The Octagon (film)

The Octagon
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Eric Karson
Produced by	Joel Freeman
Written by	Paul Aaron Leigh Chapman
Starring	Chuck Norris Karen Carlson Tadashi Yamashita
Music by	Dick Halligan
Cinematography	Michel Hugo
Edited by	Dann Cahn
Distributed by	American Cinema Releasing
Release date	August 14, 1980
Running time	103 mins.
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$18,971,000 (United States)

The Octagon is a 1980 action film starring Chuck Norris, Karen Carlson and Lee Van Cleef. It was directed by Eric Karson and written by Paul Aaron and Leigh Chapman. It was filmed in Los Angeles, California and released on August 14, 1980. It is notable for its inventive use of 'voice over' effects to portray the inner life of Chuck Norris's character, Scott James. This was actor Richard Norton's film debut.

A martial artist (Chuck Norris) must stop a group of terrorists trained in the ninja style by his half-brother (Tadashi Yamashita).

The film opens with a short scene at a terrorist training camp. The main instructor, Katsumoto (Yuki Shimoda) tells the graduating class that all of their actions and whereabouts will be known and that if they do anything to expose or harm the group, they and their families will be killed.

The film then cuts to an assassination of a diplomat by members of the group. One of the terrorists is shot by a bodyguard while the others escape.

We then meet Scott James (Chuck Norris), a retired karate champion, who is at a dance performance. After the performance, he meets one of the dancers named Nancy (Kim Lankford). He takes her out to dinner because he is interested in how she incorporated the martial arts into her routine. She seems distant during the dinner and is more concerned about a recent assassination that took place abroad. She wonders if “an American was killed".

Scott takes Nancy home, and he senses that someone is there. The lights do not work as they enter, and then they are attacked by a group of ninjas. Scott fights them off, but they end up killing Nancy. After he restores power to the house, he finds that the entire family has been killed.

The next day, Scott goes to see an old mercenary friend named McCarn (Lee Van Cleef). Scott asks him if he knows about any ninja activity. However, McCarn tells him, “If you are seeing ninja, you are seeing ghosts.” McCarn tries to recruit Scott to join his cause in eliminating terrorists, but Scott declines.