Round 1 was surprising – despite lots of strong contenders, not a single matchup was close. The closest to close was Commando beating Police Story (41 to 32). Meanwhile, the most humiliating blowout was The Terminator vs. Beverly Hills Cop (84 to 8), followed closely by Raiders of the Lost Ark vs. Clash of the Titans (77 to 10).
It was a good round for Harrison Ford films overall – aside from Raiders‘ big win, Temple of Doom beat Conan the Destroyer (66 to 15), Last Crusade beat Road House (56 to 31), and the two Star Wars flicks beat Flash Gordon (66 to 21) and Romancing the Stone (57 to 30).
Was more of a mixed bag for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Commando and The Terminator advanced, as did Predator (beating Robocop 51 to 38) and Conan the Barbarian (beating Wrath of Khan 57 to 23). But Conan the Destroyer fell, and so did The Running Man (though there’s no shame in losing to Die Hard … even if it’s 17 to 75).
Surprisingly, Sylvester Stallone only got one nomination this tournament, but First Blood is hanging in there, triumphing over Tron (67 to 17).
Was half-and-half for Kurt Russel – Big Trouble in Little China won against Highlander (57 to 27), but Escape from New York lost to Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (29 to 57).
Road Warrior was the sole win for Mel Gibson, as the two Lethal Weapon films lost to Aliens (13 to 80) and Batman (27 to 59). Gibson’s partner had this to say on the matter:
And it was a bad round for any film not from America – I already mentioned Police Story‘s loss, and with Akira losing to They Live (28 to 44) it’s all Yankee productions going forward.
Same goes for our Runner Up Contest between the seven films that tied for 32nd place during the nominations – our sole British representative, License to Kill, lost to The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (12 to 28).
All the runner up matches were similar blowouts to what we saw in the main tournament, with Bloodsport beating Top Gun (33 to 11) and Superman II defeating Midnight Run (33 to 13).
Will matchups be any closer in Round 2, or will it be another round of overwhelming triumphs and crushing losses? You decide!