Production.
Chuck Norris wanted to write a comedy and was recommended to writer Robert Gosnell. Gosnell had written Firewalker and showed it to Norris, who decided to make it instead of the comedy. The film was Norris’ first comedy, even though it was still an action film. It was described as “two guys, a girl and a Jeep on the road to a fortune in lost Aztec treasure.” “It’s a detour,” said Norris. “Max Donegan is really the lighter side of Chuck Norris.” He added, “It’s just an open, friendly, warm film with a lot of humor. It has the adventure of a Romancing the Stone and Raiders of the Lost Ark, the humor of the movie Crocodile Dundee — where the situations cause the humor — and the companionship between the two guys like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” Norris says that Cannon’s chairman, Menahem Golan, showed “a little skepticism” when Norris first took the film to him to develop. “It’s not the type of film I’m known for doing,” said Norris. But Norris had a seven year deal with Cannon and was their leading box office star along with Charles Bronson. “Whether I do more lighter-type films beyond this one will be determined by how Firewalker does,” said Norris. “The audience tells you what you’ll be doing or not doing. Like Stallone – – he’ll never do Rhinestone again.”