An Eye for an Eye (1981) is the great lost Chuck Norris movie, if there is such a thing. Chuck Norris died a few months ago and I let his death pass unnoticed. I’ve already reviewed his movies here & here. This will be my final critical review of Chuck Norris and his impact on Hollywood.
The story in An Eye for an Eye is about a Chinese drug smuggling operation into the US, which Chuck Norris is hell bent on stopping. His police partner gets killed early, then his partner’s wife. This leads to Chuck Norris resigning from the police force to become a vigilante. Chuck Norris unwittingly confides in a police buddy who is working with the drug-dealing Triads, and is surprised (stunned silence) at the end when he discovers this betrayal. Every character is a stereotype that can be deciphered in about five seconds.
Chuck Norris doesn’t kill the main villain in the end, so it really isn’t the Biblical revenge promised in the movie title. It’s a lot of James Bond type explosions & helicopter chases, with hitmen who are often reluctant to use their guns & automatic weapons when facing Chuck Norris. This allows Chuck to kill many bad guys, which is the point of the movie. Christopher Lee sits in his palatial mansion with spreadsheets & a prospectus for all his well-healed partners in the heroin trade, going over every typed-out detail of the illicit operation, just as SWAT & the SFPD are about to raid them. There’s no real purpose or wrap-up at the end, as An Eye for an Eye stumbles towards the closing credits as the plot fizzles out.
I firmly stand by my controversial thesis that Chuck Norris movies must been seen as unintentional comedy– hideously silly tripe– for there to be any value in watching them. An Eye for an Eye is the third movie in his peak-era trilogy, following A Force of One (1979) & The Octagon (1980).
Upon final viewing I’m rating An Eye for an Eye as Chuck Norris’ second-best movie, behind The Octagon. It’s better filmed, directed, lit, edited & produced than A Force of One, which is grittier and more 8-track than the direct-to-VHS classic An Eye for an Eye. Chuck Norris movies seem to look better on TV for some unexplained reason. USA Network & TBS is where his movies lived in the 1980’s. The constant commercial interruptions on basic cable were often welcome relief to this Chuck Norris film buff.
Movies start in the public as a trailer. You view it before the main feature, or see a commercial on TV, and decide whether you want to go to the theater and see it when it comes out. In An Eye for an Eye, the trailer is better, much better, than the movie– and that hooked us back in the day. The music is better, the promo announcer adds to the excitement, and no doubt about it– action fans wanted to see this movie. White Lightning is back…
There was no social media back then to warn kids this movie is a turkey– you had to pay up & learn the hard way. Word-of-mouth reviews from Chuck Norris fans were unreliable at best.
To watch Chuck Norris movies you need to be able to absorb pain. The cast in An Eye for an Eye is mostly good enough, it’s Chuck Norris who keeps delivering the pain. He just doesn’t care, and clearly won’t do a second take when a scene needs one. With that established, let’s meet the rest of the cast.
Professor Toru Tanaka (above) played the henchman Oddjob in Goldfinger (1964) who wore a Square-Crown Bowler hat that doubled as a guillotine. He appears as a club-footed assassin in An Eye for an Eye. Diminished somewhat, but still a menacing villain, to me Oddjob doesn’t look like he’s aged a day since he battled James Bond to the death. He’s a perfect foil for Chuck Norris because he doesn’t speak, he growls & grunts while letting his wrestling moves do most of the talking.
Maggie Cooper is probably the best lead actress with whom Chuck Norris ever worked. Again, that’s a controversial statement, and I’m sure this will set Chuck Norris message boards ablaze with debate. There’s detectable chemistry for the first, and perhaps only time in his acting career. She really goes for it, but it appears in retrospect that it didn’t get her very far. Like so many other actresses before her, Maggie Cooper’s career wilted & died after working with Chuck Norris– and it was probably for the best. In this she best compares to Jennifer O’Neill in A Force of One, for the powerlessness she brings to her role.
Chuck Norris fears two things in his movies: intimacy & truth. Chuck Norris exits virtually every scene alone, always having to be the tough guy who walks out & rejects the other person first. When asked a serious question, he freezes like a block of ICE.
