The Octagon (film)
| The Octagon | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Eric Karson |
| Written by | Leigh Chapman[1] |
| Story by |
|
| Produced by | Joel Freeman[1] |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Michel Hugo[1] |
| Edited by | Dann Cahn[1] |
| Music by | Dick Halligan |
Production company | American Cinema Productions[1] |
| Distributed by | American Cinema Releasing |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 103 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States[1] |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $4 million[2] or $2.5 million[3] |
| Box office | $19 million (United States)[4][2] or $25 million [3] |
The Octagon is a 1980 American action martial arts film starring Chuck Norris, Karen Carlson and Lee Van Cleef. It was directed by Eric Karson and written by Paul Aaron and Leigh Chapman. The film involves a martial artist (Chuck Norris) who must stop a group of terrorists trained in the ninja style by his foster brother (Tadashi Yamashita).
It was filmed in Los Angeles and released by the distribution wing of American Cinema Productions beginning August 15, 1980. It is notable for its inventive use of voice-over effects to portray the inner life of Norris' character, Scott James. This was actor Richard Norton's film debut.
Plot
 | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (August 2019) |
The film opens with a short scene at a private military training camp. The main instructor, Katsumoto tells the graduating class that all of their actions and whereabouts will be known and that if they do anything to expose or harm the group, they and their families will be killed.[5]
The film then cuts to an assassination of a diplomat by members of the group. One of the terrorists is shot by a bodyguard while the others escape.
Scott James, a retired karate champion, is attending a dance performance. After the performance, he meets one of the dancers named Nancy. He takes her out to dinner because he is interested in how she incorporated the martial arts into her routine. She seems distant during the dinner and is more concerned about a recent assassination that took place abroad. She wonders if "an American was killed".[5]
Scott takes Nancy home, and he senses that someone is there. The lights do not work as they enter, and then they are attacked by a group of ninja. Scott fights them off, but they end up killing Nancy. After he restores power to the house, he finds that the entire family has been killed.[5]
The next day, Scott goes to see an old mercenary friend named McCarn. Scott asks him if he knows about any ninja activity. However, McCarn tells him, "If you are seeing ninja, you are seeing ghosts." McCarn tries to recruit Scott to join his cause in eliminating terrorists, but Scott declines.
On his way back from McCarn's place, Scott encounters a rich lady named Justine, who managed to get her car stuck on the side of the road. She asks Scott for help, and after he helps her, she takes his keys, forcing him to take a taxi back to her place to get them.[5]
Scott goes back to Justine's house to get his keys, and she pretends to find them in her purse. She offers to drive him back since "It would be the only decent thing to do." Scott agrees, only on the condition that this time, he drives.
On their way back, Scott and Justine are chased by two cars. Scott and Justine manage to evade their pursuers. After Scott gets back to his car, Justine identifies one of the cars as being "her bodyguards." Scott then asks her out to dinner since she has now become "an object of concern".
Before their date, Scott goes back to McCarn's and notices that the car that was chasing them belonged to McCarn. He confronts Justine, and she confesses that she hired McCarn to be her bodyguard because McCarn told her that Scott would not accept her offer of employment. She also wants him to kill a man named Seikura. She confesses that her father was killed by terrorists and that she has since been on a crusade to eliminate them. She has managed to help "retire" two of the three most wanted terrorist leaders, but Seikura remains. Scott is insulted by her actions, and he promptly declines her offer and leaves.[5]
Scott's friend, A.J. is a karate champion and feels frustrated by the recent terrorist attacks that have taken place both abroad and on Nancy. He decides to start going after terrorists himself. He tries to find a German terrorist, but that terrorist is killed by McCarn's men before A.J. can catch him. McCarn then fills A.J. in on just who he is and his relationship to Scott. He also tells A.J. that it was Nancy's brother who was killed in the terrorist attack abroad and that she was killed in retaliation. A. J. decides to join McCarn's cause.[5]
In a flashback Scott remembers training with his foster brother Seikura. He and his brother are seen running through an obstacle course to obtain a sword. Scott stumbles at the end but still manages to get the sword. However, his enraged brother grabs the sword and declares it to be his. Isawa, Scott's adoptive father, then berates Seikura and disowns him. He tells Scott that Seikura is now his enemy for life.
