The Greatest Action Movies of 1973
Martial Arts Legends and Gritty Street Justice
Explore the best action cinema from a classic year. Features martial arts masterpieces, iconic spy thrillers, and gritty cult favorites.
About 1973 Action Movies
The year 1973 was a transformative period for action cinema, acting as a gritty bridge between the classic heroics of the past and the cynical, high-octane spectacle of the modern age. If you looked at a marquee that year, you would see a genre in the midst of a violent identity crisis. The traditional Western was fading into the sunset, replaced by stories that reflected a world grappling with the fallout of the Vietnam War and a growing distrust of authority. This was the year action movies got meaner, faster, and significantly more international.
Leading the charge was the global phenomenon of Enter the Dragon. While 1973 was tragically the year we lost Bruce Lee, it was also the year he became an immortal icon. Enter the Dragon changed the DNA of action filmmaking forever by proving that martial arts could anchor a massive Hollywood production. It brought a rhythmic, acrobatic violence to the screen that made the stiff brawling of American leading men look archaic. Lee did not just punch people. He moved like electricity, and the world was captivated by a style of combat that prioritized speed and philosophy over brute strength.
Back in the United States, the action was darker and more urban. This was the year of the vigilante and the rogue cop. Clint Eastwood returned as Harry Callahan in Magnum Force, a sequel that interrogated the very fascistic tendencies the first film had been accused of. It was a cold, calculated look at justice outside the law. Meanwhile, films like The Seven-Ups brought a documentary-style realism to the streets of New York, featuring car chases that felt genuinely dangerous and unpolished. There was a sense that the city was a character itself, dirty and unforgiving.
For those who preferred their thrills with a side of Southern Gothic, 1973 gave us White Lightning. Burt Reynolds solidified his persona as the ultimate blue-collar action star, driving fast cars through the swamps and sticking it to corrupt lawmen. It was populist action at its finest, trading the neon of the city for the dust of the backroads. This sat in stark contrast to the cinematic refinement of Live and Let Die, which introduced Roger Moore as James Bond. The 007 franchise was forced to adapt to the changing times, incorporating elements of the burgeoning Blaxploitation genre and leaning into more outrageous stunts, including the legendary boat chase through the Louisiana bayou.
Even the Western genre managed to deliver a masterpiece of nihilism with Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. It was an action movie that felt like a funeral, mourning the loss of the frontier while delivering the bloody, slow-motion gunfights Peckinpah was famous for. It suggested that the old ways of the outlaw were dying, making room for the corporate, cold-blooded efficiency seen in the year’s other great thriller, The Day of the Jackal.
Looking back, 1973 was the moment the action genre grew up. It stopped being about simple good guys and bad guys and started exploring the moral gray areas of violence. From the lightning-fast kicks of Hong Kong to the screeching tires of Manhattan, the films of that year established a new vocabulary for excitement. It was a year of sweat, gunpowder, and transition, leaving an indelible mark on everything that would follow in the decades to come.
The Crazies
1973The military attempts to contain a manmade virus causing death and permanent insanity in those infected, as it overtakes a small Pennsylvania town.
Godzilla vs. Megalon
1973Inventor Goro Ibuki creates a humanoid robot named Jet Jaguar. It is soon seized by an undersea race of people called the Seatopians. Using Jet Jaguar as a guide, the Seatopians send Megalon as vengeance for the nuclear tests that have devastated their society.
The Seven-Ups
1973A tough detective who is part of an elite New York City unit is trying to find out who killed his partner, but uncovers a plot to kidnap mobsters for money.
Thriller: A Cruel Picture
1973Madeleine, rendered mute after being sexually assaulted as a youth, accepts a lift from a wealthy and sadistic pimp who soon enslaves her into his prostitution racket. Despite her limited means, Madeleine embarks on a bloody road to revenge against her captors.
Even Angels Eat Beans
1973Two mismatched buddies are mistaken for mob enforcers in Depression-era America.
The Knock Out Cop
1973Inspector “Flatfoot” Rizzo investigates crime and corruption in Naples.
Dillinger
1973After a shoot-out kills five FBI agents in Kansas City the Bureau target John Dillinger as one of the men to hunt down. Waiting for him to break Federal law they sort out several other mobsters, while Dillinger's bank robbing exploits make him something of a folk hero. Escaping from jail he finds Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson have joined the gang and pretty soon he is Public Enemy Number One. Now the G-men really are after him.
