MARY-LOUISE WELLER SHARES 'FORCED VENGEANCE' CHUCK NORRIS

Mary-Louise Weller on FORCED VENGEANCE Year: 1982 Rating: ***1/2

Of all the Chuck Norris vehicles from the 1980's, FORCED VENGEANCE is, by far, one of the best, most genuine, and, well, realistic and grounded, for the most part... From when Chuck walks into a swanky Los Angeles mansion to get the money owed to his boss... Donning a pair of supercool sunglasses and anticipating trouble, he winds up having to get the bag of loot the hard way, twice, taking out the in-debt slob's tough but not quite tough-enough goon...

And eventually going overseas to work as a Casino's Security Chief... and we're not talking about those guys who can't become an actual cop: Norris as Josh Randall is a sort of protector for hire, who will, in this dire situation, do anything for the old fella who's not only a boss, but a lifelong mentor, having started his club in 1945, right after the war, and he plans on keeping it but not without a lot of violent bulwarks. "Expand or die," says chief villain (and always-villainous) Michael Cavanagh. "It is the law of our business..."

Mary-Louise Weller on FORCED VENGEANCE

Herein, Chuck's job is to do just about anything: wielding skills that were introduced years before in RETURN OF THE DRAGON against a posthumous Bruce Lee and continuing in features like BREAKER BREAKER, THE FORCE OF ONE, GOOD GUYS WEAR BLACK, AN EYE FOR AN EYE and many others.

So you can say FORCED VENGEANCE is not only one of his greatest movies, but he has a lovely, tough ingenue in MARY-LOUISE WELLER, best known as Sorority babe Mandy in NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE but she did much more than that in her Hollywood heyday... 

Forced Vengeance opening credits

From working stunts behind the scenes, to acting right up front, like her FORCED VENGEANCE character, Claire Bonner, who, on her own, has to protect a girl that Chuck's protecting when he isn't around... 

And even with the eventual help of a giant bodyguard, things don't go too well for Mary-Louise in this intense Neo Noir, and after she scolds one of the villains with a signature warning, "You're askin' for it!" followed by a pretty decent fight in a roomful of bagged cocaine, her eventual scream morphs into a car taking off to rescue her... And yet, in-between good luck and bad, she fights the good fight...

Mary-Louise Weller on FORCED VENGEANCE with Chuck Norris

How was it working with Chuck Norris? Chuck was great to work with... very focused but with a really relaxed way about him... we jogged together... his family was there as well as mine.... we all enjoyed the project so much that we stayed and did second an third unit shots ourselves... Which as you know is normally done by stand-in/doubles.

You sure did do a lot of running in one particular scene? Running through the Hong Kong streets was epic! We three were ten or so inches taller than everyone... and Chuck and I with blonde hair caused jaws to drop!

How was it during your final fight, struggling for life? Preparing for the fight scene was just like learning new dance steps... Chuck and his brother Aaron trained me for weeks prior: We all joined the South China Seas Athletic Club and blocked and rehearsed there... Both Norris boys were very supportive but I knew they were critiquing every move!

Mary-Louise Weller on FORCED VENGEANCE