All titles in the ‘Action’ genre
41 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year
0-9
1915 television program – 1982
The television series 1915 cleverly uses First World War historical footage and successfully moves between the action at the front and events at home in Australia.
A
The Alice television program – 2004
A disparate group of people are heading for the outback to watch a solar eclipse. Strange things begin to happen as their fates entwine.
All the Rivers Run television program – 1983
This program won a swag of awards and has arguably been watched by more people, more often, than any other Australian mini-series of the prolific ’80s.
Australia feature film – 2008
Three outsiders – an aristocrat, a stockman and a vulnerable child – are set against the malevolent forces of greedy neighbours, a world war and assimilationist policy.
B
BMX Bandits feature film – 1983
A young Nicole Kidman stars in a story of BMX bikes and wannabe bandits.
Bodyline television program – 1984
This mini-series recreates the 1932-33 cricket test series that threatened ties between Australia and England and changed cricket forever.
Broken Sun feature film – 2008
Imagination and resourcefulness helped this small filmmaking team, lead by Brad Haynes, overcome the constraints of having only $50,000.
C
Cactus feature film – 2007
Cactus, while full of thrills and suspense, gradually reveals a more humanistic agenda as it employs genre conventions to explore notions of masculinity, class and power.
The Chain Reaction feature film – 1980
The lives of car mechanic Larry and his wife Carmel are placed in danger following an accident at a nuclear waste facility in central Australia.
Cybergirl – Series 1 Episode 1 television program – 2000
Cybergirl crashes to earth. Pursued by evil replicant bounty hunters, she takes refuge with Jackson and his father Hugh.
D
Dead Calm feature film – 1989
Nicole Kidman was 20 when she was cast in Dead Calm. Within a year of the film opening, she was in Hollywood – partly as a result of her performance in this film.
Dead-end Drive-in feature film – 1986
In the 1990s authorities convert a drive-in into a jail for unemployed youths. Falsely imprisoned with his girlfriend, Jimmy ‘Crabs’ Rossini attempts to escape.
The Dirtwater Dynasty television program – 1988
In this 1980s epic production from the Kennedy Miller stable, Richard Eastwick, born in a London slum, dreams of establishing a family dynasty.
E
The Enemy Within feature film – 1918
Snowy Baker stars as a secret agent who smashes a ring of German spies in Sydney during the First World War.
F
Fatal Bond feature film – 1991
Fans of iconic 1960s cars will be able to see a Valiant S series take on a Citroen Goddess in the final scenes.
K
King of the Coral Sea feature film – 1954
A pearler in the Torres Strait uncovers an illegal people smuggling operation.
L
The Last of the Knucklemen feature film – 1979
Near the remote town of Andamooka a group of opal miners work for Tarzan, a tough foreman known as ‘the last of the knucklemen’ for his fighting abilities.
Lovers and Luggers feature film – 1937
This entertaining film is packed with action, romance and comedy — the cocktail Ken G Hall’s usually offers — but also sophistication.
Love Tricycle short film – 2003
Love Tricycle is like Grease with bicycles instead of people, complete with a high school, a love affair and a showdown between rivals on the racetrack.
M
Mad Max feature film – 1979
Mad Max was a piece of impolite, independent cinema that had a profound effect on audiences and filmmakers across the world.
Mad Max 2 feature film – 1981
Mad Max 2 is a more self-consciously mythic film than its predecessor, in a much more primal landscape, with a lot more action.
The Man from Hong Kong feature film – 1975
The film has great energy and a series of superb action sequences, including quite possibly the best car chase in Australian cinema before Mad Max.
The Man from Kangaroo feature film – 1919
John Harland, a bush parson, is dismissed from his job for teaching children how to box. Harland moves to another town, where he combats ruffians and rescues his girlfriend from a forced marriage.
Metal Skin feature film – 1994
Social misfit Joe is befriended by the cool and confident Dazey. Their shared passion for drag racing leads to conflict and tragedy.
P
The Phantom Stockman feature film – 1953
A bushman known as ‘the Sundowner’ helps cattle station heiress Kim Marsden investigate the death of her father.
Phoenix – Top Quality Crims television program – 1991
Seminal procedural police drama, loosely based on the bombing of Victoria’s Russell Street Police Station in 1986.
The Proposition feature film – 2005
Many Australian films present the outback as a dangerous place but probably only Wake in Fright can offer an outback with predatory instincts to match The Proposition.
R
Robbery Under Arms television program – 1985
Before this 1985 version there had been five attempts to tell this story, the best known being the Australian–British feature film of 1957 starring Peter Finch as Captain Starlight.
Rogue feature film – 2007
A US travel writer and a group of tourists on a boat trip in the Northern Territory are menaced by a giant crocodile.
Romeo + Juliet feature film – 1996
Baz Luhrmann’s radical update of Romeo + Juliet boldly shattered conventional wisdom that said Shakespeare as he wrote it would never appeal to a mass audience.
S
Scales of Justice television program – 1983
The quasi-documentary style of this series adds a gritty reality to the typical car patrol of a police crew on any evening shift around Sydney streets.
Sea Patrol – Cometh the Hour television program – 2007
Adventure-driven navy drama revolving around the crew of a patrol boat and set in the waters of northern Australia.
The Sullivans – On the Brink of War television program – 1976
The first four episodes of the long-running hit series cover the period leading up to the declaration of the Second World War in Australia on 3 September 1939.
The Surfer feature film – 1986
Vietnam veteran Sam Barlow uncovers a conspiracy in Surfers Paradise involving police, politicians and a Vietnamese gang.
T
The Time Guardian feature film – 1987
The Time Guardian is one of the great missed opportunities of Australian cinema and symbolic of its wavering fortunes in the 1980s.
A Town Like Alice television program – 1980
This mini-series, based on the novel by Nevil Shute, tells an epic love story that begins in Malaya during the Japanese occupation of 1941–45.
Turkey Shoot feature film – 1982
Without doubt one of the most notorious Australian films ever made, Turkey Shoot has attracted both wildly positive and negative reactions over the years.
W
Water Rats – Dead in the Water television program – 1996
This feature-length pilot packs in more action, location shoots and story strands than a standard episode of Water Rats.
Wildside – Series 1 Episode 1 television program – 1997
The raw style of Wildside is characterised by intense, semi-improvised performances, observational camerawork and sometimes frenetic editing.
Winners – Quest Beyond Time television program – 1985
Simply told, and not too frightening, Quest Beyond Time shows the changes that could occur in the world if a nuclear war takes place.
