Max Donigan and his partner Leo Porter are two soldiers of fortune. Leo is thinking of calling it quits, but when a young lady, Patricia comes by with a map and asks for their help of finding a lost treasure. They take up the task with adventurous results and must face El Coyote, a descendant of Indian priests.

What a team! Chuck Norris, Lou Gossett and Melody Anderson gave this buddy flick much-added spark with their cheerful banter and charismatic persona. "Firewalker" does go for that "Raiders of the Lost Ark" appeal, but only in small doses and in a very cheap foray. The comic book premise is outrageously silly and pure corn, but it's an eventful ride with spontaneous actions making it unpredictable and the mockery was a nice touch. It even walks a fine line between the supernatural / superstitious elements. There's not doubt it's quite childish, far-fetched and it might not be a successful blend, but director J Lee Thompson makes great use of the fiery performances, easy-going script (even though it will make you roll your eyes for most part) and stunning locations, which kept me involved. It took a while before Norris released those infamous skills he bestows, but when in the flow. Watch the damage occur! As Norris is on the job. Gossett chips in with nice array of wisecracks and the two formed a great, side-splitting and believable team. Anderson simply radiates in her quirky role. Sonny Landham makes one hammy villain with a hokey evil laugh. At best these are cartoonish characters with a lot of charm and a growing appeal.

It maybe wasn't as fun as I remembered it to be when I saw it ages ago, but it's a enjoyably lightweight and unpretentious romp with Norris kicking in with his slow motion jump kicks. Oh yeah!

No matter how bad a movie may be to most people someone is going to like it, and I like this one. Not the greatest film ever made by a long shot, for me it has a certain charm to it. I think Chuck Norris and Louis Gossett Jr both do great jobs and work well and complement each other. The story has them going after a bunch of gold. Along the way they run into many obstacles. This movie for me has a nice combination of action and humor, and it is definitely more fun if you don't take it too seriously. Despite the fact it is rated so low though I saw it is worth a look...but you may want to read the other reviews here first.

Chuck Norris told the Chicago Tribune, "When I got crucified in my first film, Good Guys Wear Black, I went to Steve McQueen. He said the bottom line is if you get the best reviews in the world and the movie bombs, you're not going to get work. But if it's a huge success, whether the criticism is good or bad, you'll work. The key thing is - does the public accept you?"

Chuck was ready to make the transition that Arnold did in 1988 when he made Twins. It was time to make a comedy.

In this movie, Chuck is Max Donigan, who teams with Leo Porter (Louis Gossett Jr.) as treasure hunters who haven't ever found any treasure. Then they meet the psychic Patricia Goodwin (Melody Anderson, Flash Gordon), who has a treasure map that will lead them to gold that's also being sought by a one-eyed cyclops called Firewalker.

The map leads them to a Native American Reservation and inside a cave they find hundreds of skeletons, Aztec and Mayan art and a dagger that frightens a man so much that he throws himself into a pit.

Sonny Landham - Billy from Predator - is El Coyote, the man who wants to be the Firewalker and can only achieve that by sacrificing Patricia. And hey - it can't be an Indiana Jones movie without John Rhys-Davies, right? You also can't make a Native American-themed movie in the 80s without Will Sampson, right?

Gene Siskel said that Firewalker was "one of the most derivative films in years, splicing elements of Raiders of the Lost Ark with Romancing the Stone," while Roger Ebert would say, "In literature, it's called plagiarism. In the movies, it's homage."

Even though Firewalker made almost $12 million at the box office, it wasn't the success that other Chuck Norris movies had been for Cannon, which sadly was due for some big changes.

This was written by Robert Gosnell and directed by J. Lee Thompson, who Melody Anderson had some interesting words about: "J. Lee was a character. Some days the heat got to him worse than others. He would get tired and cranky, but we got along great. At the time, I had no idea the director in The Exorcist was based on him."