Chuck Norris Didn't Have Much Love For This '80s Action Movie With Steve James

William Tannen's 1988 actioner "Hero and the Terror" starred the late Chuck Norris as Detective Danny O'Brien, an L.A. cop on the trail of a vicious, gigantic serial killer named Simon Moon (professional boxer Jack O'Halloran). O'Brien gets the drop on Moon, but Moon nearly kills him in the resulting fracas. Moon, however, falls off a ladder while fleeing, knocking himself out. He is arrested. Everyone thinks O'Brien knocked him out, however, and the cop is subsequently called a hero. O'Brien will carry that imposter syndrome around with him for the rest of the movie. Moon then dies in a van crash while trying to escape. Moon appears to be the single most accident-prone serial killer in the history of movies. 

Of course, Moon may have survived. Three years later, women begin turning up dead, killed in the same way Moon used to off his own victims. "Hero and the Terror" was one of many pieces of disposable action shlock put out by Cannon Films in the 1980s. It also starred Brynn Thayer from "One Life to Live," and the late legendary action star/stunt performer Steve James. James' career was as impressive as Norris', having appeared in "The Warriors," "The Exterminator," and three "American Ninja" movies. He was also previously in "The Delta Force" with Chuck Norris (and Liam Neeson!). James passed away from cancer in 1993. Norris himself passed away in 2026.

Back in 1988, Norris talked to the Sun Sentinel about "Hero and the Terror," and he was initially very positive on the movie. He liked that his character, Danny O'Brien, seemed to be a better-rounded character than the invincible action heroes he had become used to play. In 2023, however, when talking to Black Belt Magazine, Norris had changed his tune. 

In the Sun Sentinel interview, Norris was glowing, talking up the movie while still elated from its making. He noted how sensitive his character was, which was a change of pace for him. He said he "liked seeing not just the man in the arena or the fighting machine you see in many of my films, but to see the man outside the arena — the guy who also has relationships." Norris was careful to explain, however, that he and Jack O'Halloran did their own fighting. 

In 2023, Black Belt Magazine walked Norris through large chunks of his filmography. Norris gave very brief comments about what he remembered from working on each film. When they got to "Hero and the Terror," though, Norris was very brief, saying: 

"That was shot here in Los Angeles. It was a scary movie. The bad guy was a monster, a huge guy. It was okay, but it wasn't one of my favorites." 

The interview then immediately moves to his 1990 film "Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection." Norris didn't dwell on "Hero" for a second longer than he needed to. 

It should be noted that "Hero and the Terror" was critically reviled. It was reviewed by seven critics, and they all were negative, giving the film the unenviable 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert gave the film two stars, noticing that Norris was indeed playing a more sensitive character, but also that there wasn't much to the movie overall. "There is nothing in the basic story [...]" he wrote, "that really requires Norris to reveal these tender new aspects to his character, but perhaps he simply put them in because he liked them." Not harsh, but not kind.