Stallone. Schwarzenegger. JCVD. Seagal. Snipes. Gibson. These were the legends of eighties and nineties action cinema, but let me tell you something, folks, back in the 80s, there was one guy who was just as big as any of them, and his name was Chuck Norris. Nowadays, the martial arts champion’s movies don’t get quite as much play as those of the other guys I mentioned, probably because Norris never really made an A-level studio film, with him mostly toiling in elevated B-movies throughout the decade. But, some of them were really a lot of fun, as we’re going to dig into one of the most over-the-top and explosive ones of them all – INVASION U.S.A.
Cut back to the year 1984. After years of making lower-budget action films, Norris’s career started to hit its stride. In 1983, Lone Wolf McQuade brought him to the attention of Menahem Golan, the head of Cannon Pictures. Golan hired him to star in two back-to-back Vietnam War epics, Missing In Action 1 and 2. Fun fact, the sequel was so good that it was released as the first film, while the crappy first film was released second, as a prequel. So Missing in Action was a runaway hit in 1984, leading to Norris signing on to a long-term contract with Cannon. As Missing in Action was such a smash for him, they re-teamed Norris with director Joseph Zito on one of the biggest movies in the company’s history, Invasion U.S.A.
This is a movie that needs to be seen to be believed. In this era, Cold War tensions were running at a fever pitch, and this was reflected in cinema. On the small screen, The Day After warned us all about what a real war with the Soviet Union would look like – basically that the world as we know it would end, but that was seen as too much of a bummer for Hollywood. Instead, the Cold War was typically fought on screen by proxy, such as in Rambo: First Blood Part 2, where Russia is shown to be working in cahoots with the Vietnamese government, and in Rocky IV, where it was fought in the ring. But, in Red Dawn, director John Millius attempted to do a sensitive, nuanced depiction of what a traditional war on the ground with the Soviets would look like, with sympathetic figures on both sides.
Invasion USA is not that film.
In this one, a Soviet Operative, Rostov, played by Richard Lynch, leads a Latin American guerrilla army (financed by cocaine) into southern Florida to commit acts of terror, at Christmas mind you, which include literally blowing up housefuls of families engaging in good old fashioned Christmas cheer. The villain, Rostov, is so evil that the movie literally opens with him machine-gunning a boatful of Cuban refugees seeking asylum and freedom in the U.S.
But Rostov’s got a problem – a bearded warrior who haunts his dreams, played by the one and only Chuck Norris. While the CIA and authorities are clueless, a former operative named Matt Hunter, who lives on a gator farm in the Keys and hangs out with his pal John Eagle (Dehl Berti). Hunter knows what’s going on and has tangled with Rostov before. After John Eagle is killed by Rostov’s forces, Hunter arms himself to the teeth and declares his own war on the terrorists. What follows is the most testosterone-soaked bloodbath Cannon ever made, and that’s saying something.
Truly, this film needs to be seen to be believed. There’s literally a bit when leering terrorists gleefully try to blow up a school bus full of children, only for their plan to be foiled by Norris, sporting perhaps the most glorious mullet this side of Kurt Russell. Norris is a killing machine in this movie. In a booze-fuelled conversation some years ago, I debated the merits of this film with John Fallon, who some of you may know as the man behind Arrow in the Head and our current director of operations. He told me this film is good because it’s essentially a slasher movie, albeit one in which the slasher is a good guy and is played by Chuck Norris. That’s pretty accurate, as Norris’s screen time is kept minimal, with much of the movie centered around Richard Lynch’s Rostov and the clueless authorities. When Norris’s Hunter shows up, it’s usually to either kick, kill or maim someone. The exposition is handled chiefly by his nominal love interest, a Miami reporter played by Melissa Prophet. Fun fact: Norris badly wanted Whoopi Goldberg to play the role. Goldberg, who hadn’t yet won an Oscar at this point, was willing as she had a fondness for Norris, but the director said no. Norris was so upset that he never worked with him again.
As it is, Invasion USA is a blast, with the action all done practically, with stunt people and real explosions. It was one of Cannon’s bigger movies, with the mall shootout costing more than many full movies they produced. Through it all, Norris, who’s magnificently coiffed and oiled throughout, is in fine form. He’s supported by the great Richard Lynch, whose memorable look has an interesting back story. You see, as a young man in the sixties, Lynch once got high on LSD and set himself on fire in Central Park. He survived but was left with extensive scarring, yet in some ways, this made his career, as he became a popular bad guy in action movies in the 70s and 80s.
Surprisingly, like many Norris’s other Cannon fare, the film was only a modest theatrical success, grossing $17.5 million – more than its $12.5 million budget. Yet, it became – and I swear this is true – MGM/UA’s best-selling videocassette of all time after Gone with the Wind. It also inadvertently led to the overthrow of Romania’s communist government.
Say what? Yes, as documented in the film Chuck Norris vs Communism, VHS tapes of the film found their way to Romania, which was under communist rule, and the film was one of several that helped fuel a popular uprising to overthrow the government. 1985 would prove to be a banner year for Norris, with it also seeing the release of his best film ever – even better than this one – Code of Silence – but perhaps that’s a story best left for another day. If you want to know more – hit us up in the comments, and we’ll do it. LONG LIVE CHUCK NORRIS!