In honor of the January 31st release of Drive on Blu-ray^TM and DVD, here are seven of the best examples of this storied subgenre.

Check out all the Sony “Action Unleashed” DVDs!

The Asphalt Jungle

Sterling Hayden plays Dix in this, the original heist movie. All he wants is to escape his horrible crime-ridden city to a farm on the country, with horses and stuff. But, as is usually the case, in order to do this he has to participate in One More Job. It should go off without a hitch, but you can guess that it doesn’t. Spoiler alert: He actually ends up making it to the farm, but it’s anybody’s guess how long he’ll be alive to enjoy it.

The Wild Bunch

Sometimes you don’t just want to get out of your outside-the-law lifestyle because you feel like it – sometimes that’s just the way the world around you is going. That’s the case in The Wild Bunch, in which a bunch of western cowboy outlaws (headed up by a never-grizzlier William Holden) seek to make one last big score before hanging up their hats and riding off into the sunset. They end up going on a bloody odyssey to hell, but that’s the risk, right?

Essential Entertainment has joined Lion Rock Productions in its remake of THE KILLER in 3D, currently in pre-production, which will be directed by John H. Lee (A Moment to Remember, Saying Good-bye Oneday) and written by Josh Campbell. Jung Woo-Sung (Reign of Assassins, The Good, The Bad, The Weird) will star in this English language re-telling of John Woo’s iconic action masterpiece, with additional cast to be announced shortly. The film will be produced by Woo (Face/Off, Mission: Impossible II) and Terence Chang under their Lion Rock Productions banner.

Of course, the release doesn’t say what the movie is actually about, so allow me: A hitman grows weary of his profession, and, during a crisis of conscience, accepts one last job in order to collect money to right a wrong he made earlier in his life.

While remakes of this type have been all over the map, the remake of Infernal Affairs into a quiet little film called The Departed may have gotten studios back on the bandwagon that they were quick to hop off of in the late 1990′s. Further, given Woo‘s track record recently, it could be seen as a blessing that he isn’t sitting in the director’s chair on this one. Perhaps the hiring of John H. Lee will save moviegoers from the agony of another Paycheck.

The producers have appeared to stay true to the film’s roots in another regard as well, hiring a domesticall unknown Asian actor in the lead. While this move may wind up hurting the film’s marketing efforts, it suggests that the project won’t be reduced to another watered-down American action film, instead relying more on the sensibilities of its Asian roots.

Quietly, dove wranglers and gold-plated pistol manufacturers rejoice.