I Am Caine

Ong Bak 3: Name Your Fighters!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 22:04:00 +0000

Got contacted by Magnet Releasing, a division of Magnolia specializing in the distribution of "the wild, unquantifiable and uncompromised." Sounds exciting, and the reason they were reaching out to me was to help promote Ong Bak 3, the newest in the series starring Thai sensation Tony Jaa (if you aren't checking these out, you really need to get to it!).

For starters, head on over to Facebook to see what these guys are up to. In this post, you can name your Ultimate Fighting Dream Team to win an OB3 Poster signed by Tony and Thai Action DVD pak. Runner-up wins the DVD Pak.

As for me, my dream team would probably include Bruce Lee, of course, and Jim "Blackbelt Jones" Kelly. But I'd have to throw in Ron "the Black Dragon" Van Clief and I'd consider, naturally, Kwai Chang Caine. Maybe I could envision a lost episode of Kung Fu in which these actors all star in an episode. Bruce would play a Chinese Shaolin friend of Caine's and the black actors would have to play old west types - former slaves? Persecuted freemen? Wait wait, I got it - Caine stumbles upon a settlement in which a Shaolin monk is sheltering African Americana and training them to protect themselves with kung fu. Oh, the possibilities!

Do head over to Facebook, y'all and submit or vote on your fighting dream team. Meanwhile...

Herbie J Pilato: The Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:53:00 +0000

When I first started getting into Kung Fu as an adult, rediscovering the show I had loved as a kid in the 70s and 80s, I quickly came across what many fans will recognize as an authority, a welcome companion on the journey. I'm talking about the books of Herbie J Pilato, specifically The Kung Fu Book of Caine and The Kung Fu Book of Wisdom. Imagine my great delight when Pilato appeared on our Facebook page, and imagine my even greater delight when Pilato agreed to let me interview him for this blog!

What follows is an exchange with this prolific writer, actor and classic television authority. Enjoy. If you haven't checked out his books or his Classic Television Preservation Society, please so, and keep in mind any further questions you may have for Pilato - you never know when he'll be popping up on Facebook or otherwise!

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IAC (Charlie Kondek): Tell us a little more about Herbie J Pilato, the man. You're an actor and a writer. What got you interested in TV and film and made you want to write about it?

HJP (Herbie J Pilato): Well, I grew up in a tough neighborhood in the inner city of Rochester, New York. My parents did not have a lot of money, but they had a lot of love. And they encouraged me to follow my dreams, and one of those dreams had to do with one day working in the entertainment industry, specifically television. Besides Kung Fu, my favorite shows growing up were Bewitched, The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, as well as The Twilight Zone, The Dick Van Dyke Show and so many others. Either way, I knew that one day I wanted somehow to be a part of TV. So very early on I started dreaming big. At the same time, I always had my priorities straight. I knew that above all, family and a belief in some form of prevalent "goodness" was most important. And with that, I later managed to be accepted in Aquinas Institute, one of the most heralded high schools in upstate New York, earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre from Nazareth College of Rochester, studied Television & Film at UCLA, and served my Internship at NBC-TV in Burbank, CA. But still before any of that, I knew in my heart of hearts that I wanted to somehow connect television in a positive way with the world. And that part of the story really began with my particular fondness for Bewitched. When I was about 9 years old, I was perusing the books and magazines in one of the many Wegmans supermarkets in Rochester. I came across a book, titled, The World of Star Trek by David Gerrold, the prolific writer who, among many other wonderful pieces of work, had written the famous Star Trek episode, "The Trouble With Tribbles." I was a huge Star Trek fan, and still am, and I had then said to myself, “One day, I’m going to write about Bewitched like this man has written about Star Trek.” So, right then and there I knew I had to buy that World of Star Trek book. So, I ran to check-out counter, and stood in line. Once I got to the clerk, she told me the price for the book was 90 cents. But I only had 80 cents. An elderly, disabled woman in line in front of me was in a wheelchair. She heard this exchange between the clerk and I, and before she left, she reached into her purse and said to me, “Here, Honey…you take this dime and buy your book.” It was such a gentle and generous moment that I will clearly remember forever. That kind elderly woman taught me so much in that moment…which became a major stepping stone in my career. Had I not purchased that Star Trek book, I might would never had gone on to write The Bewitched Book, let alone The Bionic Book, or the Life Goes On book, let alone The Kung Fu Book of Caine and The Kung Fu Book of Wisdom.

IAC: Why Kung Fu! What attracted you to this show and made you want to produce two books on the subject?

HJP: I was attracted to Kung Fu for the same basic reason that I was attracted to Bewitched, The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, and later, Life Goes On. At the core of each of these shows is the theme of prejudice. Like Elizabeth Montgomery’s Samantha is a witch in a mortal world, David Carradine’s Kwai Change Caine is an Asian in a Western world….Lee Major’s Steve Austin and Lindsay Wagner’s Jaime Sommers were half-human and half-machine. So, they, too, like Samantha and Caine, felt like outsiders. And just as with Life Goes On, which featured Corky, who had Down syndrome, as does the amazing Chris Burke, who portrayed him, and the AIDS-stricken Jesse, played by Chad Lowe. And also, too, of course, Caine, like Samantha, and Steve and Jaime, had special powers, and yet, they kept those powers in check, and at first employed their “inner strengths”…their wisdom, their heart, or their charms to deal with the challenges of life. Only as a last resort, did they twitch, or employ kung fu or bionics to resolve a situation. There was a certain “spiritual essence” to each of these shows, specifically and clearly with regard to Kung Fu. And the great thing about Kung Fu, too, is that while President Nixon was holding historic talks with China’s Chairman Mao, Kwai Chang Caine was introducing the beautiful and wondrous ways of the Asian culture to the American mainstream.

