Firewalker (film)
Encyclopedia
Firewalker is a 1986 action
/adventure
B-movie
starring Chuck Norris
, Louis Gossett, Jr.
, Will Sampson
and Melody Anderson
. It was directed by J. Lee Thompson
and written by Norman Aladjem, Robert Gosnell and Jeffrey M. Rosenbaum. This was the first comedic role for Norris, giving him a chance to poke fun at his action persona.
This movie is famous for a fight scene in which Norris singlehandedly defeats almost every male customer in a Mexican bar and destroys the bar in the process. Another aspect of Norris' character is his inability to properly use a firearm; in one scene, he kills a savage by pure luck after misfiring, the result was the bullet bouncing off the walls before hitting its target.
's earlier film Missing in Action
with its plagiarism
of Rambo, Firewalker was widely cited as a rip-off
of many adventure film
s of that period, particularly the Indiana Jones films, Romancing the Stone
and buddy pictures
like Beverly Hills Cop
and 48 Hrs.
On At the Movies, both Gene Siskel
and Roger Ebert
gave the film "thumbs down". Siskel said Firewalker was "one of the most derivative films in years, imitating elements of Raiders of the Lost Ark
and Romancing the Stone". He went on saying he believed "the movie was probably signed as a deal one month after the grosses started coming in for Romancing, and that was where the creativity stopped". Ebert said that he "would have tried to make a movie that didn't look like all those other adventure movies but cheap, watered-down, pale and uninteresting". In his print review, Ebert gave Firewalker 1 star out of 4 and wrote that "the film is a free-form anthology
of familiar images from the works of Steven Spielberg
, subjected to a new process that we could call discolorization
". He also felt the film "lacked the style, witty dialogue and magic of the current adventure pictures, as it borrowed its closing images from the Indiana Jones movies, but its press notes optimistically claim the movie is 'in the tradition' of Romancing the Stone. In literature, it's called plagiarism
. In the movies, it's homage
".
Vincent Canby
of The New York Times
called the film "a bargain-basement
imitation of films on the order of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
and Romancing the Stone". Canby also noted Norris's lack of comedic timing as he "stomped on the film's facetious dialogue". TV Guide
published a largely negative review, criticizing Norris's "usual wooden" performance, the "appallingly bad" production values and the "flat, uninteresting" writing. The publication also noted Firewalker heavily "borrowing" elements from other successful adventure films, calling it "a cross between Raiders of the Lost Ark and a buddy picture".
In a review written by Rita Kempley of The Washington Post
, Norris was described as pleasant galoot that lacked Arnold Schwarzenegger
's (a more popular and successful action
star
) sense of self parody
and comic timing. Rita felt "the fight scenes were fine, but they only emphasize the plodding pace and the moldy plot; a blend of Poltergeist II
, Temple of Doom and Romancing the Stone.
The film holds a 0% "Rotten" rating on the review aggregate
website Rotten Tomatoes
, meaning that every critical review written for the film was negative.
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
/adventure
Adventure film
Adventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....
B-movie
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
starring Chuck Norris
Chuck Norris
Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris is an American martial artist and actor. After serving in the United States Air Force, he began his rise to fame as a martial artist and has since founded his own school, Chun Kuk Do...
, Louis Gossett, Jr.
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Louis Cameron Gossett, Jr. is an American actor best known for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman and Fiddler in the 1970s television miniseries Roots...
, Will Sampson
Will Sampson
Will Sampson was an American actor and artist.-Life and career:Sampson, a Native American Muscogee , was born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Sampson's most notable roles were as "Chief Bromden" in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and as "Taylor the Medicine Man" in the horror film Poltergeist II...
and Melody Anderson
Melody Anderson
Melody Anderson is a Canadian American social worker and public speaker specializing in the impact of addiction on families. She is also known as an actress, with her most high-profile role being Dale Arden in the 1980 adaptation of Flash Gordon. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Anderson started off as...
. It was directed by J. Lee Thompson
J. Lee Thompson
John Lee Thompson , better known as J. Lee Thompson, was an English film director, active in England and Hollywood.- Early years :...
and written by Norman Aladjem, Robert Gosnell and Jeffrey M. Rosenbaum. This was the first comedic role for Norris, giving him a chance to poke fun at his action persona.
