Martial artist and actor Chuck Norris is known to the internet as the World’s Greatest Human, a satirical factoid of incredible strength and unwavering masculinity. For example, you might have heard in grade school that Chuck Norris doesn’t do push-ups; he pushes the Earth down. Before the surge of meme fame, Norris served in the United States Air Force in 1958, where his outfit called him Chuck instead of Carlos, his birth name. While stationed at Osan Air Base in South Korea, he learned the Korean martial art Tang Soo Do, eventually earning a black belt.
In 1962, Norris opened his own martial arts studio in Torrance, California.
He developed a personal brand of karate he called Chun Kuk Do, meaning “Universal Way.” Norris competed in many tournaments to promote his studio and establish a chain of karate schools, where he trained notable celebrities, including Steve McQueen, Priscilla Presley, and Donnie Osmond. It was not until 1974, when McQueen convinced Norris to take up acting. The prized fighter became the first American martial arts star and a permanent fixture of the action genre.
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8 Firewalker (1986)
The Cannon Group
If Indiana Jones knew karate, he wouldn’t have pulled out a gun on a swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Max Donigan is an inept treasure hunter, joined by fellow explorer Leo Porter (Louis Gossett Jr.) and psychic Patricia Goodwin (Melody Anderson). She presents a map to a supposed stockpile of gold guarded by a red cyclops, known as the Aztecan legend El Coyote. Being the poster boy for The Cannon Group through the 1980s, this was Chuck Norris in his first comedic role. The parody of his action persona was a fun departure with a fair amount of action scenes.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
7 The Expendables 2 (2012)
Lionsgate
John T. Booker (a reference to Norris’ character in Good Guys Wear Black) was a military operative who came out of retirement to serve and protect his old teammates. Like the many other action stars in The Expendables 2, Booker’s introduction relies on subtle parody and tongue-in-cheek humor. After he takes out a guerrilla faction and their tank, Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) asks Booker about a rumor involving a King Cobra bite. Booker squashes the myth, revealing that “after five days of agonizing pain, the Cobra died.”
6 Good Guys Wear Black (1978)
American Cinema Releasing
The movie that launched Norris’ notoriety pits him as Major John T. Booker, a Vietnam POW who survives being slaughtered after murky peace negotiations. He later became a UCLA political science professor, lecturing on the war and how it was a national mistake. United States Senator Conrad Morgan (James Franciscus) who lied to Booker and his soldiers, the Black Tigers, about their freedom, has resurfaced to finish the deal he made with North Vietnamese negotiator Kuong Yen: to kill off the members of the special forces team. Norris brings a brute force to the by-the-book cops and crooked politicians in this American martial arts film.
5 Silent Rage (1982)
Columbia Pictures
A proto-Terminator in its own right, Norris plays Texas Sheriff Daniel Stevens, who ends up fighting an indestructible man. John Kirby is the mentally ill man turned Frankenstein after doctors administer a serum that regenerates the cellular structure of his body endlessly. The science fiction-meets-martial arts is a crazy idea that works here. The X-Man doesn’t seem to faze Norris, who becomes a machine and a monster when he needs to be.
4 Missing in Action (1984)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Colonel James Braddock, an escaped POW early in the Vietnam War, returns to the country in search of American soldiers listed as MIA. He confronts General Tran (James Hong) still keeping the war alive, with his own imprisoned Americans. Critics at the time panned the film as a Rambo clone and cash-grab. Despite Missing in Action being inspired by Rambo: First Blood Part II and released before the latter, viewers loved The Cannon Group debut for Norris.
3 Code of Silence (1985)
Orion Pictures
Two years before audiences had RoboCop, there was Sergeant Eddie Cusack and his crime-fighting robot, Prowler. The Chicago police officer is at aims with his unit after a sting operation goes awry. He is tasked with finding the Comachos drug gang while support from the station slowly wanes due to his amending of the code of silence (he will not defend his fellow officer when he was not a witness to his actions). A gang war ensues and Norris calls for backup: himself.
2 Lone Wolf McQuade (1983)
Norris sure loves playing cops. It was a smooth transition for him, having applied to join the boys in blue back in 1962. Once again, the martial artist breaks convention and bends the law as Texas Ranger J.J. McQuade. He is a divorcee who works and lives alone in a dilapidated home with his pet wolf. When martial artist Rawley Wilkes (David Carridine of Kung-Fu fame) is discovered to be an arms dealer after a hijacking leaves McQuade’s daughter hospitalized, he does what any man would do: drink beer and shoot first.
1 The Way of the Dragon (1972)
Golden Harvest
Chuck Norris in his debut screen role stars as Colt, the nemesis of Bruce Lee as Tang Lung in one of the most famous martial arts movies of all time. Two masters from the east and west trade their fighting prowess in the Roman Colosseum to settle the age-old who-would-win-in-a-fight question. After watching for ten glorious minutes, you will have your answer.
