Entertainment
10 Greatest Black-and-White Action Movies, Ranked
From Die Hard to Mad Max: Fury Road, several of the greatest action films of all time are injections of adrenaline in full color. However, color is by no means required for an action movie to be great, exciting, or even visually appealing. Indeed, throughout history, several of the best action films in history have achieved greatness through a purely black-and-white color palette.
From gangster pictures like Scarface to samurai classics like Yojimbo, these black-and-white films either defy expectations or deliver everything anyone could want from the genre, and then some. They’re exciting, suspenseful, full of movement, and action-packed from start to finish. Nowadays, action is almost always shot in color, which only makes it even more fun to look back at these classics and appreciate everything they were able to do with only black and white.
10
‘Scarface’ (1932)
Before Brian De Palma and Al Pacino took on the story, Howard Hawks directed Paul Muni in 1932’s Scarface, a pre-Code gangster action film loosely inspired by Al Capone. Like many great Hollywood crime films from before the Hays Code started being strictly enforced, Scarface was heavily censored upon release, making it a box office disappointment. With the passage of time, however, it has come to be recognized as one of the greatest films of the ’30s, making it a success story of triumph against censorship.
Hawks set up the entire archetype for the gangster movie genre, which became particularly popular during the ’30s and ’40s (particularly gangster pictures produced by Warner Bros.). But aside from its historical significance, Scarface is impeccably made, with Muni at the very top of his game and stylish black-and-white visuals that make the violence feel even grittier.
9
‘The Longest Day’ (1962)
Based on Cornelius Ryan‘s non-fiction book of the same name, The Longest Day follows the D-Day landings in Normandy with a stunning scope and tremendous technical qualities. In the modern day, the movie’s cast can be critiqued for its lack of diversity, but the fact of the matter is that an ensemble this star-studded, featuring actors of the stature of John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Sean Connery, and Henry Fonda, is objectively one of the most impressive of any war film ever.
But aside from being a three-hour-long war epic, The Longest Day is also an action film through and through. It’s a dramatic, testosterone-filled gem that many still think of as the definitive D-Day movie, and the way it takes full advantage of every second of its runtime to paint war as hell without the need for bright-red blood is admirable.
8
‘The Train’ (1964)
Directed by John Frankenheimer, The Train is another one of the greatest action war movies ever made. Loosely based on a non-fiction book by Rose Valland, the film is about the mission to recover the works of art that had been looted by Germany from museums and private art collections during World War II. The result is a fascinating meditation on the debate between cultural preservation and the protection of human lives.
But on top of being thematically gripping, The Train is also one of the best war thrillers of all time, full of adrenaline-pumping action sequences that never let up. It’s a potent, surprisingly complex film that results purely from expanding the moral question at its core to a feature-length story. Powerfully philosophical and absolutely visceral, it’s a black-and-white movie whose lack of color feels designed to amplify the depth of its moral nuances and themes.
7
‘Sanjuro’ (1962)
Many would perhaps refer to Akira Kurosawa as the single greatest filmmaker in history, and he achieved that status mainly by making action movies—several of them belonging to the beloved samurai subgenre. Kurosawa, in fact, can very reasonably be called the leading voice in samurai cinema, and for proof, one needn’t look much further than the sequel to 1961’s Yojimbo, Sanjuro.
It’s one of those Kurosawa movies that are bangers from start to finish. Action-packed, well-paced, and often unexpectedly funny, it’s a hugely influential masterpiece whose score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes is perfectly deserved. With a fantastic Toshirô Mifune in the lead role and some of the most jaw-dropping swordplay of any action movie in history, Sanjuro is evidence enough that black-and-white action films can be as fun as those in color.
6
‘The Sword of Doom’ (1966)
Another one of the greatest samurai films in history, this one directed by Kihachi Okamoto and starring Tatsuya Nakadai, The Sword of Doom is as brutal as it is fast-paced. It’s one of the darkest samurai movies ever made, with a largely amoral main character (frankly, a rarity for the genre) that Nakadai plays to absolute perfection.
From the gorgeously lit and staged black-and-white imagery to the breathtaking action sequences, Sword of Doom is the work of a master at the top of his game. It’s one of the bleakest, angriest, most existentially violent action movies of the 20th century, and a complete must-see for anyone and everyone who even remotely enjoys well-made samurai films.
