Chuck Norris. YouTube
Lewis Beale, Daily Beast: How Chuck Norris Helped Bring Down Communism
At a time when travel and video players were illegal in Romania, smuggled Chuck Norris tapes gave people a window to the West.
In the 1984 Chuck Norris film Missing In Action, there’s a scene in which Norris, as a former POW who has returned to Vietnam looking for MIAs, is captured and strung upside down by Vietnamese soldiers. One ties a bag over his head with a rat in it. But when the bag is untied, they discover that instead of the rat chewing Norris’ head off, it’s Our Hero who has killed the rat by biting into its neck.
In Soviet-era Romania, they loved scenes like this.
WNU Editor: Growing up I had my share of watching "banned" western movies. And yes .... they did have a huge impact throughout the eastern bloc. People quite often were more focused on the cars, clothes/fashion, homes, and how people interacted than on what the movie was all about.
Update: Speaking of Chuck Norris .... Top 100 Chuck Norris Jokes - Facts