Movies

The quintessential adventure film.

Adventure films is a genre of films that contain elements of adventure. Unlike modern action films, which often take place in a modern city, often with the hero battling drug cartels or terrorists, an adventure film typically takes place in the past, often with much swordfighting or swashbuckling. The genre probably reached the peak of its popularity in Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s, when films like Captain Blood, The Adventures of Robin Hood and The Mark of Zorro were regularly being made and a number of the biggest stars, notably Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power, become closely associated with it. At the same time, lower down the scale, Saturday morning serials were often using many of the same thematic elements as adventure films.

The genre has undergone periodic revivals since the 1950s, with figures like Robin Hood and Zorro often being re-cast for a new generation. Some of these revivals have been successful, as with Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and some less so, as with Swashbuckler. In the 1980s the success of Steven Spielberg's Saturday Morning serial-style adventure Raiders of the Lost Ark spawned a host of imitators, mostly unsuccessful.

There is often a degree of overlap between the adventure film and other genres. For example, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) contains many adventure film as well as science fiction elements, while The Mummy (1999) combines the adventure and horror genres.

Popular adventure film concepts include:

• An outlaw figure fighting for justice or battling a tyrant (as in Zorro or Robin Hood)
• Pirates (as in Captain Blood)
• A search for a lost city or for hidden treasure (as in King Solomon's Mines)

Popular adventure films

The Adventures of Robin Hood
The Black Swan
Captain Blood
Count of Monte Cristo
The Crimson Pirate
Hero
The Indiana Jones films
King Solomon's Mines
Lawrence of Arabia
The Mummy
National Treasure
The Mark of Zorro
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
The Princess Bride
The Prisoner of Zenda
The Rocketeer
Romancing the Stone
Scaramouche
The Sea Hawk
The Star Wars films
Swashbuckler

Popular adventure film filmmakers

Michael Curtiz
Steven Spielberg
Raoul Walsh