With 70 movie and television credits to his name, we think you should already know who Gary Daniels is. If not, you should get on that right now. The former World Lightweight Kickboxing Champion has been an action movie mainstay for decades, starring opposite Jackie Chan, Sylvester Stallone and Sugar Ray Leonard in one awesome fight movie after another. Start with City Hunter, in which he fights Jackie Chan dressed as Ken from Street Fighter II, and work your way up to Blood Moon, in which he plays an FBI profiler hunting a serial killer who targets martial arts masters. It’s a real hoot.
In his latest picture, Misfire, Gary Daniels stars as a DEA agent punching his way through the criminal underworld of Tijuana, in searching of his missing ex-wife. And while we are happy to offer you an exclusive fight scene from Misfire above, we are even happier to offer you a special look into the films that inspired one of our favorite action stars.
Related: Gary Daniels Explains How to Make a Fight Scene Great
Since we couldn’t interview Gary Daniels due to his busy shooting schedule, we asked him to provide his fans with a list of his very favorite action movies. And as usual, Gary Daniels delivers. What follows are the movies that inspire and entertain a martial arts star. It’s a list that includes classics, blockbusters, and at least a few cult films that we had never even heard of, and are definitely going to track down. They sound really, really cool.
Check out Misfire right now on DVD and Digital Download, and then scour the internet and your local videos to locate his favorite action films and watch those too.
Slideshow: Gary Daniels Reveals His Favorite Action Movies
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
Gary Daniels Reveals His Favorite Action Movies
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1. The Magnificent Seven
"Classic all star cast, each with definitive characters and a fantastic score, I can watch this film over and over."
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2. The Great Escape
"Again a great cast with a highlight performance by the late, great Mr Steve McQueen."
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3. Red Sun
"An Eastern / Western classic. Pairing Toshiro Mifune with Charles Bronson was brilliant, with the main villain portrayed by Alain Delon, if you haven’t seen it ….. give it a try."
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4. Enter the Dragon
"This film is all about Bruce Lee, the epitome of an action hero, original, charismatic, powerful and believable. When Bruce Lee hit someone you really felt that they weren’t getting up again. This is the film that inspired me to follow the martial path."
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5. Fist of Fury
"A great performance by Bruce Lee as Chen Zhen with fights that were animalistic in their gracefulness. "
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6. Shogun Assassin
“A superb rendition of Chanbara, simple, brutal and who couldn’t love Daigoro?”
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7. Drunken Master, Fearless Hyena & Snake in Eagle's Shadow
“Three Jackie Chan classics that set his career into high gear, choreography by the master Yuen Woo Ping. Three films with similar plot lines but you never get bored of watching Jackie’s comedy antics and his perfect martial arts execution.”
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8. Eastern Condors
“An ‘Eastern Expendables’ before there was ‘The Expendables.’ A great cast from Asia, a hard hitting action, martial arts film with superb performances from Yeun Biao , Sammo Hung and Yeun Wah.”
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9. The Challenge
“A great pairing of Scott Glenn and Toshiro Mifune , the gaijin and the Samurai. This film truly represented the art and soul of Bushido.”
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10. Lethal Weapon & Die Hard
“Two great action movies of the 80’s where Mel Gibson and Bruce Willis both brought a vulnerability and their well developed acting prowess to their heroic characters. Both of these actors have shown that they can succeed at drama, comedy, action, whatever is asked of them.”
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11. House of Flying Daggers & Hero
"Two beautifully shot Wuxia films directed by Zhang Yimou taking martial arts cinema to another level."
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12. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
“The only martial arts film to win an Academy Award and the film that introduced the world to Ziyi Zhang.”
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13. SPL & Flashpoint
“Two modern day action films directed by Wilson Yip starring Donnie Yen where he gets to show of his balletic brutality. I think Donnie Yen does modern day martial arts action better than anyone else nowadays and ‘SPL’ has a seasoned villainous performance from the legendary Sammo Hung.”
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14. Hancock
"A superhero movie with a difference, a great concept and great story telling with a tragic love story driving the two main characters. Well written, well directed and well executed by Will Smith and Charlize Theron."
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15. The Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America and Spider-Man
“The Marvel superhero movies are taking us into an new era of action movie story telling. Super entertaining and their box office shows us that the audiences are obviously enjoying them and that they will be around for a while.”
