Kung fu Pilot 1972

KUNG FU 1972 DAVID CARRADINE

PLOT

From the tiger, he learns tenacity and power. From the white crane, gracefulness. And the dragon teaches him to ride

the wind. It could take a lifetime to master just one of the many Kung Fu disciplines. But young Kwai Chang Caine knows

them all. He was educated in a Shaolin monastery around 1800 by the monks. Against all forms of violence he face his

ultimate challenge when his preferred master was killed by the hands of the imperial forces. After avenging the death of

his teacher, as a Shaolin monk, he flees China to the American West and helps people defending the weak and fighting

against the evil while being pursued by Chinese bounty hunters.

CAST

David Carradine ... Kwai Chang Caine


Radames Pera ... Young Kwai Chang Caine


Keye Luke ... Master Po


Philip Ahn ... Master Kan

OK grasshoppers this is the pilot for the brilliant 70's classic tv series, starring David Carradine,


As soon as this is seeded, I will begin uploading series one, 3 episodes at a time, there are 15 episodes in season 1,

the reason for not uploading in one large 6 GB file, Is to make it faster for you to get episodes & previously I

uploaded a tv series of 5 GB, it took 2 weeks before any of the completed leechers started seeding, which in turn

stopped me uploading anything else because it took to much bandwidth, as soon as each set of Kung Fu episodes is being

seeded I will up the next set, they are all ready to go.

Review by an IMDB member byght [usa] 2004


It's a shame that the martial arts craze that this show created (in conjunction with the ascendant popularity of Bruce

Lee in the early 1970s), in conjunction with the somewhat cheesy '90s spinoff, has served to somewhat obscure what a gem

it truly was.

It's heartbreaking to think that a lot of people who haven't seen the show lump it in as old, campy action television,

like "The A-Team" or "Charlie's Angels" or something like that. The fact is, any given hour-long episode of "Kung Fu"

probably contained about 45 to 60 seconds of actual action--if not less. The fact is, David Carradine was as good a

leading man as any TV drama has ever had.

And the fact is, far from being a cheap exploitation of martial arts and Eastern philosophy, "Kung Fu" was created and

written in true reverance to those concepts. Meticulous research was conducted, and the lessons that Masters Kan and Po

(wonderfully rendered by Philip Ahn and Keye Luke, respectively) teach Caine, and that Caine in turn teaches those he

encounters, are routed in authentic Shaolin philosophy.

Nor was the show cheesily made. It involved lush cinematography by televisual standards and innovative use of devices

such as forced perspective and slow motion (this was the first show or movie to use different gradations of speed within

a single take--the shot would move at normal speed until Caine made contact with an elbow or a fist, and then suddenly

switch to delicate, poetic slow motion).

Caine was a true archetype of television--a complete reversal of basically every American screen hero that went before.

Not just peaceful--but passive and serene. As Caine described it--"Kung Fu" was an "anti-revenge television show"--an

amazing concept when you think about it.

Remember, the American public was not even acquainted with the phrase "kung fu" before this show. Zen Buddhism was

gaining popularity in the late '60s and early '70s, but no one had ever heard of Shaolin monks. The creators of this

show took a big risk on an untested concept and came up with TV gold.

Review by an IMDB member byght [usa] 2004


It's a shame that the martial arts craze that this show created (in conjunction with the ascendant popularity of Bruce

Lee in the early 1970s), in conjunction with the somewhat cheesy '90s spinoff, has served to somewhat obscure what a gem

it truly was.

It's heartbreaking to think that a lot of people who haven't seen the show lump it in as old, campy action television,

like "The A-Team" or "Charlie's Angels" or something like that. The fact is, any given hour-long episode of "Kung Fu"

probably contained about 45 to 60 seconds of actual action--if not less. The fact is, David Carradine was as good a

leading man as any TV drama has ever had.

And the fact is, far from being a cheap exploitation of martial arts and Eastern philosophy, "Kung Fu" was created and

written in true reverance to those concepts. Meticulous research was conducted, and the lessons that Masters Kan and Po

(wonderfully rendered by Philip Ahn and Keye Luke, respectively) teach Caine, and that Caine in turn teaches those he

encounters, are routed in authentic Shaolin philosophy.

Nor was the show cheesily made. It involved lush cinematography by televisual standards and innovative use of devices

such as forced perspective and slow motion (this was the first show or movie to use different gradations of speed within

a single take--the shot would move at normal speed until Caine made contact with an elbow or a fist, and then suddenly

switch to delicate, poetic slow motion).

Caine was a true archetype of television--a complete reversal of basically every American screen hero that went before.

Not just peaceful--but passive and serene. As Caine described it--"Kung Fu" was an "anti-revenge television show"--an

amazing concept when you think about it.

Remember, the American public was not even acquainted with the phrase "kung fu" before this show. Zen Buddhism was

gaining popularity in the late '60s and early '70s, but no one had ever heard of Shaolin monks. The creators of this

show took a big risk on an untested concept and came up with TV gold.