IAC: Herbie, my basic thesis in my blog is that Kung Fu took what was basically a formula, the Western, and subverted it with Eastern wisdom and action, and that this was truly what made the show click. Agree? I mean, the show was an excellent Western that featured veteran producers, writers and directors and terrific character actors in the roles and situations. But turned inside out and hinging on the character of Cain - who was often a supporting character in his own series!

HJP: I absolutely agree with that assessment. There was nothing like Kung Fu before it aired on ABC, first as a TV-movie, then monthly series, then weekly show. In many ways, it truly was an anthology series…but with a running character. Or should I say, walking character.

IAC: What about David Carradine? He seems essential to the whole thing, as an actor, a presence.

There would have been no Kung Fu series without David Carradine. He was just as unique a man and actor as Kwai Chang Caine was a character. The amazing thing about David playing Caine is that we saw a peek into his Caine interpretation in another TV western in which he previously starred. It was called Shane, and it briefly aired a few years before Kung Fu. And besides the fact that both shows were Westerns, and that Caine rhymes with Shane, there were other similarities between the shows. In fact, if you watch both shows today, side by side, it is eerie just how similar they are. In both shows, David plays somewhat mysterious loners…and in one episode of Shane, I even recall an interchange of wisdom between Shane and another wise elderly character…very similar to the legendary Keye Luke’s Master PoKung Fu. The similarities between the two shows are just astounding.

IAC: You've studied the wisdom of Shaolin and expressed it as a book. Can you describe it for us? Tell us about the source of Po and Kan's rich philosophy?

HJP: Kung Fu creator Ed Spielman, who wrote the forward to my Kung Fu Book of Wisdom, was inspired by the works of the iconic director Akira Kurosawa, who helmed cinematic classics like The Seven Samurai. And many of the writers from Kung Fu relayed to me how they were inspired by the various wisdoms presented by everything from Hinduism and Buddhism to that of The Bible. It was a fine mix of the best of loving-kind thoughts and beliefs.

IAC: You clearly spent a lot of time interviewing the various individuals associated with Kung Fu, and you had access to the scripts, etc. Tell us about that.

HJP: Before I even started to think about the content of The Kung Fu Book of Caine, I knew I wanted to get it right…and the only way I could have done that was to interview as many people as possible who were associated with the show, including of course, David Carradine, Radames Pera and series creator Ed Spielman. As long as I interviewed these three gentlemen, I knew I would be fine. Attaining interviews with everyone else was icing on the cake.

IAC: What other elements contributed to the success of the show?

HJP: So many reasons…each element of the series was top-notch…the acting…the directing…the writing…the cinematography. All of it was unique. And the show’s success was all about timing. It just came along at the right time…when the world was ready for it. And in the process, it inspired millions along the way.

IAC: How do most people that you talk to seem to remember Kung Fu? It seems it touched the lives of many people that lived through it in the ‘70s and ‘80s when it was in reruns, and it seems from the Facebook page that the show is still winning audiences internationally.

HJP: It’s funny because it has such a wide range in fan base. There are the martial arts fans…there are the spiritual fans…there are the former-hippie fans….there is the massive population of former-kids fans. So many different sectors…but they all loved it for the same reason. It was and remains a hauntingly beautiful show of quality that became the prime-example of just how much a positive influence quality television programming has the potential to have on viewers.

IAC: What's next for Herbie J Pilato?

Things are going so well. A few other books are in the works, and because of my work with Bravo and A&E, I have a few television shows myself that I’m working on developing. And I’ve completed a few scripts that are family-oriented and sci-fi/fantasy-based. Into that mix, I am the Founder & Executive Director of The Classic TV Preservation Society, which is a nonprofit organization whose main mission is to educate individuals, community, arts/media and business organizations, as well as academic institutions, on the social significance and positive influence of classic television. And Kung Fu creator Ed Spielman is our Executive Advisor to the Board of Directors. So, it’s all very exciting stuff…and ultimately it all happened because that kind elderly woman who - all those years ago - gave me that little dime.

Nice Website: Kung Fu Movie Madness

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 20:48:00 +0000

At our Facebook group, a user brought our attention to a great site for info and insight into kung fu movies. Kung Fu Movie Madness offers best of lists, actor profiles, video clips and more. An excellent resource for the kung fu fan!

The Squawman

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Wed, 19 May 2010 12:42:00 +0000

Kung Fu often concerns itself with outsiders, as Caine is an outsider. In “The Squawman,” the outsider is Marcus (Jack Elam), a rough hewn pioneer whose marriage to Kiona (Rosanna DeSoto), an Indian woman, has banned him from the society of other townsmen, which he craves. In this case, Marcus’ isolation is not a reaction to humanity’s wounds on him (as it is in “The Well”) but a sacrifice he makes for the love of his spouse.

Conflict with local bandits drags Marcus back into the fellowship of the townsmen, however. For a time, Marcus is a hero because he has shot marauder Cob Blake. His newfound friendships are tested when the rest of the Blake clan comes for revenge.

The flashback involves a man Caine saves from drowning but who is despondent because Caine cannot save him from poverty and hunger. In the present tense, “The Squawman” ends in a terrific fight scene. And the questions the episode raise focus on society and civilization: what is it on the frontier when its shape and boundaries are determined by a handful of men and dependent on their ideas? How are its dictates enforced? And what do you do when the crowd’s justice is injustice?

Good solid episode, not too surprising. Three out of four yin yangs. It was observed at the Facebook page that some episodes of Kung Fu concern themselves with the spiritual while others focus on the secular, the ethical. Interesting that "The Brujo" was the former while episodes like "The Squawman" and "The Ancient Warrior" are the latter. It's a resonant theme in the western genre: in the absence of a central authority, how is civilization defined and maintained? What does it mean when law and order is one man, a gang, a tribe, a mob?

