Watchable, but mostly unspectacular Vikings vs. Indians picture. Even though this came out in the late 1970's, it looks like it could have been made 15 to 20 years previous. Lee Majors helms the longship to The New World in search of his father who did not return from a previous expedition and captured by hostile indians. Much like a western from the 50's the native tribes are portrayed in a very one dimensional manner and like the 50's, not a single Native American is cast in this either. The acting is adequite, but far from exceptional. The action is nothing special either. The one element I did find interesting is character actor Jack Elam as the Viking wizard. I'm sure this production was fairly cheap and is decent for not costing much to make. However watchable, The Norseman is a pretty boring period action film and very little about the film stands out as exciting or memorable.

Writer/director Charles B. Pierce deceased a couple of months a ago at age 71. He may not have been the greatest cinematic genius who ever lived, but personally I really liked him. Pierce worked as a set decorator for multiple great movies and almost single-handedly made (wrote, produced & directed) a couple of cool modest classics in the horror genre, like "The Legend of Boggy Creek", "The Town that Dreaded Sundown" and "The Evictors". Particularly the latter two are terrific but sadly underrated gems with a raw atmosphere and great suspense. Rather than re-watching those classics in his honor, which is what we should have done instead, my mate and I watched something "different" from Charles B. Pierce … A Viking movie with a truly cool-looking VHS cover and starring Lee "Six Million Dollar Man" Majors! How bad can it be? Well, "The Norseman" is tremendously bad, unfortunately, and that's a real shame because the basic premise showed so much potential. Charles B. Pierce's script departs from the existing theory that the Norsemen already reached the northern American shores approximately five hundred years before Christopher Columbus did (they named it Wineland) and came into violent conflict with the aboriginals. The idea of bloody battles and carnage between Vikings and Native Americans sounds awesome, but this film is a boring and ludicrous mess. A boat full of Norsemen led by the mighty Thorvald (Lee Majors … I've never seen a cleaner and more properly shaved Viking) head towards America in search for their king Eurich, who went missing during a previous conquering trip. The king and several of his traveling companions were indeed captured by the Native Americans, and they are well prepared for any possible next encounters with intruders. Charles B. Pierce's screenplay for "The Norseman" is completely inaccurate and downright dumb! The Vikings supposedly were the most barbaric warriors in our history books, but here they behave like a bunch of terrified sissies. They drivel about courageous warfare and Northern Gods, but they accomplish absolutely nothing. In fact, it are the Native Americans that behave like the Norsemen ought to! They are the ones who enslaved and even blinded their Viking prisoners. The fight sequences are laughably weak and bloodless. The acting performances are all wooden and uninspired. The only half-decent performance comes from Jack Elam as the Death Dreamer. He's some kind of wizard who forewarns the Norsemen about upcoming dangers. The Vikings claim that nobody has ever seen his face, even though he walks around with his bearded face exposed the entire time. That, along with the fact there apparently existed black Vikings, is the low point of "The Norseman". "The Town that Dreaded Sundown" and "The Evictors" come with my highest possible recommendation, but play stay far away from this Charles B. Pierce turkey!

This movie was so bad it was hilarious. We are treated to a single Viking ship (have to imagine that the rest of Erikson's fleet was somewhere else) landing near Miami! We knew that the climate in Canada was historically a lot warmer in 1000 AD than now, but palmettos and palm trees? Algonquins parading through the swamps avoiding alligators? Vikings chasing over white limestone beach sands than hours before had basking beach bunnies? Gad, the Little Ice Age (1350-1850) must have been worse than we thought! The music is a repeat of a single track by the Stuttgart Symphony Orchestra and is used throughout the movie, regardless of situation. Jack Elam does the only half-way credible job in an otherwise awful film. A good laugh.

The only explanation for this product to ever have been made is that director and actors where on vacation in some Caribbean beach and just for fun they decided to make a movie with one of them's hand camera.Besides a plot neither better nor worse than others we have seen -Torvald is a viking prince sailing in search of his father captured by American Indians- the point with this "film" is that no one in it (director, actors and crew) shows the minimum interest or effort in getting somewhere. Producers, if there were any, definitely decided not spend a dollar in "The Norsman". There's no script, no settings, no music score, no backgrounds (except nature), no nothing.The cast is cheap too. Lee Majors (Torvald) could never act and the same goes to Cornel Wilde (his sidekick Ragnar). Fine actors like Mel Ferrer (Torvald's father) and Jack Elam (some sort of wizard) were by then on their way back in their carriers and they don't even appear much.No tension, no climax, no interest in what may happen, no nothing.Probably the worst film ever in its genre. ¡Mama Mìa!!!