The news of Chuck Norris’s recent death hit me unexpectedly hard. He was truly an iconic figure in my young life. All through adolescence, I was absolutely besotted with martial arts, including martial arts movies and television. If somebody had created a Mount Rushmore of the heroes who most frequently occupied my imagination, it would have included Chuck Norris, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, David Carradine, Sho Kosugi, and Taimak. In its own way, Chuck’s death hits me as deeply as Ray Bradbury’s and Robert Anton Wilson’s did a few years back.

In honor and remembrance, here’s the climactic fight scene from his first movie, 1977’s Breaker! Breaker! It’s such a weird little piece of work, a hybrid low-budget exploitation flick that combined the 1970s martial arts craze with the 1970s CB craze in a single, mostly shoddy movie. But it was Chuck’s first leading role, and I actually really dig it for the strangely hallucinatory quality that emerges from its total quotient of cheese. And speaking of weird, that final fight is yards better than the rest of the movie. I mean on all counts, from acting and directing to writing, editing, and overall tone. The minute the movie cuts to the scene’s first shot, you can feel that something is different. Something has been elevated. Then as the scene unfolds, it becomes evident that the director clearly had it in mind to further hybridize the CB/martial arts mixture with direct stylistic nods to Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns. The result is oddly effective. The intercutting of the fight with shots of the agitated horse is really cool. So is the banjo music. Most people haven’t seen this scene or this movie. If you take the time to watch it, I hope you enjoy.

(Bonus: If you ever decide to watch Breaker! Breaker! in its entirety, be sure to watch for the scene early on, about 20 minutes in, where Chuck teaches some martial arts students how to meditate. The dialogue is great, and it actually and directly describes the real-life meditation practice that accompanied and underlay his own martial arts practice: “Meditation is essential to the martial arts training. It is imperative that you develop yourself not only physically, but mentally and spiritually as well. To meditate, you must concentrate on what we call the third eye, the center, beginning right here [points to his forehead]. Close your eyes. As you're focusing, you'll notice that it will become brighter and brighter. Your total concentration is on the third eye.”)

Farewell and rest in peace, Chuck.