Another interesting thing worth noting here is that part of what made this show so great was its endless supply of great character actors. Jack Elam is a prime example. Great quote from him on his IMDB page, describing what makes a good character actor: "Who's Jack Elam? Get me Jack Elam. Get me a Jack Elam type. Get me a young Jack Elam. Who's Jack Elam?"

The Brujo

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Fri, 07 May 2010 13:40:00 +0000

“The Brujo” is one of those episodes people seem to remember about Kung Fu. (Another is “The Cenotaph.”) It’s a terrific episode pulled slightly askew by what seems to me an unnecessary sub-plot. I feel that often, because the show followed a four-act format rather than a three- or five-act that might have given it a bit more symmetry, Kung Fu stretched too much and involved undernourished characters. That seems to be on display here in what is otherwise a splendid episode.

The show’s engrossing, consistent cinematography, courtesy of the professional that developed its look and feel (Chuck Arnold), is on display in “The Brujo” as well. It opens with a series of spooky shots of the title character, a raven haired Mexican sorcerer, working his black magic. The story involves the town of San Martin, its body controlled by the landowner, Don Emilio (Henry Darrow), but its soul fought over by two mystical forces. On one end is the Brujo, driven by revenge to exact tribute and terror from the villagers. On the other is a mysterious, silent white haired wizard and a mute, white haired boy (Jimmy Turner), aided by San Martin’s priest, Father Salazar (Julio Medina).

Into this struggle for the strength of the villagers steps Caine, who refuses to bend to the demands of the Brujo. The resolution of their conflict is classic; when someone tries to draw a circle of power around you, what really is it that binds you? When someone curses you, where does that curse draw its strength? Caine’s solution to the Brujo’s challenge is as simple as it is powerful. As Master Po explains in the flashback, the villagers, like Caine, must have a discerning mind, a mind that rejects. “The undiscerning mind is like the root of a tree. It absorbs equally all that it touches, even the poison that would kill it.”

I have a personal connection to this episode as well. As a child I saw a therapist for a time when I was having some trouble in school after my parents’ divorce. The therapist used anecdotes from this episode to illustrate to me the responsibility I could take for my own happiness. Three out of four yin yangs due to the weirdness I mentioned in the opening paragraph, and a salute to you, Dr. Self, for helping me 30 years ago with this show as an instrument. Anyone know who played The Brujo? IMDB seems to have missed it. UPDATE: See the comment below from Ex Lion Tamer on this remarkable Mexican actor!

What is the future of kung fu films? Nat Post asks.

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:43:00 +0000

A great write up, part of a series, at The National Post on the future of kung fu movies. Melissa Leong asks:

Our culture of celebrity means that star power drives action films today. No one cares if Ben Affleck wields a cane with all the dexterity and attitude of a grandmother. CGI will fix that.

The real stuff is no longer practical. Why spend months choreographing an action sequence, risking injury to the actors, when tighter editing, short cuts and computers will produce the same result?

I think she answers her own question in the piece, which is the same as my answer. The reason skill is better than CGI is because it looks so, so much better. All the jump cuts and edits in the world will not make an untrained actor look as good as trained actors going at it at their own speed. Thoughts?

Watching Kung Fu With Quentin Tarantino AND David Carradine.

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:59:00 +0000

First of all, I gotta give credit to this find to Dot Bruce. I met Dot through her work on David Carradine wikis and as a participant on our Kung Fu Facebook fan page and she is VERY knowledgeable about the work of Carradine, including Kung Fu - I just added her as one of the page's admins for this very reason (and with her permission).

But dude. Check THIS out. Aintitcool piece from 2001 about watching kung fu movies at Quentin Tarantino's house with QT, David and a bunch of other guests. This is worth a read, man, I am freaking out at how cool this was.

Tarantino:

Quentin informed us that each episode this night would be an example from each season and that we should notice that in Season One, Caine was half White – half Asian and that other than a bald cap and sparse hair there was really no make up involved. In Season Two Carradine grew his hair really long, "Caine had gone native, almost a native American Indian type of thing. He also started mixing Confucianism with American Indian Great Spirit showing a comparative feeling for Shaolin and Indian. Then in the 3rd Season it was like Carradine said, now it is going to just be me. And Kwai Chang Caine became David Carradine! And it works real well!"

Carradine:

"I have to tell this. There have been a couple of times… A few confrontations where people just were attacking me because well, I’m Caine and they want to see if they can… You know take me. I was shooting this Roger Corman picture, this big swordfight scene… The picture was called THE WARRIOR & THE SORCERESS although there was no Sorceress in the film, anyway… There’s this scene between two warring swordfighting groups on another planet. Basically it was all stolen from YOJIMBO, the film was YOJIMBO on another planet… that was the story. Well we’re on the middle of the set in-between shots when this stuntman comes over and does this real formal challenge to me. To challenge me to a fight. I was like, you don’t want to fight me, but he did. He threw a punch and I… well come here Quentin…" Quentin nearly pissed himself to be put into a combat position with Carradine on stage…. "I just did this" He show how he pivoted away, put his leg out and pulled on the guys shoulder to throw him to the ground. "Then I showered him with kisses all over his head and shoulders!" The audience begins laughing… "But then the guy says to me, ‘Hey you tore my T-Shirt’ and I was, I mean this guy just threw a punch at me, and he’s… he should have more than a torn short. So I say to him, ‘Well it’s probably worth $100 bucks now’ and a while later he came up to see if I’d autograph his shirt!" Quentin, the audience… everyone begins laughing.

It just keeps going.

The Chalice

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:09:00 +0000

This is a compelling episode about coveting, and how the acquisition of an object can come to symbolize the attainment of a dream. There’s also another plot thread about restitution that I think robs “The Chalice” of some of its cohesiveness.