Mako was a Japanese-American actor who plays martial arts mentor to Chuck Norris in An Eye for an Eye. Mako had some talent and tried his best to lend some dignity to this movie, but Chuck Norris just wouldn’t allow it. Mako constantly reminds him to concentrate, but Chuck always shrugs him off with a smile. It’s not clear if Mako is referring to his sloppy martial arts or stunted acting, but he repeatedly implores to Chuck Norris, “Concentrate!”
Richard Roundtree [Shaft (1971)] gets a plum role in An Eye for an Eye, as Chuck’s boss in the SFPD. The best line in the movie is early on when Shaft remarks how well Chuck Norris’ left shoulder has healed, only a few scenes after he has taken a bullet wound. Chuck Norris apparently compensates for this by always punching the bad guys with his right hand throughout the movie.
Most kicks, punches & strikes in An Eye for an Eye are cut-away shots. Chuck Norris by now is relying more & more on editing tricks because he can’t do the martial arts well enough to impress/fool his audience. Many scenes are very well-composed, with impressive backgrounds and expert cinematography in An Eye for an Eye. The problem is when Chuck Norris enters the frame. He typically says little and does nothing. The idea in entertainment is to ‘get through the glass’, and reach your audience. Instead, Chuck Norris shrivels-up in front of the camera every time he’s asked to act. It’s comical. There is no one else who became such a big star, who was that bad artistically.
When Chuck Norris decides to go for action in An Eye for an Eye, he does stupid stuff like set fire to a freighter cargo hold full of fireworks because he couldn’t stay quiet & hidden. You must riff Chuck Norris movies to get through them without a lobotomy, and this leads us directly to the main villain in An Eye for an Eye— Christopher Lee.
The title character in The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969) was the role Christopher Lee was born to play. When you are a name actor who stars in possibly the worst movie ever made, that’s the role you were born to play. Christopher Lee, the UK-born actor, plays Fu Manchu like no one else can, making that film impossible to remake because you just can’t do that anymore.
Billed as a horror-adventure film, I feel there is an Andy Warhol quality to The Castle of Fu Manchu that has been overlooked. Unfortunately it’s so vague & indecipherable, I can’t define it– and neither can anyone else. If I had been paid to review movies at the time, and was asked by my editor to do a write-up of The Castle of Fu Manchu, and be kind; I would have written something like, “Fu Manchu is an assault on your senses!!”
Anyway, Christopher Lee brings his boring overblown act to An Eye for an Eye, and he becomes a comic delight as the evil bad guy whom no one is afraid. He makes speeches, acts indecisively, then cuts a figure for the camera on his closeups, while doing everything wrong in order to allow Chuck Norris to capture him in the end. Basically, Christoper Lee mimics his role as Fu Manchu. Gesundheit.
If you watch An Eye for an Eye in this spirit, the riffs will come and you’ll be thankful for them. This was the last movie where a studio invested in a decent script, crew, etc, to try to make a good Chuck Norris movie. After this it’s turds like MIA Braddock & Delta Force franchises, and then finally Walker Texas Ranger where Chuck Norris was permanently consigned to the small screen where he always belonged.
I’ve always felt Chuck Norris would have been best suited to be on a game show as some kind of mascot or attraction. Maybe a sidekick to the host. He could just stand there and be Chuck Norris and people would laugh & jeer. Imagine Chuck Norris as the co-host of Love Connection… now that would be entertaining!
In my alternate version of this classic dating game show, Chuck Woolery still hosts, but any date that goes badly would require the contestants to visit with Chuck Norris for romantic advise. Something like:
Chuck Woolery: Roberta & Jeremy had issues on their last date, so we’re sending them to Dr. Chuck to see if he can help them make a Love Connection…
Roberta [to Chuck Norris]: Jeremy doesn’t get aroused when I flirt with him. How can I remedy this?
Chuck Norris:
Roberta [to Chuck Norris]: Jeremy likes to drink beer and becomes abusive when he’s drunk. Does this need an intervention?
Chuck Norris:
Roberta [to Chuck Norris]: Jeremy likes to shoot his guns, sometimes more than he likes being with me, I feel. Is that a healthy relationship?
Chuck Norris:
Roberta [to Chuck Norris]: My vagina needs special stimulation before intercourse, can you give Jeremy any tips on that?
There are movies that are so bad they completely stun any sensible viewer. Lone Wolf McQuade (1983) is such a film. Orion Pictures/MGM budgeted $5 million for this turkey– director Steve Carver’s vision of a heroic Texas Ranger in action.
