June 4th, 2009
As part of its ongoing Gateways to Geekery series, the Onion AV Club offers recommendations for kung fu movies if you’re just getting into the genre. It’s a fine set of picks, led by the excellent 1978 film THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN.
But, as always, the discussion in the messages that follow is where things really get interesting. After mentioning dozens of kung fu films, someone finally brings up a legendarily bad one: THE DRAGON LIVES AGAIN. Released after the death of Bruce Lee, it cast another actor (who doesn’t even look like Lee) in the role of Bruce, who finds himself in hell. And that’s only the beginning. THE DRAGON LIVES AGAIN may be bad, but it’s like no movie you’ve ever seen. In fact, it’s great.
Here, for example, the faux Bruce Lee battles James Bond, what appear to be silhouette characters from a James Bond credit sequence, and the Blind Swordsman of Japanese movie lore, spaghetti western Clint Eastwood (as Kato, Lee’s role from the GREEN HORNET series), what appear to be a couple of Dracula-types, and a swordsman from a movie I can’t identify…
But that’s nothing! In this clip, he fights an army of mummies and gets help from — believe it or not — Popeye! — complete with a can of spinach and that familiar theme song!
June 4th, 2009
David Carradine, star of the TV series KUNG FU, the Quentin Tarantino movie KILL BILL (he played Bill), yellow pages commercials and a ton of other stuff, has been found dead in Bangkok. There aren’t many details yet, but here’s the Associated Press story as it stands…
Actor David Carradine, star of the 1970s TV series KUNG FU who also had a wide-ranging career in the movies, has been found dead in the Thai capital, Bangkok.
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, Michael Turner, confirmed the death of the 72-year-old actor. He says Carradine died either late Wednesday or early Thursday, but he could not provide further details out of consideration for his family.
The Web site of the newspaper The Nation cited unidentified police sources as saying Carradine was found Thursday hanged in his luxury hotel room and is believed to have committed suicide.
David Carradine belonged to a genuine acting dynasty: His dad, John Carradine, had roles in hundreds of movies from THE GRAPES OF WRATH to DRACULA VERSUS FRANKENSTEIN, his brother Keith  played Will Rogers for years on Broadway, and his brother Robert starred in the REVENGE OF THE NERD movies.
June 4th, 2009
Here’s the trailer for the new flick THE SURROGATES, due to open in theaters on Sept. 25.
Always nice to see an action movie that actually has an intriguing idea at its core.