Follow the plot here, which has three main thrusts. Caine meets a priest named Father Cardonez (Victor Millan), who has stolen a chalice from the altar of his mission, San Blas. Fr. Cardonez is robbed of it by four desperadoes, and with his dying breath asks Caine to rescue the chalice and return it to the mission, his way of “making restitution.”

Also on the trail of the four thugs is Captain Luther Staggis (William Smith, veteran of TV, biker movies, and such 70s classics as Any Which Way You Can), a hard man and a mercenary, but not without heart or ideals. Seems the four have stolen a Gatling gun belonging to Staggis and he wants it back to fight alongside a political figure in Mexico.

Caine, meanwhile, has an object of his own that he’s carrying and having trouble letting go, a small stone he has taken from the grave of his beloved Master Po. To Caine, the pebble symbolizes Po as he was when he is alive. Carrying it reminds Caine of his sin, his involvement in Po’s death, and somehow comforts Caine, as if Po is in the pebble.

Chalice, machine gun, pebble. God, strength, absolution. Each man, the priest, the mercenary and the Shaolin are trying to acquire something so that it will meet an inner need. Each man is trying, through the acquisition of this thing, to make restitution for something wrong he has done. Only one of them ultimately learns that attaining the object doesn’t fulfill the emotional and spiritual needs being sought; you can guess which one.

Cool plot, right? In the middle are the four killers, with whom Caine must deal while also collaborating with the murderous Staggis, whose heart is polluted by his passion. “You ever kill a man?” he asks Caine. “Once you do, you’re hooked for life.”

Here’s where it gets derailed. A vague, lame plot twist pits Caine against Staggis in hand to hand combat. Maybe Staggis loses site of his mission and what it is he’s supposed to acquire? Maybe he cannot coexist with Caine, a man who has taken life but not been spiritually corrupted by the act? This twist is the only thing keeping this from being a four yin-yang episode, it’s quite distracting. Honestly, I gotta give it three out of four.

Which is too bad, there’s a lot of other cool things happening in this episode, including some flashbacks to how Caine escaped from China (through the help of a Christian missionary priest!) and, I gotta tell you, a sa-weet! stunt in which Caine leaps from a second story ledge onto a ladder and rides it to the earth, where he rolls into an attack. Wow. IMDB is here. Be sure to check out the "trivia" surrounding the colorful career of William Smith and, hey, just for grins, here's the classic fight between Smith and Clint Eastwood.

Some Good Martial Arts Reads

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:46:00 +0000

Can’t get enough kung fu in your life? It occurred to me to share with you a couple of good reads on the topic.

First off, let me recommend the writings of Mark Salzman. You may have seen the great movie based on his memoir, Iron and Silk. The book is even better, telling the true story of a young man who comes to China to teach English and learn kung fu, which he does at the hands of the animated Pan Qingfu. Salzman explores 1980s China with his western eyes and gets deep inside the culture, learning about martial arts, calligraphy, work, bureaucracy, peasantry, politics – people.

Salzman recently wrote another memoir called Lost in Place that I also heartily recommend. It’s about growing up in 1970s Connecticut. Here, too, kung fu plays a role, although the book is also about Salzman’s family life and coming of age. In Lost in Place, Salzman describes getting turned on by our old friend David Carradine in “Kung Fu” and how that changed his adolescent life, leading him to seek instruction in the martial arts, which he portrays with great clarity, especially if you ever lived through something similar. I can still see in my mind one of Salzman’s instructors from this period, a tough, quiet guy with a tattoo on his forearm of a skull head smoking a joint. Classic.

But Salzman’s writing is enjoyable for more than just his characters and incidents. He writes with precision and explication, drawing you along with a sincere interest in his characters and situations. Simply great stuff. I liked him when I read Iron and Silk; I loved his stuff after Lost in Place, and will try to read everything he wrote.

Something else I enjoyed recently was Matthew Polly’s American Shaolin, his memoir of training at the Shaolin temple – THE Shaolin temple – in the 1990s. Shaolin is a real place and has undergone several transitions over the hundreds of years it’s been around. It was recently reopened by the Chinese government, and when Polly studied there it was still emerging as a Spartan kung fu training camp with several government approved kung fu schools there. Polly’s experiences and writing are as interesting as Salzman’s though he gives them different emphasis and voice. Like Salzman, he gets to know the culture and, even deeper, the people. He also gives, frankly, ass-kicking descriptions of the bad ass training and the people he worked with.

Before I close this out let me throw one more in there. As a kid an older, hip friend of my parents knew I was into Asian stuff and recommended to me Jay McInerney’s Ransom. This novel is probably overlooked among McInerney’s other work; he’s often remembered for Bright Lights, Big City. It’s the story of an expatriate living in Japan, studying karate and teaching English to businessmen, and the guilt he carries over some of the questionable things he’s done in his life and travels. It blew me away when I was 14 or 15 and has continued to impress me upon many subsequent re-readings. Here, we’re in 80s Japan, not China, studying karate, not kung fu, and here we have more of a novel than the memoirs I’ve noted, but the reading is just as compelling.

So there you go, something to look for at your next trip to the local used book store!

Kung Fu on The Art of Manliness!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:49:00 +0000

Well, sort of! Just wanted to share my excitement over the fact that a post I wrote for a terrific blog/online magazine, The Art of Manliness, is live!

Whatever your experience in physical fitness, if you’re considering martial arts as your next undertaking, I’ve got good news and… not bad news, more like some challenges for you to consider. The good news is the martial arts are very accessible. The challenges? The martial arts are very accessible. Finding the right one for you can be tough because there are so many to choose from and, if you’re inexperienced, you don’t know what to expect. I hope this article can provide some encouragement and direction.

The Assassin

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:31:00 +0000

This episode marks the first appearance of Cain’s bamboo flute! It opens with him playing it.

