GOOD GUYS WEAR BLACK (1978)

Director: Ted Post

Writers: Joseph Fraley, Bruce Cohn, Mark Medoff

Producer: Allan F. Bodoh

Cast: Chuck Norris, Anne Archer, James Franciscus, Lloyd Haynes, Dana Andrews, Jim Backus, Soon-Tek Oh, Lawrence P. Casey, Joe Bennett, Jerry Douglas, Anthony Mannino, Stack Pierce, David Starwalt, Michael Payne, Benjamin J. Perry, Michael Stark, Pat E. Johnson, Virginia Wing, James Bacon, Kathy McCullen, Aaron Norris, Don Pike

In 1973, a special unit of U.S. commandos called the Black Tigers, led by Major John T. Booker (Chuck Norris), is sent into Vietnam to rescue American POWs. The team finds no one to rescue from the prison camp and is soon under attack. Their radio call for pickup by choppers is ignored. The Black Tigers realize they have been set up and abandoned, so they must make it out of Vietnam on their own. Five years later in Los Angeles, California, Booker is now teaching political science at UCLA. A reporter named Margaret (Anne Archer) approaches him with information regarding his doomed Black Tigers mission. Booker is reluctant to revisit his past until he and other surviving members of the Black Tigers are being targeted for assassination.

The Flashback Fanatic movie review

Due to the recent passing of action movie icon Chuck Norris, I felt the urge to revisit the film that first made me aware of the martial arts champion-turned-actor. Its trailer featured Norris’s John T. Booker character jumping over the front of an onrushing automobile to dropkick through its windshield. I am convinced that stunt is what sold the public on this movie and made Good Guys Wear Black a box office hit. As cool as that powerful promo was, I did not see this film until Norris had become a household name and I had already seen several of his later ass-kicking epics.

The six-time middleweight world karate champion had been making appearances in small roles for films and television requiring his martial arts expertise ever since his blink-and-you-miss-him bit in the Dean Martin-starring Matt Helm spy flick The Wrecking Crew (1968). Norris got some real attention when he played martial arts star Bruce Lee’s opponent in a fight to the death in The Way of the Dragon (1972), aka Return of the Dragon. After encouragement from one of his martial arts pupils, actor Steve McQueen, Norris started to seriously pursue film acting. 1977’s Breaker! Breaker! was Norris’s lead actor debut. Released at the height of America’s CB craze, it cast Norris in the role of a trucker facing off against a small town’s corrupt law enforcement. The film was generally dismissed by the critics (a common attitude toward most of Norris’s films), but it managed to be profitable. It was a notable film credit for Norris that gave him the opportunity to again play the lead in his next film, Good Guys Wear Black.

Chuck Norris was just as determined to succeed in films as he was in his karate matches. The idea behind the film’s story was Norris’s. He worked out the story with another of his martial arts pupils and kept pitching the project to different producers. Wisely, Norris wanted to star in a plot-driven movie that was not just a string of martial arts fights. After plenty of rejections all over Hollywood, he finally convinced a producer to greenlight the project when Norris reasoned that, even if only half of the Norris karate fans showed up to see his movie, the low-budget film would be profitable.

Good Guys Wear Black is an action film that is also a political thriller. As such, I find its plot more intriguing than most action films. Norris’s John T. Booker is not looking for trouble or associated with the military anymore. He is trying to move beyond his wartime past and live a peaceful life as a civilian. During his lecture to his political science students, Booker expresses disapproval of the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. One can only assume the setup that doomed the POW rescue mission Booker led has given him an attitude with more nuance than “just follow orders.” Yet, despite the betrayal of his last Black Tigers team mission, he refuses to obsess about the awful incident he survived and won’t let bitterness spoil his new life.

Like many political thrillers, Good Guys Wear Black has a strong streak of anti-establishment sentiment. It condemns those in the government whose machinations are used to pursue their selfish goals and cover their tracks. The theme of political expedience sacrificing peoples’ lives is a powerful one. Ultimately, the film does not glamorize war and stresses that soldiers are not just expendable assets.

The nefarious plot based in political corruption works well to serve a low-budget film. Individually assassinating various former commandos amid their postwar civilian lives is meant to be lowkey. It is not the sort of extravagant operation that draws a lot of public attention in the story. This somewhat stealthy tactic is easier for a budget-conscious film to depict.

