In Cinema as a battlefield: five filmmakers and Hollywood action, Ricardo Luiz de Souza studies the works of five of the most representative filmmakers linked to the genre. Films by John Frankenheimer, Sam Packinpah, Don Siegel, Samuel Fuller, and Robert Aldrich will be analyzed. These directors created some of the most important works in the genre and directed several of their masterpieces. Analyzing these films together, therefore, provides an opportunity to understand Hollywood action cinema, both in terms of its aesthetics and its themes.