Product Description

A martial arts classic starring Chuck Norris as John T. Booker, a Vietnam Vet whose war actions have landed him at the top of the CIA's hit list. Now only a beautiful Senate investigator can help him unravel a treacherous plot - and maybe help keep him alive.

DVD Features:
Biographies
Interactive Menus

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25584 in DVD
• Brand: HBO HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2000-12-19
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 96 minutes

Customer Reviews

CHUCK NORRIS WEARS BLACK
My favorite DVD! The widescreen transfer is so clear that you will think you are in the movie. I want to say that they just dont make them like this anymore! Chuck Norris jump kicking through a oncoming car's windshield killing his enemy in slow motion is unforgettable. I watch that sceen over and over along with the parking lot fight sequence, it's amazing. Norris is one of a kind, a rare breed! His 70's and early 80's films have reached classic status. And they deserve it, next to the junk made today. This is my favorite film along with A Force Of One (the sequel to Good Guys Wear Black), The Octagon and Forced Vengeance.

Norris's first big hit.
This low-budget 'gem' from 1977 (I even remember there being a novelization, got to look for it) was a modest hit and pretty much made Chuck Norris a star. Playing John T. Booker (the way the credit is listed mades me wonder if there would be more John T. Booker movies, alas not to be), Norris is a former CIA commando whose dark past comes back to haunt him when the politician that set him up in a raid turned death trap needs to erase that unpleasent part of history. This is an old school action movie, back when they bothered to have plot and mystery prior to the fist fights and car chases, and it will probably bore many expecting wall to wall kung-fu action. Nothing happens until nearly an hour into the movie, then the pay off begins. Good Guys Wear Black was sold on the strength of one big stunt, Norris (or a double) leaping onto a car and kicking through the windshield to get at the assassin driving. It was impressive then, today it is routine. As I said, it is a low budget movie, one with Southern California locations filling in for Vietnam (sandy trails and eucalyptus trees in Vietnam???) as well as East Coast locations. Pretty giggle inducing. But the movie still works when watched in the context of its era (70s exploitation) and director Ted Post (Hang 'Em High, Magnum Force, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, etc.) keeps the movie professional looking, at least. One shocking bit of trivia, one of the movie's screenwriters is Children of A Lesser God author Mark Medoff. Wow. Recommended only to Norris fans on a nostalgia kick.

Diehard Norris Fans Can't Afford to be Without This One
Sure, this is a Grade-B movie in almost every sense of the term, but it gives the ardent fan a good glimpse into the beginnings of Chuck Norris' eventually fruitful film and television career.

Admittedly, the plot is weak, the pace slow, the scripting thin and the action--at a dearth--borders on the comic, yet I find myself watching Good Guys Wear Black again. Why? Is it the one, monumental flying kick that Norris' character, John T. Booker, administers through the windshield of an oncoming car to his would-be assassin (a Vietnamese operative disguised with a blond wig and a Van Dyke!)? is it Norris' patently poor acting in the closing scenes, during which he tries to convey masculine anger through that slightly effeminate, nasality and sizzle in his voice? is it simply to see Lloyd Hanes smoking a cigar? or Jim Backus playing a doorman? or James Franciscus portraying a villainous candidate for U.S. Secretary of State? or the film's tired, 70's ideology? Who knows? This film's merit may very well stem from its lack thereof, which moves it into the more exclusive realm of "classic" Grade-B.

In time, Chuck Norris has carved out a well-earned and well-deserved niche for himself in martial arts entertainment. Movies like Good Guys Wear Black serve as a gauge to measure just how far he's come--which is a long way. So, if you truly want to trace this development in Norris' acting career, this film is a must-see along the way.