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Best Action Movies of the 1960s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB

75 action films from the 1960s are in our catalog; the 50 best are ranked below. Top of the list is Harakiri (1962), at 8.6 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 7.1. Biggest split between audiences and critics: Mackenna's Gold, 6.7 on IMDb against 37 on Metacritic.

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#MovieGenreIMDbTomatoMetaTMDBDirector
1 Harakiri '1962 Action / Drama 8.6 100% 85 8.5 Masaki Kobayashi
2 Planet of the Apes '1968 Sci-Fi / Drama / Action 8.0 86% 79 7.7 Franklin J. Schaffner
3 Sanjuro '1962 Drama / Action / Comedy 8.0 100% 83 7.9 Akira Kurosawa
4 Goldfinger '1964 Action / Thriller 7.7 99% 87 7.4 Guy Hamilton
5 The Dirty Dozen '1967 Action / War 7.7 82% 73 7.6 Robert Aldrich
6 The Sword of Doom '1966 Drama / Crime / Action 7.9 80% - 7.8 Kihachi Okamoto
7 The Tale of Zatoichi '1962 Action / Drama 7.6 100% - 7.3 Kenji Misumi
8 Le Deuxième Souffle '1966 Action / Drama / Crime 7.9 100% - 7.7 Jean-Pierre Melville
9 The Monkey King: Uproar in Heaven '1961 Animation / Fantasy / Action 8.0 - - 7.8 Wan Laiming
10 Bullitt '1968 Action / Crime / Thriller 7.4 98% 81 7.2 Peter Yates
11 The Tale of Zatoichi Continues '1962 Action / Drama 7.2 100% - 7.1 Kazuo Mori
12 The White Sun of the Desert '1969 Action / Drama / War 7.6 - - 7.2 Vladimir Motyl
13 From Russia with Love '1963 Action / Thriller 7.3 97% 83 7.1 Terence Young
14 Three Outlaw Samurai '1964 Action / Drama 7.6 80% - 7.5 Hideo Gosha
15 Hatari! '1962 Comedy / Action 7.1 65% - 6.8 Howard Hawks
16 Dr. No '1962 Action / Thriller 7.2 95% 78 7.0 Terence Young
17 The Professionals '1966 Western / Action 7.3 89% 75 7.1 Richard Brooks
18 Cartouche '1962 Comedy / Romance / Action 6.5 - - 6.3 Philippe de Broca
19 El Cid '1961 Action / Drama / Romance / War 7.2 93% 79 6.8 Anthony Mann
20 Youth of the Beast '1963 Thriller / Crime / Action / Mystery 7.3 86% - 7.0 Seijun Suzuki
21 Django '1966 Action / Western 7.2 94% 75 7.2 Sergio Corbucci
22 Dragon Inn '1967 Action 7.4 100% 100 7.4 King Hu
23 King Kong vs. Godzilla '1962 Sci-Fi / Fantasy / Action 6.2 52% - 6.9 Ishirō Honda
24 Branded to Kill '1967 Thriller / Crime / Action 7.2 100% - 7.2 Seijun Suzuki
25 Grand Prix '1966 Drama / Action 7.2 92% 72 7.3 John Frankenheimer
26 Von Ryan's Express '1965 War / Action / Thriller 7.1 90% - 7.1 Mark Robson
27 The One-Armed Swordsman '1967 Action / Drama 7.2 - - 6.9 Chang Cheh
28 Morituri '1965 Action / Drama / Thriller / War 7.0 75% - 6.7 Bernhard Wicki
29 Greed in the Sun '1964 Action / Comedy 7.0 - - 7.1 Henri Verneuil
30 Tokyo Drifter '1966 Thriller / Crime / Action 7.1 93% - 7.1 Seijun Suzuki
31 The Blue Max '1966 War / Action / Drama 7.1 100% - 6.8 John Guillermin
32 That Man from Rio '1964 Action / Comedy 7.0 79% - 7.3 Philippe de Broca
33 The Great Spy Chase '1964 Comedy / Action / Thriller 6.8 - - 6.9 Georges Lautner
34 Battle of Britain '1969 War / Action / Drama 7.0 67% 44 6.8 Guy Hamilton
35 Return of the One-Armed Swordsman '1969 Action 7.1 - - 6.6 Chang Cheh
36 Come Drink with Me '1966 Action 6.9 100% - 6.7 King Hu
37 Thunderball '1965 Action / Thriller 6.9 85% 64 6.7 Terence Young
38 The War Wagon '1967 Western / Action / Crime 6.8 - - 6.8 Burt Kennedy
39 Farewell, Friend '1968 Crime / Action / Thriller 6.7 - - 6.3 Jean Herman
40 The Devil's Brigade '1968 Action / Drama / War 6.7 57% - 6.3 Andrew V. McLaglen
41 Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot! '1967 Western / Action / Horror 6.3 - - 5.9 Giulio Questi
42 You Only Live Twice '1967 Action / Thriller 6.8 73% 61 6.6 Lewis Gilbert
43 Mackenna's Gold '1969 Action / Western 6.7 20% 37 6.6 J. Lee Thompson
44 The Bridge at Remagen '1969 War / Action 6.7 20% - 6.8 John Guillermin
45 Django, Prepare a Coffin '1968 Western / Action / Drama 6.4 - - 6.3 Ferdinando Baldi
46 The Heroes of Telemark '1965 Action / Drama / War 6.5 67% - 6.9 Anthony Mann
47 Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster '1964 Sci-Fi / Action / Fantasy 6.5 77% - 7.0 Ishirō Honda
48 Ace High '1968 Western / Action / Comedy 6.5 - - 6.5 Giuseppe Colizzi
49 The Assassination Bureau '1969 Action / Crime / Comedy / Thriller 6.4 78% 61 6.7 Basil Dearden
50 Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! '1965 Action / Crime / Comedy / Thriller 6.6 74% 65 6.4 Russ Meyer

Our catalog covers roughly the 8,800 most-rated films on TMDB, so lesser-known titles may be missing. Order uses a confidence-weighted IMDb score so a perfect score from a handful of votes does not beat a well-established classic; the scores shown are the raw ones.

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Other genres in the 1960s

Animation of the 1960s Comedy of the 1960s Crime of the 1960s Drama of the 1960s Fantasy of the 1960s Horror of the 1960s Mystery of the 1960s Romance of the 1960s Sci-Fi of the 1960s Thriller of the 1960s War of the 1960s Western of the 1960s

Directors on this list

Masaki Kobayashi Franklin J. Schaffner Akira Kurosawa Guy Hamilton Robert Aldrich Kenji Misumi Jean-Pierre Melville Peter Yates Terence Young Howard Hawks Richard Brooks Philippe de Broca

Actors on this list

Tatsuya Nakadai Charlton Heston Roddy McDowall Toshirō Mifune Sean Connery Gert Fröbe Lee Marvin Ernest Borgnine Lino Ventura Steve McQueen John Wayne Burt Lancaster