With director Ted Post at the helm, this project was in good hands. Post had an extensive background in television and film projects. Notably, he had twice directed Clint Eastwood in the Western Hang ‘Em High (1968) and the second Dirty Harry film, Magnum Force (1973). Post was experienced enough to know how to be sure that the story was driven by characters’ motivations and could deal with many production challenges of time and budget. However, Post has stated that, due to a very tight schedule, he considered Good Guys Wear Black an unfinished film; he wanted more time to further develop the script.

The film’s only deficiency that has always troubled me is the night shooting during the Black Tigers’ Vietnam mission early in the story. Very poor image quality mars what should have been some exciting action. I have quadruple-dipped for this flick in various formats over the years, and the footage for that sequence always seems underlit and poorly focused. Ted Post was a seasoned pro who certainly knew what he was doing, so perhaps something went awry in the sequence’s processing at the film lab.

While this is an early role for Chuck Norris, I think he does just fine. His acting chops may not be as adept as his chopsocky skills, but he makes for an appealing and capable protagonist. It is not only his good looks and fancy footwork that have made him an enduring action star. Norris has a presence of calm determination, no doubt a result of his martial arts discipline. Norris does not pose and strut. He projects the confidence of an accomplished person with nothing to prove. That makes him a believable hero.

The always adorable Anne Archer co-stars as the beautiful and enigmatic reporter Margaret. We never learn Margaret’s last name, and she knows one helluva lot about those secret Black Tiger commandos. While she may seem to be just determined to follow up on an intriguing lead from an unnamed source in Washington, D.C., Booker is a little suspicious. He wonders if Margaret’s only motivation is journalistic ambition. This ambiguity adds a bit more paranoia to the narrative. Nevertheless, her vague backstory does not keep John T. Booker from accepting her carnal advances, and I can’t say I blame him. Afterall, how can anyone who looks like Anne Archer not be a nice girl? Yeah, if she’s really a femme fatale, a dope like me would be dead meat walking when she's around.

Ironically, the most trustworthy ally Booker has is Murray Saunders (Lloyd Haynes), the CIA operative that sent the Black Tigers on their ill-fated mission in 1973. Five years later, Saunders has learned of a plot to kill the surviving members of the mission and that he may also be a target. He provides some stoic humor and helps Booker confront the threat they are under.

James Franciscus is great as the charismatic and calculating Senator Conrad Morgan who aspires to be the U.S. Secretary of State. He has the movie-idol looks and razor-sharp diction that command attention. This guy is the perfect statesman who delivers every line with dynamic verve. Franciscus makes a powerful impression with his limited screen time, and his dialogue delivery provides as much energy as Norris’s karate moves.

Landing seasoned talents for low-budget films can elevate them beyond mere exploitation. Case in point: Here in a small and important role is veteran actor Dana Andrews as U.S. Under Secretary of State Edgar Harolds. His final scene is a chunk of exposition that Andrews makes interesting, even a bit touching, with his wry and melancholy delivery as he laps up the booze.

Back in 1978, people may have been expecting this film to only provide nonstop chopsocky action. Today, people expect every action movie to feature gigantic budgets and ever more outlandish CGI-tweaked stunts that pacify rather than involve ever-shortening attention spans. I find Good Guys Wear Black positively refreshing since it stoops to neither generation’s expectations. It has nothing revolutionary going on. It is just meant to give us a hero beset by a political plot that requires him to occasionally kick some ass as he tries to save his own. Yet it helped define the action movie genre that would soon dominate the 1980s and launched the film fame of one of its preeminent stars, Chuck Norris.

SILENT RAGE (1982)

Director: Michael Miller

Writers: Joseph Fraley, Edward Di Lorenzo (uncredited)

Producer: Anthony B. Unger

Cast: Chuck Norris, Brian Libby, Ron Silver, Steven Keats, Toni Kalem, Stephen Furst, William Finley, Stephanie Dunnam, Joyce Ingle, Jay DePland, Lillette Zoe Raley, Mike Johnson, Desmond Dhooge, Kathy Lee, Linda Tatum, Joe Farago, Paula Selzer, John Barrett, Sonny Jones, Sandy Lang, Eddie Galt, David Unger, Russel Higgenbotham, James Bodean (uncredited)

When psychiatric outpatient John Kirby (Brian Libby) murders two people, Sheriff Dan Stevens (Chuck Norris) subdues him and takes him into custody. Kirby soon breaks free and is shot by the police. The dying man’s psychiatrist, Dr. Thomas Halman (Ron Silver), rushes Kirby to his medical institute. With emergency surgery failing to save Kirby’s life, Halman’s fellow physician and boss, Dr. Phillip Spires (Steven Keats), tries his experimental serum. Kirby’s vital signs return and his wounds miraculously heal. Unfortunately, the still dangerously deranged John Kirby is now practically indestructible.

