Yesterday I purchased season one of the 1972 TV series KUNG FU staring David Carradine. The man and this series are both legends in my opinion. You might remember Carradine from his most recent role in Tarantino’s KILL BILL. He played Bill, and pretty damn well I might add. The man brought flair to the character and a lot of that was due to his history playing Kwai Chang Caine aka Grasshopper. Although he has participated or acted in over 100 film projects, these two are the most noteworthy to me for the moment.
In Kung Fu, Carradine plays a young shaolin monk who has fled China for America after murdering the emperor’s nephew in an act of revenge to avenge his master. He travels across the old west while avoiding the wrath of bounty hunters in search of a reward. I recall watching reruns of this program as a young child but I can not recall ever having watched a full episode.
Watching the pilot episode yesterday I really enjoyed the style in which the series was filmed. It took shape like an old spaghetti western but with Chinese flute music resonating in the back ground. Caine is pictured many times walking alone through the desert, the sun setting behind him. He is a quite man but his face reflects a depth that is hard to describe. And when he speaks he usually says some philosophical words with intense meaning. There was a lot of research put into the scripts to keep the philosophy of the monks as realistic as possible and the fighting is based on true shaolin style. Bruce Lee was also a consultant on the show.
The only other show where I can recall such realism is SHOGUN with Richard Chamberlain. That show truly gives one insight to the Japanese culture and traditions of that time. I do not feel that the programs on TV now have as much depth to them. Most shows now a day seem pretty mindless to me, but occasionally I do watch them. All in all though, the Grasshopper is a hero. If I do remember to write any of his cool one liner’s down, I will share them with you.
I went out to Stix last night and tonight it is My Bar for the pool competition. On Thursday my mate Teddy and his band will be playing live reggae music at PARC near Blok M. If you live in the Jakarta area try and make it down to support them. He had my old drum re-skinned and will be jamming with it. On Friday theres some Indian jungle jam so this week is booked out. Lets hope I make it to the weekend.
5 comments:
I have to disagree with you on Carradine's talent as an actor, I havent found him convincing in many of the roles I've seen him in, I actually think he's a bad actor with little panache and charisma and i know a lot of people who agree with this so im not sure what you like so much about him? Trust me I have seen a lot of his movies, i used to run a video club!
I agree that there is a huge diffenrence between old shows and the ones on TV these days, I also love some of the classics and dont think that anything so far can compare to some of the entertainment of a few of my favorite Charlie Chaplin classics. But I also find that the shows on television these days can be much more engaging... both content and acting of some of the new shows (and i dont mean reality shows) are fantastic, much better than many of the old shows, dont you agree? I mean yeah Family Ties and Cosby Show were fun, but shows like 24 and Seinfeld...WOW!!!
who the fack is that fooling around gaddamit... don't use my name by force oh.
must be you rish.
First of all: cool blog!
Kung Fu? Where do you buy your DVDs, dude? It seems that you have a very eclectic collection.I only seem to be able to find the standard blockbusters. Please do let me know where your friendly neighborhood (pirated) DVD seller is.
bro, i am in indonesia. we got pirate dvd sellers on every corner.
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