While Nomura made a wide variety of entertainment films including period and soap dramas, the movie that made him famous was "Harikomi" (The Stakeout) (1958, starring Minoru OKI), a film adaptation of a novel written by Seicho MATSUMOTO.
時代劇、メロドラマなど多様な娯楽作品を撮るが、野村芳太郎の名を広めたのは、松本清張の小説を映画化した『張込み』（1958年　主演：大木実）。