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MrFadedGlory's avatar

As with most things in my life, I’m very interested in evolutionary transitions. I’m less interested in the first human, but more the steps that existed before the group emerged fully formed. This taxonomy (and more importantly, the carefully crafted qualifiers) are a masterpiece. Your precursors (Predator, No Way Out, Frantic, Manhunter) are well chosen and on point. But I wonder if the first stirrings of the Dad Thriller began to emerge even before.

As you mentioned, the Dad thriller is very distinct from the Blockbuster, but I wonder if the DNA might not be present there in the blockbuster. A chromosomal forking of the road?

I’m thinking specifically of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (and NO OTHER Indiana Jones movie). Certainly it was Raiders more than any Star Wars movie that made Harrison Ford right for so many subsequent Dad Thrillers. He has a PhD in archeology but he was also a bit of a schlub. Nazis, shady American deep state elements buried in the government, a heroes purity of purpose while all forces are arrayed against him.

So many movies of the 80s and the 90s can trace their lineage back to that moment. Raiders might not be the actual moment that jumped out of the tree and started walking upright across the plains…but I think it’s a good place to start…

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GCSee's avatar

What a wonderful overview, and strangely it connects to a highly personal watchlist I was making on Letterboxd for 10 movies ordered chronologically: The Firm, In The Line Of Fire, Clear and Present Danger, Crimson Tide, Mission: Impossible, City Hall, The Peacemaker, Cop Land, Ronin and Enemy of the State.

These are my favorite movies from a specific category and released between 1993 and 1998: big blockbuster action movies set in real world locations and featuring characters dealing with the grime and grit of a world we believe is around us. Improbable escapes and deus ex machinas are kept to a minimum and scripts and dialogue are full of observations that we can connect to events from the news and recent history. These movies still have a whiff of the classic unresolved 70's movies about them, in that they're smart in the way characters make mistakes and either solve them messily (with a lot of 90's action and yelling) and also accept to live with a not so neat resolution (lots of Robert Towne script doctoring, and names like Steve Zaillian, David Koepp and David Mamet).

These 10 movies contain bits that are endlessly rewatchable (the ambush in Clear and Present Danger, all the car chases in Ronin, John Malkovich showing of his home made gun, Gene Hackman in everything). Besides my personal reason to connect these 10 movies from 1993-1998, they also connect because these more 'serious' and adult movies, combined with confusing doses of testosterone (these are not your 80's action stars) are no longer the money makers in Hollywood. There was a time and place for these movies to be big and beautiful, and they connect to my awakening as a cinephile during the 90's.

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