Member ThunderScore Posted August 26, 2014 Member Share Posted August 26, 2014 This was a 1974 ABC Movie Of The Week shot entirely in Hong Kong. Robert Ito, Jared Martin and Katie Saylor starred. IIRC, it was never officially released on home video... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member NoKUNGFUforYU Posted August 26, 2014 Member Share Posted August 26, 2014 Wow, now we are going way back! Saw it when it was first on TV. A made for TV Enter the Dragon ripoff. I am pretty sure the leads knew very, very little martial arts. I think the Ohara villain gets killed by a spear hand that we are to imagine goes right through his heat at the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member The Dragon Posted August 27, 2014 Member Share Posted August 27, 2014 26W2k7GU6n0 xcK-gNAKRPI Ripoff of The Dragon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted August 27, 2014 Member Share Posted August 27, 2014 26W2k7GU6n0 Ripoff of The Dragon WTF did I just watch ?! If the whole film is on par with this, then it must be really really bad... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member The Dragon Posted August 27, 2014 Member Share Posted August 27, 2014 Yeah... I've combed the net for fight scene footage and can't find any... Horrible movie. I saw it when it aired back in 74. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member NoKUNGFUforYU Posted August 27, 2014 Member Share Posted August 27, 2014 David Chow, the short term fight coordinator for Kung Fu, directed the fights. He was a judo guy and knew very little kung fu. He was replaced by Kam Yuen, a legit preying mantis master. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member The Dragon Posted August 27, 2014 Member Share Posted August 27, 2014 Both sucked. Their choreography was so choppy and unrefined, they make Chuck Norris' films of the late 70's look like classics. Lee never got the chance to direct choreograhy for other talented MA's in projects for others... Wonder what it may have looked like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member saltysam Posted August 27, 2014 Member Share Posted August 27, 2014 i've got this but the quality is pretty poor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member NoKUNGFUforYU Posted August 27, 2014 Member Share Posted August 27, 2014 Both sucked. Their choreography was so choppy and unrefined, they make Chuck Norris' films of the late 70's look like classics. Lee never got the chance to direct choreograhy for other talented MA's in projects for others... Wonder what it may have looked like? Well, they had to both work with David Carradine, who, I was told, used to take acid and "act". I remember looking at his autobiography and he mentioned Kung Fu as little as possible. Such a hack, him and his dad. I never saw Yuen in action, only photo's. He looked like a hippy, basically. Still, as little as it was, it was an improvement over Chow. Who knows, though, Chow might have been better at Judo, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member sifu iron perm Posted August 31, 2014 Member Share Posted August 31, 2014 I caught this on tv in the mid 80's, the blind fold fight scene has always been kept in my memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member bigrogie Posted August 31, 2014 Member Share Posted August 31, 2014 I have a TV rip on DVD of this. I think I'm gonna watch it to see if it is as bad as I remember it was back in the 70s! May have a few drinks before.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member NoKUNGFUforYU Posted August 31, 2014 Member Share Posted August 31, 2014 Lol! It is bigRogie, I'm sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ThunderScore Posted September 3, 2014 Author Member Share Posted September 3, 2014 I sat down and watched this... I have to state that there were no surprises - It was pretty much what I'd expect from a 1974 Martial Arts themed film at a time when ENTER THE DRAGON and TV's KUNG FU were the only available sources to draw from. There were some cool things tho... the HK locations; Oscar winner Elmer Bernstein's score; the casting of DR. NO's Joseph Wiseman (no doubt the inspiration for ETD's Mr. Han Man) as the lead villain. Most of the dialogue was post synched. Jared Martin's voice sounded strange, as tho he were dubbed by someone else - I'm still not sure. I know I heard James Hong's distinctive voice coming from at least two characters. I did draw comfort from the familiar sound effects that were used in A LOT of 70s TV and Films, including ENTER THE DRAGON. Yes, the MA skills of the three leads aren't that great, tho Katie Saylor certainly looked more limber than the others - perhaps she was also a dancer? There's an excessive amount of screeching from all participants, which got old very fast. Really hope this gets a legit video release and I'd certainly welcome a CD release of the Bernstein score. Come to think of it, I'd like to see all of the ABC MOVIE OF THE WEEK titles released complete with the Burt Bacharach opening title music... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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