From humble roots in the dust bowl of Oklahoma, Carlos Ray Norris took his post Korean war-era stint in the Air Force and turned it into what became a black belt in three separate disciplines (Korean karate, Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo) and international karate championships, where he met and trained further with the man, the myth: Bruce Lee.
Tapped by Lee for his Way (nee Return) of the Dragon, he shortly found his way into film, starting with the trucker and CB craze hicksploiter Breaker! Breaker! and parlaying his success into a chain of strikingly unique and philosophical karate-based action films: Good Guys Wear Black, A Force of One, An Eye for an Eye and Forced Vengeance.
He single handedly kicked off the international ninja craze of the 80's with The Octagon and crossed over into the contemporaneous mania for slasher films with the strikingly bizarre Silent Rage, before signing up with the legendary Cannon Films, where he shifted into a strangely jingoistic run of over the top oddities like Lone Wolf McQuade, the Missing in Action films and the Delta Force series...not to mention the deliriously hilarious action/paranoia flick Invasion USA.
Peppering this run with a few attempts at a broader acceptance (cop potboiler Code of Silence, likeable Indiana Jones knockoff Firewalker and minimalist Silent Rage throwback Hero and the Terror...even the weird cartoon iteration, Chuck Norris' Karate Kommandos!), Norris would give himself over to the televised cheese of Walker, Texas Ranger and a decade or more hucking home fitness equipment before turning into a tongue in cheek all powerful meme in the internet age...
Join us as we contemplate the uniquely introspective and philosophic early films...and over the top right wing cheese that came thereafter! of the man who can apparently do anything, the inimitable Chuck Norris!
Week 68: You’re Simply Not Tough Enough for This Show: The films of Chuck Norris
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Week 111 (11/30/23): Take a Bite of the Rotten Apple - NYC cop/crime films of the 70s
Week 110 (11/16/23): Cary Grant
Week 109 (11/2/23): Crimenaux ala Francais - Crime The French Way
Week 108 (10/19/23): Hide in Plain Sight: the Life and Career of Rock Hudson
Week 107 (10/5/23): Still a Bit of a Lad: The Bumpy Career of Hugh Grant
Week 106 (9/21/23): Who’s Afraid of Liz and Dick? The Tempestuous Career of Richard Burton
Week 105 (9/7/23): Ride the rollercoaster - the life and career of Jennifer Lopez
Week 104 (8/24/23): Hail to the Queen: the rise, fall and resurrection of America’s Sweetheart Sandra Bullock
Weird Scenes Week 103 (8/10/23): Sex Italian Style: The Life and Films of Sophia Loren
Weird Scenes Week 102 (7/27/23): A Man of Unusual Talent: The Life and Career of Tony Perkins
Weird Scenes Week 101 (7/13/23): Brian DePalma
Weird Scenes Week 100 (6/29/23): Jamie Lee Curtis
Weird Scenes Week 99 (6/15/23): Richard Benjamin, Class(y) Clown
Weird Scenes Week 98 (6/1/23): High Voltage and Wired: The Life and Career of John Belushi
Weird Scenes Week 97 (5/18/23): In The Court of Chaos: Up (and Down) with Wesley Snipes
Weird Scenes Week 96 (5/4/23): Sometimes You’ve Just Got To Let One Go: The Atypical Career of Whoopi Goldberg
Weird Scenes Week 95 (4/20/23): From Horse Laughs to Hollywood to Fat Suit Hell: The Rapid Rise and Precipitous Fall of Eddie Murphy
Weird Scenes Week 94 (4/6/23): Class and Style: The Unusual Career of Jacqueline Bissett
Weird Scenes Week 93 (3/23/23): Come Fly With The Chairman of the Bored - The Films of Frank Sinatra
Weird Scenes Week 92 (3/9/23): George Segal
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