“The Assassin” is about violence and love, and the Shaolin approach to both. Cain wanders into the middle of two feuding families. On one side is Alan Swan (William Glover), an Englishman with a Japanese wife and daughter that runs a trading post. On the other is Noah Jones (Dana Elcar), who, with his son Abe (James Keach), runs a transportation convoy. What began as some kind of business dispute has become an ongoing war between the two that’s threatening to pass on to the next generation, Abe and Swan’s daughter “Aggie” (Akiko, Beverly Kushida).

A ninja (Robert Ito) is involved, and it soon becomes clear to Cain that he must discover who he is and confront him. It also becomes clear to Cain that he loves Akiko. The flashbacks in this episode focus on these two poles – martial arts and the fighting ways on the one, love of women on the other.

Po instructs Cain in fighting, in how to balance the Shaolin’s destructive ability with its respect for human life. “Learn first how to live. Learn second how not to kill. Learn third how to live with death. Learn fourth how to die.” That’d be an apt epigraph for the philosophical views of the series! For love, Po tells him to risk it – make himself vulnerable and it’ll all come back to you. “Empty yourself and yet be filled.”

There’s a great flashback of Master Kan also instructing Cain. Kan demonstrates to the disciples how to maim or kill someone with a blow to the neck. When Cain is troubled, Kan demonstrates how the ability to perform evil acts while still retaining a good moral compass is necessary in life – as the sun uses shadow on a sun dial to tell time. “Choose between goods. Choose between evils.” In this episode, Kan’s instruction ties Po’s together and it’s the adult Cain that must realize it.

Sex and violence, the “Kung Fu” way. Great episode, although I found the Akiko sub plot distracting. Three out of four yin yangs. IMDB here. Very notable for its use of a ninja, ten years at least before the ninja fad in martial arts movies of the 1980s.

Check Out Kung Fu Culture.net!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:56:00 +0000

Guys, great site I found through a commenter: Kung Fu Culture.net, a site with news, info and tidbits on Chinese martial arts and culture, including movies, TV, comics, athletics, and anything in between. If it's kung fu related, Ethereal Kung Fu web master Kenn is on it. Add this one to your kung fu resources, friends!

And thanks, Kenn, for your friendly comments on I Am Caine.

Holy Facebook!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:52:00 +0000

When I started this blog three years ago it was out of passion for a show and an era I loved as a kid, was re-experiencing on DVD as an adult, and the desire to talk about it with someone. And also, of course, with the aim of creating an online episode guide of sorts. In that time, I've never given enough attention to this blog, something I'm trying to rectify, and the few readers that do stumble here seem to appreciate what I'm doing and have encouraged me greatly, for which I thank you.

But another thing I did three years ago, which I'd like to bring to your attention, is make a Facebook fan page for Kung Fu. I did hardly anything for that page, but thanks to the fame of the show, it grew all by itself - to nearly 4,000 people today!

I need to be more appreciative and involved in that community of 4,000. So, henceforth, not only am I going to be more attentive to this blog, but I'm going to share it with the community at Facebook. If you're a Facebooker, please consider joining us and letting us know what we can do to improve the page. Thanks for your continued interest and support.

The Well

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:32:00 +0000

Season Two starts off with a great episode, this one tackling the heavy subject of blacks in the Old West. In “The Well,” Cain is passing through an area affected by drought when he gets hold of some bad water and becomes ill. He’s rescued by Daniel Brown (George Spell) and taken to the Brown family homestead, where he is sheltered and nursed. There he meets Caleb Brown (Hal Williams), the head of the house, a former slave who has become bitter and isolated as a result of his upbringing in captivity.

While he heals, Cain befriends Daniel, who is hopeful where his father is mistrustful, eager to extend himself into the lives of the nearby townsfolk where Caleb is walled off. It’s a difference between two generations; the son has not known the pain of the father. Daniel wants to contribute to the humanity around him, Caleb is reluctant.

So the story is of Cain, as usual more catalyst than protagonist, showing the Shaolin way to the Brown family. Naturally, there are some nasty characters around to complicate things, especially the town deputy, Mitch (Tim McIntire).

What’s wonderful about this episode is its use of symbolism and structure. It uses as its visual theme seeing and clarity. Cain is on the outside, looking into the Browns’ situation and trying to understand. The Browns are on the inside, looking out and refusing to get involved. Deputy Mitch sees a black man that needs to keep his place and a “Chinaman” guilty of a crime he did not commit (a sub plot I pass over here). What results is avoidance, pursuit, deceit, violence – until Cain can liberate everyone from their visual inability.

Reinforcing the theme are great visual film cues (I tried to find some on YouTube and have not yet succeeded). In the episode’s beginning, when Cain takes in the bad water, the camera shows us his warped, hallucinatory landscape. When he befriends Daniel, one of the gifts he proffers is a magnifying glass. The flashback is of young Cain in the temple trying to figure out why, when he dips a stick into the water, it appears to bend. It takes a blind master, Po, to point him to the right direction. “What you see are reflections. Look closer.” Another flashback finds Cain puzzled at a fly caught in a spider web – he does not know who to feel sympathy for, spider or fly, the latter a doomed prisoner, the former a prisoner of his own web spinning. In the present, Cain wonders – which is Caleb Brown, spider or fly? He wonders, am I seeing the Browns for what they are, or some kind of reflection they give off?

“Kung Fu” was quite capable of being literary at times, as this episode demonstrates. Look also for Jim Davis as Sheriff Grogan, Mitch’s boss, a great western lawman character. Hal Williams is a veteran actor you might recognize as, among other things, Officer Smitty from "Sanford and Son!" (Image courtesy of Hal Williams' web site.) IMDB is here. Four out of four yin yangs.

The Ancient Warrior

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:02:00 +0000

Season One of “Kung Fu” ends with what is simply one of its best episodes. In “The Ancient Warrior,” Caine befriends and elderly Native American (Chief Dan George) trying to return to his ancestral home so he can die peacefully and be buried there. Only one problem: on the ground of his forefathers now stands a town called Purgatory, and they don’t like Indians.

