Favorite Deep Space Nine Episodes: Blood Oath

Welcome back space travelers for Day 2 of Favorite Deep Space Nine Episodes and I feel this one in particular will be appreciate by all Original Series fans. Beginning Episode 19 of Season 2, carrying on with her duties Lt. Dax (Terry Farrell) hears about a drunken Klingon threatening to disembowel Quark while singing Klingon songs of victory and enjoying a holo-suite program of the Battle of Klach D'Kel Brakt, a legendary battle and victory over the Romulans almost a hundred years ago.

Koloth suffers no fools.

With a quick check down at the brig, Dax sees Curzon's old friend, Dahar Master Kor (John Colicos of Anne of the Thousand Days, Raid on Rommel, The Changeling, The Postman Always Rings Twice and Battlestar Galactica) drunk as a skunk and attempting to sober up. From Kor Dax finds out that the blood oath that Curzon swore is finally coming to light.

Nearly 80 years have passed and Kor's fellow Dahar Masters Kang (Michael Ansara of Broken Arrow, Law of the Plainsman, Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, Rambo, Assassination, Babylon 5, Batman: The Animated Series and The Long Road Home) and Koloth (William Campbell of Star Trek, Black Gunn, Emergency!, Adam-12, The Streets of San Francisco and Star Trek: Judgement Rites) shapen their blades and prepare for glorious battle and revenge for the death of their first born sons. A bandit and murderer known as The Albino (Bill Bolender of Brooklyn South, The Commissioner, JAG, The Magnificent Seven, Surface and Desperate Housewives) swore revenge on the sons of the commanding captains of three Klingon battle cruisers, as he had each first born son poisoned on a genetic level.

So then he says, "Hoover?  I don't even know her."

Kang and Koloth mourn the loss of their fallen comrade Curzon in their own way and feel that Jadzia has no place with them in their revenge but Jadzia feels otherwise as each of these men were in her previous life and much is owed to these men of valor and honor.

As these legendary and honored heroes of the Empire plot and scheme, Dax must wonder if the blood oath applies to Jadzia Dax as well as it did to Curzon Dax. Should a new host take on the obligations, duties and unfinished business of the previous host?

All three of our Dahar Masters(Legendary Warrior Status among Klingons) apprised their Original Series roles as Michael Ansara as Kang from Day of the Dove, William Campbell as Koloth in The Trouble with Tribbles and John Colicos as Kor from Errand of Mercy. Interestingly enough, William Campbell played two different characters on Star Trek as Kor and Trelane of The Squire of Gothos. Michael Ansara's voice acting is also an easy spot asGeneral Warhawk from the Rambo cartoon and Mr. Freeze of Batman: The Animated Series.

This workout is killer on the calves.

Random TV Week: Have Gun Will Travel

Back again sports fans and welcome to Day 4 of Random TV Week This time we move towards San Francisco to a professional gunfighter, a trouble shooter if you will. The Enigmatic Paladin has his own calling card. So saddle up, have an ace in the hole and have your wits about you. This is Have Gun Will Travel.

Yikes that was a rough range.

Former West Point graduate and Civil War Veteran Paladin (Richard Boone of Halls of Montezuma, Call Me Mister, Return of the Texan, Pony Soldier, Medic, Hombre and Big Jake) has emerged from the war in favor of the finer things in life with his care free hotel room in the Carlton. When he wasn’t enjoying a series of poker or a bottle of Dom Perignon and seats at the opera; a professional gunslinger with his business card over a picture of a chess knight piece that reads: Have Gun, Will Travel…Wire Paladin, San Francisco. This man was characterized as an anti-hero. I assume this is due to the fact he is constituted as a bounty hunter, gunfighter and everyman’s hero. Traveling from town to town on horseback or by train he found his mission objectives and earned his money.

To me, he came across as a necessary evil. The final justice in a land that had no real law was at the barrel of his balanced and weighed .45 revolver, his derringer and a lever-action Marlin rifle. His marksmanship was second to none. His training, intelligence and tactical analysis gave him a massive edge.

So you like dangerous men, eh?

The only other reoccurring character is handy boy and bellhop Hey Boy (Kam Tong of The Hunters, Who Was That Lady, Walk Like a Dragon, The Virginian, Women of the Prehistoric Planet and Dimension 5) who Paladin harassed but it was good natured ribbing.

Now we discuss a few interesting notions of the show. Most of the character Paladin is shrouded in mystery. You get the concept that he is not proud of being a soldier in the Civil War and his personal honor is greatly tarnished from this.

So many TV actors cut their teeth under this show and many other have furthered their existing careers such as: Ken Curtis of Gunsmoke, Charles Bronson of The Dirty Dozen and the Mechanic, Jacqueline Scott of Gunsmoke and Ironside, character actor George Kennedy of Gunsmoke, Dr. Kildare and the Naked Gun trilogy and Norma Crane of Fiddler on the Roof and They Call Me Mister Tibbs!

Once again Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park, Iverson Ranch and Bronson Canyon Griffith Park were being used as background trails from horse thieves and bushwhackers. The series was filmed in 35mm Spherical and recorded in mono for audio. Paramount once again is the production for the CBS entertainment as it was with Gunsmoke, The Jack Benny Program and The Red Skelton Show. A darker storyline but justice always prevailed in one form or another.

Cripes another white Native American escaped from F Troop again.

Kung Fu Theater: Shaolin Temple

Welcome back to Kung Fu Theater Week: Double Feature Day and we finish off the week with the first starring role of Jet Li (Born to Defense, The Master, Once Upon a Time in China, The Legend of the Swordsman, Black Mask, Hero and The Expendables) from the director Hsin-yan Chang (Treasure Island, Hong ying dao, Tong tian lin ji, Yellow River Fighter and Tai Chi II) brings a tale of honor, love, loss and redemption. 

