MovieChat Forums > The Norseman (1979) Discussion > Is there really a black viking in this f...

Is there really a black viking in this film?

posted 17 years ago by bbagnall
10 replies | jump to latest

I read someone's review and they said one of the Vikings is black. That just makes no sense.

The entire film is rather silly, but it's fun to watch because it's Lee Majors...and, yes, there is a black Viking, and he's played by a football player of the era, Deacon Jones.

[–] andrewwjohnson 15 years ago

............Two words: afirmative action. LOL
True genius is a beautiful thing, but ignorance is ugly to the bone.

[–] Blueghost 13 years ago

More like marketing. I remember Deacon Jones was trying to make a name for himself, and the classic epic was still seen as a money maker (even if it was a low budget cheese filled cream puff of a movie)

[–] zorikh 14 years ago

They explain early on in the movie that Deacon Jones' character (the black guy in the Viking crew) he was captured in a raid on Africa and his tongue was cut out. That explains the black Viking and why he has no lines in the movie.

[–] Dream_Demon 13 years ago

It should be pointed out that there really were black vikings. The majority of these were thralls, i.e. unfree servents. Seeing a black viking in this isn't far-fetched.

Welcome to my Nightmare- Freddy Krueger

[–] lantzn 13 years ago

That's odd, I just watched this on Netflix and at the very end when he's about to lift the body of the wounded "captured" viking onto the ship, Majors says, he's dead, and the black viking replies, he was dead at the cave but he deserved a norseman's burial. I guess by the time they got to the end they forgot he didn't have a tongue.

I just listened to the beginning and it was Olof, the big guy with the beard, whose tongue was cut out in the African raid and can't speak. It was cut out by the black viking, who now wears the tongue around his neck. Olof eventually overpowered him and captured him to serve the vikings.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] deddude9988-429-909991 12 years ago

I agree, historically a black Viking isn't a terribly far-fetched idea (nor is it as 'insulting' as the reviewer implies). Historically the Vikings did expand and raid all the way to northern Africa as well as trading with the people of Baghdad and Turkey. They even intermarried with people of the region. Seems people were less hung up on people of different cultures marrying than people of far more recent history.

[–] Balibari 8 years ago

Even before learning the context a black Viking seemed less incongruous than a Lee Majors Viking. A Chinese Viking would be more believable than one with a Kentucky accent.