Fast & Furious Star Names Shocking Pick for First Action Film
The blockbuster franchise star reveals his surprising choice for cinema's original action movie, pointing to an unexpected 1939 classic that redefined danger on screen.
The Fast & Furious franchise star has built his career on high-octane thrills and death-defying stunts. His movies have earned billions worldwide, cementing his status among Hollywood's top action heroes. But when asked about the origins of action cinema, his answer caught everyone off guard.
The actor believes Gone With the Wind deserves recognition as cinema's first true action movie. Speaking with author Cindy Pearlman for her book about Hollywood favorites, he made his case with surprising conviction.
War-Torn Atlanta as Action Backdrop
"If you think about it, Gone With the Wind really is the first action movie," he explained. "You have Rhett [Butler] having to go through this tumultuous time of war. Here is a man who has to transport the people he loves, including his woman, Scarlett. They need to move from one bad location to the next during this time of war with the entire city burning all around them... You really felt the heat and the danger."
The star pointed to specific sequences that mirror modern action beats. Scarlett O'Hara's deadly encounter with a Union soldier particularly impressed him. "It's not easy to kill Union soldiers in a hoop skirt," he noted, as if speaking from experience.
Technical Innovation Before CGI
Beyond the wartime drama, he praised the film's groundbreaking technical work. The 1939 epic achieved its spectacular effects "way before the days of computer-generated effects." Those burning Atlanta sequences required real fire, real smoke, real danger.
Other film experts have different theories about action cinema's birth. Guillermo del Toro champions 1964's The Train. The British Film Institute traces the genre back to 1924's The Thief of Bagdad. This latest theory falls somewhere between those dates.
Rhett Butler as Proto-Action Hero
The comparison isn't entirely far-fetched. Rhett Butler's desperate flight from burning Atlanta does sound like a Fast & Furious sequence. Just swap the horsepower for actual horses. The four-hour epic contains enough wartime action to justify the classification.
Gone With the Wind's massive scope allows for multiple interpretations. Its influence spans countless genres and decades. Whether it truly launched action cinema remains debatable, but the argument has merit. The film certainly delivered thrills that audiences had never experienced before.