In 1986, a movie was released called Nomads. It was the first movie to feature Pierce Brosnan as a lead actor, and it was also the first movie to be directed by John McTiernan. The movie went mostly unnoticed at the box office, and it wasn’t well-reviewed at the time, a typical reaction to late 1980s low-budget horror films.
But Arnold Schwarzenegger was impressed with the film’s atmosphere within that low budget, and sometimes all it takes is one person enjoying your work to alter film history itself. Schwarzenegger convinced a group of producers to immediately hire McTiernan for his next project, Predator. This started a run of action movies that have echoed through the world for decades, John McTiernan’s Holy Trinity of Action Movies, all three directed in a row, all within a few years of each other.
With The Chivery’s Nakatomi Plaza Ingots out now, this is a damn good time to go through that trio of movies along with John McTiernan’s bizarre career. You may be shocked to learn that someone who directed three movies with such a massive influence on the whole of pop culture could only direct 11 movies. What movie broke his hot streak? Did he make any notable films after he broke the streak? And most importantly of all, why did McTiernan seemingly vanish from Hollywood?
We’ll answer all of these questions and more:
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