A Force of One

SPOILERS!

1979's A FORCE OF ONE is a bit misleadingly titled as the ultimate victor is more than merely a single individual - a karate champion named Matt Logan, played by real life black belt Chuck Norris.  The drug ring that serves as the antagonist here is busted by a team of narcotics officers.  One of whom is the scrappy Mandy Rust (Jennifer O'Neill), who of course will serve as a potential love interest for Logan.  But unlike some of Chuck's other movies, we're not treated to an embarrassing love scene. Mandy is not written to be all doe eyed when the man throws a kick.  In fact, O'Neill is one of Norris' best leading ladies.  And co-screenwriter Ernest Tidyman, known for THE FRENCH CONNECTION and SHAFT, lends a none too shabby script, though of course not one he would identify as his best.

In a small California town, the police keep busy tracking kids on skateboards who serve as couriers for a big dealer.  But when the undercover cops get too close, several end up dead at the hands of a guy in a ninja suit.  Someone with similar skills to professional fighter Logan, who will be reluctantly recruited by the lead narco officer Dunne (Clu Gulager, always curiously entertaining) to help crack the case.  Each of Dunne's team will in fact be required to become Logan's students in the martial arts, though I kept wondering if a few sessions would be really be enough if any of them went mano a mano with said ninja.  

A FORCE OF ONE plays like a tight TV pilot and while the film never rises above this modest ambition (and is awfully corny at times), it is perfectly enjoyable and inoffensive.   The solid "B" movie cast also includes Ron O'Neal, Charles Cyphers, G.W. Bailey, and Pepe Serna.  The only blindingly cheesy moment I can recall is a montage of Logan's thoughts while he does violence to a punching bag - memories of junkie girls and other fallout from the drug trade that finally convinces him to assist the police.  Compared to several of Chuck's other films, this is almost "A" level action fare.  Director Paul Aaron's workmanlike approach is appropriate.  There are plenty of fight scenes and some bread and butter police procedural.   Additionally, a corrupt cop and a young aspiring fighter who is also Logan's adopted son. 

But...that climactic fight scene between Chuck and real like kickboxer Bill "Superfoot" Wallace wasn't as explosive as hoped, though a box of cocaine does get obliterated during it.