Against All Odds: My Story by Chuck Norris, Abraham Norris, Ken Chuck, Chuck Ken; Norris Abraham, Ken Abraham
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expense!”
Bob and I spent two weeks sightseeing like typical tourists. We took daylong walks, visiting such shrines as Saint Peter's Basilica, the Vatican, the Trevi Fountain, and the beautiful gardens at the Villa Borghese.
I found a favorite restaurant where I could load up on pasta and Italian ice cream, the best I had ever tasted. Almost every night we ate at the Tavernia Flavia in Trastevere. I started adding pounds almost immediately, packing on the extra weight right on schedule.
Bruce and I went to the Coliseum to check it out for our big fight scene. It was an eerie feeling standing with him in one of the tunnels leading out into the arena. I was reminded of movies like Spartacus , in which Kirk Douglas fought in the arena. And I was humbly awed by the thought of the real fights to the death that once took place regularly in the Coliseum for the entertainment of the Roman populace.
The Coliseum was more impressive and much larger than I had imagined. We sat on a weathered stone seat in the vast arena and talked our scene through. Bruce made notes on camera angles. He planned our scene as though we were two gladiators pitted against each other. Since we were doing our own choreography, he asked me, “What do you want to do?”
I demonstrated the techniques that I thought would be interesting, and he worked out his defenses. Then he attacked me, and I worked out my moves. It took us only one long day to put the fight scene together.
The scene, which came at the climax of the picture, took three days to film. It was difficult and challenging but tremendous fun. Although a novice director, Bruce knew what he wanted and how the camera operator should photograph it. I played the heavy in the picture. Luckily Bruce didn't make me out to be that bad a character. When he killed me at the end of the fight, he placed my uniform and belt over me, very ceremoniously and respectfully. As Bruce had predicted, our fight scene became a classic. To this day you can ask almost any martial arts student their favorite movie fight, and they will recall the fight scene between Bruce Lee and me in Return of the Dragon.
Bruce, Bob Wall, and I flew to Hong Kong to film the remainder of our scenes. On the day we arrived there, Bruce arranged for all of us to be guests on the most famous local TV show, Enjoy Yourself Tonight , Hong Kong's version of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson.
I was asked to demonstrate some martial arts. I started by kicking a cigarette out of Bob's mouth, broke some boards, and then Bob and I did some sparring. I hit Bob in the chest with a jump spinning back kick that sent him flying across the room. Everyone gasped, but Bob just got up and shook it off.
When we finished our demonstration, the host of the show wanted to see the pad Bob was wearing to protect his chest.
“What pad?” Bob asked him, as he opened up his gi top. The mark of my foot was on his chest.
The next day, in a local paper, someone challenged me to a fight. Bruce was amused by the story and read it to me.
“What do you think I should do?” I asked Bruce.
“Forget about it,” he said. “I am constantly being challenged. It's a no-win situation. All this guy wants is publicity.”
Nevertheless, Bob was upset. “I'm not starring in the movie,” he said to Bruce. “How about me accepting?”
“Go ahead, if you want to,” Bruce said.
Bob went on the same television show the next night. He told the viewing audience, “My instructor, Chuck Norris, has been challenged by a viewer. Now Chuck is a better fighter than I am, so I want you, whoever you are, to fight me first to see if you qualify to face him. Our fight will be held on this show so everyone in Hong Kong can see it because I'm going to beat you to death right here.”
The challenger, whoever he was, never showed up, and I was never again challenged in Hong Kong. We completed the movie, and Bob and I went back to our real lives as karate teachers.
I'd pretty
Bob and I spent two weeks sightseeing like typical tourists. We took daylong walks, visiting such shrines as Saint Peter's Basilica, the Vatican, the Trevi Fountain, and the beautiful gardens at the Villa Borghese.
I found a favorite restaurant where I could load up on pasta and Italian ice cream, the best I had ever tasted. Almost every night we ate at the Tavernia Flavia in Trastevere. I started adding pounds almost immediately, packing on the extra weight right on schedule.
Bruce and I went to the Coliseum to check it out for our big fight scene. It was an eerie feeling standing with him in one of the tunnels leading out into the arena. I was reminded of movies like Spartacus , in which Kirk Douglas fought in the arena. And I was humbly awed by the thought of the real fights to the death that once took place regularly in the Coliseum for the entertainment of the Roman populace.
The Coliseum was more impressive and much larger than I had imagined. We sat on a weathered stone seat in the vast arena and talked our scene through. Bruce made notes on camera angles. He planned our scene as though we were two gladiators pitted against each other. Since we were doing our own choreography, he asked me, “What do you want to do?”
I demonstrated the techniques that I thought would be interesting, and he worked out his defenses. Then he attacked me, and I worked out my moves. It took us only one long day to put the fight scene together.
The scene, which came at the climax of the picture, took three days to film. It was difficult and challenging but tremendous fun. Although a novice director, Bruce knew what he wanted and how the camera operator should photograph it. I played the heavy in the picture. Luckily Bruce didn't make me out to be that bad a character. When he killed me at the end of the fight, he placed my uniform and belt over me, very ceremoniously and respectfully. As Bruce had predicted, our fight scene became a classic. To this day you can ask almost any martial arts student their favorite movie fight, and they will recall the fight scene between Bruce Lee and me in Return of the Dragon.
Bruce, Bob Wall, and I flew to Hong Kong to film the remainder of our scenes. On the day we arrived there, Bruce arranged for all of us to be guests on the most famous local TV show, Enjoy Yourself Tonight , Hong Kong's version of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson.
I was asked to demonstrate some martial arts. I started by kicking a cigarette out of Bob's mouth, broke some boards, and then Bob and I did some sparring. I hit Bob in the chest with a jump spinning back kick that sent him flying across the room. Everyone gasped, but Bob just got up and shook it off.
When we finished our demonstration, the host of the show wanted to see the pad Bob was wearing to protect his chest.
“What pad?” Bob asked him, as he opened up his gi top. The mark of my foot was on his chest.
The next day, in a local paper, someone challenged me to a fight. Bruce was amused by the story and read it to me.
“What do you think I should do?” I asked Bruce.
“Forget about it,” he said. “I am constantly being challenged. It's a no-win situation. All this guy wants is publicity.”
Nevertheless, Bob was upset. “I'm not starring in the movie,” he said to Bruce. “How about me accepting?”
“Go ahead, if you want to,” Bruce said.
Bob went on the same television show the next night. He told the viewing audience, “My instructor, Chuck Norris, has been challenged by a viewer. Now Chuck is a better fighter than I am, so I want you, whoever you are, to fight me first to see if you qualify to face him. Our fight will be held on this show so everyone in Hong Kong can see it because I'm going to beat you to death right here.”
The challenger, whoever he was, never showed up, and I was never again challenged in Hong Kong. We completed the movie, and Bob and I went back to our real lives as karate teachers.
I'd pretty
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