Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Kung Fu: Entire Series 1972-1975 [Original Series]
- Who's watched: M & G
- Mentions: *1* *2* *3* *4* *5*
- Commentary: I know, I should be ashamed of how much I love this show. There's a lot of stuff involved: The time period; living on Guam when it first aired; knowing someone who became an instant and serious devotee of the series and what it represented, etc.
I'm not sure why my mother likes it, but I know she does. It has an hypnotic effect on both of us.
Although each of us, separately and together, have watched many episodes of this series many times, neither of us had seen the pilot, so that was a treat.
I think, too, one of the reasons we bond over this series is that both of us have a bit of the monk in us.
I know the story behind the series and know that, in some serious ways, its existence is a travesty to Bruce Lee, the man and the force. I keep this in mind when I watch it.
My mother is not concerned with politically tainted considerations. She just likes the shows. She mistakes David Carradine for his father. Interesting, because I think they look nothing alike, nor do they act alike, especially in this series. At some point David's father is in the series, playing an itinerant preacher. His brother Robert plays the preacher's mute sidekick, Sunny Jim. Another brother, Keith, plays Kwai Chang Caine as a teenage aspirant.
The article attached to the title (it was, btw, incredibly hard to find any writing about the old series, let alone criticism) has two parts. The second part is linked at the bottom of the first part, but the link is easy to miss. Here's a link to part two of that article.
By the way, IRL the third season's cover is actually a deep purple, not a deep blue. I guess it was, or still is, hard to reproduce purple in online photos.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role David Carradine Kwai Chang Caine Radames Pera Young Caine Keye Luke Master Po Philip Ahn Master Kan
→ Dean Jagger - Caine's Grandfather
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1972-1975
Episodes directed by several people. I think it is noteworthy that none of the episodes had a female director.
Labels: dean-jagger, me-favorite3, pat-hingle, TV3, western
