The Octagon

• Directed by Eric Karson
• August 8, 1980 (Dallas, Kansas City, St. Louis)

A martial artist must stop a group of terrorists trained by ninjas in the style of his foster brother. The ‘80s were wild.

With a decision to get deeper into the filmography of Chuck Norris, I decided to take in The Octagon. This is one of those movies that among the action aficionados I grew up with who had VCRs and were able to get to theaters more often than me was spoken of rather highly.

There is a distinct guilty pleasure feeling right from the opening. Clearly a little on the cheap side yet with that ethereal quality that you know it is not quite the best but it is going to be enjoyable. A good chunk of the enjoyment comes largely from the presence of Chuck Norris-as-Scott James. From the moment he steps on screen he looks like he is about ready to kick somebody’s ass.

The plot is rooted in the ninja craze of the time which followed the rise in prominence of Hong Kong action movies. Chuck Norris-as-Scott even casually throws out having run into some ninjas like it’s an everyday thing. Kind of funny and only doable in the era.

Chuck Norris is paired with Lee Van Cleef as an old mercenary named McCarn. For me this is a bit of a dream pairing that would have been better if both were in their physical prime. I am baffled at how McCarn connects to the story other than acting to slow up Scott’s efforts. I expected McCarn to turn out to be a villain but he’s just kind of shady. He seems to have connections to everything bad but he himself is not bad.

As framed by the film, Scott is the person every man wants to be and the man every woman wants. He hits on not one but two women within the first 30 minutes and ends the film on a third romance with Aura (Carol Bagdasarian), a woman who no longer wants to be an international ninja terrorist. Sounds like a cool gig though.

What happened to the midpoint romance? Justine Wentworth (Karen Carlson), a wealthy woman that staged car troubles to get her hooks into Scott, gets truck by a dart and dies in a decidedly unintentionally funny way. She utters “Why do I feel so cold?” and then dies. Her acting in this left a lot to be desired. She failed to sell that death scene in a serious manner but definitely served it up with ham.

I cannot help but think Z-movie director Godfrey Ho would be proud of this. There are a lot of white people that act as intermediaries between Scott and the ninjas. This movie has so much in it that Ho himself used in his Frankenstein crafted features like a nearly bizarre use of ninjas. All that is missing is Richard Harrison clearly being upset over needing to take the work.

The story also intersects with a rivalry Scott has with his adoptive brother Seikura (Tadashi Yamashita) who resents young Scott (played by Chuck’s son Michael). One thing that always struck me about such rivalries, which felt common and maybe I’m overthinking it, was the inherent racism on the part of the non-white guy towards the white guy. These types of grudge-based rivalries generally came down to the white guy truly embracing certain ideals/being what the parental figure wanted while the biological child/ethnically akin character could not live up to the ideals since they only understood them superficially. The implied racism of (in this case Seikura) is never followed up on.

Also the Seikura issue never feels like it’s coming to a head. It’s a given that Seikura and Scott were going to meet but it feels like there are numerous offramps where they could avoid any confrontation. I’m not talking them making peace but just stepping away in some fashion. These are not two people whose issues will be settled in violence. They barely know what they are doing connects them to their rival/the other.

The Octagon is by no means highbrow or sophisticated entertainment. It’s a little cheesy but entertains thanks to the presence of Chuck Norris and Lee Van Cleef and a handful of other character actors from the time who helped carry the film. Art Hindle is Scott’s friend A.J., Ernie Hudson is wasted as Quinine, Brian Tochi is Seikura at eighteen, and great character actor Tracey Walter in an uncredited part is Beatty.

This is noted for the whispering voiceover meant to be Scott’s internal monologue. For me it sounded more like some kind of psychosis rather than the character working through emotional concerns or issues. It may not have been manly, but Scott should have opened up to any one of his three girlfriends in the movie rather than appearing to hear voices.

Maybe not perfect but fun with its questionable logic dipped in martial arts and testosterone. The action scenes are quite good. Not overly stylized but more like an action fantasy of what we wish it could be like. And Chuck Norris takes on all the baddies and cuts through them like a hot knife through butter with the occasional bit of fire and explosion and plenty of bullets.

What is kind of strange to me is that everybody knows who Scott is and they know Scott is dangerous but he tries at one point to sneak into the ninja group yet they know who he is. Did he know that or did his plan fail? I’m not sure. This could’ve been his way of issuing a warning to them or notice that he was coming.

For the artisanal moviegoer, The Octagon will be a dud but somebody who likes action movies done in the classic style will find this a real treat. It has all the clichés you enjoy done well by the one and only Chuck Norris.