美国国家公共电台 NPR--'The Last Action Heroes,' by Nick de Semlyen, focuses on 8 action stars

'The Last Action Heroes,' by Nick de Semlyen, focuses on 8 action stars

Transcript¹

NPR's A Martinez speaks to film journalist Nick de Semlyen about the actors who dominated action films in the '80s and '90s — including: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

In the 1980s, the action in action movies went to a whole 'nother level. There were big blockbusters that really leaned into a lot of things, including the Cold War with the Soviet² Union.

NICK DE SEMLYEN: I think a lot of it was to do with the climate at the time, with America just had Vietnam, Watergate. It was a very uncertain time. And then these action stars arrive, and they were bringing something else to the table. They were so confident. They were so indestructible. And you have Chuck Norris recreating Vietnam but actually winning.

MART?NEZ: That's Nick de Semlyen, author of a new book called "The Last Action Heroes." In it, he focuses on eight action stars - Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris and Jackie Chan.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM MONTAGE)

SYLVESTER STALLONE: (As John Rambo) They drew first blood, not me.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: (As The Terminator) I'll be back.

BRUCE WILLIS: (As John McClane) Welcome to the party, pal³.

MART?NEZ: But Sly and Arnold are clearly the straws that stir this alpha male movie star cocktail⁴.

DE SEMLYEN: They're kind of the titans who are still yet to be surpassed in the genre⁵, and they're still at it. You know, they've both just starred in their own TV series, which is the first for each. But yeah, they were really the guys who started it all. Sly kind of started the whole one-man army thing, in a way. And then Arnold came shortly afterwards - "Conan The Barbarian⁶" and "The Terminator." And they just became instantly iconic. The absolute impact that those two had on pop culture - I just don't think we've seen it since.

MART?NEZ: If they wrote the playbook, what is the playbook for what they wrote?

DE SEMLYEN: Well, one-liners, body counts, the whole kind of one-man army model. I mean, people were doing it beforehand. You'd had Clint Eastwood, and you had, you know, Charles Bronson in "Death Wish." Bruce Lee was doing his thing. So people had done it before, but I think they just perfected the formula.

MART?NEZ: How did some of the others in your book find their places in this testosterone Tinseltown?

DE SEMLYEN: Well, Stallone and Schwarzenegger kind of blazed the trail, like I said, and they just came charging into Hollywood and were just two insanely powerful forces that kind of changed everything. And then in their wake, you had people coming in, Chuck Norris - not the best at acting⁷, but he kind of carved out this niche⁸ for himself as the - kind of the karate⁹ guy. And then you had Jean-Claude Van Damme. You had Steven Seagal. Both had very different personas but kind of variations on the theme. And then you had Bruce Willis, who arrived kind of fully¹⁰ formed with "Die Hard," which he wasn't really meant to be in. They kind of put him in it as a last minute, you know, we haven't got anyone else 'cause so many people were turning down that film. But "Die Hard" turned out to be such a phenomenon that it actually transformed the whole action genre.

MART?NEZ: Yeah, Bruce Willis is the one that really sticks out to me of the eight in your book because he doesn't have that massive, muscle-bound physique. He doesn't have world-class martial¹¹ arts skills. He's just kind of this wisecracking bro. So how is he able to make that into an iconic action hero persona?

DE SEMLYEN: Well, that was kind of it. That was kind of - the thing that was seen as a weakness at the time turned out to be the biggest strength because, you know, he wasn't a gym guy. He was, you know, a guy who had a deal with Seagram's wine coolers. And he was, like, the party guy.

MART?NEZ: I remember that. (Singing) Seagram's golden wine cooler, it's wet, and it's dry. My, my, my, my.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

WILLIS: (Singing) Seagram's golden wine cooler. It's wet, and it's dry.

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Singing) Golden wine cooler.

WILLIS: (Singing) My, my, my, my.

DE SEMLYEN: It's a great ad. It's hard to get out your head once you hear it. He was slimmer than those other guys. He wasn't a Schwarzenegger. He wasn't a Stallone. He was, like, kind of a regular looking guy, more or less. It changed the game, really. It kind of opened up the action genre when that became a big success because he was playing a character who was not only kind of relatable in physique but also vulnerable. You know, there's a scene in "Die Hard" where he cries, which is unimaginable for a Schwarzenegger or Stallone at the time. They just wouldn't have gone near that role. In the wake of "Die Hard," you saw all of these films where the heroes suddenly were more vulnerable. And then you saw Keanu Reeves. You saw Wesley Snipes. You saw these more regular guys who weren't always in the gym bodybuilding become the new wave of action heroes.

MART?NEZ: Yeah. So this new wave - how are action heroes that came after different or the same? Because outside of Jackie Chan, the names on your - in your book, Nick, are all white dudes.

DE SEMLYEN: That was kind of the Hollywood of the time. There were people there who definitely had the talent but didn't get the opportunities. I'm a huge fan of Carl Weathers, obviously, Apollo Creed¹² in the "Rocky" films, but he's also in a really fun '80s movie called "Action Jackson." He did that, but then he didn't get any other opportunities, so he kind of went to TV. And it was - unfortunately, it wasn't a time of diversity and inclusivity. It was the white guys. And Jackie Chan - I kind of chart it in the book, but he tried to get into Hollywood, like, three times, and he's - just absolutely incredible action. The stuff he could do, for real, was mind-blowing. And it took him so long to really get the breaks that he deserved. Since the era when these guys kind of ruled supreme¹³, as great as they were, I think it's great that people have got more opportunities now, and you have much more diversity. You've got Michelle Yeoh last year in "Everything Everywhere All At Once," who was around at that time but certainly not given a break in Hollywood. And it's great that last year, she finally got one.