The Flashback Fanatic movie review

This is a movie that shouldn’t work for me. Most movies that mix genres are not satisfying because they are needlessly busy concoctions and each genre being mixed into the cinematic mess becomes diluted and can’t deliver the buzz that a single genre can. Silent Rage is an action/horror/sci-fi hybrid that succeeds because of its simplicity.

The entire story takes place over the course of just a few days. The menace and the hero are established in the very first scene. Then we see how, thanks to mad science, the menace becomes even more formidable while the hero gets an opportunity to demonstrate more of his ass-kicking prowess. Eventually, the menace goes on a murder spree that the sheriff hero must stop. All of this is building up to a rematch between the opponents from the film’s opening scene.

Of course, the exploitation hook for this movie at the time was what would happen if Chuck Norris took on Michael Myers; the most famous martial arts hero of the day vs. a mute, unkillable maniac. The sci-fi angle that justifies the villain’s awesome durability makes this thing play out like a more satisfying retread of Indestructible Man (1956).

All of the characters are presented quite simply and effectively. Aside from the clash between doctors about ethical considerations regarding the use of experimental techniques on a dying patient, there is no moralizing or character development here. This is a series of horror and action situations that are all creating anticipation for that final battle.

Chuck Norris is his usual reserved self. He actually seems a bit more relaxed this time around until he needs to start hitting and shooting people. Until the final showdown, his character of Sheriff Dan Stevens is just marking time in his little town by beating up bikers or rekindling a romance with an ex-girlfriend (Toni Kalem). He also gets to be an all too patient mentor to his new deputy (Stephen Furst).

Ron Silver’s Dr. Tom Halman is the character that raises the ethical questions about medical experimentation and whether someone as dangerous as his patient should be allowed to live. He may be feeling guilty for not having anticipated John Kirby’s homicidal potential. In one of the film’s longest scenes, we spend quite a bit of time at Halman’s home. We get a sense of the doctor’s life with his wife (Stephanie Dunnam) before the horror of the story begins to take over.

Steven Keats is the ambitious and amoral Dr. Spires. He strikes just the right notes of obsession and frustration. I love it when he has an angry, profanity-laced shouting match with his employee, Dr. Halman, or when he guzzles booze in his office to wind down from the stress of his experiment getting way out of hand. It is little touches like these that are memorable because they make a character register with us without needing to provide any sort of backstory.

The embodiment of this film’s silent rage is Brian Libby as John Kirby. After he calls Dr. Halman for help in the first scene, he devolves into a mute and murderous animal. I can hardly blame the poor guy for “losin’ it.” In the film’s opening continuous shot of nearly four minutes, we experience the claustrophobic and irritating environment John Kirby has had to tolerate. Apparently, he is renting a room in a household full of noisy kids being screeched at constantly by their busybody, motor-mouthed mother (Joyce Ingle). No wonder Kirby seems positively triumphant when he starts swinging that axe. Libby’s odd body language and wild-eyed expressions combine with his physicality to create an always interesting and formidable menace in John Kirby.

Director Michael Miller manages to stage both his horror and action scenes effectively. He is not afraid to use long takes to just show people mingling and reacting to one another. His long takes can also help set the scene or set us up for a surprise.

According to director Miller, Chuck Norris seemed a little ambivalent about the finished film. Perhaps Norris thought it was too much of a departure from what he thought his fans would be looking for in one of his movies. Silent Rage may be a bit of an anomaly in action star Chuck Norris’ filmography, but it is probably my favorite. It manages to mix its horror and action with the occasional dash of humor to fine effect. Despite its sci-fi menace, this flick still comes across far more believably than the contrived and cartoonish stunt shows most action movies have become since the late '80s.

This film never seemed to get much respect in its day. Most wrote off Silent Rage as a crass attempt to use its rising action star to get some of that slasher film audience attention. Well, they’re right! Frankly, I’m as surprised as anyone that it manages to be very entertaining. If you can’t decide whether you’re in the mood for bashing or slashing, pop open a cold one and pop Silent Rage into the player.