1988 and the undisputed number one action star be that austrian body builder with the funny name with that monosylabic guy from rocky in second place . the thing i hat about arnie and sly be that their action movie be uninvolving with over blown battle scene where the good guy never seem to be in danger of die . i be also go to bring the james bond franchise into the conversation but the series become a parody when bond stop speak with a scottish accent sometime in the early 70sdie hard be different to the other 80 action fests with john mclane be a fairly believable genre character . okay he two dimensional but that get to be one dimension more than john rambo who only exist to kill a lot of nasty commie so american can flock to the cinema . it also interest to note that mclane wife be use in the plot which be slightly different from how most action film work out where the hero be normally single and but that probably because die hard a more depth to it than many contemparies . perhaps the big difference be that mclane be slightly flaw a we ` re show one scene where the hero give the bad guy something they want and not something you ` d see in a arnie or sly movie . i win ` t mention the stunt or the tightly write set piece or how compelling they be because everyone else have beat me to it and except to say that big explosion and gun fight often overwhelm an action movie ( bond movie be a good example ) but here they occur from the narrative instead of someone cram them into the script in a vain attempt to thrill the audience . normally i ` d have a fit that an action blockbuster be well inside the imdb top 250 but die hard do deserve to be there since it the best movie of it type of it era .