Sep 9th 2010 By Brendan McGinley

The Evolution of Female Action Heroes

Well-behaved women rarely make history, but they once made movies. From then, it's been a long, slow climb to today, where Hollywood actually allows women to blow things up on screen.

They've had to work twice as hard to get here, and five times as hard to make movies as bad as the ones men put out.

Keep reading to see our timeline of misbehaving women of the screen, from 1915 to today.

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Tags: aeon flux - aliens - buffy the vampire slayer - charlies angels - coffy - emma peel - fifth element - julie barnes - kill bill - lara croft - maggie q - mod squad - nikita - resident evil - ripley - sara connor - sidney bristow - the avengers - the bride - the matrix - tomb raider - trinity - ultraviolet - underworld - wonder woman - WonderWoman - xena

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Thursday 09 September

By ofalaska

Highest Rank

Mabel Normand flew a Jenny biplane over Hollywood in 1917 firing six guns with both hands and steering with her knees while the cameraman filmed from the back seat in A Dash Through the Clouds. She was tied to a railroad track with a real train bearing down on her in Barney Oldfield's Race for Life in 1917. She jumped off a cliff on horseback in Mickey, and swam the rapids to rescue a guy. She also was strung out on cocaine and the lover of Mac Sennett. How we forget!

Thursday 09 September

By Tom

Neutral

For use in your gender and diversity class
Equal opportunity "action" (based on the costumes not sure exactly what kind)

Thursday 09 September

By PATRICK

Neutral

YOU MISSSSSSSED ONNNNNNNNNE.......CAT WOMAN! TELL ME THAT SHE DID NOT LOOK FINE IN HER CAT SUIT.

Thursday 09 September

By harry slaughter

Highest Rank

WHAT ABOUT WESTERN HEROS LIKE ANNIE OAKLEY ETC.

Tuesday 16 November

By Don

Lowest Ranked

All BS...In the real world 98% of this stuff couldn't happen.Trick photography and "weeenie" writers made it seem
possible... Take "GI Jane"...She wouldn't have lasted the first 15 minutes of Navy SEAL training...

Thursday 09 September

By Patricia

Neutral

Any one remember the great show She Spies? It was a combo of female spies and a little "Psyche" humor - it was great fun.

Thursday 09 September

By rememberfdnypd

Neutral

One glaring ommission from this list is the one that the makers of the new Nikita are capitalizing on - Peta Wilson's Nikita. Some of the female action heroes you've listed are as good, but she's better than some of those listed. We'll see how Maggie Q lives up to her predecessor.

Thursday 09 September

By RCPLady

Neutral

Thank you for your post, rememberfdnypd! I think La Femme Nikita was an excellent show and for the writers of this article to omit reference to it is just wrong! I hope this new series will be good, but I can't imagine it being as good, never mind better, than the original! I loved Nikita and Michael, Operations and Madeline, as well as the rest of the wonderful cast. Great show. I still miss it!

Thursday 09 September

By R.E.

Lowest Rank

NO REAL MAN WATCHES ALL THESE CRAPPY CHICK FLICKS, THEY ARE SO STUPID.

Thursday 09 September

By chapulina

Neutral

Well, actually, the actresses who played butt-kicking Sara Conners (Terminator ll version) and Colonial Marine Vasquez (Aliens) mentioned receiving numerous marriage offers from U.S. Marines smitten by their iconic characters. So *some* "real men" are definitely watching!
Though I wouldn't call these female action heroes "chicks." The contempt-term "chick flick" usually refers to fluffy girly pink comedy like that Reese Witherspoon series, emotion-wrought melodrama (Steel Magnolias?) or sex obsessed Desperate Housewives, Sex in the City stuff. I remember hearing that the latter two had a fair share of male fans as well.