“The Octagon” (1980) ft. Chuck Norris

By Jenni Nather, StaciAnne KaeLeigh Grove, and Joshua Blum

Welcome to The Octagon, an action martial arts flick released in 1980, starring Chuck Norris as retired karate champion Scott James. Despite his retirement, Scott soon learns that he will need to rely on his martial arts skills once more as he works to take down a syndicate of mercenaries trained in the way of the Ninja, headed by none other than his estranged half-brother, Seikura (Tadashi Yamashita). Scott’s best friend, A.J. (Art Hindle), finds trouble with the Ninja when he tries to take matters into his own hands, complicating things for Scott as he struggles with past demons to bring an end to the terrorist’s plot.

This film was released at the dawn of the ninja movie craze, giving movie goers a taste for the secret assassins in major feature film releases for decades to come. Many critics came down hard on the flick, which grossed nearly $19 million worldwide. That more than covers the $200,000 spent for the major explosion during the final fight sequence.

The Octagon starred three members of the Norris family – Chuck, his brother Aaron, and Chuck’s son Mike – and was the debut appearance of actor and stuntman Richard Norton. Also appearing in this film are Karen Carlson, Lee Van Cleef, and Carol Bagdasarian.

Jenni’s Review

Here we go! My first real Chuck Norris movie! (Sideskicks doesn’t count … right?) As a child of the 80s and 90s, I built an opinion of Chuck Norris surrounding his seemingly indestructible, superhuman nature as a martial artist who could defeat even the forces of physics with neither question nor a single beard hair disturbed. I was not entirely prepared for the world I was about to enter, and I discovered that I set my expectations bar too high.

The Octagon tries arduously to be a martial arts film, beginning with the story taking place during a nearby Martial Arts Expo which is mentioned in conversations and advertised several times in passing. A character in the early part of the movie even discusses how impressed she is that Chuck’s character, Scott James, was trained in the martial arts. These subtle hints of the arts are not enough to convince me that this was a martial arts movie, and the ninjas that appear in the film felt horribly out of place and forced.

The fight scenes that do occur during the flick are filled with simple fight choreography, darker lighting, and poor camera angles. I was disappointed to see that the only “good” fight scene was the final fight at the end of the movie, and for a guy who had his own combat league, I did not see Chuck Norris perform techniques which would have inflicted the pain and demise they caused in the film. Many of the attacks were pulled short, there was little to no believable contact made, and the reactions from the opponents were poorly timed.

I have a feeling that seeing this film for the first time so many years after it was made is where I went wrong. Movie production and choreography are far more advanced now, and the bar of what makes a “good martial arts movie fight” has been raised by the volume of great martial artists in films today and the budget and production teams available to support them.

As for this film, if you overlook the poor plot and slow, disjointed story progression, and the horrible attempt at making Chuck Norris a sexy lady magnet, and then there was that terrible echoing voice-over that represented Scott’s inner thoughts, and … Okay, so maybe one viewing was enough for me, and maybe more than enough for others.

Staci’s Review

As I settled down to watch The Octagon, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, but I knew that whatever I was about to see would have acting so stiff it was comedic. I was not let down.

I say this as a lover of Chuck Norris memes, and a long-time fan of Walker, Texas Ranger – his acting is only slightly better than his singing. The cheese of Walker, Texas Ranger was made palatable by some decent fight choreography and simple underlying story arcs of good versus bad.

What did The Octagon offer up? Having watched it three times in the past month – I’m still not entirely sure. But there are a few things worth noting:

This is a bunch of characters in search of some action – and they don’t get it until the last 20 minutes or so. It’s only then that the fights take on any semblance of martial arts. And there are some fun combos and kicks there complete with the sound effects like a Batman and Robin show – BIFF! OOF! HIYA!! The best part – spoiler alert – is when one of the bad guys gets set on fire and put through a wall.

There are some great lines scattered in. “You have a personality. I have to manufacture one,” says one woman. Another character quips, “Before you go out there to save the world, I can tell you it doesn’t want to be saved.”

The Octagon are advertising and recruiting through ads in the local newspapers and at martial arts tournaments. McCarn (Lee Van Cleef), one of the “good guys,” says to Scott, “As much as you condemn me for living to kill, it’s people like you who are paving the way for others to have to kill to live… Most people have precious little to live for and certainly nothing to die for.”

However – this movie does not stand the test of time well. In reality, the two main characters are the hair and the body oil. The good guys always have hair styles that looked like they walked out of a 1982 GQ spread, and the bad guys always look like their younger brother did the styling. Norris’s sidekick, played by Art Hindle, has the hair that steals the show. Norris’s fluffy moustache is a close second.

