The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go

(There Are Some Spoilers) In all the world you couldn't find a more unscrupulous unprincipled and sleazy individual as the "Evil" Mr. Go, James Mason, an international power broker working out of his home base in Hong Kong.

Mr.Go works in concert with the equally "Evil" and corrupt Japanese banker Ito Suzki, King Hu, who both would even sell their own mothers out, if the price was right, to the highest bidder. Having US weapons expert Robert Bannister,Peter Lyn Hayes, rescued from a plane that was shot down and crashed in Communist China Mr. Go wants to get information on the Side-Winder Laser Beam that the USA has perfected that would not only make nuclear war obsolete but impossible. This Side-Winder Laser would render nuclear weapons useless by destroying their ability to detonate and thus cause them to fall harmlessly to the ground like a coconut falling off a coconut tree.

Knowing that Bannister wouldn't talk and that if he has him killed he'll never get the secret of the Side-Winder Laser Mr.Go lets him go free and then gets in touch with Tah Ling, Irene Tsu, his former lover and her obnoxious boyfriend Nero Finnighan, Jeff Bridges, a deserter from the US Army in Vietnam, and frustrated James Joyce wannabe writer. Mr.Go wants to get to get the uncooperative Bannister into a compromising position so that he can blackmail him into giving him that important information about the Side-Winder laser beam.

Nero getting Bannister drunk and then taking him to a whorehouse he get him with his pants down as well as having Bannsiter do some very kinky and crazy stuff ,together with himself, on film. When later confronted with the evidence of him being a sexual pervert Bannister gives in and give Mr. Go all the information about the Side-Winder Laser Beam so that his bosses from CIA Chief Parker, Brodrick Crawford, on down so they don't find out about his sick and sleazy secret life.

Living up to his reputation as a two-timing lowlife and first class sleaze-ball Mr. Go, with the help of Suzuki, has both Nero & Tah Ling kidnapped and later to be killed so that they'll never be able to spill the beans on what the two did to Bannister in getting him to open up and talk. It's just then when a miracle happened and the "Evil" Mr.Go is made to do a complete 180 degree turnaround and became a good kind and unselfish person saving both Nero and Tah Ling from the fate that he and Suzuki had in store for them. In the end Mr. Go even gives away the blueprint of the Side-Winder laser beam, to every nation on earth, making the horrors of a nuclear war impossible and thus truly bringing "Peace in our Time".

The Budda who during the cycle of the fifth month every fifty years emits a beam, if world conditions warrants, from his third eye that hits a chosen individual and cause him or her to change the course of history. This time the wise Budda choose the "Evil" Mr. Go and made him the person who would end the fear of nuclear destruction and bring peace to all Mankind.

You just don't know what to make of this movie since it's about a very serious subject but comes across, especially with it's goody-goody bubble gum music soundtrack, like a cross between a 1960's Frankie Avalon Annette Funicello beach party movie and a late 1950's and early 1960's teenage Rock&Roll musical.

The action chase scenes shoot-outs and fights are hilarious but it doesn't seem to me that they were made to be that way but were so badly done that they came off looking ridicules and silly. The US government gets the British M16 to try and bring in both Dr. Go and Nero together with Tha ling as well as Bannister by having their top spy Mr. Leo Zimmerman, Jack MagGowran,put on the case. Zimmerman ends up screwing things up even more by first getting smashed over the head with a coffee pot by Nero then later getting himself shot, by what looked like Ito Suzuki's thugs. Thus allowing not only Nero Mr. Go and Tah Ling to escape but having them release the secret blueprint about the Side-Winder Laser Beam to the world! This puts Zimmerman and his spy organization the British M16, as well as the CIA & KGB, out of business.

Directed by veteran actor Burgess Meredith who also had a role in the movie as Dolphin a weirdo Chinese acupuncture druggist wise man and what looks like some kind of a high priest as well as and undercover sleazy power broker, much like Mr.Go, all rolled into one. The movie "The Yin Yang of Mr. Go" is worth seeing not only to see for yourself that a movie like it was actually made but even more surprising just how the makers of the film were able to get top actors, back in 1970, like James Mason Broderick Crawford Jack MagGowan as well as Burgess Meredith to be in it? That has to be without a doubt the ultimate $64,000.00 question.

The Yin and Yang of Mr. Go has the distinction of being the only feature-length film directed by Burgess Meredith. It also has the distinction of being the only spy movie narrated by the Buddha. From the introduction:

"During the fifth moon of the year 5000 B. C. Chun Li Chu'an discovered the Elixir of Life and invented the power of transmutation.

