Kung Fu

David Caradine plays Kwai Chang Caine, a Shaolin priest wandering the 19th century American west in search of his half-brother while being sought by the Chinese government on a charge of murder back in China. He mostly does his wandering barefooted, but carries his shoes just in case he has to enter a saloon with a "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service" policy. Generally Caine is a magnet for trouble, and although he'd rather resolve the conflicts through peaceful means, he inevitability relies on his highly developed martial arts skills. When I was a kid enjoyed watching hippie Carradine beat the crap out of red necks. As an adult I favor the Shaolin temple flashbacks and the words of wisdom offered up by the priests. The music, the cinematography (love the lens flare), direction, acting and overall production all contribute to making "Kung Fu" an excellent television classic.

This will always be one of the more original series to come out of the 1970's. Imagine a Western where the main character is half Chinese and half Caucasian and doesn't use a gun. Now think of how this series wound up as one of the great cult classics of its era. Even though this series originally was the idea of Bruce Lee and would have featured him as the star, David Carradine still pulls off the job and comes off as very believable as Caine. You also can see that he tries not to play to stereotype, but he does make this show very mystical, which can be seen as a positive and as a negative. Also wonderful were Keye Luke as master Po, Phllip Ahn as master Kahn and, of course, Radames Pera as the young Caine. This show will always be a cult classic of its era.

This is one of the first TV drams I've seen. In 1980, TV was a new luxury in Sri Lanka. One of the first came on TV was Kung fu.

Though I am a Buddhist the philosophical aspect of it never did hit me till I see this. But this did help me to look in to my own religion in a different way. As a kid I always watched Kung-Fu to see him kicking off people. But the story of the grasshopper was always in my mind...

It's a lovely story. With well narrated script and well controlled action. The best part of this is that it never took more action than needed in the show. After all he is "Kung-fu" master it will be childish to have a full scale fight with any one doesn't know any fighting other than grumbling over a Whiskey...

I wonder whether this is available on DVD. Something I'd buy..

Just finished watching disc 1. This show still holds up today. OK more modern technology would make the shots appear better but the story, acting, editing...all awesome. I loved this series it was a major influence in my life as a child. I can't wait to finish the rest of Season 1. The "Extras" on the disc are sort of lame. I guess if you never saw the show or aren't really a fan then they serve a purpose but I know all this stuff already. I'd love to have a version with running commentary from David Carradine underneath. Carradine has allegedly been requesting more interesting "extras" for the season 2 disc like a taped dinner party of some key participants and others speaking to how the series influenced their lives, like Tarintino and his Kill Bill films. I adore David Carradine as an actor I'd listen to him talk about just about anything.

So when is Season 2 released?

I saw this series exactly 20 years after it was released, but its excellence made the viewing experience timeless.

Carradine plays the immigrant drifter Caine, who walks through the Wild West encountering different situations, people, etc, there was a different plot for each episode. This was more a "Drama" than a "Western" but the interesting sparring moves and Caine's relaxed personality made it a decent alternative to the more violent and rowdy martial arts movies that released around that time.

Whenever this series is brought back to your TV station or one episode happens to be on, it would be an excellent show to tape and watch again and again - if not already released, I'm sure they'll have the show reissued on an official DVD/VHS set.