MART?NEZ: Nick, I was a very small, scrawny teen when these action heroes were pumping out their movies. And they all really deeply influenced how I felt about my lack of muscles and also what society deemed to value about masculinity. How much responsibility do you think they should have for the images that they spawned¹⁴?

DE SEMLYEN: I mean, it's hard to pinpoint¹⁵ with any specificity what impact they had pumping out these movies where you can solve all your problems just by punching people in the head and, you know, firing a gun at them. Probably does have some kind of impact. I talked to one of the makers¹⁶ of "Commando," which is one of Arnold's most insanely violent films of the '80s. In fact, they pumped up the body count in that film to compete with one of Stallone's "Rambo" films. They wanted to have a higher body count. So they went and counted how many people die, added more. "Commando" ended up being watched in Africa by - it was shown to child soldiers to kind of pump them up for battle. So, I mean, it definitely - you know, they had an influence in some ways positive, probably in some ways not so positive. And certainly, some of these movies veer¹⁷ into what you'd call toxic¹⁸ masculinity. I think you look at Seagal movies, what the director of "Die Hard," John McTiernan, calls, you know, fascist¹⁹ movies. And they probably don't have a great impact on pop culture. Some of them do. Some of them don't.

MART?NEZ: Nick de Semlyen's new book is called "The Last Action Heroes: The Triumphs, Flops²⁰, And Feuds²¹ Of Hollywood's Kings Of Carnage." Nick, thank you very much.

DE SEMLYEN: Thank you so much.

(SOUNDBITE OF ROCKY ORCHESTRA SONG, "GONNA FLY NOW")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

3 pal   

n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友

参考例句：

• He is a pal of mine.他是我的一个朋友。
• Listen,pal,I don't want you talking to my sister any more.听着，小子，我不让你再和我妹妹说话了。

4 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

5 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

6 barbarian   

n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的

参考例句：

• There is a barbarian tribe living in this forest.有一个原始部落居住在这个林区。
• The walled city was attacked by barbarian hordes.那座有城墙的城市遭到野蛮部落的袭击。

7 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

8 niche   

n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等)

参考例句：

• Madeleine placed it carefully in the rocky niche. 玛德琳小心翼翼地把它放在岩石壁龛里。
• The really talented among women would always make their own niche.妇女中真正有才能的人总是各得其所。

9 karate   

n.空手道(日本的一种徒手武术)

参考例句：

• Alice's boyfriend knew a little karate.艾丽斯的男朋友懂一点儿空手道。
• The black belt is the highest level in karate.黑腰带级是空手道的最高级别。

10 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

11 martial   

adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的

参考例句：

• The sound of martial music is always inspiring.军乐声总是鼓舞人心的。
• The officer was convicted of desertion at a court martial.这名军官在军事法庭上被判犯了擅离职守罪。

12 creed   

n.信条；信念，纲领

参考例句：

• They offended against every article of his creed.他们触犯了他的每一条戒律。
• Our creed has always been that business is business.我们的信条一直是公私分明。

13 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

14 spawned   

（鱼、蛙等）大量产（卵）( spawn的过去式和过去分词 )； 大量生产

参考例句：

• The band's album spawned a string of hit singles. 这支乐队的专辑繁衍出一连串走红的单曲唱片。
• The computer industry has spawned a lot of new companies. 由于电脑工业的发展，许多新公司纷纷成立。

15 pinpoint   

vt.准确地确定；用针标出…的精确位置

参考例句：

• It is difficult to pinpoint when water problems of the modern age began.很难准确地指出，现代用水的问题是什么时候出现的。
• I could pinpoint his precise location on a map.我能在地图上指明他的准确位置。

16 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 veer   

vt.转向，顺时针转，改变；n.转向

参考例句：

• He is unlikely to veer from his boss's strongly held views.他不可能背离他老板的强硬立场。
• If you fall asleep while driving,you'll probably veer off the road.假如你开车时打瞌睡，可能会驶离道路。

18 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

19 fascist   

adj.法西斯主义的；法西斯党的；n.法西斯主义者，法西斯分子

参考例句：

• The strikers were roughed up by the fascist cops.罢工工人遭到法西斯警察的殴打。
• They succeeded in overthrowing the fascist dictatorship.他们成功推翻了法西斯独裁统治。

20 flops   

n.失败( flop的名词复数 )v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的第三人称单数 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅

参考例句：

• a pair of flip-flops 一双人字拖鞋
• HPC environments are often measured in terms of FLoating point Operations Per Second (FLOPS) . HPC环境通常以每秒浮点运算次数(FLOPS)加以度量。 来自互联网

21 feuds   

n.长期不和，世仇( feud的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Quarrels and feuds between tribes became incessant. 部落间的争吵、反目成仇的事件接连不断。 来自英汉非文学 - 文明史
• There were feuds in the palace, no one can deny. 宫里也有斗争，这是无可否认的。 来自辞典例句