WAY OF THE DRAGON
At the time the holder of countless US and World Karate championships, Norris takes on Bruce Lee in Rome's ancient coliseum… and dies. The most memorable scene from the entire film, this final fight shows that despite all those fists hidden behind his beard even Chuck can be killed. His eventual shuffle off this mortal coil notwithstanding, Norris brings to bear some of his finest martial arts against his one-time work-out partner. It's arguably the purest, most impressive work of his entire career, even giving him the chance to show off his ever-so-manly chest hair. He also put on 20 pounds for the role, at the producers' request, so he'd look sufficiently intimidating next to Lee. It worked.

LONE WOLF MCQUADE
The film that would go on to inspire his hit '90s TV show, Walker: Texas Ranger, was originally written for the more critically-acclaimed Clint Eastwood. Fortunately for the cinematic public, our man Clint had other commitments, allowing Chuck to add a smidge more martial artistry to proceedings and fully realise the buried-inside-his-own-car scene with a vigour Eastwood just wouldn't be able to match. The trick to escaping a vehicle-based grave? Drink some beer, pour a little over your head and just floor it until you're free. And they say you shouldn't drink and drive...

FOREST WARRIOR
Leaving his Dodgeball cameo to one side, Norris's most out-and-out comedy is Top Dog, a K-9 clone about a bearded, ass-kicking cop and his faithful hound – but unlike Forest Warrior, Top Dog doesn't have Chuck Norris morphing into a bear in a scene that reportedly required zero special effects. Elsewhere, Chuck stops a moving chainsaw with his bear hands – no pun intended – and roundhouse slaps a gaggle of evil loggers in a whirlwind of palm-to-face action. Easily the hairiest, scariest, most hilarious ecological action movie you will ever, ever see.