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Action movies might not be the most prestigious genre, but they have proven time again to be one of the most popular. Like horror and comedy, they are unfairly dismissed by awards shows and critics. Making a good action movie – one that has endearing characters, a tidy plot, and sustained tension – is at least as challenging as making a good drama. The fact that so many action movies fail to deliver on these necessary pillars is probably why the genre is so often dismissed as trivial and artless.
When you think of truly great action movies, they also happen to be some of the greatest films of all time, regardless of genre. Seven Samurai, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Mad Max: Fury Road are all landmarks in cinema history that deserve rapturous praise from audiences and critics alike.
It would be hard to name the single greatest action movie from an objective standpoint, especially considering that people will have different standards for what makes the perfect package. Die Hard fans might prioritise a comedic element, John Wick and Mad Max fans might prioritise breathtaking stunts, and James Bond fans might prioritise a bit of classy espionage. For Guillermo del Toro, the greatest action movie of all time has a little bit of everything.
In his March 2025 picks for Turner Classic Movies, the Shape of Water director said, “North by Northwest, 1959 by Alfred Hitchcock, is a perfect perpetual motion machine and is made by one of the greatest clockwork makers in cinema history – a filmmaker that could blend seamlessly comedy, drama, action, and suspense.”
He continued, “The thing about North by Northwest is that it’s an incredibly modern film, and not only in its colour and design… but also by the fact that his action is diagrammatic and as crisp and clean as anything that anyone can direct now or ever.” These factors, del Toro asserted, make the film painterly and cinematic, “the James Bond film before there was a James Bond film.”
“This is one of the canonical films of Alfred Hitchcock,” he concluded, “The most perfect action film ever made, in my opinion.”
It’s hard to argue with a statement like that, especially when you’ve seen the movie. North by Northwest stars Carey Grant as a man who has been mistaken for someone else and is pursued across the United States by a mysterious organisation that is trying to smuggle government secrets out of the country. Eva Marie Saint co-stars as a stranger he meets on a train who helps him evade the authorities, and James Mason plays a suave villain.
There are multiple setpieces in the film that have become iconic – the plane barrelling towards Grant’s character, the plot twist at the United Nations, and the denouement at Mount Rushmore. Visually, Hitchcock was at the top of his game. The colour, production design, and costumes ooze style and glamour, even compared to the director’s other work.
There is also a delightful levity to the script that is perfectly handled by Grant and Saint, whose banter works on multiple levels, including one that acknowledges and pokes fun at his real-world fame. Ultimately, however, Hitchcock was the Master of Suspense, and it’s this element that overrides everything else. He made multiple masterpieces in his career, and with North by Northwest, he was in top form. Stylish and propulsive, it set the bar impossibly high for the action genre and filmmaking as a whole.
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