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1. The Great K&A Train Robbery

Though not as famous as many later action stars, Tom Mix was an early action pioneer. Long before visual effects were popular, Mix was doing stunts that relied on two things: extensive training and incredible bravery.

In this 1926 'cowboys and outlaws' movie, Mix repeatedly throws himself in harm's way. "He seemingly rappels down a bottomless ravine, as well as jumping off and on to a moving train all in one shot – it's kind of amazing," says Scott McGee, a writer and director for Turner Classic Movies. The latter shot is a shockingly dangerous moment, even nearly a century on.

Buster Keaton in the house-falling scene from Steamboat Bill, Jr.

2. Steamboat Bill, Jr.

Buster Keaton is probably the most important stuntman ever. He devised and executed ingenious stunts, which were physically complex but usually played for laughs, with impeccable comic timing.

One of the greatest stunts in cinema history involves little more than a man standing still. In the most famous scene in the 1928 silent movie Steamboat Bill, Jr., Keaton's gentle character is caught in a cyclone. The wind dislodges the front of a house, which tips over, seemingly set to crush our hero. Instead, a perfectly positioned open window falls around him, leaving him unscathed. "Just the mathematical precision and guts it took for Keaton to pull this off for this one shot, it’s breath-taking," says Scott McGee.

3. Airmail

One of the earliest stunt pilots, Paul Mantz had an unusual speciality: flying planes through buildings. Rarely was that on more impressive show than in John Ford's 1932 film Airmail, about a group of daredevil mail pilots.

"He flew a plane through an open hangar, all in one shot," says Scott McGee. "Ford, being a person who learned filmmaking in the silent era, knew how to make spectacle and how to make these kinds of sequences work." The result was a heartstopping sequence in which reckless pilot Duke Talbot shows off his skills, whizzing through the hangar with only metres of clearance on either side.

4. The Thing From Another World

Among the most frightening stunts in any era is what’s known as 'the full body burn', ie. when a person sets themselves aflame. It was first memorably used in 1951's The Thing From Another World, a black-and-white sci-fi about an alien discovered during an Arctic expedition.

In one scene, the thing surprises a group of men and is soaked in petrol and set on fire, in an attempt to kill it. But what's most spectacular is how long the scene lasts, with more and more petrol being thrown at the poor stuntman. Scott McGee says it shows how stuntpeople were becoming an integral part of filmmaking, not just muscle for hire.

"The entire room is on fire," he says. "How they were able to shoot this with cameras inside the studio and keep everyone safe, yet still get the shot, that to me implies the stuntmen were not just people putting on a show… these guys were working in tandem with the director and cinematographer."

5. Police Story

In modern cinema, there are few more committed stunt performers than Jackie Chan. The Hong Kong actor has broken a large proportion of the bones in his body in the pursuit of making jawdropping entertainment. Brandon Streussnig, of the Vulture Annual Stunt Awards, singles out 1985's Police Story as having one of Chan's greatest gifts to stunts.

The highlight takes place at the end of a huge fight scene in a shopping mall. The big moment sees Chan sliding down a rope of lights, bulbs exploding as he descends, before crashing through a sheet of glass and to the floor, all in one shot. "It's one of his most iconic images [of his career]," says Streussnig. "Jackie Chan, to me, is the embodiment of a stunt person/movie star."

6. Death Proof

For a long time, there were not many women working as stunt performers. Ellen speaks to LaFaye Turner, whose credits include Blade and Black Panther. She tells Ellen that there used to be a process known as 'wigging'. She says: "If there was a role for an actress, say a car has to crash into the water, they would put a man in the car and put a wig on him."

Things have changed a lot since then and now some of the most famous stunt performers are women. They include Zoë Bell, who got her big break as a stunt double for Uma Thurman in Kill Bill. She so impressed director Quentin Tarantino that he gave her a lead role in his 2007 Grindhouse movie Death Proof, the highlight of which is one 20-minute-long car chase, including one incredible, extended sequence in which Bell's character clings onto the bonnet at high speed. The film gave Bell a chance to show off everything she can do. And she can do a lot.

7. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

When it comes to Hollywood movie stars, no actor has pushed the action envelope like Tom Cruise, especially in the Mission: Impossible movies. Each film has seen him up the ante, pulling off feats that would make any stunt performer sweat.

Mark Kermode says these real stunts, where we know the actual actor is doing it, are still popular because "physical action in front of the camera ages much better than visual effects… You know when you're seeing it for real." Streussnig says Cruise’s airplane stunt in 2015's Rogue Nation "took my breath away". It features Cruise holding on to the side of a plane as it takes off. "I've never seen anything like that on film before, where you see the actor's face plain as day, hanging onto the side of a plane."

8. RRR

There has long been a campaign to get stunts recognised at the Oscars. That campaign became particularly loud with the release of RRR in 2022, an Indian film that crammed in an astonishing number of stunts, none more impressive than a bridge scene that combines a horse, a motorbike, fire and a lot of rope swinging.

That movie wouldn't have been possible without a world-class stunt team. "I think these are people that deserve, and have deserved for a long time, to be recognised in the highest way," says Brandon Streussnig. The movie won just one Oscar, for Best Song.

9. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One

Tom Cruise deserves two spots on this list because, when it comes to stunts, he keeps conquering the, well, impossible. In this year's Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One, he conquered perhaps the biggest stunt ever, motorcycling off the side of a mountain, leaping into the air, then plummeting to the ground, before finally opening a parachute, all perilously close to a sheer rocky wall.

It took months of preparation across several countries for just a few seconds of blockbuster cinema. With at least one Mission: Impossible film still to go, you have to wonder where Cruise might take the stunt world next.

Hear more about these unsung movie heroes by listening to the episode in full.