Chu'an was the chief of the eight immortals.

This power was lost in the 10th century B. C.- some say through vanity and rediscovered by Gautama Buddha in the 6th century before Christ.

Buddha has never again lost the secret but uses it sparingly and only at certain cycles of time.

The cycle is during the fifth moon of each 50th year.

Should the course of human events need changing, Buddha sends a beam of light from his inner eye and it strikes just one human being. Whatever that human being is doing, he or she does just the opposite.

Sometimes the great Buddha himself is amused at the results."

The esteemed British actor James Mason plays Y.Y. Go, a man of Chinese and Mexican ancestry who works as an influence peddler in Hong Kong. "We exist in the vacuum between enemy nations", he later mentions. The first scene has him undergoing acupuncture therapy from Burgess Meredith. Meredith, best remembered as the arch-villain Penguin in the original Batman TV series, plays "Dolphin", a traditional medical herbalist who, although obviously Caucasian, dresses in Chinese robes. Mr. Go asks Dolphin to arrange his funeral.

We next see Mr. Go in the presence of a recovering American scientist. The scientist (Peter Lind Hayes) was rescued by Mr. Go's minions after the plane he was traveling in was shot down over mainland China. Mr. Go wants to buy the scientist's anti-ballistic missile laser system. The scientist refuses, but Mr. Go has some information on the scientist he will later use.

And then there's Jeff Bridges in one of his first film roles. He plays an expatriate American, Nero Fitzgerald, slumming and living off his Chinese girlfriend, Tah-ling (Irene Tsu). It's not said how she makes her money, but a sex work is implied. To get some cash to support his writing aspirations, Nero goes to see Mr. Go. Mr. Go has a job for him: pay a visit to the scientist with the laser weapon. The scientist likes young guys. With the um evidence of Nero and the scientist tryst on film, Mr. Go has no trouble getting what he wants from the scientist

But the American government isn't taking all this back action without doing something. The director of the CIA, played by mega- heavy Broderick Crawford, dispatches a top-secret agent to prevent the laser weapon from falling into the wrong hands. Their agent, Leo Zimmerman, is played by famous Irish stage actor Jack MacGowan. He's been selected for his James Joyce knowledge. You see, bohemian Nero is a JJ fan and has an encyclopedic knowledge of everything the great man has ever written. When agent Zimmerman hits the soil of Hong Kong, he makes his way to the nearest location of Nero and the two head off into the night spouting Joycean lines.

But, as he is "the embodiment of pure evil", Mr. Go has decided that Nero and his lady friend have become a problem that needs solving. While he arranges for Tah-ling to be kidnapped by Zelda, an enemy agent with her own designs on the laser weapon, Mr. Go takes Nero for a helicopter ride. While another henchman levels a gun on Nero, Go tells the young man how he and his lady friend know too much. "It's a great story,"Nero sobs."Too bad I won't be able to write about it."

And then the Buddha intervenes….

I've watched this movie several times. As another commentator has noted, you find something new in it each time. There's the joy in watching James Mason deliver his lines flawlessly while in character. Burgess Meredith hams it up all he can, leading the bad guys on a chase through Hong Kong at one point. Jeff Bridges is busy channeling his inner "dude". And Irene Tsu is mighty pleasing to look at, but she can also create the most vulnerable expressions when needed. And the music: it's a light breezy pop score similar to what the 5th Dimension was producing at the time.

I just can't figure out how much of the final movie was director Burgess Meredith's original idea and how much the producers added to the final film. Or took away. It has a wonderful ending where everyone gets what they want. James Mason plays the villain to perfection: a bad guy who doesn't see himself as such. Meredith would later disown the movie and claim little remained of his ideas. The scenes with the CIA director and the narration by The Buddha appear to have been added by the producers.

Another problem with film is the pathetic condition of the source print. I doubt very many copies were struck when the movie was first released. It wasn't released in the US until 1973 and supposedly by National General Pictures, a holding copy which closed down the same year. The print from which most video and digital copies have been sourced looks washed-out and faded. Not every film gets the library of congress archival treatment. Perhaps a decent copy or negative will surface someday.