The star was Chuck Norris, and this turd-burger actually catapulted him up to Hollywood B-list stardom. It should be Z-list, or better yet ZZZZ-list, as Norris is unable to express a single emotion with human feeling. He always looks best, silhouetted at a distance:
Chuck Norris is ever expressionless, whether posed in silent rage or deep contemplation– it doesn’t matter, this is always what you get from Chuck Norris:
LWM made $12+M in the U.S. and did very well overseas, particularly in the European dubbed video market, which was starving for anything American action.
This movie inspired Walker, Texas Ranger, the CBS television series which ran 8 seasons, from 1993-2001.
In the opening sequence of LWM, Norris bare-handedly takes down 12-15 horse rustlers, all armed with machine guns.
After this, director Steve Carver establishes the characters:
Most of the sets have an American flag & the flag of Texas, along with guns or pictures of horses. Notice the books under Norris’ foot, and in the trash can:
McQuade is chastised by his boss for being a loose cannon, so he is assigned a partner, against his wishes. Kayo Ramos (Robert Beltran) the young, clean-cut Latino is assigned to partner with Lone Wolf. Norris rejects this at first, like everything else outside of a six-pack of Pearl beer.
While at a party hosted by the film’s vixen Lola Richardson (Barbara Carrera), Norris approaches the bar and asks for a Pearl beer. He’s told there’s only Heineken, Michelob and Dos Equiis. Norris flatly rejects the counter-offer. Got the message? Of course the vixen saves him, and has the barkeeper pull a can of Pearl from the bottom shelf. It’s true love for our hero.
The gun-smuggling villain Rawley Wilkes (David Carradine) is also introduced as an intimate of Carrera at the party:
A bunch of people then get beat up for no good reason, and the action is halted by Carrera, just as Norris & Carradine are about to square off. The viewer is made to wait for the anticipated showdown.
McQuade also has a craggy ex-wife, and a hot daughter named Sally. Guess which one he prefers?
Daughter Sally and her ‘boyfriend’ Bobby, witness the hijacking of a U.S. Army convoy loaded with guns. Bobby is conveniently shot & killed by the hijackers, while Sally is spared, left unconscious after being rolled inside her car down a ravine. Sally survives all this with only a minor gash on her forehead & a little nick on her lip, otherwise she has never looked more fetching in her hospital scene:
Chuck Norris is furious:
Norris needs information, so it’s time to beat someone up & torture them. Norris grabs a delinquent informer ‘Snow’ (William Sanderson), who is reluctant to talk until McQuade’s buddy Dakota (L. Q. Jones) points a machine gun in his direction and sprays a few bullets.
This gets the desired results, and now Norris has a clue about the bad guys.
That’s all he needs. Norris’ buddy Dakota & new partner Ramos get to stay behind and torture Snow some more, just for kicks. Here’s how Robert Beltran felt about his role as Ramos:
David Carradine asphyxiates Dakota in his house, and also has Snow killed, presumably putting him out of his misery. When Norris, who has been flying all over the place in his muddy truck discovers this, he is enraged:
Norris needs more brains, so the feds are brought in to assist, and the token black in the movie is FBI Special Agent Jackson, (Leon Isaac Kennedy). After being introduced, Norris walks out on all of them. He works alone.
Except he still doesn’t know what he’s looking for. Ramos gets on a computer, and hacks into the U.S. military database in about 10 seconds, which takes about 8 seconds too long for Norris, but McQuade now knows it’s guns that have been hijacked from a U.S. army convoy.
Norris pays a visit to a creepy wheel-chaired dwarf called Falcon, who has been spying on him (for some unexplained reason) the whole time.
Norris interrogates the handicapped dwarf:
The dwarf fingers David Carridine’s gun smuggling operation as the responsible party for his ‘daughter’s’ accident. Time to kick ass somewhere in Mexico.
Norris says he works alone, but he needs a lot of help with everything. Like finding & getting to the bad guys. Two federal agents he’s earlier rejected, show up on cue and join Norris’ assault on Carradine and his 20-30 henchmen.
Federal agents Burnside and Núñez are killed during the attack on Carradine’s headquarters. Young partner Ramos is told by Norris to flee during the assault gone awry. Norris is captured, brutally beaten, then buried alive in his truck. Maybe they should have called for back-up, instead attacking when outnumbered 5-10 times?
