The backstory: A significant portion of the classic truck-chase scene, which climaxes with Indiana Jones being dragged along a rocky road using his whip as a lifeline, wasn’t actually directed by Steven Spielberg, but by second-unit director Mickey Moore, with stuntman Terry Leonard taking Harrison Ford’s place.
The result: It’s one of the most beloved chase sequences in movie history, as gritty, grimy and believable as blockbuster action gets. Fans of the movie should also check out the amazing Raiders: The Adaptation, in which the film—truck chase and all—was re-created, shot-for-shot, by a band of teenage boys.
Stunts have been part of the moviegoing experience since the very beginning, and they’re one of the few aspects of motion pictures that can never get old: An amazing leap, fall or car crash is a joy forever. With barely a digitally generated special effect in sight, we take a look behind the scenes of 10 of the most eye-popping, heart-stopping practical stunts ever seen onscreen.
RECOMMENDED: Our list of the 100 best action movies ever made
We polled over 50 experts in the field, from essential directors like Die Hard’s John McTiernan to the actual folks in the line of fire, such as Tarantino favorite Zoë Bell (the fearless stuntwoman behind Uma Thurman in the Kill Bill movies). The result: The 100 best action movies, a definitive look at the genre from the earliest silent classic short film of 1896's “Arrival of Train at La Ciotat” to Marvel's big-screen fighting force of 2012's The Avengers.
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