In the meantime, you can find the movie on the Internet or in budget DVD. It's no President's Analyst, but Yin and Yang of Mr. Go is far better than I had expected. It was produced toward the end of the spy movie craze of the 60's, when producers where looking for different ways to keep the genre relevant. I can think of few other existentialist spy movies. http://www.z7hq.com/pulp/ying-yang-mr-go-1970.php

The only words that could possibly describe this movie are odd, demented, developmentally disabled, etc. I think this movie might make sense after a couple blotter papers, or a bong full of opium laced weed. I makes no sense, the music is horrible, the sound doesn't match the footage, in timing or mood.This movie is like a drug episode, but without the fun. The same effect can be gotten by getting crazy high and watching a movie that makes sense. I can't spoil it, I've watched it and I still have no idea why anything happens. I can't tell if it's originally done in Chinese and dubbed, or if it's just badly made. And the Buhdda thing makes no sense even in context of eastern religion.

In his autobiography Meredith claims his first solo directing effort was hijacked by the producers, re-edited with additional footage of Broderick Crawford and an animated Buddha, and released in Europe without his permission. But even if you ignore the added footage and voice over, this is still an awful movie.

Notable for a freshman effort by Jeff Bridges (my copy of the movie gives him an intro credit) and an inexplicable appearance in a small role by Hong Kong director King Hu, "Mr. Go" plays out like a demented episode of "Batman." Much of the dialogue makes no sense, you could drive a Hummer through the plot holes, and the musical score sounds like something The Cowsills might have done on a particularly bad day. Unless you're a die-hard fan of truly abominable movies, stay away from this one.

I was only in the bar for a quick drink. It was hot outside and I figured a cold beer might knock off the oppressive stillness of it all.

As promised, the Shiner hit the back of my throat like an alpine breeze. I clutched the bottle to my brow, letting the cool condensation roll over my eyebrows. Luckily, the bar had no windows, so the dark inside was a fine respite from the tenacious sun outside. No windows allowed that surly teen of a star force his rays inside.

And then I saw him.

He was sitting in a corner, holding his gin and tonic with both hands. For a moment, he raised his hand to his mouth, maybe questioning something? Then, as swiftly as it happened, the thought escaped him and he waved away the lingering memory.

I recognized it immediately. I had to talk to him. He was one of the few who had slogged through the same terrible adventure as I. Maybe, by speaking with him, I could alleviate his pain.

He didn't even look at me as I approached his well-padded booth.

"If you had heard I were killed," I asked him. "Would you still be afraid?"

"That's when I would be afraid the most," he muttered to his drink.

There it was, a shared connection. I had been correct in my assumption about this broken man. He was just like me and had seen the same horrors.

He had seen "The Yin and Yang of Mr. Go."

We sat in silence, each nursing our own drinks, our own chance at forgetting.

He shook his head. "Did you know that lesbian rape scene is the opening credits?"

I had to admit I didn't. The scene in question had been so shocking, so unexpected when it happened. The opening credits, I had blissfully ejected from memory.

"I didn't catch it the first time," he confessed.

"You watched it a second time?" I asked. "Why?"

He closed his eyes and lowered his head. With his chin resting on his chest, he whispered, "I don't know... I don't know...."

A deep, ragged breath and sigh. He looked at me, a fellow victim. "If tomorrow is in question..." he started.

"And your meditation is interpreted by what lies ahead," I answered.

Yes, his pain was deep. Seeing it brought back my own pain: the stilted dialog, the terrible soundtrack, the gratuitous breasts that made us both (I am sure) feel skeevy because they looked they they belonged to a 14-year-old. I shuddered and reached for my cigarettes.

Not missing a beat, my companion lit a match and held it out. "Puff the magic dragon," he sighed.

I was afraid to accept, but only did so to oblige him. We sat in the still of the room, smoke and nightmares swirling around us.

And when he cried, I only held out my arm to comfort him. Like our connection in the bar, it was brief and disturbing. We had both seen the horror. It was not something we could share with others.

We both knew our warning would fall on deaf ears. "But Jeff Bridges is in it!" our companions would say. "What about that narration by Christopher Lee?"

Oh, what of it? Of all the things that should have made it right, there was only so much wrong a man could bear. James Mason is a fine actor, yes, but playing a half-Chinese\half-Mexican crime lord is too great a burden. And the script, written by Burgess Meredith? No finer form of torture has been devised, even if directed by the man himself. No. It was too great a passion that burned in that idea and all involved were singed by its efforts.

"You know that Peter Lind Hayes played Mr. Zabladowski in "The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T?" I asked. I hoped to lift the mood.

"Very atomic," my companion said, and then laughed. "I guess he got to lay some pipe!"

We both laughed until tears covered our faces. Then we cried and held each other. We had been there. We had seen it. We had both been through "The Yin and Yang of Mr. Go".