Book excerpt: This collection of interviews features American, British and Australian writers, directors and actors recounting their notable work in the action genre and the fun of blowing things up. Action movies and television series from 1950s to the mid-1980s are covered, with the main focus on the 1960s and 1970s--the era of Bullitt, Mannix and The Professionals. Twenty-five interviewees discuss their career highlights, including writers Richard Harris (The Saint) and Leigh Chapman (The Octagon), directors Stewart Raffill (High Risk), Michael Preese (T.J. Hooker) and Robert M. Lewis (Kung-Fu), and actors Tony Russel (Peter Gunn) and Peter Mark Richman (Combat!).