<\/p>\n
Chuck Norris is interviewed in San Francisco during the promotional tour for the movie \u201cThe Delta Force\u201d in 1986. Norris passed away in March at age 86.<\/p>\n
Steve Ringman\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
In 1979, my parents, both\u00a0foreign correspondents<\/a>, took me to movie night at the new U.S. Embassy in Beijing. The film was \u201cBreaker! Breaker!\u201d\u00a0about California truckers, starring Chuck Norris.<\/p>\n I was 6 and so loved \u201cBreaker! Breaker!\u201d\u00a0\u2014 the trucker humor, Norris\u2019 hand-to-hand combat\u00a0\u2014 that I declared it the best movie ever made. Today, I still hold to that verdict.<\/p>\n Mine is not a mainstream view. When Norris died last month at age 86, obituaries focused on his world karate championships and his roles in TV\u2019s \u201cWalker, Texas Ranger\u201d and the \u201cDelta Force\u201d movies. When \u201cBreaker! Breaker!\u201d did come up, writers noted its terrible reviews. \u201cA shoddy amalgam\u201d with \u201cwooden direction,\u201d declared the 1977 New York Times review.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n After Norris\u2019 death, I revisited its 85 minutes of low-budget genius\u00a0\u2014 and marveled at how \u201cBreaker! Breaker!\u201d feels more urgent with every viewing.<\/p>\n \u201cBreaker! Breaker!\u201d\u00a0\u2014 made in just 11 days\u00a0\u2014 piggybacked on the 1970s citizens band radio craze. The title is CB user shorthand to announce you\u2019re \u201cbreaking into\u201d radio conversations.<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n But \u201cBreaker! Breaker!\u201d still has relevant things to say about California, local government and fighting corruption. To that last point, it\u2019s a bright and brilliant Golden State rebuttal to that old, fatalistic East Coast lie \u2014 repeated from Tammany Hall to the Trump White House\u00a0\u2014 that you can\u2019t fight city hall.<\/p>\n The story begins with local Judge Joshua Trimmings (character actor George Murdock) announcing the formation of a new municipality somewhere off Highway 120 in the Central Valley.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cThe state of California\u00a0\u2014 in spite of its obstructions, red tape and pig-headedness\u00a0\u2014 has granted us a city charter!\u201d he announces.<\/p>\n But Texas City doesn\u2019t draw much business. Soon, Judge Trimmings is drinking heavily every morning \u2014 presumably because he started a city in late 1970s California, just as Proposition 13 stripped local governments of their taxing authority.<\/p>\n So, Texas City does what struggling governments often do \u2014 abuse its power to produce revenue. The judge has two brutal police officers set up a speed trap, beat up drivers who resist, collect fines and impound cars on behalf of the city\u2019s junkyard.<\/p>\n In the movie, Norris plays the trucker John David \u201cJ.D.\u201d Daws. With his long blond hair, Southern California (Torrance) suntan and huge smile, he lights up the screen. He\u2019s headed to Texas City on a rescue mission: his brother, Billy, has been caught in Trimmings\u2019 dragnet.<\/p>\n When J.D. arrives at the town diner, a waitress takes away the first menu he grabs. \u201cPrices are higher for out-of-towners,\u201d she says. When J.D. wants to call for help, another local tells him the pay phone is out of order.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Signage for the 1977 movie \u201cBreaker! Breaker!\u201d starring Chuck Norris. The movie says relevant things about California, local government and fighting corruption<\/p>\n LMPC via Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cThis town is out of order,\u201d J.D. sneers.<\/p>\n Finally, J.D. makes his way to City Hall for perhaps the best local public meeting scene in cinema history. After listening quietly during reports on the town\u2019s illegal junkyard and moonshine operations, he demands to know his brother\u2019s whereabouts. When he doesn\u2019t get answers, he refuses to leave.<\/p>\n Texas City officials and citizens attack J.D., who fights them off with martial arts skills few truckers possess. Municipal staffs worldwide, take note: Civic engagement surges when you let the people exchange flying kicks.<\/p>\n J.D. escapes City Hall \u2014 but then he makes his first big mistake. He attempts to rescue his brother all by himself, foolishly violating the wisdom of the German philosopher Jurgen Habermas, who, incidentally, died the same week as Norris at age 96. Democratic resistance, as Habermas used to say, requires citizens to come together to forge a public sphere and a political will.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n J.D. gets locked up in the Texas City jail for his efforts. Fortunately, Arlene, a Texas City woman whose heart J.D. has won (they connect romantically under a California oak), alerts truckers throughout the state on a CB radio that their colleague needs help.<\/p>\n Thus begins the film\u2019s unforgettable third act, a perfect expression of John Locke\u2019s philosophical foundation for the right to revolution in the late 17th century.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n