Character: Richard Norton.
Why I like it: The Australian actor and martial artist, who has obvious acting talent and interesting cinematic talent, immediately captivated me by playing both positive and negative characters equally brightly and convincingly. In the role of the latter he was exploited especially often. It is interesting that when embodying the main characters, he rarely played Marty Sue, that is, clearly positive and correct characters. More often than not, his heroes were with some kind of devilry, good “bad” boys. In general, he is one of those about whom I say: “should have become a star.”
In addition to the above-mentioned advantages, Norton possessed and still possesses excellent fighting technique, especially with regard to very high-speed work with his hands, with precise, economical movements. I had the opportunity to watch parts of his DVD for black belts - a very interesting program and truly impressive technique.
Another interesting fact is that at one time Norton was a bodyguard for The Rolling Stones, James Taylor, Joe Cocker, Abba, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks, David Bowie, Linda Ronstadt and John Belushi, and gave martial arts lessons to Mick Jagger.
"My Lucky Stars 2"
Movies that are worth watching first:
Classic work Sammo Hunga, recommended viewing for all fans of the golden era of Hong Kong fighting games. A lot of humor, a lot of fights, a lot of textbook moments.
With Norton's participation in the film, in fact, there is only one fight, quite short, but expressive, performed in the traditions of Hong Kong action films: acrobatics, humor, dialogue between teams, accelerated movements during the battle, rapidity in the final blows. Norton is not afraid to make faces and makes his villain look stupid, not inferior to his Chinese colleagues.
In principle, Norton could have been replaced by any other “bad European”, but the lucky stars aligned the way they did. For which we thank Sammo Hung.
"Millionaire Express\Shanghai Express"
Another classic work Sammo Hunga and one of my favorite fighting movies in general. Watched by me back in the 90s on VHS, it left a very vivid impression, first of all, due to the combination of lightness of plot, sitcom humor and very bright acrobatic fighting with precise editing, rhythm and filigree camera work.
Along with other advantages, the film generally has a very powerful cast and fighting cast:Yuen Biao, Eric Tsang, Richard Ng, Man Hoi, Yuen Wah, James Tien, Kien Shih, Ma Wu, Cynthia Rothrock, Oshima Yukari, Hwang Jang Lee, Dick Wei, Yasuaki Kurata, of course, Richard Norton and even Bolo Eing and Corey Yuen in episodes.
It can’t be said that Norton has a particularly striking fight in the film, but “Millionaire Express" one of the brightest and most colorful films in his filmography.
"China O'Brien 1 and 2"
With all due respect to Cynthia Rothrock, these films, by and large, are interesting due to the fighting game execution Keith Cook and Norton, plus the presence of cameo appearances in the film Billy Blanks, Chris Casamassa and Toshiro Obata, similar to the character of the computer game “Double Dragon” Chin Seimei (nes version).
Interestingly, Norton uses his legs very little in both films, demonstrating mainly throws, grabs and painful locks, plus high-speed punches and work with weapons and improvised means, such as weight plates. Most often, we see a conveyor belt of obedient opponents, but there are fragments where he fights several opponents at the same time. Again, I repeat, if it weren’t for Norton’s technique, his sense of rhythm, distance and contact in the execution of the same holds, the choreography would have been more dull than it turned out in the end.
Both parts are almost identical in presentation and in the manner of constructing a fighting game, the only difference is in its quantity and in the frequency of using the double Cynthia Rothrock ;).
"At gunpoint\Fist of Steel"
Norton's production work, in which he involved, being himself from Australia, many Australian martial artists.
Apparently, it was filmed as a pilot episode for the series. The picture, the titles, the development of the plot, the specifics of the dialogues, the personalities of the characters - everything speaks about this.
Despite this, or maybe precisely because of this, it turned out to be a rather original, fresh, high-quality action movie, with “living” characters, where the main character is a bright, charismatic character with drama, that is, this film is really interesting to watch.
Along with Norton, you can see famous figures from the world of martial arts in the film: five-time world champion in kickboxing Katie Long, legendary Australian karate master (9th dan) Tino Ceberano и Sam Greco - six-time Australian champion in full contact karate, as well as the 1994 Karate World Cup champion, world champion in kickboxing and Muay Thai in the heavyweight division.
