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Never got the appeal of Norris. He didn't have much screen presence and his movies were always bargain basement compared to his competitors in the 80s and 90s. But his fight scene with Bruce Lee in Way of the Dragon is still one of the greatest fights ever filmed. And he did make one rather good action movie with Andrew Davis, Code of Silence.

Mr Sausage wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2026 2:24 pm Never got the appeal of Norris. He didn't have much screen presence and his movies were always bargain basement compared to his competitors in the 80s and 90s. But his fight scene with Bruce Lee in Way of the Dragon is still one of the greatest fights ever filmed. And he did make one rather good action movie with Andrew Davis, Code of Silence.

Seconded, though the Norris will that impressed me was not Code of Silence but Silent Rage (1982).

Just checking in to see if Norris had gotten his own CF memorial thread...

JamesF wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2026 2:34 pm Any excuse to post this bit from Guy Maddin and Evan & Galen Johnson's Vertigo-tribute-mashup The Green Fog where clips from An Eye For An Eye are used to recreate Scottie's grief over losing Madeleine

That's quite a video. I had no idea Gosling watched An Eye For An Eye before filming on Drive! I'll definitely check out Maddin's film now.

hearthesilence wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2026 4:04 pm If it wasn't for Norris, we wouldn't have this classic late night bit.

He was also the reason the bit ended. Allegedly Norris wanted royalties for it, so the lever went away.

JamesF wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2026 1:36 pm Australian filmmaker Jamie Blanks (Urban Legend, Valentine, Storm Warning)

That's so sad to hear, I have such fond memories of going to see Urban Legend when it released. I'll have to revisit it now.

I didn't know the backstory to hm getting it made so that was a great read.

Author Len Deighton, most famous for writing The Ipcress File. Also wrote the novel
Bomber, which Anthony Burgess listed as one of the great novels of the twentieth
century.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/ ... n-obituary

Actress Jane Lapotaire
I liked her performance as Cleopatra in the BBC Shakespeare Antony and Cleopatra.
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/ ... e-obituary

Nicholas Brendon, Xander on the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" series

Aunt Peg wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2026 3:05 pm

Mr Sausage wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2026 2:24 pm Never got the appeal of Norris. He didn't have much screen presence and his movies were always bargain basement compared to his competitors in the 80s and 90s. But his fight scene with Bruce Lee in Way of the Dragon is still one of the greatest fights ever filmed. And he did make one rather good action movie with Andrew Davis, Code of Silence.

Seconded, though the Norris will that impressed me was not Code of Silence but Silent Rage (1982).

Both impressed me and watched Silent Rage recently with my dad and we were surprised of how well it holds up. People forget Chuck Norris had a cartoon with a toy action figure line and comic book called Karate Kommandos that was relatively popular during the mid 80s. Delta Force and Missing in Action made him a established star and then Walker Texas Ranger made him a fixture on TV for decades. His appeal as the white meat babyface in American culture led to the memes and that kept him in cultural relevance for a new generation. But like many of his era, he decided to side with the wrong team in politics, pushing dog whistle moments like saying Obama was going to bring a thousand years of darkness to this world. I think he last few relevant moments over the past 20 years have been the Dodgeball and Expendable cameos/appearances.

dx23 wrote: Sat Mar 21, 2026 2:56 amBut like many of his era, he decided to side with the wrong team in politics, pushing dog whistle moments like saying Obama was going to bring a thousand years of darkness to this world.

Interestingly, Arnold Schwarzenegger has straddled that line rather more deftly, being a Republican who is also viscerally anti-Trump on basic moral grounds.

ChunkyLover wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2026 2:07 pm Chuck Norris

It seems as if death finally had the courage to tell him.

Obligatory "Fact" aside, I never saw his leading films such as Delta Force, Silent Rage, Missing in Action, Code of Silence, etc. - or the series Walker, Texas Ranger (Closest I recall is seeing Way of the Dragon when I was younger, but I have little memory of it). I do think it's interesting that of all the action stars he ended up becoming the poster child of "random individual elevated to god-like status via internet culture" (that would occur with many other celebrities in the years on) even as he fell out of relevance from a career standpoint (besides The Expendables of course)

Nicholas Brendon who played Xander in the Buffy The Vampire Slayer series.

Must have been popular; the man warrants three mentions on one page.

Ah, sorry, missed the previous two. But yes, he was part of the main cast of that show, appearing in every episode. Comparatively Michelle Trachtenberg, who passed last year, was famously introduced in the fifth season as a suddenly, magically inserted into the show sister for Buffy, as a sort of cheeky play on television tropes.

Yeah, I didn’t see the first mention of Nicholas Brendan either. Thought I checked before posting, and only saw Chuck Norris-related posts. Apologies for doubling up.

CSM126 wrote: Sat Mar 21, 2026 3:42 pm Must have been popular; the man warrants three mentions on one page.

It's probababyl more that anything to do with Buffy still makes news; the show had a significant cultural impact. Unfortunately, since its conclusion, Brendon has mostly made headlines for addiction and mental health issues. This follows closely on from the news that Hulu ditched the show's reboot, apparently because they didn't like the pilot directed by Chloe Zhao.

For a film performance of Nicholas Brendon’s, it’s worth seeking out the microbudget sci-fi mindbender Coherence, in which he plays a thinly veiled version of himself.

Sam Kieth, co-creator of The Sandman (by way of pencilling the initial run and co-designing the characters) and creator of The Maxx.

The Maxx was a hugely important comic to me during my formative years. Incredibly dense, surreal, and hilarious. William Messner-Loebs took Kieth’s at times unwieldy plotting and gave it a focus and great dialogue that made it iconic. I adore the MTV animated adaptation of it as well. Kieth’s other creator-works, such as Zero Girl and My Inner Bimbo show what an amazingly gifted artist he was, but he really needed someone like Messner-Loebs to rein him in and make his work more palatable.

Kieth also directed a live action feature for Roger Corman in 1998 about teen rock climbers that I have never seen.

WrathOfAguirre wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2026 7:42 pm

hearthesilence wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2026 4:04 pm If it wasn't for Norris, we wouldn't have this classic late night bit.

He was also the reason the bit ended. Allegedly Norris wanted royalties for it, so the lever went away.

Norris's other Hong Kong movie, Slaughter in San Francisco, in which he plays a mobster with an dubbed Australian accent, also got play on Conan.

So of course you can guess what I watched to commemorate Norris' passing...