Invasion U.S.A. (1985)
Invasion U.S.A. is a 1985 American action film produced by Cannon Films, and starring Chuck Norris. It was directed by Joseph Zito. It involves the star fighting off a force of Soviet/Cuban-led guerrillas. Both Chuck Norris and his brother, Aaron, were involved in the writing. It was made in the greater Atlanta area of Georgia, and Fort Pierce, Florida. Miami landmarks such as Dadeland Mall and Miracle Mile can also be seen in the film. The 1986 film Avenging Force was originally intended as a sequel until Chuck Norris turned it down. It was instead made as a standalone film starring Michael Dudikoff, sharing only the protagonist’s name. Budget film $12 million, the film debuted at number one at the box office with $6.9 million, and Worldwide $17.5M.
Plot.
A group of Cuban refugees is on a boat sailing for the United States and is at first met by what appears to be a US Coast Guard boat with armed personnel. The captain of the vessel declares that the refugees are welcomed to the United States, but the Guardsmen open fire on them and take several bags of cocaine hidden in the boat. It is revealed that the armed personnel were Latin American guerrillas disguised as Guardsmen on board a hijacked Coast Guard vessel. Eventually, the Coast Guard finds the boat with the murdered American Coast Guardsmen off the coast of Florida. The FBI and the Miami Police Department arrive at the docks to investigate the murders. The guerrillas land in Florida and exchange the drugs for weaponry from a drug dealer. They are led by the Soviet operative Mikal Rostov (Richard Lynch), the fake Coast Guard captain who opened fire on the Cuban refugees. Former CIA agent Matt Hunter (Norris) is asked to come out of retirement, but he declines. When Rostov and a team of guerrillas destroy Hunter’s residence in the Everglades and kill his friend, John Eagle (Dehl Berti) in a failed assassination attempt, Hunter is convinced to reconsider.
Later that day, hundreds of additional guerrillas land on the beaches of Southern Florida and move inland using several pre-positioned trucks. The guerrillas begin their assault by destroying suburban homes. Another group of guerrillas impersonating Miami police officers attacks a community center full of Cuban expatriates in Miami. When a squad car with genuine Miami policemen drives by to investigate the gunfire, the survivors angrily start vandalizing their car and leave the police perplexed. The FBI has no idea who is behind the attacks, but Hunter and the CIA believe that Rostov is behind the attacks. As terrorist acts continue in Miami, race riots and general chaos develop within the city, just as the terrorists planned.
Later that night, the guerrillas start a shootout and bomb threat at a mall at which people are doing their Christmas shopping.
During the attack, Hunter, having shaken down an informant, comes into the mall and takes down the guerrillas one by one. US National Guard troops are called up, martial law is declared, and armed civilians organize to protect their communities from further guerrilla attacks. Hunter continues pursuing the terrorists, stops their plans to bomb a church, kills Rostov’s right-hand man Nikko (Alexander Zale) right before the latter can initiate a public massacre, and saves a school bus full of children from a bomb. However, after arriving at a carnival bombed by the terrorists, Hunter realizes that they are spread out too far for him to stem the tide of their attacks effectively and so devises an alternative plan.
Production.
The film was the first in a six-film contract Chuck Norris signed with Cannon Films following the success of the Missing in Action films. Norris said he got the idea to make the film after reading an article in Reader’s Digest that said hundreds of terrorists were running loose in the United States. “I thought, ‘Boy, that’s scary,’ ” he said. ” ‘What if some guy on the order of a Khomeini or a Khadafi mobilized those guys and started sending them out to every major city?’… I know it’s going to happen, and even in the movie, the head terrorist says, ‘It’s so easy because of the freedom of movement in this country.’RELATED:
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Norris says he wanted the role of the female journalist to be played by Whoopi Goldberg who had been an extra in A Force of One. Goldberg was enthusiastic, she had recently been cast in The Color Purple. However, the director overruled Norris. documentary on Cannon Films, Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films, the scene where terrorists destroy homes in a suburb with rocket launchers featured explosions in actual houses. Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport was going to bulldoze an entire suburban neighborhood to extend a runway, so the filmmakers were allowed to destroy the existing homes. Similarly, part of Avondale Mall was being rebuilt, so the filmmakers were allowed to destroy everything in the actual mall.
Cast:
- Chuck Norrisas CIA Agent Matt Hunter
- Richard Lynchas Mikal Rostov
- Melissa Prophet as Dahlia McGuire
- Alexander Zale as Nikko Kador
- Alex Colon as Tomas
- Eddie Jonesas FBI Agent-In-Charge Cassidy
- Jon DeVries as FBI Agent Johnston
- James O’Sullivan as FBI Agent Harper
- Billy Dragoas Mickey Seidman
- Jaime Sánchezas Castillo
- Dehl Bertias John Eagle
- Stephen Markle as Flynn
- Shane McCamey as Kurt Schnell
- Martin Shakaras CIA Agent Adams
- James Paxas Koyo Gotoda