The fighting game in the film is very atypical, there is an attempt to make it realistic and not clumsy: this is high-quality striking equipment, which looks quite good even now, numerous elements of MMA, especially the fight between Norton and Greco. Of course, there are pauses between ligaments characteristic of that time, but they are minimal. In general, regarding many films of that period "At gunpoint" is devoid of most of the disadvantages of action films of the 90s, primarily because the fighters on the screen have very good performance techniques, a style characteristic of each of the characters, they all act with the utmost quality in battles, interestingly use the available means, setting, space, and exist within the framework a good script, and this smooths out many negative aspects.
The film has a fairly dynamic plot, many separate event lines, troubles befall the main character one after another, and given that Norton’s character is an imperfect character with a lot of flaws, it’s hard not to sympathize with him. Norton gives perhaps his best performance in a fighting film.
PS: I briefly described only films that are interesting primarily as fighting game examples, although Norton had various works in his filmography: post-apocalyptic garbage like "Equalizer 2000" or "Riders of the Sun", and quite watchable low-budget science fiction "Dark forest", of course, a bunch of other films with Rothrock, many episodic roles, stunt work, various passing jobs, participation in the series "Spartacus", and, of course, a gallery of fighting game villains of various types, ranging from films with Jackie Chan and Michael Dudikov, ending last "Mad Max".
Yes, I would like to see him in the leading role in an action movie with a good budget; will he really just be content with supporting roles? It seems that Richard collaborated with the creators of computer games Slipen Dogs in particular
Yes, he plays villains superbly)) in general he knows how (!) to “play”. I could easily try myself in various film genres.
PS I like the way you write Raven) it’s always a pleasure to read)
To my shame, I never saw Norton in Mad Max.
Ivan,
[img]http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsN/35497-30991-0.jpg[/img]
Ravenside,
Thanks, I'll check it out again
Thank you for the article. It was interesting. By the way, it wouldn’t hurt to do an article about Keith Cook. In the tea room, as it was written, he proved himself to be the best.
Xander,
There are plans to write about Cook. This might be the next one I write about. But I won’t say when. I haven’t written everything about Norton that I planned.
Honor and Fury are also good films, especially part 2. Express of Millionaires, the film is quite boring, but the finale was a success with so many excellent fighters...
Alexander,
It seems to me that it is boring for those who are not very close to the Chinese style of writing stories. There are a lot of specific things, humor that is not always clear to us, sometimes, on the contrary, very simple, sometimes stupid, sometimes purely national, a lot of unnecessary pauses and sagging, which are then compensated for by fights, stunts, chases or gags.
Oh, I remembered. Right now I’ll post one old review.
Thank you! "Fist of Steel" is one of the few films that I watched not only for the "action" but also for the plot.
And “Millionaire Express” is a “song” from the BI of the 80s))).
I always liked Norton for his film style (a little stretch was missing, so the kicks were crooked) and the fact that he looked great on screen, a lot of charisma.
Fist of Steel is an awesome movie!!! That very rare case when the creators perfectly played up the lack of budget and good conditions. The story was interesting and the characters were great
Kelpaso,
It’s not that they are crooked, he just bent his legs at the knees a little when hitting. But if you watch the first part of Chyna, there are some very clear kicks. It's possible though. I think it’s not so much stretching as it is the habit of making practical and economical movements. But the speed and accuracy are very brutal.
And, of course, there’s a lot of charisma. Well, style, of course. Very good technology, good school. The personality is visible, the individual approach to style, to movements, there is a concept.
Wow, thank you very much for the article and filmography, when I have time, I’ll take a look at it all. Give me more articles.
Another funny movie “The Magic Crystal” - I really liked it as a child)) after that I switched from taekwondo to wushu)
Vantala,
He has a lot of funny films, but not all of them where he fights are worth recommending) Watch. look for it yourself)
Ravenside,
City Hungter is a hero who is both funny and cruel at the same time
Mery,
I don't particularly like this film, although Norton's character is colorful. But in a fighting game, the number of Norton's doubles is off the charts, which is immensely sad.
Ravenside,
no, well, there’s excellent fight choreography - we covered almost all the traditional styles)
Vantala,
for taste and color)