A Force of One

1979 "He hears the silence. He see's the darkness. He's the only one who can stop the killing."
5.1| 1h30m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 01 June 1979 Released
Producted By: American Cinema Productions
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Karate champion Matt Logan is enlisted by the police to train officers in self-defense after narcotics agents are killed by an assailant using the martial arts.

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Director

Paul Aaron

Production Companies

American Cinema Productions

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A Force of One Audience Reviews

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!
MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant
Suman Roberson It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.
Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
calvinnme Early Chuck Norris action flick offers some enjoyment provided you go in with the right attitude.When two narcotics detectives on the trail of a major drug ring are murdered using martial arts, the rest of their squad is ordered to investigate local karate schools for potential suspects, and to train themselves in case the killer strikes again. This leads them to Chuck Norris, as Matt Logan, champion kickboxer and karate school proprietor with a personal distaste for the drug trade. He agrees to train the cops and of course gets caught up in the rest of the action. One , or more, of the squad is dirty, naturally, and the bodies pile up as the heroes get closer to the truth.Jennifer O'Neill , sporting an ultra short haircut, shares top billing as the detective with the closest contact with Chuck. Other members of the squad include Ron O'Neal, James Whitmore Jr, Pepe Serna, Clint Ritchie and the wonderfully monikered Chu Chu Malave. Also with Clu Gulager as the Lieutenant, Eric Laneuville, Charles Cyphers, G.W. Bailey and real-life karate champion Bill "Superfoot" Wallace.This is the kind of cheap but entertaining movie that Norris excelled at throughout the early 80's, before his films turned more militaristic, the kind that Steven Seagal or Jean Claude Van Damme would make direct to video during the late 90's and early 00's. The kind they don't really make at all anymore. Whether or not that's a bad thing depends on the viewer. To me, it's a bad thing that nobody will take a chance anymore, that everybody goes for that middle of the bell curve.
videorama-759-859391 In all fairness, being a Chuck Norris vehicle, this isn't a bad film. It's quite a well made product, devoid of Chuck's sub standard acting, surpassed by the rest of the interestingly chosen cast, Neill exceptionally good as s female cop, and Gulager as a weary lieutenant, who unfortunately we don't see enough off in this. It has a cool start off as we dolly with a skateboarding teen (a drug courier) down the city streets of day, two cops trailing him, on their own accord as they want they collar. Instead they walk straight into death as a faceless karate assassin kills them in pretty painful ways. Bring on Chuckie who again, is not really acting, but can bring heart and reality into this role, like others.... unintentionally, I presume. As you can guess, woman cop Neill falls for him. The batch of Gulager's crew undergo karate training, to take on these powerful forces, but when the faceless villain, messes with Chuckie's teen friend, who's like a son, with great potential for the martial arts, it's now a fight to the death. Although it does lack action in long spaces of time, where it tends to sag here and there, as not living up to Chuckie's action quota, here we actually got a real Chuckie movie, and this is one of his I've always liked. The deadly showdown awaits too.
Comeuppance Reviews Matt Logan (Chuck) is a Martial Arts expert who runs a dojo, teaching children by day and fighting in the ring by night. His life is consumed by Karate, which is exactly why the San Diego police department seek out his expert counsel. It seems a drug epidemic is on the rise, and the narcotics officers who are trying to stem the tide, including Detectives Mandy Rust (O'Neill) and Rollins (O'Neal) (no relation, heh heh), are in great danger, because a ruthless assassin is out on the streets, ruthlessly killing cops who get too close to the center of the drug operation. Figuring that the mysterious killer only uses his bare hands, Matt Logan is called in to train the officers in the exotic use of Martial Arts. Soon Logan becomes personally involved and is searching for the killer himself. But what is the true motive of Sparks (Superfoot)? Find out today! Also Matt Logan has a Black son. (Charlie (Laneuville) was apparently adopted, but that explanation was not necessary. They should have left us wondering...) A Force of One is pretty typical early Chuck: the pace is on the slow side and the man himself is wonderfully emotionless in the lead role. While this PG-rated outing does feel like a TV movie at times, it does provide plenty of Chuck fights and the movie as a whole isn't bad. Chuck has some excellent backup in the cast department: Jennifer O'Neill is pleasant as the female cop/love interest, Ron O'Neal is always nice to see, as one of the narcotics cops, the great Bill "Superfoot" Wallace truly stands on his own two feet, and of course Aaron and Mike Norris serve various roles on the production, as is standard procedure for a Chuck venture. Director Paul Aaron later went on to make the Wings Hauser epic Deadly Force (1983), which, after having viewed both films, makes sense.Matt Logan is introduced to his future students on the police force by the Captain saying "This is Matt Logan. He's a Karate man." This predating Out For Blood (1992) by many years. He certainly lives up to his standing as a Karate man, what with his impressive, large-scale black and white photos of himself glaring at you on the wall. He also has some stylish fight pants, as do all the fighters, including Superfoot. During the climactic night fight scene, it's pretty much all you can see. They must have gotten them at the evil sporting goods store in the movie. It's too bad we can't go there now. Their selection of jackets and other items look really cool. It's also nice to see the 1970's tech, such as rotary-dial pay phones, and Jennifer O'Neill's pager, which looks to be the exact size and dimension as a brick.In all, A Force of One is a decent, harmless, and enjoyable-enough Chuck jaunt.
bensonmum2 Back when A Force of One was originally released, I viewed Chuck Norris' movies as boring, brainless, and cheap. In the years since, I've changed that original assessment and can see them for what they really are. Now I look at these early Chuck Norris' movies as fun, brainless, and cheap. The plot is incredibly simple and shows a total lack of creativity. When two cops are killed by someone using Martial Arts, they seek out the one man who might be able to help them – the local karate champion, Matt Logan (Norris). The cops quickly persuade Matt to help them, but when Matt's son turns up dead, he goes from helping to an active participant. Instead of writing a regular review or pointing out strengths and weaknesses in the movie, I'll just list a few random thoughts I had while watching: · It's not that the cops are skeptical about how karate can help them, a few act like they can't even pronounce the word. · The needle marks in that girl's arm makes it look like she been using a turkey-baster to shoot-up with. · You would think that after one set of cops is killed that the superior officer would do a better job of keeping track of where and what his men are working on. · Wow, a ninja in the stockroom! You just don't see enough of stuff like that in real life. · If you couldn't guess that Matt's son was going to get into serious trouble when he started his own investigating, you haven't seen enough bad action movies. · The identities of the bad guys are so obvious it's embarrassing. · Why is the police captain wearing a Matt Logan t-shirt under his bath robe?It may be bad, but there are still several enjoyable moments. One of my favorites is the most obvious – watching Chuck Norris square off against Bill 'Superfoot" Wallace. Two legends of the Martial Arts in a fight to the death – good stuff. It almost makes the whole movie worthwhile.