Biography
California-born director W.L. Norton began his interesting if uneven output with the underrated 1972 drama
Cisco Pike, starring
Gene Hackman,
Kris Kristofferson,
Karen Black, and
Harry Dean Stanton. Despite this cast and some good reviews, the movie somehow got lost amid a brace of drug-based crime films coming out at the time, and Norton next turned up working on television. Norton's 1972 TV movie
Gargoyles, starring Cornell Wilde and
Bernie Casey, was a superb horror movie, atmospheric, well paced, and exceptionally convincing (helped by
Stan Winston's monster make-up). Since then, however, Norton has not had an opportunity to show off, mostly working in less noticeable vehicles such as the ill-fated
More American Graffiti (1979), the TV production
Tour of Duty (1987), and 1991's
False Arrest. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide