1985 proved to be a particularly good year for Chuck Norris and his fans, with him going on to appear in what would be two of his best starring vehicles.
Both Invasion U.S.A (1985) and Code of Silence (1985) were tailored to the action legends screen presence, giving audiences exactly what they would want from a Chuck Norris movie, albeit in different ways.
Whereas Invasion U.S.A. took an over the top approach to its action, with Norris featuring as one man army Matt Hunter, Code of Silence is more grounded in reality, setting it apart from other Norris movies of the time. While there are the expected displays of martial arts action, there is a sense of danger around the action scenes with it not always apparent that Norris will be the victor.
The film focuses on Sgt Eddie Cusack (Chuck Norris), a plain clothes policeman who after a major sting operation goes wrong finds himself in the crosshairs of crime boss Luis Comacho (Henry Silva). During this Cusack also refuses to remain silent when questioned about dirty cop Cragie (Ralph Foody) shooting an unarmed teenager.
With him refusing to follow the “Code of Silence” the majority of Cusack’s fellow cops turn their back on him which results in him having to go it alone in his battle with Comacho and his goons.
This marked the first in a line of action thrillers from director Andrew Davis. From here he would go on to helm the similar Above the Law (1988), which introduced martial arts star Steven Seagal to audiences. From there he would go the blockbuster route, directing the likes of Under Siege (1992) and The Fugitive (1993).
Davis directs in a workmanlike fashion which is to his credit. I would classify him as a "no nonsense" filmmaker, one who is more interested in telling the story at hand rather than being overtly stylish. This works in the films favour, with Davis not only getting good performances from his cast but filling the film with crisp, well-choreographed action scenes.
A bar fight and a fast paced car chase throughout the streets of Chicago are just two of the action highlights. The action is mostly gritty and realistic. Well that is until the bullet strewn finale where Cusack goes up against Comacho’s goons armed only with a shotgun. Oh and “The Prowler”, a crime fighting robot that backs him up during the firefight. As ridiculous as this may seem, “The Prowler” was an actual operational weapon built to assist the police.
Now, Chuck Norris is never going to win any awards when it comes to acting. He would be the first to admit this. Thankfully, Norris has a likeable screen presence that somewhat makes up for his limitations as an actor and it's never too long until we get to see him doing what he is good at, kicking ass.
Saying that, this is probably one of Norris best performances with Cusack feeling more like a real person than the likes of Braddock from Missing in Action (1984) or the previous mentioned Matt Hunter from Invasion U.S.A.
Cusack is clearly a man of morals, with him not willing to cover for a fellow dirty cop. This is a decision that has serious consequences for him later down the road.
While Norris gets involved in a fair share of action, Code of Silence was quite a change for him, with less of a focus on his martial arts skills. There are still a number of fights throughout, but the action is more of the gunplay variety, which is in line with the type of film thisis.
Andrew Davis makes the wise decision of surrounding his lead with quality character actors which actually assists with Norris' performance. He had similarly done this when working with Steven Seagal on Above the Law, having the then newcomer act alongside the likes of Pam Grier, Chelcie Ross and Henry Silva, who also appears here in a co-starring role.
Norris has a nice camaraderie with the under used Dennis Farina, co-starring as Cusack's partner, and the only one willing to back him up when things get tough.
Farina was actually still employed as a Chicago Police Officer during production, with him moonlighting in order to appear in the production. He actually had a number of smaller roles beforehand, appearing in Michael Mann's Thief (1981) and television movie Hard Knox (1984), but Code of Silence gave him the most amount of screen time ever at this point in his career.
From here he would retire from the Police Force, going into acting full time. His first leading role was in the excellent Crime Story (1986), where he reteamed with Thief director Michael Mann.
Henry Silva is always great value when playing the bad guy. Although his character is the stereotypical mafia boss, Silva injects a good deal of personality into the evil crime lord. As mentioned, Silva would work again with Andrew Davis on Above the Law, playing an even more sadistic villain.
Michael Butler, Dennis Shryack and Mike Gray’s script is certainly one of the better ones to come Norris’ way, with a stronger focus on character than his usual starring vehicles. Butler had previous experience with the lone cop genre, working on the John Wayne vehicle Brannigan (1975) as well as episodes of the television series Baretta (1975).
Written in 1979, Butler and Shryack’s script was originally offered to Clint Eastwood as a possible 4th entry in the Dirty Harry franchise. At that point it would have been called Dirty Harry IV: Code of Silence. For whatever reason, Eastwood turned down the script, with the fourth Dirty Harry film eventually being Sudden Impact (1983).
It is understandable why the script would have been brought to Eastwood, as not only does the film fit the Dirty Harry mould, Butler and Shryack had previously written another of Eastwoods’s starring vehicles, The Gauntlet (1977).
After this, the script was offered to Kris Kristofferson as a possible starring vehicle who also turned it down on the grounds of the script being too violent. Coincidentally he made the thriller Flashpoint (1984) in its place which was actually from the same screenwriters.
Eastwood too would go on to work with Butler and Shryack again, with them writing the underrated Pale Rider (1985). Shryack would later go on to write another Norris vehicle, the serial killer thriller Hero and the Terror (1988). Unfortunately it fails to live up to his work on Code of Silence but is still a worthwhile entry in the Norris cannon.
It is unclear how much work additional writer Mike Gray carried out on the film. It would seem that he was brought on at a later stage to clean up the script. Although not as prolific as Butler and Shryack, he did write 70’s classic the China Syndrome (1977).
Code of Silence should not only please Chuck Norris fans but those of gritty crime thrillers, with it having a well thought out plot and terrific action scenes. Next to The Delta Force (1986) it is probably Norris’ best starring vehicle.
Rating: 4/5
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