No worries, while buried alive in his truck, Norris quickly finds an emergency light switch. Then he calmly reaches for a Pearl and pops it open. He douses himself, then guzzles & spits up, before starting the nitro engine—> rocketing himself out of his grave.
All the bad guys are instantly killed or have disappeared. Norris is free, as Ramos who has been frozen, watching in the nearby bushes, rushes to catch him as he heroically collapses out of his truck.
Ramos pleads with Norris not to die after all he has endured. Norris tells Ramos to get him a beer. The similarities to Joe Don Baker’s performance in Mitchell (1975) are striking.
Norris now learns his babe (daughter!) Sally, has been kidnapped and taken by Carradine to Mexico. Ramos & Jackson follow Norris, and the three head into the base for another attack. Norris enters the compound first,…
and finds Sally & Carrera instantly:
Norris calmly escorts the women to safety…
… when suddenly they’re caught wide-open in a firefight. Norris pushes the women down, taking cover behind them both. Sally is shot in the leg.
An intense battle ensues and Jackson is shot in the belly again, yet he fights on– undaunted:
.
The final showdown between Norris v. Carradine arrives and ends. You can guess how it goes. Carradine is defeated, wounded– but not dead. He recovers and fires upon Norris, who has turned his attention away. Carrera steps in and takes the fatal bullet to save her love. Chuck Norris is heartbroken:
Everyone flees. Finally, the token Negro provides Norris with a grenade, and he tosses it into a building, killing Carradine.
Film Critic Roger Ebert gave LWM a 3.5 star rating, proving a serious lack of critical judgement. This is a wretched picture, that deserves to be studied & understood for all its toxicity, then put away forever. Resist this psychic death.
The love scenes between him & Carrera are not believable, with any knowing viewer suspecting Norris doesn’t even have an erection at the fadeout, and will soon opt for a brew as consolation. Intimacy issues at every turn for Chuck Norris.
Below are three different LWM screenshots of Norris literally throwing various forms of garbage, anywhere he feels convenient.
Action movies, like sports, have propaganda value.
The image of the alpha-male conquering evil through strength & cunning is a powerful one, and a basic instinct.
This instinct is tied into winning the female prize, and thus sexual ecstasy.
The Hollywood action genre traditionally lacked athleticism in it’s tough-guy stars, including James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, etc.
That’s because they were actors, not athletes.
The original action film star (and director) was Buster Keaton in films like: Sherlock, Jr. (1924), The Navigator (1924), Battling Butler (1926), The General (1926), and Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928); all from the silent era.
Keaton choreographed and performed all his own stunts in these films.
His movies aren’t usually labelled “action,” even though there is plenty– by any standard.
Early Hollywood action often meant westerns, which quickly became a uniquely American film genre.
Westerns began as racist cowboys vs. Indians pictures, often featuring it’s biggest star–John Wayne.
The Duke’s career was carefully built by major studio executives, and Wayne was catapulted to the top, as the star of John Ford’s Stagecoach (1939).
John Wayne starred in 142 pictures– most of them westerns & war movies; among his most celebrated are The Quiet Man (1952), The Searchers (1956), Rio Bravo (1959), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).
Wayne was a top box-office draw for three decades.
Notably, he was a conservative Republican, supporting any anti-socialist sentiment.
The Duke said, “Pick it up.”
The reduction of characters to good guy/bad guy caricatures, simply as a vehicle to motivate fighting, is a dangerous tendency.
As action films turned into blockbusters, the quality of popular cinema degraded.
Today, the near-universal promotion of the police/military/special forces/secret service/etc…in action movies/television as the “good guys”; along with the de-humanization of “bad guys,” dovetails with existing ruling-class values.
Now, unbelievable action sequences enhanced with CGI, further distort the action; leading to unreal plot lines and gaps in continuity.
The long-running success of the James Bond series in the 1960s, with the suave & resourceful Sean Connery always ready with a quip, whetted audience demand for vicarious heroes.
Bond films combined elaborate chase/fight scenes, gadget weaponry, glamourous locations, and of course–beautiful women; to create an amazingly pleasurable viewing experience, where actual story content no longer mattered.
Bond films dominated the action genre at the box office for a decade, as Connery starred in six of the early films: Dr. No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967), and Diamonds Are Forever (1971); most of which remain among the most watchable of the twenty-five (and counting) productions.
