The Norseman
1978 American adventure film
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Norseman is a 1978 American adventure film starring Lee Majors and directed, produced and written by Charles B. Pierce.[3]
| The Norseman | |
|---|---|
| |
| Directed by | Charles B. Pierce |
| Written by | Charles B. Pierce |
| Produced by | Charles B. Pierce |
| Starring | Lee Majors Cornel Wilde Mel Ferrer Jack Elam |
| Cinematography | Robert Bethard |
| Edited by | Robert Bell Stephen Dunn Aladar Klein Shirak Kojayan Sarah Legon |
| Music by | Jaime Mendoza-Nava |
Production companies | Charles B. Pierce Film Productions Fawcett-Majors Productions |
| Distributed by | American International Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3 million[1] |
| Box office | $1 million[2] |
Plot
An 11th-century Viking prince sails to North America to find his father, who was captured by Native Americans during a previous voyage.
Cast
- Lee Majors - Thorvald
- Cornel Wilde - Ragnar
- Mel Ferrer - King Eurich
- Jack Elam - Death Dreamer
- Susie Coelho - Winetta
- Christopher Connelly - Rolf
- Jimmy Clem - Olif
- Deacon Jones - Thrall
- Denny Miller - Rauric
- Kathleen Freeman - Old Indian Woman
- Jesse Pearson - Narrator (voice)
Production
The film was a co-production between Charles Pierce and Lee Majors, with AIP handling the distribution. It was Pierce's first film with a major Hollywood studio.[1]
Majors said it "took a lot of guts" to play a Viking but was persuaded by a fee of $500,000 and 10% of the profits.[1] He later remarked, "I had a little time off, and they said, "It shoots in Florida, on the coast there, out of Tampa," and they had a bunch of Tampa Bay Buccaneers that were gonna play Vikings, so ... I don't know, I thought it'd be fun, so I did it."[4]
The film was shot in Tampa, Florida. Postproduction was done at Pierce's $2 million facility at Shreveport, Louisiana.[1]
"There is no character to develop here and hardly any dialogue," said Majors, "this is a formula film."[1]
Reception
The Los Angeles Times called it "tedious business".[5]