The movie cuts to a scene at the Octagon training camp where a new group of recruits has graduated. One recruit, Aura has reservations about what she is doing but leaves the camp to report to a terrorist dispatcher named "Doggo" (Kurt Grayson).[5]
Scott realizes that A.J. and McCarn are right, so he signs up and attends a mercenary recruiting camp in an attempt to be recruited so he can get to Seikura. He gets interviewed at Doggo's camp, but Doggo knows his true identity, and he refuses his services. Scott then has to fight his way out of Doggo's facility, defeating "Longlegs" and "Hatband" and returns to his hotel.[5]
Later that day, Aura grabs Scott's file and defects from Doggo's camp. Meanwhile, Justine manages to recruit A.J. to find Seikura. As Scott goes back to his room, he encounters Aura, and she tells him that she regrets what she has done and that she can lead him to Seikura's camp. Justine then comes by to try once more to get Scott to help her, but she gives up after seeing Aura and decides to get Seikura herself. As she goes out of the hotel with A.J., she is hit with a poisoned dart from one of Doggo's men and dies. A.J. then leaves to find Seikura's place while McCarn stays behind to watch Scott. A few hours later, several ninja are seen scaling the hotel. They attack Scott and Aura but are defeated—the last shot by one of McCarn's men as he is descending the hotel. This, shortly after a firefight had erupted between McCarn's men and Doggo's men, and all of Doggo's men were killed. Scott and Aura then depart to Mexico for Seikura's terrorist camp.[5] Realizing they may not survive, they have sex in a motel room before going in.
A.J. is then shown finding Seikura's place (located in Mexico or an unnamed Central American nation) the hard way, and he is eventually captured and taken prisoner. Aura gets Scott to the compound, and Scott infiltrates the camp. He is eventually discovered and led to an area known as "The Octagon" (a building filled with treacherous paths and enemies). Scott fights his way through and ends up fighting Seikura's "enforcer" named "Kyo". Scott defeats Kyo, and as a result, Seikura kills A.J. by slitting his throat. Scott and Seikura fight, but Seikura escapes the compound. Meanwhile, Aura infiltrates the compound and recruits several of her fellow former trainees to fight back and burn the compound to the ground. They end up destroying the entire camp. Aura then goes after Scott and Seikura. As the sun is coming up, she sees Seikura attack Scott from behind. However, Scott stabs Seikura with his sword and the movie ends with Scott standing over Seikura's body.[5]
Cast
- Chuck Norris as Scott James[6]
- Karen Carlson as Justine Wentworth[6]
- Lee Van Cleef as McCarn[6]
- Tadashi Yamashita as Seikura[6]
- Carol Bagdasarian as Aura[6]
- Richard Norton as Kyo / "Longlegs"[6]
- Art Hindle as A.J.[6]
- Kim Lankford as Nancy[6]
- Kurt Grayson as Doggo[6]
- Yuki Shimoda as Katsumoto
- Jack Carter as Sharkey[6]
- Ernie Hudson as Quinine[7]
- Larry D. Mann as Tibor[6]
- Aaron Norris as "Hatband"[8]
- John Fujioka as Master Isawa[6]
- Michael Norris as Scott At Eighteen[9]
- Brian Tochi as Seikura At Eighteen[10]
- Tracey Walter as Beatty (uncredited)
Production
Eric Karson had just made the film Dirt (1979).[11]
Release
Theatrical
The Octagon opened on 244 screens in Dallas, Kansas City, and St. Louis on 8 August 1980, before expanding into Los Angeles on 22 August 1980.
It earned rentals of $9.8 million.[12]
Reception
Critical response
See also
References
- ^ Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 48, no. 565. British Film Institute. p. 31.
- ^ ProQuest 154169712.
- ^ ProQuest 262601599.
- ^ "The Octagon (1980)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8092-4951-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8108-3027-1.
- ISBN 978-1-4144-3440-7.
- ISSN 0277-3066.
- ISSN 0277-3066.
- ^ La Revue du cinéma. Ligue française de l'enseignement et de l'éducation permanente. 1981. p. 161.
- ^ Donahue, Suzanne Mary (1987). American film distribution : the changing marketplace. UMI Research Press. p. 302.
- ^ Donahue, Suzanne Mary (1987). American film distribution : the changing marketplace. UMI Research Press. p. 301. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada
- ^ "Film Reviews: The Octagon". Variety. August 13, 1980. 26.
- ^ Siskel, Gene (August 19, 1980). "He's no Bruce Lee, but Norris hits in 'Octagon'". Chicago Tribune. Section 2, p. 2.
- ^ Gross, Linda (August 25, 1980). "Violence on All Sides in 'Octagon'". Los Angeles Times. Part VI, p. 6.
- ^ McLellan, Joseph (August 25, 1980). "For The Kill Of It". The Washington Post. B1, B11.
External links
- The Octagon at IMDb
- The Octagon at AllMovie
- The Octagon at Rotten Tomatoes