Today the biggest spy-thriller series also include: Matt Damon in the Bourne Identity (2002-07); and Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible (1996-2011).
As over-the-top Bond and John Wayne pictures began to run thin, urban crime action began to move the cinema turnstiles.
Clint Eastwood had become America’s biggest western action star, for his cold-blooded & minimalist performances in: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), and For a Few Dollars More (1967)– all ‘spaghetti westerns’, brilliantly directed by Sergio Leone.
In Dirty Harry (1971), Eastwood traded in his Colt 45 & horse, for a .44 Magnum & a gas-guzzler; as “Dirty” Harry Callahan, the San Francisco tough-guy cop.
Hollywood had its urban, steel-jawed action star of the 1970’s.
Restrictions on language, adult content, and violence had been lifted; and the rise of cable television now provided an untapped home-viewing market for R-rated films.
HBO launched on November 8, 1972, and its programming was filled with violent action, comedy & horror fare.
Aside: For some unexplained reason, Akira Kurosawa film’s including the Seven Samurai (1954), Hidden Fortress (1958), Yojimbo (1961), etc… are usually not considered action films. The best explanation for this reasoning is that Akira Kurosawa’s films (like Buster Keaton’s) are too artistic to be labelled “action.”
True action cinema begins with Chinese kung fu movies in the early 1970’s.
If this genre is to be discussed seriously, then its obvious limitations must be acknowledged, including; bad acting & poorly choreographed (and filmed) fight scenes, which limit much of these films’ value.
Also, clumsy editing and the insistence on the use of dubbing instead of subtitles, often kills any artistic intent.
Plot lines tend to be repetitive; or they suffer from being overly complex, silly, and/or vague.
Bruce Lee was the talent that rose to the top, and exploded kung fu onto western cinema screens & popular consciousness.
His unparalleled & inimitable fighting style, forever changed action film; by setting a higher standard with his martial arts skills & expert choreography.
Lee’s Jeet Kune Do (Way of the Intercepting Fist), was a revolutionary new martial arts style; a formless form, a style with no style that befuddled & astounded.
He rocketed to stardom in China with The Big Boss (1971), and Fist of Fury (1972), AKA The Chinese Connection.
Both films feature Bruce Lee’s jaw-dropping speed, power and control; as he dispatched attackers with ease and surety.
Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee
Return of the Dragon (1972) was also a Hong Kong production, written, starring & directed by Bruce Lee.
Made for HK$130,000, it grossed US$85 million at the box office.
It’s final fight scene of Bruce Lee vs. Chuck Norris, spring-boarded a 1970’s US martial-arts craze.
Enter the Dragon (1973) was the first Hollywood production of a Chinese martial arts film.
It starred Bruce Lee, who also choreographed the fight sequences.
His “co-star” at MGM’s insistence is John Saxon, whose hairpiece flips up every time he front kicks– requiring jump-cut editing.
Here is Bruce Lee’s disgust on film, in not being allowed a free-sparring sequence with Bolo Yeung (credited as Yang Tse), which surely would have improved the quality of the movie.
John Saxon: “I can take Bolo Yeung.” Bruce Lee: “Only in Hollywood.”
Bruce Lee died on July 20, 1973– at age 32.
A coroner’s examination revealed the cause of his death to be a cerebral edema, caused by an allergic reaction to Equagesic.
Bruce Lee had complained of a headache earlier in the day, and a colleague actress gave him the analgesic.
Lee then took a nap from which he never awoke.
Equagesic contains meprobamate; a powerful tranquilizer which has since been removed from the market, due to its toxic side-effects.
Bruce Lee kills Jackie Chan: Enter the Dragon (1973)
Jackie Chan is an uncredited stunt man in Enter the Dragon [pictured above].
Chan was always a better candidate to be the breakthrough US action star, as his affable and good-humored nature make him endearing to audiences; Bruce Lee was perceived as more serious & stand-offish. Drunken Master (1978) was Chan’s initial Hong Kong breakout, featuring fast-action fighting & a quick sense-of-humor.
By 1994’s Legend of Drunken Master (a Golden Harvest/Miramax collaboration), Jackie Chan was a US movie star.
He later teamed up with Chris Tucker in Rush Hour 1-3 (1998, 2001, 2007), and Owen Wilson in Shanghai Noon (2000), to cement his status as possibly the greatest global action film star; having conquered both Hong Kong & Hollywood.