Caine befriends the Ancient Warrior and stands beside the man, even at one point protecting him from some village ruffians (one of whom is played by Gary Busey), but as has so often been the case, Caine is slightly off center from the real action, the struggle of the townspeople to do what is right by the Ancient Warrior and allow him his last request. Among the Purgatory town folk that have to hash this out is the righteous Judge Marcus (Will Geer) and the hateful Sheriff Poole (Victor French), who does a good job of protecting the town but is “a bigot and a tyrant.”

The Ancient Warrior, having staked his claim and pressed his legal right to the burial, basically sits in the dirt in the street and waits for justice. Caine waits with him, and as they do so they watch the town behave. They learn that there are good men like the judge and men like the sheriff who wear the mantle of goodness but, inside, are ethically compromised. An incident with a gunslinger named Lucas Bass (G.D. Spradlin), who confronts the sheriff over a past ill, is revealing – Bass gets shot in the back.

In the end it becomes quite clear to the Ancient Warrior that whatever hallowed ground there was at Purgatory has become spiritually polluted by the white man’s civilization. The Ancient wins his legal right to be buried there but after what he’s witnessed he spurns it. Better, he decides, to be buried in the wilderness where there is still purity than in the hypocrisy and contradictions of Purgatory. As Caine puts it, “It’s better to cover the land with love than let it cover you with hate.”

What a terrific story, consistent with the storytelling hallmarks I’ve been pointing out all along. Caine is a catalyst but not the only protagonist. The supporting characters are all as interesting and contribute to the plot. The episode takes a story and setting typical of the genre and subverts it, produces something new. Emblematic of the entire series and its mission.

IMDB is here. I gotta give this four out of four yin yangs. Some great reading on Chief Dan George at the link indicated.

So I’m finally, after, what, three years, wrapping up my review of Season One (something Kung Fu Cinema managed to do quite gracefully in one post). On to Season Two! I started this blog watching this show with my second child asleep on my chest every night and now, of course, that child sleeps on his own. But my love of this show goes on and I intend to stick with it. Along the way, it’s become a place for me to sound off not only on the show but on a wide genre that I love and the zeitgeist that goes with it, both of which “Kung Fu” were very much a part of. Thanks for sticking with me so far! I’ll try to be more consistent.

A Couple of Great Overlooked Martial Arts Scenes

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:15:00 +0000

Hey, guys. I've been a crap blogger lately, and I hope you forgive me - all three of you! I've got a write up on the last couple episodes of Season One to hammer out and a good idea for a post on some great martial arts reading. Meanwhile I was clicking around in search of some little known fight scenes from past movies and I found a couple of gems I wanted to share. It's always interesting to see the scenes of martial arts that started appearing in western movies. If you haven't seen Jimmy Cagney whopping ass with judo in Blood on the Sun, please do say, and cross reference it with Spencer Tracy chopping down bad guys in Bad Day at Black Rock. But let's not forget how Frank Sinatra chopped and kicked his way through The Manchurian Candidate.

Nor this great scene from a little known movie with Robert Ryan and Harry Belafonte called Odds Against Tomorrow. Recognize anyone else in this clip? I'll give you a hint... you might want to "mash" your brain a bit.

The Third Man

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:21:00 +0000

"The Third Man" is another excellent example of the formula and characteristics that make this show work. It concerns a gambler that Caine befriends, Jim Gallagher, another terrific western stereotype played excellently by veteran TV actor Fred Beir (check out this guy's resume at IMDB; like so many actores on this show, he's got lengthy experience on great TV shows).

Gallagher is country smooth, saloon charming, a damn fine card player - and quite hopelessly addicted to gambling. Caine temporarily joins Gallagher's household, which includes his caring but frustrated wife Noreen (Sheree North), and tries in his gentle, Chan Buddhism way to encourage Gallagher to change his life. (Great scene where Caine meets Fay and tells her, "I work... eat... learn.") Unfortunately before Caine can succeed Gallagher is robber one night after a hot run at the table, and accidentally killed by the noble but all too human town sheriff, Sheriff Raha (Ed Nelson).

Caine is the only one that sees who really killed Gallagher, and here's where the plot gets, to me, interesting. Sheriff Raha witholds his guilt from the incident because he is secretly in love with Gallagher's widow. It's clearly eating Raha alive to hide his involvement in the accidental death, but he won't step forward - he thinks this will allow he and Fay to finally be free of Gallagher and be together. Instead of doing the detective work necessary to expose Raha, Caine simply waits. He recognizes that Raha wants to do the right thing and, as is characteristic with this show and Caine's solution to its conflicts, Caine enables, through inaction and dialogue, Raha to do the right thing.

Of course, Caine also has to contend with the thugs that robbed Gallagher, still at large, which he does with much appreciated ass whuppery. There's also a terrific flashback involving Master Kan that helps explain Caine's method in this case, an incident involving the theft of some gold plates from a Shaolin altar; Kan lets the crime go, teaching Caine that sometimes good people do bad things, and charity and understanding are required in response. (You can see part of it in this nice edited version from YouTube vid below.) This sounds like a pretty convoluted plot and it's one that might have sunk the episode in its execution, but writer Robert Lewin and director Charles D. Dubin keep "The Third Man" on track so that it is exemplary. Four out of four yin yangs. IMDB for this episode is here.

By the way, Sheree North, who plays Noreen, was an interesting Hollywood figure that I never knew much about until I looked into this episode. You might recognize her as Lou Grant's girlfriend from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," Kramer's mom from "Seinfeld," or several other roles. Apparently she was rumored to have been hired as a countermeasure against the unreliable Marilyn Monroe, with whom she shared exact measurements! More interesting reading is here.

