10 Things You Didn’t Know About Invasion U.S.A.

As an avid collector of physical media, especially collector’s editions of Cannon classics from the 1980’s, the Shout Factory release of Invasion U.S.A. is one I inexplicably slept on.

I am happy to say that Shout Factory’s release of Invasion U.S.A. is now a part of my personal collection… and I was even happier to experience the top notch job Shout did with the Blu-ray… including all the great special features! There is an interview with screenwriter James Bruner, a behind the scenes feature on the special effects makeup used in the movie and an audio commentary with the director, Joe Zito.

Zito’s commentary track was one of the better commentary tracks I have ever listened to. Zito told some great stories and shared some behind the scenes gold. I will share some of that gold with you today as I present… 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Invasion U.S.A.

1. Days after his film Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter opened big at the box office, director Joe Zito was contacted by Menahem Golan and signed to a two picture deal with Cannon. The first film was Missing in Action, the second was Invasion U.S.A.

2. Matt Hunter’s home in the Everglades was not a pre-existing structure and was specifically built (and eventually destroyed) for the movie.

3. Of course Matt Hunter’s home was not the only one that was blown up in the movie. Mikhail Rostov (Richard Lynch) visits a nice suburban neighborhood that is all decorated for Christmas and starts indiscriminately blowing up houses with a rocket launcher. These houses were actually located near the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and had been gutted and were scheduled to be demolished for a runway expansion project. Joe Zito ended up buying seven of the homes for $7,000 a piece so he could blow them up for the movie.

4. The production had the cooperation of the United States Department of Defense and all of the military vehicles used in the big showdown in downtown Atlanta were rented from the DOD. The United States Coast Guard was not as cooperative and the production had to mock up their own United States Coast Guard boat for the opening scene of the movie.

5. Prior to the aforementioned showdown in downtown Atlanta between Rostov’s terrorist army and the United States military… there is a scene where leaflets are being dropped from helicopters down to the streets to notify the citizens of Atlanta of a mandatory curfew. The prop department screwed up and instead of dropping the blank pieces of paper for the wide shot, they dropped the leaflets meant for the close up shots. It caused a bit of a panic as actual residents of Atlanta picked them up and thought they were legit. Word was sent out via the local radio stations to clear up the confusion.

6. Chuck Norris did all his own stunt driving in this movie.

7. In a move unheard of for Cannon Films, after seeing the first batch of dailies… Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus actually upped Invasion U.S.A.’s budget by two million dollars.

8. One of the more memorable scenes in the movie takes place in a shopping mall. The mall used was located in Georgia and was in the process of being remodeled, the section that the movie was able to use was completely empty and set to be demolished, so they had free reign to do whatever they wanted… but it also meant spending $250,000 to make it appear like an actual functioning mall and department store.

9. Chuck Norris wrote the line “If you come back in here, I’m going to hit you with so many rights, you’re going to beg for a left” and could not wait to use it.

10. Joe Zito is a fan of armadillos and it was his idea to give Matt Hunter an armadillo for a pet. During a screening of the film when Menahem Golan saw the armadillo he turned to Yoram Globus and said, “That’s why Joe Zito is a great director.”