Only Arnold Schwarzenegger can dispute his title as the King of Action Film.
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978), is a Shaw Brothers kung fu film directed by Liu Chia-liang and starring Gordon Liu as San Te, a legendary Shaolin martial arts disciple.
This film is always listed among kung fu favorites, for its realistic depiction of traditional martial arts training and breathtaking fighting sequences.
In the 1980’s, John Woo led Hong Kong action filmmakers, with his stylized photography and gangsta themes. A Better Tomorrow (1986), Hard Boiled (1988), and The Killer (1989) topped Hong Kong box offices.
Woo then moved to American action films; making six Hollywood movies starting with Hard Target (1993) and finishing with Paycheck (2003), before returning to Asian cinema.
Dolemite is my name, and…
African Americans had traditionally been under-represented in Hollywood films. Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971) written, directed by and starring Melvin Van Peebles is often credited as being the first ‘blaxploitation’ film.
Shot in less than 3 weeks, this low-budget action flick features a black man (Peebles) “sticking it to the white man’s system”; to the funk of Earth, Wind & Fire. Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song is near-pornographic at certain points, and Van Peebles reportedly contracted gonorrhea while filming it.
After filing a workers’ compensation claim for a venereal disease, Peebles notoriously used the insurance money to further fund the film.
Melvin’s son Mario, (who would later direct & star in New Jack City [1991]) has a bit part in the opening flashback as the young orphan who is taken into a LA brothel.
As a towel boy, he loses his virginity to one of the prostitutes; earning him the nickname “Sweetback.”
Shaft (1971) directed by Gordon Parks and released by MGM, is the story of a private detective, John Shaft (Richard Roundtree); who travels through Harlem and mob neighborhoods in order to find the missing daughter of a mobster.
Isaac Hayes’ iconic soundtrack gave the story the groove it needed, and helped put blaxploitation on the map.
SuperFly (1972) directed by Gordon Parks, Jr. came a year later.
It is infamous for being one of the few films to ever be out-grossed by its soundtrack, written and produced by Curtis Mayfield.
Dolemite (1975) is a blaxploitation film written by & starring, comedian Rudy Ray Moore.
Dolemite is a pimp who was set up by the cops & rival Willie Greene (D’Urville Martin, who also directs); sentencing him to 20 years in prison.
Dolemite takes a deal with the FBI to get out, and his army of female prostitutes/karate-warriors help our hero kill Greene & bust the dirty cops.
Moore is endlessly rhyming, toasting & boasting his bad-ass self– to hilarious effect. Dolemite is easily one of the best films of this limited genre.
Director Quentin Tarantino has paid endless homage to the blaxploitation genre in Pulp Fiction (1994) & Jackie Brown (1997).
In Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2 (2003 & 2004), Tarantino edits & directs waif model/actress Uma Thurman using CGI/kung fu; as Hollywood began digitally transforming anorexic women into action heroes.
By the 1980’s, the major studios finally cashed in on black action, with 48 Hrs (1982) and Beverly Hills Cop (1984); both starring SNL comedian/actor Eddie Murphy.
By the early 1990’s, Denzel Washington: For Queen and Country (1988), The Mighty Quinn (1989); and Wesley Snipes: Major League (1989), King of New York (1990) New Jack City (1991), were also box-office action heroes.
I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (1988), directed by Keenan Ivory Wayans, spoofed 1970’s blaxploitation.
Keenan Ivory & younger brother Damon Wayans launched In Living Color (1990-94), a half-hour television comedy sketch show; featuring previously unknown actors/comedians Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx, Tommy Davidson, David Alan Grier, and many others.
Damon Wayans soon became a box-office action star when he teamed with Bruce Willis in The Last Boy Scout (1991). Blankman (1994) & Major Payne (1995) are action-comedy parodies of superheroes & the military.
More adult-themed, are the black-comedy messages in The Great White Hype (1996) [on boxing], and the vicarious nature of sports fans in Celtic Pride (1996).
Each of these films is an interesting look at American popular culture, as Damon Wayans presents himself as a rarity: a thoughtful actor, who can do action.
Today’s top black action hero is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who played college football; winning a NCAA championship as part of the 1991 Miami Hurricanes.
After football, Johnson turned to wrestling and became one of the top WWF box-office draws of all time.
