A Force of One
1979 · Movie · PG · 90 min · ★ 4.9 · 40% critics
After narcotics officers are killed by a martial-arts attacker, police bring in a local karate champion to train the squad in self-defense. As the investigation closes in on a drug operation, the trainer becomes personally invested, turning the case into a tense mix of street crime, suspicion, and showdowns.
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Details
- Years
- 1979
- Release date
- 1979-06-01
- Language
- English
- Rated
- PG
- Runtime
- 90 min
- Max quality
- HD
- Critic score
- 40/100
- TMDB rating
- 4.9/10 (118 votes)
- Box office
- $20,166,000
- Budget
- $3,500,000
About
You’ll likely enjoy this if you want a simple, old-school cop-and-karate mashup with training scenes and periodic fights; Not for you if you need fast pacing, polished realism, or nonstop action like Sidekicks.
Pros: straightforward crime-thriller setup; plenty of martial-arts moments; generally solid supporting cast | Cons: slow pacing stretches; uneven acting; dated, sometimes phony fights
Themes
- martial arts
- showdown
- police
- gangster
- karate
- special unit
- vigilante
- serial killer
- urban setting
- murder mystery
Cast & crew
Jennifer O'Neill
as Mandy Rust
Chuck Norris
as Matt Logan
Clu Gulager
as Dunne
Ron O'Neal
as Rollins
Bill Wallace
as Sparks
Eric Laneuville
as Charlie Logan
James Whitmore Jr.
as Moskowitz
Clint Ritchie
as Melrose
Pepe Serna
as Orlando
Raymond Vitte
as Newton
Directed by Paul Aaron