Last Stop on the Endless Highway

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:12:00 +0000

For months, I've been meaning to post my review of David Carradine's autobiography, Endless Highway. Now I find the task bittersweet, since the final chapter is being written in Thailand and Hollywood as we speak. It's horrible irony, as my colleague Michael pointed out when he picked up my copy of the book this morning and perused the first chapter, that Carradine wrote:

"When I was five I tried to hang myself in the garage by jumping off the bumper of the Duesenberg. My father saved me, and then confiscated my comic book collection and burned it - which was scarcely the point."

Endless Highway is a thoroughly entertaining read because Carradine's entertaining way of telling stories drips through every page. He's got thousands of anecdotes like that and he tells them in a way that's both arresting and matter-of-fact, open-ended like the comment above - I mean these are on every page, leave you going, "What?" and "Man, I'd like to have coffee with this guy."

Endless Highway tells the story of Carradine, the son of an accomplished Hollywood leading man and character actor who grew up constantly shuffled between homes and reform schools. Carradine was an original member of the post war counterculture(s), first as a painter, musician and actor/dancer beatnik-type in New York, then as a California hippy. That's when he did "Kung Fu" and made his stamp on the 20th century American experience. His career post "Kung Fu" was checkered and interesting - I think a lot of us overlook the fact that he made a number of great movies as well as a long list of cult films and stinkers: think Roger Corman's Death Race 2000, Circle of Iron, Bound for Glory and Lone Wolf McQuade. Kill Bill was a natural fit, pointing out yet again that Tarantino has had an instinct for ferreting out people like Carradine, Harvey Keitel, John Travolta and Robert Forrester and putting them to great use.

David Carradine was, in the last equation, a working actor, a seeker, someone who struggled with substances, part new ager and part redneck, all American and, in my mind, one of those people that's just a part of things, so germane to them that they are simply invisible. He wrote:

My story isn't a personal saga. It's a chronicle of a time, a period in history when everything came up for grabs. We all had to make choices. I made mine sometimes. Sometimes shit just happened... After all the triumphs and failures, the lovers, the detractors, I still am not finished, not hardly started really. There's a whole slew of things still undone, dreams not yet realized. I'd better get on with it; get back out there on that endless highway and give them more hell. I don't have forever, as far as I know.

How right he was.

DAMMIT, Mr. Han Died, Too!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:33:00 +0000

Boolshit, Mr. Han-man!

You came straight out of a comic book. And touched out hearts. Rest in peace, Han, as great warriors sail you to your final island.

Kung Fu Cinema has the story. Image taken from HERE.

Martial arts actor Shek Kin dead at 96

By Mark Pollard on June 4, 2009

Hong Kong has lost one of its greatest and longest living film treasures. Veteran martial arts actor Shek Kin (aka Shih Kien, Sek Kin), best known internationally for his role in ENTER THE DRAGON as "Mr. Han," died this morning at the venerable age of 96.

Gregory So, Hong Kong's Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development expressed regret at the loss.

"Mr. Shek's brilliant career in the performing arts industry started in the 1940s. Since then he devoted lifelong commitment to the industry. He played a villain role in the Wong Fei-hung film series and had become one of the most recognizable faces of Hong Kong cinema," said So.

"With his death, Hong Kong has lost an outstanding performing arts talent. On behalf of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, I offer our deepest condolences to Mr. Shek's family."

Shek was one of the territory's most recognizable actors thanks to a prolific career that spanned over 50 years. Born in 1913, Shek was among Hong Kong's first generation of martial arts stars, including Walter Cho, Kwan Tak-hing and Yu So-chow, who flourished during the initial genre boom of the 1950s and '60s. Trained in several northern kung fu disciplines rather than Chinese opera like so many of his peers, Shek began appearing in Cantonese-language martial arts films in the late 1940s. Up until he was cast as the lead villain in ENTER THE DRAGON, Shek was best known as the lead villain in the long-running WONG FEI HUNG film series where he frequently crossed fists and wits with series star Kwan Tak-hing.

In the 1970s and '80s, Shek continued to appear in a variety of films, most notably in ENTER THE DRAGON but also in a comedic supporting role opposite Jackie Chan in THE YOUNG MASTER. He also frequently appeared in local television series. Shek Kin retired from the entertainment industry in the mid-1990s. His final film role was in Bosco Lam's comedy HONG KONG ADAM'S FAMILY (1994).

OH MY GOD, DAVID CARRADINE DIED?!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:31:00 +0000

Here I was, getting ready to update this blog with my final reviews from Season One, a review of Carradine's autobio, and some other assorted stuff when THIS HAPPENED.

NY Times and AP:

David Carradine, the star of the 1970s television series “Kung Fu” and the title villain of the “Kill Bill” movies, has died in Thailand, The Associated Press reported. The United States Embassy in Bangkok told The A.P. that Mr. Carradine had been found dead in his hotel suite in Bangkok, where he was working on a movie. He was 72.

Mr. Carradine was part of an acting family that included his father, John; his brother, Bruce, and half-brothers Keith and Robert; and his nieces Ever Carradine and Martha Plimpton.

After a short run as the title character in the 1966 television adaptation of the Western “Shane,” he found fame in the 1972 series “Kung Fu” as Kwai Chang Caine, a wanderer raised by Shaolin monks to be a martial arts master. He enjoyed a career resurgence in recent years when he was cast by Quentin Tarantino in the action movies “Kill Bill: Vol. 1″ and “Vol. 2.”

Updated | 10:58 a.m. Thai police have told BBC News that Mr. Carradine was found on Thursday morning by a hotel maid in a wardrobe with a rope around his neck.

* * *

What more can I add? The only thing I can say is that the world lost a great actor. I can only speculate as to why he may have taken his life - it may be as a result of his struggles with alcohol. EDIT: Or it may have been accidental. I am shocked at this, frankly, because David's confidence and self-worth seemed so evident. Perhaps we'll learn more in the coming days. Regardless, my prayer is for your rest and hereafter, David. We'll miss you but, in a way, because of what you left behind, we'll always have you. God keep you, Grasshopper.