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
1973Sinbad and his crew intercept a homunculus carrying a golden tablet. Koura, the creator of the homunculus and practitioner of evil magic, wants the tablet back and pursues Sinbad. Meanwhile, Sinbad meets the Vizier who has another part of the interlocking golden map, and they mount a quest across the seas to solve the riddle of the map.
Emperor of the North
1973Hobos encounter a sadistic railway conductor that will not let anyone "ride the rails" for free.
The Three Musketeers
1973In 17th century France, young D'Artagnan wants to join the King's Musketeers, but instead befriends three legendary musketeers—Athos, Porthos, and Aramis—and together, they become embroiled in the political intrigue surrounding King Louis XIII and his adversaries, particularly the powerful Cardinal Richelieu.
The Magnificent One
1973A writer of pulpy book series in which he's the hero and his beautiful English roommate is the love interest attempts to finish his new book in time at the publisher's demand.
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons
1973Ogami Itto is challenged by a quintet of warriors, each armed with one fifth of Ogami's assassin fee and one fifth of the information he needs to complete his assignment.
Lady Snowblood
1973Yuki's family is nearly wiped out before she is born due to the machinations of a band of criminals. These criminals kidnap and brutalize her mother but leave her alive. Later her mother ends up in prison with only revenge to keep her alive. She creates an instrument for this revenge by purposefully getting pregnant. Yuki never knows the love of a family but only killing and revenge.
Live and Let Die
1973James Bond must investigate a mysterious murder case of a British agent in New Orleans. Soon he finds himself up against a gangster boss named Mr. Big.
Charley Varrick
1973Charley Varrick robs a bank in a small town with his friends, but instead of obtaining a small amount of money, they discover they stole a very large amount of money belonging to the mob. Charley must now come up with a plan to not only evade the police but the mob as well.
The Stone Killer
1973A Los Angeles detective is sent to New York where he must solve a case involving an old Sicilian Mafia family feud.
Black Caesar
1973Raised in Harlem, Tommy Gibbs becomes a successful mob boss but he clashes with the rival Mafia and his old enemy, dirty cop McKinney.
Cops and Robbers
1973Two disillusioned New York policemen plan a $10 million robbery to fuel their low pensions, only to run into one debacle after another in the process.
Scorpio
1973Cross is an old hand at the CIA who often teams up with Frenchman Jean “Scorpio” Laurier, a gifted freelance operative. After their last mission together, the CIA orders Scorpio to eliminate Cross, leaving him no choice but to obey.
Savage!
1973Low-budget adventure starring former baseball star James Iglehart as Savage, who is kidnapped by South American rebels. After a time, he sees their position and is joined by a female commando squad in battling the repressive government officials.
The Day of the Jackal
1973An international assassin known as ‘The Jackal’ is employed by disgruntled French generals to kill President Charles de Gaulle, with a dedicated gendarme on the assassin’s trail.
Fred Zinnemann crafts a masterclass in clinical, procedural suspense where the mechanics of an assassination are as gripping as the gunfire. Its genius lies in the cold, mechanical precision of the hunt, making it one of the most intellectually stimulating thrillers of the decade.
Hit!
1973A federal agent whose daughter dies of a heroin overdose is determined to destroy the drug ring that supplied her. He recruits various people whose lives have been torn apart by the drug trade and trains them. Then they all leave for France to track down and destroy the ring.
Billy Dee Williams leads a meticulously assembled ensemble in this sleek, international narcotics thriller. It eschews simple fisticuffs for a sophisticated, slow-burn tension that culminates in a satisfyingly coordinated strike against a global drug syndicate.
Cleopatra Jones
1973After federal agent Cleopatra Jones orders the burning of a Turkish poppy field, the notorious drug lord Mommy vows to destroy her.
Tamara Dobson brings a towering, high-fashion elegance to the grit of the streets, creating a cinematic hero of unmatched stylistic bravado. The film thrives on its vibrant, kaleidoscopic set pieces and a relentless drive that perfectly captures the hyper-saturated energy of 1973.
Walking Tall
1973Ex-wrestler and Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser walks tall and carries a big stick as he tussles with county-wide corruption and moonshining thugs.
This biographical brawler delivers a shocking, blunt-force impact through its depiction of a man wielding a four-foot piece of oak against a corrupt system. It is a grueling, visceral triumph of the 'one man against the world' archetype that feels terrifyingly immediate.