“The Rock” parlayed that success into his first leading film role in The Scorpion King (2002), for which he was paid $5.5 million– an unprecedented sum for a debut actor.
Since then, the “Rock” has become a blockbuster action star; in one unmemorable movie after another.
Harrison Ford as Han Solo: Star Wars (1977)
Star Wars (1977), written & directed by George Lucas, instantly became the biggest pop-culture phenomenon since the Beatles.
Much of the success of this film was due to its revolutionary visual & audio special-effects.
John Williams’ score was also a major component in the film’s success.
Williams is widely considered the greatest film-score composer ever, as his big-movie themes go all the way back to the first blockbuster film: Jaws (1975).
The original Star Wars trilogy has the distinction of overcoming one of the weakest lead’s in film history; as Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) simply can’t act.
The real star was Harrison Ford as Han Solo.
Ford followed The Empire Strikes Back (1980) by starring in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)– a Steven Spielberg/Lucasfilm collaboration which set all kinds of box-office records at the time, and launched the Indiana Jones series.
Harrison Ford later starred in Blade Runner (1982), directed by sci-fi specialist Ridley Scott; and later as CIA-analyst Jack Ryan in Patriot Games (1992) & Clear and Present Danger (1994), both based on best-selling Tom Clancy spy novels.
The blockbuster nature of Jaws & Star Wars‘, forever changed Hollywood film-making.
From that point on, big-budget action films became the priority, as they consistently ranked among the top money grossers.
Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) was one of the first Hollywood films to make extensive use of computer graphic interface (CGI) special-effects.
The second Star Wars trilogy (1999-2005) upped the CGI ante to the point of no return; in which virtually an entire film series was shot into a chroma key bluescreen.
Burton’s Batman was a revival for the comic-book action film. Superman (1978) starring Christopher Reeve was the original superhero blockbuster, and it was followed up by several sequels that earned well enough.
However, Superman IV (1987), produced by Golan-Globus’s Cannon Films, was a complete bomb.
Christopher Reeve was paralyzed from the neck down in 1995, as the result of a fall while horse riding; thus ending the original Superman film series.
The tragedies of Bruce Lee & Christopher Reeve is a healthy reminder, that none of us are invincible.
With the modern saturation of CGI in film, comic-book heroes are now thrust into multiplex theaters across the country every summer; each in search of greater profits.
Smokey & the Bandit (1977)
Smokey & the Bandit (1977) starring Sally Field & Burt Reynolds was the Good-ol’-Boy answer for action fun.
Reynolds, a halfback at FSU, starred in a series of box-office redneck action successes such as: Deliverance (1972), The Longest Yard (1974) and Hooper (1978).
Their success along with other cult films including White Lightning (1973), spawned a string of country-TV series including: BJ & the Bear (1979-81), The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo (sit-com 1979-81), and ratings-winner TheDukes of Hazzard (1979-85).
In 1979, Cannon Films was acquired by Israeli cousins Menahem Golan & Yoram Globus, for $500,000.
These Yiddish business masterminds would carve out their niche, by producing low-budget action movies in the 1980’s.
Known for their chauvinist exploitation films including the Delta Force (1986-91) & Missing in Action (1984-88) series, each featuring Chuck Norris; along with Cobra (1986) & Over the Top (1987) starring Sly Stallone—even their attempts at art failed; due to the fact there wasn’t a shred of artistic integrity in either Menahem Golan or Yoram Globus.
Their films would often go directly to video and/or international markets which were starving for US “action culture.”
A regular on the Golan-Globus roster was Chuck Norris; possibly the most expressionless “actor” to ever star in multiple features.
Norris shows very little acting ability or style– in any sense, in any of his movies.
In sum, these pictures have more unintended comic value and insight into reactionary ‘thought,’ than any serious action or drama.
By the mid-1980’s, there were whispers of Cannon Films becoming the ‘7th major‘ film studio; threatening to join Fox, Columbia (Sony), Paramount/Viacom, Time-Warner, Universal (Comcast) & Disney.
Fortunately, a studio needs to make good films to become a major; and this never occurred with any Golan-Globus production, as their business model was predicated on buying bottom-barrel scripts and strictly maintaining low budgets.
Cannon Films went bankrupt in 1993.
Hollywood music supervisor Richard Kraft likened the Cannon product pipeline to bowel movements dumped onto the international market with scant concern for quality or plot coherence: You flush it; you make another one.
