime Video $
1984
Romancing the Stone
Robert Zemeckis
Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito
YouTube $
1984
Terminator, The
James Cameron
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton
YouTube $
1986
Top Gun
Tony Scott
Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards, Meg Ryan
PlutoTV (free)
1987
RoboCop
Paul Verhoeven
Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, Miguel Ferrer
YouTube (free)
1988
Die Hard
John McTiernan
Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, Alan Rickman
YouTube $
1990
Die Hard 2: Die Harder
Renny Harlin
Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, William Sadler
Prime Video $
1990
Hunt for Red October, The
John McTiernan
Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, James Earl Jones, Sam Neill
Prime Video $
1990
Total Recall
Paul Verhoeven
Arnold Schwarzenneger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Ronny Cox
Prime Video $
1991
Silence of the Lambs, The
Jonathan Demme
Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine
YouTube $
1991
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
James Cameron
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick
Prime Video $
1992
Bodyguard, The
Mick Jackson
Kevin Costner, Whitney Houston, Gary Kemp, Bill Cobbs, Ralph Waite
YouTube $
1992
Unforgiven
Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, Richard Harris, Jaimz Woolvett
Tubi (free)
1993
In the Line of Fire
Wolfgang Petersen
Clint Eastwood, John Malkovich, Rene Russo, Dylan McDermott, Gary Cole, Fred Dalton Thompson, John Mahoney
Netflix
1994
Speed
Jan de Bont
Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Dennis Hopper, Jeff Daniels
YouTube $
1995
First Knight
Jerry Zucker
Sean Connery, Richard Gere, Julia Ormond, Ben Cross
YouTube (free)
1995
Goldeneye
Martin Campbell
Pierce Brosnan, Izabella Scorupco, Sean Bean, Famke Janssen, Judi Dench
YouTube $
1995
Seven (Se7en)
David Fincher
Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Gwyneth Paltrow, John C. McGinley
Prime Video $
1996
Independence Day
Roland Emmerich
Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Margaret Colin, Randy Quaid
Prime Video $
1996
Mission: Impossible
Brian De Palma
Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Ving Rhames, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Vanessa Redgrave
YouTube $
1996
Ransom
Ron Howard
Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, Gary Sinise
1996
Rock, The
Michael Bay
Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris, Michael Biehn, William Forsythe
Prime Video $
1997
Air Force One
Wolfgang Petersen
Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Glenn Close, Paul Guilfoyle, William H. Macy
YouTube $
1997
Face/Off
John Woo
John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, Gina Gershon, Alessandro Nivola
Prime Video $
1997
Tomorrow Never Dies
Roger Spottiswoode
Pierce Brosnan, Jonathan Pryce, Michelle Yeoh, Teri Hatcher, Judi Dench
YouTube $
1998
Armageddon
Michael Bay
Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler, Ben Affleck, Will Patton, Peter Stormare, Keith David, Steve Buscemi
YouTube $
1998
Deep Impact
Mimi Leder
Robert Duvall, Téa Leoni, Elijah Wood, Vanessa Redgrave, Maximilian Schell, Morgan Freeman
Sling TV (free)
1999
Bone Collector, The
Phillip Noyce
Denzel Washington, Angelina Jolie, Queen Latifah, Michael Rooker
YouTube $
1999
Double Jeopardy
Bruce Beresford
Ashley Judd, Tommy Lee Jones, Bruce Greenwood, Annabeth Gish
Prime Video $
1999
Entrapment
Jon Amiel
Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Will Patton, Maury Chaykin, Ving Rhames
YouTube $
1999
Matrix, The
The Wachowski Brothers
Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Ann Moss
YouTube $
2000
Mission: Impossible II
John Woo
Tom Cruise, Dougray Scott, Thandie Newton, Ving Rhames
Prime Video $
2001
Ocean's Eleven
Steven Soderbergh
George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle
YouTube $
2001
Training Day
Antoine Fuqua
Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Scott Glenn, Cliff Curtis, Dr. Dre
YouTube $
2002
Bourne Identity, The
Doug Liman
Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Brian Cox, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje