Kung Fu [TV] (1972)

Kung Fu is a landmark series in American television history that was definitely ahead of its time in combining the popular Western genre with martial arts. It also started out with excellent writing that positively dealt with racial issues, Eastern thought and passivism mixed with traditional gun fighting and stylized martial arts action. Despite this strange brew, it was so well received by audiences that the series has since become a part of American culture, being affectionately referenced years later in a popular film like OFFICE SPACE. The series was even revived for several seasons beginning in 1993 as KUNG FU: THE LEGEND CONTINUES.

In 1972, the word “kung fu” didn’t mean anything to most Americans. Bruce Lee had caught on in Asia, but was only beginning to be noticed in the States despite his previous appearance on the GREEN HORNET television series. Apart from a handful of Hong Kong kung fu movies like KING BOXER, released in grindhouse theaters, there wasn’t much to see regarding kung fu action. So for creator Ed Spielman and developer Herman Miller to pitch a network action series for American audiences based on Shaolin kung fu with an emphasis on Buddhist philosophy was quite remarkable.

The producers briefly considered Bruce Lee for the lead role, but Lee’s accent and a fear that audiences might not accept an Asian star led them to recruit David Carradine instead. In retrospect, Carradine may have been the ideal choice. Although he was not Asian and yet played a half-Chinese character, Carradine really became Kwai Chang Caine for audiences during those three years, effectively infusing the character with rare qualities for an action hero, humility and tranquility. Undoubtedly Bruce would have given the character more charisma and martial prowess, but that would have made for a completely different Caine.

The first season of KUNG FU set a high standard for the series with excellent drama, acting, top guest star appearances, and what was at that time a new and exciting style of action. The limited fight choreography presented, with technical assistance from kung fu instructor David Chow, lacked the sophistication of Hong Kong action at the time. Yet for a television series and one of the first examples of kung fu in a dramatic American production, it was impressive enough, offering many viewers their first glimpse of the Eastern art. Moreover, regular use of flashbacks to Caine’s previous Shaolin training to reveal the motivation behind the character’s unusual methods for dealing with conflict in the Old West was a stroke of genius. It managed to endear the character to audiences while giving thought behind the action and forever maintaining his unique identity.

Pilot Movie

A Shaolin monk is on the run from China’s emperor for killing his nephew. He comes to America and finds work on the railroad where his fellow countrymen are being exploited and rises to their defense. This pilot movie which convinced ABC to produce the series introduces Carradine’s character, his origins and the show’s successful formula of a humble outsider constantly meeting the worst people in the West who underestimate his abilities and invariably push him to reluctantly fight back.

It’s interesting to see Caine’s introduction to Shaolin Temple where as an orphaned child he waits outside for several days as part of his first test. The writers get credit for doing their homework and generally doing a good job of presenting the common legends of Shaolin for American audiences. There are no bronze men, wooden men, or elaborate kung fu training on the scale of THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN but various Shaolin kung fu styles are adequately represented and of course there is the infamous pebble snatching scene, later immortalized in the opening credits of the series.

Interestingly, Americans tuning into this show were introduced to Shaolin two years before the topic became popular with Hong Kong filmmakers, notably Chang Cheh in films like MEN FROM THE MONESTARY and SHAOLIN MARTIAL ARTS. It would be Lau Kar-leung and Joseph Kuo several years later who would expand on Shaolin training and lore with increasing martial arts excellence that far exceeded the TV series.

Episode 1: King of the Mountain

ENTER THE DRAGON co-star John Saxon makes an appearance as a mustached bounty hunter after Caine. After hooking up with an orphaned boy Caine takes on three backwoods hicks and finds work with a pretty young widow who takes a liking to him. Doubling of Saxon for his tussle with Carradine at the end is poorly masked.

Episode 2: Dark Angel

Caine goes to his father’s hometown and meets his embittered grandfather while aiding a local preacher who is blinded by greed. Caine also has his first encounter with warring Native Americans and puts his kung fu to use by deflecting arrows and wrestling an Indian. He later teaches the preacher to live without his sight by honing his other senses and this allows the old man to defend himself when attacked. An anti-bigotry theme directed towards Asians (or rather half-Asians) is quite strong, but the Native Americans are still horribly stereotyped. The flesh-colored skullcaps in the Shaolin Temple scenes look a tad cheesy.

Episode 3: Blood Brother

Caine’s search for his half-brother leads him to the home of a Shaolin brother murdered by a gang of rowdy youths. He sets out to investigate the murder with the help of a Chinese family and the local sheriff. Seasoned television actor Robert Urich co-stars as the leader of the gang in one of his first TV appearances. A flashback to a duel between Caine and his brother and Caine’s fight with the rowdies in a general store are highlights. In contrast to Hong Kong depictions of kung fu, most of Carradine’s fights are filmed in slow motion or real time rather than being sped up. This makes for fewer moves to be shown, but the grappling and takedowns are well done and the overall effect produces more realistic combat. The ending is anti-climatic as it focuses on courtroom drama with an obvious conclusion rather than action.

Episode 4: An Eye for an Eye

This episode juggles weighty topics when Caine happens upon a pregnant women seeking revenge on a soldier who raped her. This well-written story weaves in Civil War grudges as the soldiers are Yanks who first targeted the woman because of her family’s Confederate ties. Lessons taught to Caine at Shaolin about forgiveness and the sanctity of life compels him to defuse the escalating violence and convince the woman to accept her unborn child. Lane Bradbury gives a terrific dramatic performance as the tortured mother-to-be. There’s a fair amount of slow-mo gunplay, but not much in the way of kung fu. Caine takes on Native Americans again and he roughs it up with a couple of army soldiers.

Episode 5: The Tide

For the first time, series writer and director Jerry Thorpe steps aside to produce while different writers and directors are rotated in for this and subsequent episodes. With the series formula well established, this episode continues the same level of quality brought to previous ones while presenting Caine’s first love. The gorgeous Tina Chen plays the exiled daughter of a famous Chinese writer imprisoned by the Emperor who saves Caine from a merciless Sheriff looking to profit from his bounty. The dialogue is especially good and the title of the episode cleverly refers to nature’s fateful influence on the course of events. James Hong appears in a flashback in old man makeup reminiscent of his prematurely-aged looks in BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA. Popular Asian-American actor Mako also shows up as Tina’s brother. Both men first appeared in the pilot movie.

Episode 6: The Soul is the Warrior

A hotheaded young man with a grudge against Caine’s brother tries to kill him. The local sheriff shoots first in Caine’s defense. The dead man’s father is a half-Indian rancher played by character actor John Doucette who vows to kill the sheriff in retaliation. Caine steps in to aid the lawman by exposing the rancher’s deep-seated fears and by accepting a challenge to walk through a pit of rattlesnakes. The series has always been about focusing on internal struggles, which is part of its uniqueness. This time it’s all about facing your fears, which is what the sheriff is able to do but the rancher is not. The acting, especially by Doucette, is excellent although the story isn’t quite as strong as in previous episodes. Kung fu action is limited to one token fight.

Episode 7: Nine Lives

After being kicked out of a gold prospecting camp, Caine joins an embittered Irishman with dreams of wealth, as together they help a widow dig a well. Caine must overcome a wrestler and his companions looking to collect his bounty. The lure of gold in the old West provides the writers a good opportunity to measure greed against the value of men’s hearts for unlike those around him; Caine is not swayed by material wealth. The episode contains two climaxes, one where Caine challenges the large wrestler with predictable results and later when he and the Irishman are trapped at the bottom of the well with water rushing in. There is some humor sprinkled throughout the story not seen in previous episodes.

Episode 8: Sun and Cloud Shadow

This episode features Caine’s first fight with a martial artist of comparable skill. Caine is unable to stop a representative (John Fujioka) of a group of Chinese gold miners from being killed by the son of a landowner (Morgan Woodward) who claims their mine for himself. Caine finds himself playing peacemaker in the dispute which threatens to break into all-out war after the landowner’s son is killed in retaliation. Additional trouble arrives when a Manchu fighter (Yuki Shimoda) arrives to bring Caine back to China dead or alive. Richard Hatch, best known as Captain Apollo on the original BATTLESTAR GALACTICA series makes one of his first TV appearances in a “Romeo and Juliet” situation where he plays Woodward’s second son who happens to be in love with a Chinese woman (Aimee Eccles). The episode ends with Carradine’s best fight yet against Shimoda, who curiously enough, is dressed more like a Japanese fighter than the Manchu fighter he is supposed to be playing.

Episode 9: Chains

While still searching for his brother, Caine seeks out a wild and uncontrollable army prisoner accused of murder and finds himself recognized as a fugitive and jailed. With the promise of finding a lead to his brother’s whereabouts, the two escape with an army officer on their trail and an Indian war party lurking in the mountains. Caine’s attempts to connect with the physically strong but mentally deficient prisoner are reminiscent of John Steinbeck’s book “Of Mice and Men,” However, the story ends on a different note. Greed is again a central theme. There isn’t any noteworthy martial arts action, but genre fans may notice Gerald Okamura who shows up in a bit part as a Shaolin monk.

Episode 10: Alethea

A very young and precocious Jodie Foster co-stars as Alethea, a girl believing she has witnessed Caine, who she had just befriended, kill a stagecoach driver during a robbery. Of course, Caine is innocent but her testimony sends him to the gallows, whereupon she decides to trust his word and lie about what she saw in order to spare his life. To prove his innocence to Alethea and thus turn her lie into a truth, Caine hunts down the real killers. A flashback story at Shaolin Temple concerning Caine’s childhood loss of innocence to a benevolent lie mirrors Alethea’s predicament and makes for a wonderful tale about the difficult transition children are forced to make from a untainted world of absolutes to an adult world of ifs and maybes. Carradine’s fight with the killers at the end is short but sweet. It’s filmed using multiple speeds to give effective emphasis to blows. Although common today, this technique was extremely rare for television or feature film in 1972. The prolific and craggily-faced Kenneth Tobey who starred in countless TV series and films including MARLOWE with Bruce Lee plays Alethea’s uncle, the sympathetic Sheriff Ingram.

Episode 11: The Praying Mantis Kills

Caine arrives in town just in time to witness a daylight robbery that leaves one woman dead. While protecting Caine as a witness the sheriff is killed, leaving his son to contend with the robbers, with the aid of Caine, in a jailhouse standoff similar to John Wayne’s RIO BRAVO. This is a good episode with some interesting Zen philosophy tossed in but it’s a little muddled. Wendell Burton is very convincing as a young man trying to do the right thing the wrong way while desperately seeking companionship. He clings to Caine who imparts on him some Zen wisdom through archery. However, Caine’s offhand efforts to get Burton to either drop his father’s mission to bring the robbers to justice or to face them without a gun seems foolhardy in the absence of any alternatives to resolve the issue at hand. Film speed variations are used again to enhance Carradine’s kung fu displays toward the end. Sadly, the episode’s nifty title does not refer to the animal style of kung fu but rather a reference to Caine’s criticism of seeking spiritual aid before the intent to kill.

Episode 12: Superstition

After being falsely accused of stealing, Caine is thrown into a prison work camp at a silver mine made up of drifters forced into labor. Being superstitious, the prisoners threaten to rebel after Indian bones are dug up followed by the death of a worker. Caine’s fearlessness is a calming presence in the camp but one that threatens the control the mine owner holds over the men. An attempt to get rid of him in a controlled tunnel collapse backfires and traps all of the workers, forcing them to wait for help. The highlight is Caine’s ability to use his Shaolin training to endure four days in the “box,” punishment as famously seen in many prison movies from THE BRIDGE ON THRE RIVER KWAI to COOL HAND LUKE. The superstition theme is weak with the writers’ best attempt at bridging Caine’s Shaolin training with the miner’s fear of disturbing Native American bones is having the young Caine go through a ridiculous balancing act over a pool of acid with a skeleton at the bottom. There is very little kung fu action and Caine’s imprisonment is resolved too conveniently.

Episode 13: The Stone

Shaolin kung fu versus Brazilian capoeira on network television in 1972? Once again, this show displays its uniqueness and forward thinking. The eloquent Moses Gunn co-stars as a former Brazilian slave-turned-capoeira master and self-made man who has relocated to the U.S. and is putting his hopes on a monster diamond he has stolen. All’s well until he mistakenly kills the local sheriff while the diamond ends up in the hands of three kids who recruit Caine to help them bring their jittery stepfather-to-be back to their mother. A marshal and three minority-hating thugs hunt for the Brazilian while the Brazilian hunts for Caine who he accuses of stealing his rock. Moses is all charisma and steals the show away from Carradine for this episode. After Moses establishes his martial arts skill while knocking the thugs around early on, he tangles with Carradine towards the end. Unfortunately, the fight is shot too tightly with a lot of close-ups and cuts, but it’s one of the more interesting fights of the series thus far.

Episode 14: The Third Man

While staying with a professional gambler and his wife, Caine is given $2500 in winnings to care for, which he hides before being attacked by two thieves. The gambler is then killed by a third man and the money stolen by a fourth. Caine vows to aid the gambler’s wife in returning the money and finding her husband’s killer. Caine’s moral lesson for this episode is about the value of trust. Caine’s martial lesson is about how to overcome someone wielding a very large scythe.

Episode 15: The Ancient Warrior

The conclusion to the series’ first season is a masterful work of television writing and one of the best Western stories ever filmed. It’s similar to the previous episodes in style but the combined severity of the subject matter and the quality of the acting makes for a much more moving story. It focuses on the very ugly relations between the white man and the Native American as seen through Caine’s eyes. Chief Dan George plays an aged native named The Ancient One who represents the last of his tribe. Close to death, he gains the help of Caine in returning him to his homeland, a valley he legally owns, to be buried there. Unfortunately, his chosen burial spot happens to be in what is now the center of Purgatory, a town seething with hatred for Native Americans. In a fascinating subplot, a legendary gunfighter arrives to challenge the sheriff (Victor French) for the unlawful death of his son who was half-Indian. There is one nicely-shot kung fu fight with Carradine but he mostly plays the spectator. Notable guest stars include Gary Busey as a young thug and DUKES OF HAZARD star Denver Pyle as Purgatory’s mayor.