With the passing of the iconic Chuck Norris I’m taking a look at my favorite films of his. I was never the biggest Norris fan, so this list is purely from the perspective of a casual fan.
I’m such a casual fan, in fact, that I wasn’t going to do an R.I.P. post about him but I decided to do one based on the vicious attacks on the late Norris by deranged Democrats who always tell the rest of us to “separate the art from the artist” when their celebrities are criticized in any way.
INVASION USA (1985) – Psychotronic cinema in its purest form, Invasion USA was so firmly in the realm of fantasy that it’s ridiculous that some critics tore into it so deeply. The same type of critics probably loved the pretentious One Battle After Another, which was basically Invasion USA in reverse.
Norris starred as former intelligence agent Matt Hunter, who gets called back into action when a communist army from Cuba invades Florida under the leadership of Hunter’s old archenemy – Soviet Union agent Rostov, played by cult actor Richard Lynch.
Matt is among the people fighting back against the communist invaders in escapist, over the top action scenes. Anti-Castro Cubans fight the invaders in alliance with our main character. Red Dawn was too juvenile in my opinion, so I much prefer this Norris flick.
There are lots of Christmas decorations on display since the film is set during Yuletide. Invasion USA was therefore part of my “Very Butt-Kicking Christmas Marathon” years ago alongside Die Hard, Lethal Weapon and Die Hard 2.
Hindsight makes a scene in this Norris production hilarious – governors from all 50 states gather in Atlanta to discuss repelling the invasion. If the movie was set in recent years, Democrat governors would be encouraging the killing of U.S. forces and throwing every possible obstacle in the way of defeating the invaders.
THE DELTA FORCE (1986) – Inspired by the real-life hijacking of TWA Flight 847, The Delta Force was another escapist, pure fantasy “good guys vs bad guys” actioner that critics overreacted to. Chuck Norris starred as Captain Scott McCoy, a Delta Force officer who was part of Jimmy Carter’s bungled 1980 attempt to rescue the hostages taken by Muslim terrorists at the U.S. Embassy in Iran.
McCoy resigns in disgust, but years later when terrorists seize Boeing 707 full of passengers, he is called back into service as a major via Action Movie Cliche #389 in order to lead the Delta Force mission being sent to rescue the hostages.
Alongside Lee Marvin in his final film, the Chuckster kicks butts, takes names and leads his men to victory over the terrorists in Lebanon. Viewers get treated to the expected unrealistic but badass action scenes from an 80s movie as the good guys win, but not without suffering losses of their own.
A parade of fading stars appeared in the cast, as did a young Liam Neeson in a nonspeaking part as a member of Delta Force.
GOOD GUYS WEAR BLACK (1978) – The film that launched Norris to superstardom after years of supporting roles with Bruce Lee and others plus a Trucker Fad movie Breaker, Breaker. (And obviously, a Psychotronic geek like me will never forget his karate academy’s role in training the Martial Arts Prostitutes in Dolemite 2: The Human Tornado).
Our story begins in 1973, when a treacherous United States senator sells out Norris’ elite squad of commandos – the Black Tigers – when they are sent into the jungles of Vietnam to rescue POWs. Only a few of the Black Tigers survived, thanks to Norris’ character Major John Booker.
Jumping to the present day, the traitorous senator who set up the Black Tigers for death has become Secretary of State and his co-conspirator on the Vietnam side blackmails him into having the surviving Black Tigers tracked down and killed or he’ll ruin him by revealing his 1973 treachery.
John Booker, long since out of service, catches on to the open season on his fellow Black Tigers and – with help from a reporter played by Anne Archer – kicks and punches his way to the bottom of what’s going on. Needless to say, he defeats the villains and gets the girl.
LONE WOLF MCQUADE (1983) – A defining film in Norris’ career, proving his success was no fluke and he would be an action star for a long time. Chuck starred as Texas Ranger Jim McQuade, who plays by his own rules, is “one of the best”, etc. and lives in an untidy place with just his pet wolf for company.
Circumstances throw McQuade into a martial arts, romantic and law enforcement rivalry with Rawley Wilkes, played by THE David Carradine. Wilkes is a tycoon whose real source of wealth is illegal gun-running, his fighting skill is McQuade’s equal and his beautiful woman Lola (Barbara Carrera) falls in love with the Texas Ranger.
Lone Wolf McQuade could be put in a time capsule as a definitive 80s action blockbuster. Viewers get kung-fu fights, an arsenal of exotic weaponry via Carradine’s arms dealer character and all-American Chuck Norris in the middle.
The direction captured a certain Spaghetti Western feel and the climactic fight between Norris and Carradine took four days to film. To me it surpasses his fight with Bruce Lee in the Roman Colosseum from Way of the Dragon in intensity.
MISSING IN ACTION (1984) – This was one of Chuck Norris’ entries into the 1980s subgenre of Saving Forgotten POWs from the Vietnam War. It even beat Sly Stallone’s Rambo: First Blood Part II to theaters, despite the Stallone flick being the most famous example of such films.
Norris plays Colonel James Braddock, a Vietnam War veteran who spent two and a half years in a POW camp before escaping. The story played into the topicality of 80s concern over Vietnam War MIAs (Missing in Action personnel) who might still be alive and in captivity in Southeast Asia.
Lore surrounding such theories proposed that the unfortunate men might have been used as slave labor for Golden Triangle drug plantations since the end of the war. Braddock accompanies an official government investigative team to Ho Chi Minh City to probe such possibilities.
Braddock can tell they are getting the runaround from the Vietnamese, so he hooks up with another former Vietnam vet who has become a Black Market figure since the war. The black marketeer covertly provides Colonel Braddock with weapons and equipment while Braddock recruits and trains men for a mission to raid a jungle camp where POWs are indeed still alive and suffering as slave labor.
Amid action set pieces, our heroes defeat the camp runners and escape with the freed POWs. Back in the U.S., they all crash a political hearing which was denying that any POWs were still being held.
Farewell, Mr. Norris! You won’t be forgotten!
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