White Lightning
1973An ex-con teams up with federal agents to help them with breaking up a moonshine ring.
Burt Reynolds defines the high-speed 'hick-flick' with this greasy, screeching ode to the Southern moonshine runner. The film’s centerpiece car chases are masterclasses in practical stunt work, capturing a chaotic, grounded energy that digital effects can never replicate.
The Train Robbers
1973A gunhand named Lane is hired by a widow, Mrs. Lowe, to find gold stolen by her deceased husband so that she may return it and clear the family name.
John Wayne pivots to a more kinetic, stunt-heavy Western landscape where the gunplay is as scorching as the desert sun. This is a muscular, dust-caked exercise in classic frontier violence that trades sentimentalism for a steady barrage of heavy artillery.
Magnum Force
1973"Dirty" Harry Callahan is a San Francisco Police Inspector on the trail of a group of rogue cops who have taken justice into their own hands. When shady characters are murdered one after another in grisly fashion, only Dirty Harry can stop them.
Clint Eastwood sharpens the vigilante edge of his iconic inspector in this cynical, explosive interrogation of power. Its relentless motorcycle-based mayhem and cold-blooded shootout sequences prove that the sequel could out-muscle the original in pure ballistic intensity.
Coffy
1973After her younger sister gets involved in drugs and is severely injured by contaminated heroin, a nurse sets out on a mission of vengeance and vigilante justice, killing drug dealers, pimps, and mobsters who cross her path.
Pam Grier’s magnetic ferocity turns this urban vendetta into an essential pillar of the Blaxploitation era. The film’s raw, unapologetic pacing and Grier’s lethal charisma offer a stylistic blueprint for the modern female-led revenge thriller.
Battle for the Planet of the Apes
1973The fifth and final episode in the Planet of the Apes series. After the collapse of human civilization, a community of intelligent apes led by Caesar lives in harmony with a group of humans. Gorilla General Aldo tries to cause an ape civil war and a community of human mutants who live beneath a destroyed city try to conquer those whom they perceive as enemies. All leading to the finale.
While the series grew leaner in budget, this final chapter compensates with a gritty, scorched-earth battle for civilization. It stands as a unique specimen of post-apocalyptic skirmishes, pitting simian factions against subterranean mutants in a surprisingly bleak spectacle.
Enter the Dragon
1973A martial artist agrees to spy on a reclusive crime lord using his invitation to a tournament there as cover.
Bruce Lee’s swan song remains the definitive martial arts masterwork, a high-octane collision of James Bond aesthetics and bone-crunching choreography. It elevated the genre by showcasing a visceral, rhythmic violence that changed the grammar of global action cinema forever.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about this list and SnakeDrafts
- "Enter the Dragon" is a martial arts masterpiece that elevated the genre globally with Bruce Lee's iconic performance and its innovative fight choreography. Its blend of Eastern martial arts and Western spy thriller elements marked a high point in 1973 action cinema.
- "Magnum Force" is notable for its complex portrayal of justice and vigilante ethics through Clint Eastwood's role as Dirty Harry. The film blends gritty crime drama with action, reflecting the era's growing cynicism toward authority and law enforcement.
- Films like "Coffy" and "Cleopatra Jones" feature powerful female protagonists who challenge the traditional male-dominated action genre. These movies introduced assertive, vengeful heroines with a blend of crime, thriller, and action elements, influencing future female-led action films.
- Both "Walking Tall" and "White Lightning" delve into themes of personal justice and rebellion against corruption. Their portrayal of lone heroes taking on societal wrongs reflects the post-Vietnam War skepticism and the quest for moral clarity characteristic of 1973 action cinema.
- "Battle for the Planet of the Apes" merges action with science fiction to explore dystopian themes and human-ape conflicts. Its inclusion in the 1973 action genre showcases the era's experimentation with blending speculative fiction and intense action narratives.
- "The Day of the Jackal" is renowned for its meticulous, suspense-driven storytelling and realistic depiction of an assassination plot. This methodical pacing and attention to detail helped redefine spy thrillers by focusing more on psychological tension than explosive action.
- Cult films like "Savage!" and "Black Caesar" introduced elements of blaxploitation and unconventional narratives into the action mix. These movies provided gritty, street-level perspectives and antihero characters, broadening the appeal and diversity of 1973 action cinema.