Plot
Norris and Gossett play Max Donigan and Leo Porter, two soldiers of fortune, whose adventures seem to almost never result in any notable gain, are befriended by an inscrutable woman of mystery Patricia (Anderson). Patricia's map leads them on a quest for treasure in Central America. The name of the movie comes from the powerful guardian of the treasure.This movie is famous for a fight scene in which Norris singlehandedly defeats almost every male customer in a Mexican bar and destroys the bar in the process. Another aspect of Norris' character is his inability to properly use a firearm; in one scene, he kills a savage by pure luck after misfiring, the result was the bullet bouncing off the walls before hitting its target.
Cast and crew
- Chuck NorrisChuck NorrisCarlos Ray "Chuck" Norris is an American martial artist and actor. After serving in the United States Air Force, he began his rise to fame as a martial artist and has since founded his own school, Chun Kuk Do...
... Max Donigan - Louis Gossett Jr. ... Leo Porter
- Melody AndersonMelody AndersonMelody Anderson is a Canadian American social worker and public speaker specializing in the impact of addiction on families. She is also known as an actress, with her most high-profile role being Dale Arden in the 1980 adaptation of Flash Gordon. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Anderson started off as...
... Patricia Goodwin - Will SampsonWill SampsonWill Sampson was an American actor and artist.-Life and career:Sampson, a Native American Muscogee , was born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Sampson's most notable roles were as "Chief Bromden" in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and as "Taylor the Medicine Man" in the horror film Poltergeist II...
... Tall Eagle - Sonny LandhamSonny LandhamWilliam M. "Sonny" Landham is an American movie actor and political candidate.-Acting career:At the beginning of his acting career, Landham was an actor in pornographic films...
... El Coyote - John Rhys-DaviesJohn Rhys-DaviesJohn Rhys-Davies is a Welsh actor and voice actor. He is perhaps best known for playing the charismatic Arab excavator Sallah in the Indiana Jones films and the dwarf Gimli in The Lord of the Rings trilogy...
... Corky Taylor - Ian AbercrombieIan AbercrombieIan Abercrombie is an English actor, best known for playing Alfred Pennyworth in Birds of Prey. He appeared as Elaine Benes' boss Justin Pitt during the sixth season of Seinfeld, and as a fastidious butler on Desperate Housewives.-Biography:He is the cousin of John Abercrombie, a jazz guitarist of...
... Boggs - Richard Lee-Sung ... Chinese Man / The General
- Zaide Silvia GutiérrezZaide Silvia GutiérrezZaide Silvia Gutiérrez is a Mexican-born actress whose breakout role was the 1983 film El Norte.Gutiérrez attended the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, with highest honors, in Dramatic Literature and Theater, was a scholar in four languages including...
... Indian Girl - Álvaro Carcaño ... Willie
- John HazelwoodJohn HazelwoodJohn Hazelwood was an officer in the Continental Navy.Born in England, Hazelwood was appointed to superintend the building of fire rafts for the protection of Philadelphia against the British during the Revolutionary War....
... Tubbs - Dale Payne ... Pilot
- José Escandón ... Co-Pilot
- Mário Arévalo ... Guerilla Leader
- Miguel Ángel Fuentes ... Big Man (as Miguel Fuentes)
Reception
Firewalker received overwhelmingly negative reviews. As was the case with NorrisChuck Norris
Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris is an American martial artist and actor. After serving in the United States Air Force, he began his rise to fame as a martial artist and has since founded his own school, Chun Kuk Do...
's earlier film Missing in Action
Missing in Action (film)
Missing in Action is a 1984 action B-movie directed by Joseph Zito and starring Chuck Norris. It is set in the context of the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue. Colonel Braddock, who escaped a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp 10 years earlier, returns to Vietnam to find American soldiers listed as missing...
with its plagiarism
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
of Rambo, Firewalker was widely cited as a rip-off
Rip-Off
Rip-Off is a top-down vector shoot 'em up arcade game released by Cinematronics in 1980. It is the first shoot 'em up arcade game to feature cooperative gameplay and to exhibit flocking behavior.-Gameplay:...
of many adventure film
Adventure film
Adventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....
s of that period, particularly the Indiana Jones films, Romancing the Stone
Romancing the Stone
Romancing the Stone is a 1984 American action-adventure romantic comedy. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, it stars Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. The film was followed by a 1985 sequel, The Jewel of the Nile....
and buddy pictures
Buddy film
The buddy film is a film genre in which two people of the same sex are paired. The two often contrast in personality, which creates a different dynamic onscreen than a pairing of two people of the opposite sex. The contrast is sometimes accentuated by an ethnic difference between the two...
like Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop is a 1984 American comedy-action film directed by Martin Brest and starring Eddie Murphy, Lisa Eilbacher, John Ashton, Judge Reinhold, and Ronny Cox...
and 48 Hrs.