5
‘Yojimbo’ (1961)
Sanjuro may be great, but there’s no beating the original. Yojimbo is such an immensely iconic and influential samurai flick that Sergio Leone pretty much copied it when he invented Spaghetti Westerns with A Fistful of Dollars, to the point that Kurosawa successfully sued him for copyright infringement. But who could blame Leone? Yojimbo is such a faultless film that anyone looking to make a great action flick should be at least tempted to imitate the perfection of Kurosawa’s efforts.
Yojimbo is full of flawlessly shot and edited action sequences.
It’s also one of the best classic Japanese movies for beginners, perfectly friendly and welcoming to all those who might not be used to watching international (or even black-and-white) action movies. Full of flawlessly shot and edited action sequences, and supported by Mifune and Nakadai at their best, Yojimbo is one of Kurosawa’s most narratively enthralling and visually exquisite works.
4
‘White Heat’ (1949)
White Heat succeeds at earning many superlatives at once. On the one hand, it’s one of the best noir films of all time, displaying the psychological twistiness and black-and-white gorgeousness of the genre perfectly. On the other hand, it’s one of the best crime films of Hollywood’s Golden Age, serving as one of the earliest masterpieces of the gangster genre as we know it today. And on the other hand, it’s a ravishing action movie full of showstopping sequences of thrill and suspense.
For one, James Cagney is a powerhouse here, and his performance alone makes White Heat obligatory viewing for crime action film fans. As if that weren’t enough, however, the film also has a level of psychological depth that was rare among crime films made during the Hays Code era. Lastly, it has one of the darkest and most explosive finales of any action film from Hollywood’s Golden Age.
3
‘The General’ (1926)
Before Tom Cruise made it cool and mainstream for actors to do their own stunts, there was Buster Keaton. Charlie Chaplin and Keaton are to silent cinema what salt and pepper are to food, and while Chaplin tended to focus more on elements of melodrama and romance, Keaton was considerably more interested in elaborate slapstick action sequences. Enter The General, easily one of the best comedy movies of all time.
Aside from having some of Keaton’s most revolutionary death-defying stunts, The General also has some of the most effective gags and action set pieces of his whole filmography. The movie was a box office and critical failure when it originally came out, but as the years have passed, cinephiles have warmed up to it tremendously. Today, it’s remembered as one of the greatest films from before Hollywood’s Golden Age, and one of the most perfect early examples of what the action genre could do at its best.
2
‘Sherlock Jr.’ (1924)
While The General is amazing, Sherlock Jr. is simply out of this world. Clocking in at only 45 minutes of runtime (barely qualifying it as a feature film), it’s also a delightfully breezy watch for those looking for a quick classic masterpiece to watch. Sherlock Jr. is one of the coziest mystery movies ever, but people looking to watch it shouldn’t be fooled by that coziness, because it also has some of the craziest stunts in Keaton’s filmography.
Funny, uplifting, romantic, creative, and an absolute blast of fun from start to finish, Sherlock Jr. shows just how amusing and ambitious action films could be back in the day. At no point is color something that people miss when watching this masterpiece, especially because so much happens. Indeed, there’s an essential old-school charm to this film that you simply can’t get anywhere else.
1
‘Seven Samurai’ (1954)
Throughout history, Seven Samurai has widely been recognized as Akira Kurosawa’s magnum opus, and it’s easy to see why. It is, after all, one of the most perfect action films ever made, delivering absolutely everything that any fan of the genre could want in a movie. Though it moves somewhat slowly through its three-and-a-half hours of runtime, Seven Samurai is an exciting blast from start to finish.
The riveting action sequences are marvelously performed, choreographed, shot, blocked, and edited, but like any filmmaker of his quality, Kurosawa understood that well-made action wasn’t all you needed in order to make a samurai movie work. That’s why Seven Samurai is primarily a character-driven film, and its many story arcs are so fascinating that you can’t help but watch the whole thing on the edge of your seat. Often imitated, never matched, this masterpiece is the pinnacle of not just black-and-white action filmmaking, but action filmmaking as a whole.
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