The Norseman

1978 American adventure film

This article is about the 1978 film. For similar uses, see Norseman (disambiguation).

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

* October 5, 1978 (1978-10-05)

Running time

| 90 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Budget| $3 million[1]
Box office| $1 million[2]

The Norseman is a 1978 American adventure film starring Lee Majors and directed, produced and written by Charles B. Pierce.[3]

## Plot

[edit]

An 11th-century Viking prince sails to North America to find his father, who was captured by Native Americans during a previous voyage.

## Cast

[edit]

* 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

[edit]

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

[edit]

The Los Angeles Times called it "tedious business".[5]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e Taylor, Clarke (March 24, 1978). "A PIERCE FILM: Lee Majors' Image Switch". Los Angeles Times. p. g20.
2. ^ Donahue, Suzanne Mary (1987). American film distribution : the changing marketplace. UMI Research Press. p. 301\. ISBN 9780835717762. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada
3. ^ "NORSEMAN". The Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 46, no. 540\. London. January 1, 1979. p. 48.
4. ^ Harris, Will (November 28, 2019). "Lee Majors on Ash Vs. Evil Dead, Elvis Presley, and The Six Million Dollar Man". The A.V. Club.
5. ^ Thomas, Kevin (July 7, 1978). "Majors in Armor as 'Norseman'". Los Angeles Times. p. h14.

## External links

[edit]

* The Norseman review at The Guardian
* The Norsemen at Letterbox DVD
* The Norseman at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Charles B. Pierce

* The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972)
* The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)
* The Winds of Autumn (1976)
* Grayeagle (1977)
* The Norseman (1978)
* The Evictors (1979)
* Sacred Ground (1983)
* Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues (1985)

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