Not surprisingly the sexism towards all the women in the film is abundant. The few women in the movie are mostly there as eye candy and really don’t add to the plotline (except for one female ninja in the Octagon). While the movie meanders to determine if it’s a martial arts action movie or a drama with some martial arts action, along the way Chuck gets some other action. And the body oil alone in that scene probably accounted for a quarter of the budget.

Move over Maui. “I know it’s a lot, the hair, the bod, when you’re staring at a demi-god.” What pulled me through this was the Legend of Demi-God Chuck Norris. It wasn’t the story, the acting, the cinematography. It was a fun, watchable romp, best saved for viewing with a bunch of friends, too many beers, and overflowing bowls of popcorn.

Josh’s Review

In a time long ago (at least, before the internet), there was only one way a kid without access to a credit card or car could see martial artists on screen. When I was thirteen, beginning my own martial arts journey, Chuck Norris movies weren’t just entertainment; they were a learning experience. After all, I reasoned, if it were good enough for Chuck, it must be good enough for me. Although the inherent flaw in that logic would become evident in later sparring sessions, I can’t say the time was a total waste. You learn to do the best with what you have, and I did become a B-movie connoisseur in the process. However, despite a cast of martial arts heavy hitters (Chuck Norris, Richard Norton, Tadashi Yamashita, Gerald Okamura, and others), I somehow missed The Octagon (1980) until now.

Let me first say that the intervening decades have not done much to clarify the plot, a jumbled mess of tropes, misogyny, and racial stereotypes. Woven in there is a standard pot boiler of the white guy (played by Chuck Norris) learning martial arts from his surrogate Japanese family and how his foster brother becomes Chuck’s sworn enemy after being disowned by their father. Said sworn enemy now runs a training camp for wannabe ninjas, Chuck’s well-meaning but deluded friend get captured, and Chuck has to venture into the octagonal shaped compound to save him. That’s really all you have to know: Chuck Norris versus ninjas. Or – at least, the 1980s conception of ninjas, meaning they run around in all black, even in broad daylight, carrying weapons from feudal Japan, and if one of their shuriken hits you, game over.

Although that kind of schlock has its allure, the real reason for martial artists to see the film, in my opinion, is historical. It encapsulates the wave of ninja craziness that started in 1960s Japan, washing up on US shores around this time, and permeating much of the media in the 80s and 90s, where the depiction of the shinobi in black (which probably comes less from historical accuracy but from Japanese noh plays where stagehands – intended to be invisible to the audience – wore similar outfits) became a staple in not just movies but novels, cartoons, comic books, toys, and video games.

How many children became interested in starting their own martial arts journeys due to the influence of stories of ninja lurking in the shadows, dispatching enemies silently, then disappearing in a melodramatic flash of smoke? Once confined to inaccessible, mountainous terrain in remote provinces of Japan, ninja today are everywhere. Yet, thanks to such an overabundance of information both real and apocryphal, actual ninjutsu is as inscrutable today as was in feudal Japan.

Although that may be most appreciated by students of the art, for martial artists in general, I believe we own this period of time a measure of gratitude. Like the kung fu films of the 70s, 80s ninja films like The Octagon brought martial arts into the public consciousness, generating interest, curiosity, and greater access for future students of all martial arts. For that reason alone, it’s worth your time. Just keep that fast forward button ready.

Who We Are

Jenni Nather began training later in life at a non-traditional age of 32. She is a 2^nd Degree Black Belt in Pilsung Moo Do, a blend of Korean martial art styles including Tae Kwon Do, Tang Soo Do, and Hapkido. In addition to training, this mom of four enjoys yoga, reading, baking, and cooking in her “spare time.” Jenni is a proud member of Team whistlekick as the Director of the Book Division. Find Jenni on Facebook or message her on Instagram (@jenninather397).

StaciAnne Grove trains in taekwondo at Yordan’s Black Belt Academy where she is currently a red belt. An avid amateur photographer, she got into taekwondo because she couldn’t get the timing right on her images – and had a vast photo collection of chambered kicks. She’s also a member of the USBA | WBA an organization that promotes breaking in all its forms. She’s part of Team Whistlekick and loves the connections across styles and borders. In her muggle world work, she works for a health network in Vermont and northern New York trying to create connections through story and databases. You can find Staci on Facebook or TikTok (sulis_dracarys).

Joshua Blum was introduced to tae kwon do at age 13 and has studied a variety of arts ever since. He is currently a practitioner of traditional Chinese archery and ninjutsu and writes fantasy novels inspired by his martial arts experiences as well as 1980s fantasy, science fiction, and martial arts films. He is reachable at 13thhr.wordpress.com.