20 awesome action movies whose stars are over 60

When Tom Cruise made “Mission: Impossible” in 1996, he was a movie star right in the pocket for action films. Then he kept making them. “Mission: Impossible” became the defining American action series, a de facto American James Bond. Cruise also kept doing his own stunts, even as he got older and older. “Dead Reckoning” was his first time playing Ethan Hunt after crossing the threshold of 60, but not his last.

“Red” in the world of the film is an acronym for “retired, extremely dangerous.” The whole bit is that the protagonists are former spies, black-ops agents, and the like that have aged out of the profession. Bruce Willis wasn’t 60 yet, but Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren were over 60. So was Ernest Borgnine, though in a small role.

Arnold Schwarzenegger hadn’t made a movie since the third “Terminator” movie in 2003. He got busy with politics. You may have heard about that. Schwarzenegger has made action movies since “The Last Stand,” and even returned to the “Terminator” franchise. Of those films, though, “The Last Stand” is probably the best of the bunch. The title kind of gives you the gist of what it’s about. It’s also got that classic Schwarzenegger thing where this giant dude with a thick Austrian accent is just, you know, a sheriff in small-town Arizona.

Though Gene Hackman is played the wizened old hand alongside Will Smith, then in his movie star heyday, he gets in on the action. In a Hitchcockian “wrong man” story, Smith plays a lawyer who is slipped a piece of evidence a corrupt NSA bigwig wants. Thus, Smith’s life is turned upside down, and in order to try and figure out what is going on, he tracks down a former intelligence operative, Hackman, who is as paranoid as he is helpful.

“Cast Away” only wishes it went all in as hard as “All is Lost.” That movie gave Tom Hanks a volleyball to talk to, not to mention bookends where he isn’t stuck on the island. “All is Lost” is a survival film in which Robert Redford is the only cast member, and only 51 words of English are spoken. Redford plays a man, unnamed in the film, who is lost at sea and has to fight for his survival.

You think it’s impressive that Bob Odenkirk became an action star with “Nobody?” June Squibb has him one-upped. Odenkirk may have been a middle-aged man best known for comedy, but Squibb starred in “Thelma” when she was in her nineties. Now, “Thelma” isn’t exactly “John Wick,” and Thelma gets around with the assistance of a scooter, but this is a revenge film about a nonagenarian who joins with her grandson and Richard Roundtree to take down some scammers.

“Dial of Destiny” was the “Old Indiana Jones” movie and it’s…okay. Fortunately, for the sake of this list, Ford had already surpassed 60 when he starred in “Crystal Skull.” Now, it’s not on par with “Raiders of the Lost Ark” or anything, and it is a step down from the original trilogy. However, “Crystal Skull” is watchable, even enjoyable.

Yes, it’s animated, but in terms of adventure movies about older folks, “Up” is a quintessential example of the genre. Following Pixar’s acclaimed opening montage, Carl Fredricksen, now in his seventies, desires to escape from the world with the help of a bunch of balloons. Instead, he ends up in a Pixar-style life-affirming adventure. Now, Carl is animated, but Ed Asner, who voiced him, was certainly over 60.

Does the plot make sense? Maybe not, but “Space Cowboys” makes more sense than “Armageddon,” to name one such similar film. Four test pilots, Clint Eastwood (who also directed), Tommy Lee Jones, James Garner, and Donald Sutherland, are sent into space to fix an old Soviet satellite. After all, who could possibly learn to fix an old satellite, so why not send a bunch of retired test pilots into space? And yet, like many Eastwood films, it’s perfectly watchable.

Granted, Jack Nicholson doesn’t do much on the action front in Martin Scorsese’s Best Picture winner. That’s left to Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Mark Wahlberg. That being said, Nicholson isn’t just sitting by idly, either. As mob boss Frank Costello, Nicholson is involved in some of the action, though as a man just shy of 70 at the time and near retirement, he isn’t doing Cruise-type stunts.

Samuel L. Jackson, who is in his mid-seventies, has been in many action movies since turning 60. We landed on “Captain Marvel” because it may be the one where he does the most action. Granted, he’s doing that while his whole being is being CGI-ed, but Jackson was still doing the action. In “Captain Marvel,” Jackson as Nick Fury is close to being the main supporting actor behind Brie Larson, and as a 2019 movie, he was further past 60 by this point.

In the first two “Men in Black” movies, Tommy Lee Jones was playing a curmudgeon, but not necessarily an old one. That didn’t happen until “Men in Black 3,” which came out the same year Jones was in “Lincoln.” A step forward from the shrug of “Men in Black 2,” this is a time travel movie. For much of it, Josh Brolin is playing a Young K, and doing a great Jones impression. Some of the film features Jones, though.

Many consider “Skyfall” the best Bond movie, or at least a top-five Bond movie. It’s definitely the swan song for Judi Dench as M. For much of her tenure in the Bond franchise, which began with “GoldenEye,” Dench is very much the venerated acting behind a desk. However, for “Skyfall,” Dench as M gets to be in on the action, even firing guns and taking a bullet.

The “Fast & Furious” franchise has gone on and on and added more and more actors. In time, some actors over 60 were bound to end up in the mix. “F9,” for example, featured both Mirren, also in “Red,” and Kurt Russell. Russell, of course, was an action star for many years, and even more recently, he was in the TV show “Monarch” that had a lot of action in it.

Jeff Bridges has been doing a thriller show for FX called “The Old Man” which is all about him still tapping into his CIA skills while being, you know, an old man. You could make the case for “Hell or High Water” being an action movie, and it’s better than “Tron: Legacy.” However, this movie saw Bridges return to his role of Kevin Flynn from the 1980s cult classic “Tron,” so we figured we’d shout that out.

From “Schindler’s List” to being one of the biggest action stars in the world, Liam Neeson has had quite the right. He’s also not necessarily shy about taking roles in so-so action movies and violent thrillers, though. Many of Neeson’s movies of this vein aren’t really worth watching, but “The Commuter” is one of the better options. It has a good cast and was a big hit.

“Quantumania” caught a bad beat in being built around Jonathan Majors as Kang, which didn’t pan out well for the MCU. Also, the special effects are a little iffy. That being said, it’s a solid enough addition to the MCU filmography, and this is about action movies with stars over 60. In “Quantumania” both Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer are in the mix during the action.

The Eddie Murphy renaissance eventually ended up with a fourth “Beverly Hills Cop” movie being made. While it ended up on Netflix, it was nice to see Murphy in Axel Foley mode again. Plus, Judge Reinhold was back! Though “Axel F” isn’t as good as “Beverly Hills Cop,” it is decidedly better than the third movie, making it a welcome addition.

“Absolute Power” is a bananas movie starring Eastwood and Hackman and directed by Eastwood. Eastwood plays, ahem, a master jewel thief who, while robbing a mansion, sees the Secret Service kill a woman to protect the president from being exposed for criminal behavior. Yes, that’s what “Absolute Power” is all about. It’s silly, but a classic ‘90s action thriller.

Denzel Washington, a two-time Oscar winner, isn’t afraid to do a mainstream action movie. All three of “The Equalizer” movies have come out while Washington was in his sixties (though he turned 60 the same year the first one came out, so he certainly shot it before turning 60). The first two movies, though, are only sorta okay. Generally speaking, and perhaps surprisingly, “The Equalizer 3” is considered the best of the bunch.