Re: The Chuck Norris Appreciation Thread (1940-2026)
 

Delta Force 2 was pretty good. That's the one he battled Billy Drago as the Columbian Drug Lord. Buying the BD right now, might not be such a good idea, though.

Re: The Chuck Norris Appreciation Thread (1940-2026)
 

Since I didn't watch his movies in the 80s and 90s, I guess I caught parts of Sidekicks multiple times on TV, I always thought his martial arts skills were a big part of his appeal, like Steven Seagal or Jean-Claude van Damme and I watched all or their movies and enjoyed the fight scenes. Since they make a big point of showcasing Norris' martial art skills in most movies I watched by now, I was just surprised how underwhelming those fights really are. In An Eye For An Eye he fights David Carradine, who wasn't a fighter and just knew enough to make Kung Fu look good. Carradine's movements just look so much cooler on screen and while some of it might have been a stuntman, Carradine, who was even older, moves smoothly in his close ups while Norris is just stiff. I was just surprised that his fighting skills are part of most movies, but actually not impressive at all.
He was basically a poor man's Burt Reynolds, without the acting skills, charisma or good looks and his special skill martial arts wasn't that great on screen. By now I've watched 10 movies with Chuck Norris in the lead and while I had a good time watching 9 of them (Breaker! Breaker! is just bad). I wouldn't watch any of those movies a 2nd time.

Re: The Chuck Norris Appreciation Thread (1940-2026)
 

With Chuck’s passing, the majority of the main cast including the director of The Delta Force are now gone.

Chuck
Lee Marvin
Steve James
Martin Balsam
Shelley Winters
Robert Forster
Joey Bishop
George Kennedy
Robert Vaughn

and the director and co writer Menahem Golan

Re: The Chuck Norris Appreciation Thread (1940-2026)
 

Possibly controversial take, but Steve James is the biggest loss to me. Way too young (early 40s) when he died and he had some great moves in addition to some pretty incredible charisma. He practically holds up the American Ninja movies on his own and his absence is sorely felt in 4. Should have been a much bigger star, in my opinion. Almost like a proto-Michael Jai White. Sorry to thread hijack for a sec, but I never get the opportunity to talk about him.

Re: The Chuck Norris Appreciation Thread (1940-2026)
 

Yeah cancer took him way too young. I agree that James was very charismatic. Unfortunately he got stuck behind Chuck Norris and Michael Dudikoff as their sidekick for most of the Cannon Films run.

Re: The Chuck Norris Appreciation Thread (1940-2026)
 

This has largely been my take on Norris. I’ve seen all of his films except that latter-day run of DTV bargain-bin floaters he made after HELLBOUND kinda wrapped up his fading theatrical career. There was never really any progression in his acting ability. You knew – and he knew – exactly what you were (and weren’t) gonna get, and there was a certain comfortable predictably in that stiffness that made him profitable and high-profile enough for a while that he could eventually wrangle a TV series out of it. The movies built around him just got more polished through the 80’s and the people making them thankfully seemed to understand that he needed much more charismatic and naturalistic performers around him: Carradine, Richard Lynch, Christopher Lee, Henry Silva, M Emmett Walsh, Lee Marvin (and pretty much everyone else in DELTA FORCE), Lou Gossett, Billy Drago, Lee Van Clief, James Franciscus, Mako, Steve James etc. That in turn usually guaranteed a certain degree of above-average action movie craftsmanship behind the camera, which made some of them into perennials.

I have a number of movies from his very enjoyable 1978-1986 run in my collection that I think have solid meat-n-potatoes replay value beyond just him. Of these, though, I’ve always thought that CODE OF SILENCE was (and is) by far his best in terms of its screenplay, setting, cinematography, production value, realistic stunts, and compelling character details across the board, including Norris’s. I remember seeing it in a theatre at the time and thinking ‘this is almost too good to be a Chuck Norris movie’. A few years later I read that it was written as a potential fourth DIRTY HARRY movie for Clint Eastwood before eventually working its way ‘down’ to Norris but ultimately expanding the careers of both him and especially director Andrew Davis. I’ve always found it a little disappointing that Norris never really capitalized on the quality of that film and instead went right back to cranking out paint-by-numbers Cannon fodder to diminishing returns.

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Totally pointless side note: I remember as a teen thinking it was cool that Norris drove a Dodge Ramcharger 4x4 in LONE WOLF McQUADE (including out of the grave!), nearly the same make and model that my folks owned at the time (albeit a slightly later model in a nicer color scheme) and he then drove a Dodge Ram pickup on WALKER, similar to one that I owned from ‘96-‘99 (albeit in a nicer color, minus the extended cab, and with the short bed on the back). I didn’t watch WALKER, though, so as I recall my truck was just an aesthetic choice. It was cooler seeing a similar version turn up in TWISTER a few months after I bought it. Still, his LONE WOLF ride has inspired a few ‘fun fact’ videos on YouTube, as well as this guy who built a custom model kit version :) :