The Norseman
The Norseman is a 1978 American adventure film starring Lee Majors, directed, produced and written by Charles B. Pierce.[3]
The Norseman | |
---|---|
Directed by | Charles B. Pierce |
Written by | Charles B. Pierce |
Produced by | Charles B. Pierce |
Starring | Lee Majors Cornel Wilde Mel Ferrer Jack Elam |
Cinematography | Robert Bethard |
Edited by | Robert Bell Stephen Dunn Aladar Klein Shirak Kojayan Sarah Legon |
Music by | Jaime Mendoza-Nava |
Production companies | Charles B. Pierce Film Productions Fawcett-Majors Productions |
Distributed by | American International Pictures |
Release date | October 5, 1978 |
Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $3 million[1] |
Box office | $1 million[2] |
Plot
An 11th-century Viking prince sails to North America to find his father, who on a previous voyage had been captured by Native Americans.
Cast
- Lee Majors - Thorvald
- Cornel Wilde - Ragnar
- Mel Ferrer - King Eurich
- Jack Elam - Death Dreamer
- Susie Coelho - Winetta
- Christopher Connelly - Rolf
- Jimmy Clem - Olif
- Deacon Jones - Thrall
- Denny Miller - Rauric
- Kathleen Freeman - Old Indian Woman
Production
The film was a co production between Charles Pierce and Lee Majors with AIP doing the distribution. It was Pierce's first film with a major Hollywood studio.[1]
Majors said it "took a lot of guts" to play a Viking but was persuaded by a fee of $500,000 and 10% of the profits.[1] He later said, "I had a little time off, and they said, “It shoots in Florida, on the coast there, out of Tampa,” and they had a bunch of Tampa Bay Buccaneers that were gonna play Vikings, so… I don’t know, I thought it’d be fun, so I did it."[4]
The film was shot in Tampa, Florida. Postproduction was done at Pierce's $2 million facilitiy at Shreveport, Louisiana.[1]
"There is no character to develop here and hardly any dialogue," said Majors, "this is a formula film."[1]
Reception
The Los Angeles Times called it "tedious business".[5]
References
- A PIERCE FILM: Lee Majors' Image Switch Taylor, Clarke. Los Angeles Times 24 Mar 1978: g20.
- Donahue, Suzanne Mary (1987). American film distribution : the changing marketplace. UMI Research Press. p. 301. ISBN 9780835717762. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada
- NORSEMAN, The Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 46, Iss. 540, (Jan 1, 1979): 48.
- Harris, Will (November 28, 2019). "Lee Majors on Ash Vs. Evil Dead, Elvis Presley, and The Six Million Dollar Man". AV Club.
- Majors in Armor as 'Norseman' Thomas, Kevin. Los Angeles Times 7 July 1978: h14.
External links
- The Norseman review at The Guardian
- The Norsemen at Letterbox DVD
- The Norseman at IMDb