48 Hrs.
48 Hrs. is a 1982 American action comedy film directed by Walter Hill, starring Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy as a cop and convict, respectively, who team up to catch a cop-killer. The title refers to the amount of time they have to solve the crime. This was Eddie Murphy's film debut , and Joel...
On At the Movies, both Gene Siskel
Gene Siskel
Eugene Kal "Gene" Siskel was an American film critic and journalist for the Chicago Tribune. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted the popular review show Siskel & Ebert At the Movies from 1975 until his death....
and Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave the film "thumbs down". Siskel said Firewalker was "one of the most derivative films in years, imitating elements of Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas, and starring Harrison Ford. It is the first film in the Indiana Jones franchise...
and Romancing the Stone". He went on saying he believed "the movie was probably signed as a deal one month after the grosses started coming in for Romancing, and that was where the creativity stopped". Ebert said that he "would have tried to make a movie that didn't look like all those other adventure movies but cheap, watered-down, pale and uninteresting". In his print review, Ebert gave Firewalker 1 star out of 4 and wrote that "the film is a free-form anthology
Anthology film
An anthology film is a feature film consisting of several different short films, often tied together by only a single theme, premise, or brief interlocking event . Sometimes each one is directed by a different director...
of familiar images from the works of Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
, subjected to a new process that we could call discolorization
Film colorization
Film colorization is any process that adds color to black-and-white, sepia or monochrome moving-picture images. It may be done as a special effect, or to modernize black-and-white films, or to restore color films...
". He also felt the film "lacked the style, witty dialogue and magic of the current adventure pictures, as it borrowed its closing images from the Indiana Jones movies, but its press notes optimistically claim the movie is 'in the tradition' of Romancing the Stone. In literature, it's called plagiarism
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
. In the movies, it's homage
Homage
Homage is a show or demonstration of respect or dedication to someone or something, sometimes by simple declaration but often by some more oblique reference, artistic or poetic....
".
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called the film "a bargain-basement
Bargain bin
A bargain bin refers to an unsorted selection of merchandise, particularly softwares, tools and CDs, which have been discounted in price. Reasons for the discount can range from the closure of a production company to a steep decline in an item's popularity in the aftermath of a fad or scandal....
imitation of films on the order of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 American adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the second film in the Indiana Jones franchise and prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark . After arriving in India, Indiana Jones is asked by a desperate village to find a mystical stone...
and Romancing the Stone". Canby also noted Norris's lack of comedic timing as he "stomped on the film's facetious dialogue". TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
published a largely negative review, criticizing Norris's "usual wooden" performance, the "appallingly bad" production values and the "flat, uninteresting" writing. The publication also noted Firewalker heavily "borrowing" elements from other successful adventure films, calling it "a cross between Raiders of the Lost Ark and a buddy picture".
In a review written by Rita Kempley of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, Norris was described as pleasant galoot that lacked Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
's (a more popular and successful action
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
star
Movie star
A movie star is a celebrity who is well-known, or famous, for his or her starring, or leading, roles in motion pictures. The term may also apply to an actor or actress who is recognized as a marketable commodity and whose name is used to promote a movie in trailers and posters...
) sense of self parody
Self-parody
A self-parody is a parody of oneself or one's own work. As an artist accomplishes it by imitating his or her own characteristics, a self-parody is potentially difficult to distinguish from especially characteristic productions .Sometimes critics use the...
and comic timing. Rita felt "the fight scenes were fine, but they only emphasize the plodding pace and the moldy plot; a blend of Poltergeist II
Poltergeist II: The Other Side
Poltergeist II: The Other Side is a 1986 horror film. A sequel to Poltergeist, it features the return of the original's family and once again sees a spirit trying to harm their daughter, Carol Anne. It received mixed reviews from critics and did not gross as much at the box office as its...
, Temple of Doom and Romancing the Stone.
The film holds a 0% "Rotten" rating on the review aggregate
Review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services . This system stores the reviews and then uses them for purposes such as: creating a website for users to view the reviews, selling information to third parties about consumer tendencies and creating databases for...
website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, meaning that every critical review written for the film was negative.