Shoot, I'm kinda crying right now!

The Stone

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 21:40:00 +0000

There's too much going on in "The Stone," and that's what makes it one of the first season's worst episodes, which is too bad, because the ideas are good and the potential is great.

"The Stone" is about exiles, of which Caine is one. He meets Montoya (Moses Gunn), a Brazilian son of a former slave and master of the Afro-Brazilian fighting art of capoeira. Montoya has a giant diamond that he is going to use to make his fortune, a quest he sees as deeply personal because it will lift his family's legacy from the shackles of slavery.

Caine also meets Zolly (Gregory Sierra), an Armenian who has fled the Russian (or Ottoman? It isn't clear) conquest of his country and wants to raise enough money to return as a freedom fighter. Only Zolly falls in love with a frontierwoman and her three kids, something that doesn't fit into his plans.

The convoluted plot (Montoya loses the stone to Zolly's potential kids while Caine gets involved and is being chased by bad guys and a marshall forcing Caine to confront Montoya and Zolly to confront the marshall and his purpose as a freedom fighter) doesn't bring these elements together efficiently, and in the end we're left with an episode that is spread too thin and relies on too many strange connections. So, honestly, I gotta give this one out of four yin-yangs.

Mark Pollard at Kung Fu Cinema has rightly pointed out that even having a capoeira theme to an episode is a remarkable example of the show's forward thinking. The art is well known today but in the 70s? Moses Gunn you'll recognize from a number of blaxploitation movies, including the Shaft films and other work. He's always seemed really wooden to me. Gregory Sierra you'll recognize as Julio from "Sanford and Son" and Sergeant Chano on "Barney Miller." Sierra gives a terrific performance here. Also of note - not all the fight sequences on the show were equally fun, as this episode shows. Lots of cutaways of Montoya's foot going into a bad guy's stomach, etc.

IMDB for this ep is here.

Superstition

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:47:00 +0000

What an evil situation this is! When it is discovered that a silver mine has penetrated an Indian burial ground, the mine becomes cursed and the workers flee. To keep it going, the mine owner and a corrupt sheriff press passers-through into service on trumped-up legal charges. Into this walks Caine. The men trapped here believe they have fallen under a curse. They have given up hope.

In classic "Kung Fu" fashion, Caine's presence in the mine redefines what it means to be in prison. After a (pretty cool) scuffle with some guards, Caine and fellow miner Meador (Don Dubbins) are punished by being placed in "the Oven," a tin shack that's unbearably hot during the day and just as cold at night. Caine survives this by meditating, and he teaches Meador to do so as well. "You are not within a prison. The prison is within you."

There's a great flashback scene with Master Po. Young Caine, curious about a locked hallway at Shaolin temple, is commanded by Po to brave it. He learns that the hallway is locked because it leads to a pool of acid where metal is electroplated, and Po wants Caine to traverse a beam over this acid pool. Looking down, Caine sees the bones of monks who have tried this and failed. Po is trying to teach Caine what Caine will later try to teach the miners about the "cursed" mine. "Superstition is like a magnet. It pulls you in the direction of your beliefs."

Ultimately, Caine's revolutionary ideas, his ability to inspire the men to shift mentally, lead to renunciation of the curse, cooperation and revolution. As is so often with this show, beating up the bad guys is not an option. Rather, Caine points the way, helps it along.

Veteran character actors round out the cast; Fred Sadoff of The Poseidon Adventure as corrupt sheriff Banack, Ford Rainey as mine owner Stern, and stuntman and character actor Roy Jensen as Rupp, one of the mine's potential leaders. Four out of four yin-yangs, IMDB is here. YouTube here.

Kung Fu Novelization

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:33:00 +0000

As I've read up on the show and the time it was broadcast, I've learned about - and remembered some of - the other items that went with this show, including the Kung Fu lunch box (gosh, remember themed lunch boxes, you kids of the 70s?) and.... Kung Fu: the books!

Got my hands on this at that venerable Ann Arbor institution, Aunt Agatha's, and read it. It was awful! Basically, re-rells the story of the pilot episode in flat, uninspired prose, probably cranked out in a hurry to capture momentum built by the show. A fun bit of show-related swag but not a page-turner by any means. I imagine "Kung Fu" fanfic would be better.... hey, anyone know where I can find some "Kung Fu" fanfic??

Skadoosh. Kung Fu Panda was a legit good kung fu movie.

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:20:00 +0000

I finally saw Kung Fu Panda over the weekend and LOVED it. It's a fun kids movie, fun for kids and adults, and, dare I say it, pretty good on its own merit as a kung fu movie. I think we can look at this article about animator and martial arts student Rodolphe Guenoden to see why. Like another show in a similar vein I love, Avatar, Kung Fu Panda bases the movements of its characters on actual martial arts movements. With Panda, Guenoden made sure the animators really understood and appreciated the fight movements and how they are best expressed on film, referencing great kung fu movies, which show how to arrange the shot for maximum artistic value and mis en scene.

I also loved the story, it really captured the essence of martial arts - the emotional side of why we train, why we teach, what we hope to pass on and what really motivates us (for panda Po, it's food! But also heart).Very strong Zen message in this one: Master Oogway sees what Master Shifu cannot - that Po has a natural self that, encouraged and allowed to flow, conquers. All the other characters are impeded in some way, emotionally, whether through pride, fear, approval, disappointment. Only Po discovers that there's "no secret ingredient," that the Dragon Warrior in the Dragon Scroll is the one bring with you.

Zen and Now: A Dinner With David Carradine and Friends

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Kondek) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:34:00 +0000

Anybody seen this?! I just became aware of it and will be watching it ASAP.