By Lee Pfeiffer
Film critic Scott Mendelson argues that the action movies our youth are often glorified in our minds. As Mendelson obviously came of age in the 1980s, the examples he cites refer to the likes of Arnold, Stallone and Chuck Norris. He makes a poignant case that, viewed without nostalgia, these films aren't nearly as good as many thought they were during their initial release. He's right- but for those of us who grew up prior to that decade, I can say without gloating that they didn't look that good to us even at the time of their initial release. I enjoyed these grunt-and-groan action films in the day, but I was always completely aware that The Delta Force was no Dirty Dozen. Mendelson generalizes that most older action films haven't aged well, but his frame of reference seems to start and stop with the 1980s. I politely suggest he watch some of the WWII and tough cop movies of the 1960s and 1970s, for example, and he will see that many of these hold up as well as ever. For more click here