Bawhoosh!! Chuck Norris MIA, big-time
Action cinema is synonymous with televised sports.
The evolution of both is determined by economic & ideological forces [Marx].
The rise of the NFL as America’s game, coincided with action film becoming a dominant genre.
Former NFL running back Jim Brown became the first black action star, appearing in The Dirty Dozen (1967), the blaxploitation Three the Hard Way (1974), and I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (1988); just to name just a few.
The relationship between weightlifting, bodybuilding, and professional football is an open one; and since the 1960’s many of its steroid secrets have been passed between camps.
In Pumping Iron (1977), its results finally make it to the silver screen. Pumping Iron is an important film for all cinema-goers to see & understand, because out of this documentary came the biggest action star of them all– Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The film centers around the 1975 Mr. Olympia bodybuilding event, held in South Africa [during the Apartheid regime– conveniently not discussed].
Also not discussed in the film are performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), although today’s audience would have to be blind to not see the steroids drenched into the film’s celluloid.
Every competitive lifter must be willing to take the pain [and presumptively use PEDs], otherwise he is “not serious,” says Arnold on becoming a champion.
Schwarzenegger didn’t have trouble convincing his audience he was serious, as a cyborg sent from the future in James Cameron’s TheTerminator (1984).
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s title role, remains one of the most terrifying movie-villain performances ever; and it shot him to stardom.
What followed were good-guy roles that consistently earned money for the studios; Commando (1985), Predator (1987), TheRunning Man (1987), Red Heat (1988), Twins (1988), Total Recall (1990), Kindergarten Cop (1990), and The Last Action Hero (1993).
In the wake of Arnold’s biceps in the 1980’s, every action-hero contender was now required to have a buffed bod.
Sylvester Stallone from Rocky (1976), miraculously morphed into Rambo: First Blood II (1985).
Stallone reprised his role as Vietnam veteran John Rambo, in this racist & homicidal death trip.
It grossed over $300 million, and Sly briefly challenged his buddy Arnold, for the King of Action Film crown.
It wasn’t to be for Stallone, as he would unwisely partner with Golan-Globus for some of the most wretched action bombs of the decade [mentioned above].
Other action stars created in the the 1980’s include:
Mel Gibson in Mad Max (1979), and Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981); both Australian post-apocalyptic action films directed by George Miller. Lethal Weapon 1-4 (1987-98), in which Gibson teamed with Danny Glover, solidified him as an action icon.
Bruce Willis, who first became a television star as private investigator David Addison on Moonlighting opposite Cybil Sheppard (1985–89).
Willis became a global action star in Die Hard (1988), as John McClane, an off-duty cop attempting to free hostages held in a skyscraper.
McClane kills the terrorists, coolly delivers the one-liners to the bad guys, handles the bureaucracy, and simultaneously saves Christmas for the rest of the cast.
Steven Seagal became an instant action star, with his smooth Aikido style in Above the Law (1988). Under Siege (1992), is Die Hard on a battleship.
Jean-Claude Van Damme (the “Muscles from Brussels”) struck action gold with Bloodsport (1988), a Cannon Films production of the ‘true story‘ of Frank Dux.
Woody Harrelson starred on the successful sit-com Cheers, as junior bartender Woody Boyd, from 1985–1993.
He became an action film star when he teamed with Wesley Snipes in White Men Can’t Jump (1992).
Like Damon Wayans, Harrelson is an serious actor, with athleticism. Natural Born Killers (1994) and Thin Red Line (1999) are a few of his searing action performances. Zombieland (2009), directed by Ruben Fleischer, is one of the best zombie/horror-genre films ever.
To their credit, Woody Harrelson & Daniel Sunjata (Rescue Me [2004-11] , 9/11: Loose Change [2009]) both support the 9/11 Truth movement, and a reopening of the investigation into the September 11 attacks.
In a 1993 Nike commercial, Charles Barkley proclaimed: “I am not a role model… Parents are role models… Just because I dunk a basketball, doesn’t mean I should raise your kids.”
People didn’t want to believe Charles Barkley, and most of them pretended to be like Mike [Jordan].
It’s the same with action movies; people pretend their favorite action heroes are real, and their own lives are insignificant by comparison.
In reality, the opposite is true– because movies (like sports) are entertainment, not real life.
