My Cultural Diet

Five years after his elite commando team was all but wiped out in a mission gone sideways, Major John T. Booker (Chuck Norris) has moved on from his time in Vietnam. But after meeting a nosy reporter (Anne Archer) who knows more than she should, he learns that his fellow survivors are being assassinated as part of a conspiracy whose roots lie in the highest levels of the American government. Considered by Norris to be his breakthrough film, Good Guys Wear Black taps into the same Vietnam-era cynicism that fueled movies like Three Days of the Condor and The Parallax View. However, Good Guys Wear Black never drums up the gripping intensity that its storyline so badly wants to suggest. The film is undermined by meandering and preachy dialog, a Blaxploitation-lite soundtrack that’s downright goofy at times, and some obvious budgetary limitations. There’s the requisite martial arts action, of course, but director Ted Post fails to capture Norris’ roundhouse kicks in all of their glory. (The stunt where Booker jumps through the windshield of an oncoming car is pretty boss, though.) The resulting film is more cheesy than anything else, which is a shame because the stuff it’s concerned about — e.g., unchecked government power, expedient political compromises — are just as relevant today, if not more so.

I may earn an affiliate commission on items you buy through Opus. These commissions will go directly to support the site and my blogging.