Monks performing the poopy dance.

Shaolin must uphold the principles that all spoilers believe in.

We open in wide angle shots around the Temple seeing these beautiful wall paintings, these gorgeous trees, well-maintained gardens, shrines, immense gates and statues of Buddha and the Gods to be held.

All the monks have knelt before the Abbot of the Shaolin and in the middle is a young shaven-headed man in a blue robe awaiting to be accepted to the temple.  The Abbot explains he’s expected to adhere to a life of ceremony, self respect and respect of others and a purification of body and soul.  The Abbot asks him for his name to which he says Jue Yuan and the Abbot tells him to be allowed into the temple he must never commit murder.   Can he obey this and the film fades to a flashback of a warlord Wang Shichongkilling an old man and tossing him off a high wall and down in the dregs of a muddy river and then just whip his head back at the slaves to get back to work; these poor slaves are literally being worked to death, toiling in the mud among corpses of their fellow comrades while soldiers whip them.

The Dogs of War are very cross!

China is divided into factions once again at the end of Siu Dynasty and this wretched monster of a man calls himself Emperor Chang now and he enslaved captured warriors to complete his defenses.

Jue pledges that one day he will end the life of this cruel Emperor after he kills Jue’s father and thus free China from this reign of terror and bring about a new age of prosperity and order.  Thoroughly beaten by the Emperor, Jue still manages to escape and is saved by the Shaolin Temple.   Through this his teacher Sifu and his existing Kung Fu training he proves to be an exceptional fighter but damn near kills a sparring partner focusing his rage on a vision of the Emperor.  With this he flees the temple and attempts to kill the Emperor yet again.  Forgiven of his impulses of youth the temple allows him back and he spends the next year honing his skills to become adept in the Northern Shaolin Kung Fu. 

A refugee Li Shimin flees to the temple being chased by the sadistic Emperor and his men and with the help of the feint the Abbot and fellow monks Jue and Li attempt to escape the countryside only to be surrounded by the Emperor’s vicious soldiers but Sifu and several of the monks aid Jue in his time of need.

Similar to The 36^th Chambers of Shaolin this story covers depictions of honor against the unjust, a need for protectors to become more than they were and a time when killing is a necessity.   The fight sequences are amazing and the training courses look grueling to say the least but the story progresses beyond just the next fight and with a guanine tale of triumph, tragedy and tempered discipline.

BOOT TO THE HEAD!

Kung Fu Theater Week: The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

Howdy all you Kung Fu Fans and welcome back to the last day of Kung Fu Theater Week.  Due to some cumbersome objects I lifted Wednesday I was quite sore and unable to sit in a chair for film viewing.  Today is another matter all together as I will be doing a double feature to make up for lost days.  Our first film of the roster tells the tale of a student and his hometown being torn apart by two warring generals and the village getting caught in the middle of this conflict.  Our young fellow must rise to meet the challenge of righting the wrongs, preserving the peace and bringing about order.  Can such a task be performed by only one man?  This is The 36^th Chamber of Shaolin.

Jefferson Junior High Presents: The Boxer Rebellion!

We must rise up against the tyranny of General Spoiler, for the good of all!

Our story begins in the occupation of the Manchus in the Qing Dynasty (that would be roughly 1645 to 1910) the Shaolin monasteries were forbidden at the time to offer the peasants Kung Fu and the weapons training to fend off invaders as they themselves were viewed as outsiders and these practices were sacred above all else…even the cost of their fellow man.  Yeah it is that screwy.  Of course from a different point of view you can be amused that Hong Kong (a then colony of the former British Empire) is producing movies that incite rebellion and England does not even bat an eye.

Aren't you glad you used Dial? Don't you wish your opponent did?

Okay enough of the history lesson and on with the violence!!!  General Inspector Tien Ta (Lieh Lo of Five Fingers of Death, Shaolin Deadly Kicks, Super Dragon, The Enchantress, Shanghai 13 and Police Pool of Blood) is a ruthless tyrannical monster watching over the villages like a hawk gathering the sparrows.  Only General Yin feels he can stand up to him and only to be humiliated and cut down.  A young man name of Liu Yude (Chia-Hui Liu of Shaolin Martial Arts, Five Shaolin Masters, 7 Man Army, Shaolin Mantis, Godfather of Canton and Kill Bill: Vol. 2) is wounded during the riots and retreats to the Shaolin Monastery for his own life.  With the strict practices he is almost turned away when the abbot insists on allowing him to be cared for and tended to.  

A year has passed and Liu Yude has taken on a Monk’s title of San Te and vows to avenge those slain in this horrible act of greed and wanton destruction but also as a manner of honor to right that which has been done to those around him.   San Te throws himself into his training with vigor that none of the masters have ever seen.  He vows to complete the 35 Chambers of the Shaolin in order to save those under General Tien’s villainy.

Now let us examine this film overall.  This is not merely a revenge title but a challenge of ethics and morals of the highest order.  If San Te trained merely to get his hands coated in blood for his own end he would have been banished from the temple and forced to find another path altogether.  San Te would have then been no better than the monster he has dedicated himself to stop but just a different horrible creature.  

The choreography is amazing, between the training levels to the fights in the street.  Wire work, months of sword, staff and halberd training just captures the quintessence of the story and gives it greater presence than even the dialogue.     The bottom line is this is a visual film rather than dialogue driven and were it altered in any way would diminish what our director Chia-Liang Liu (The Spiritual Boxer, Executioners from Shaolin, Legendary Weapons of China, Heroic Family and The Legend of Drunken Master)set out to create.

Jeez Gary, you almost nailed me.

Kung Fu Theater Week: Drunken Master

Welcome back folks and sorry for yesterday.  I wanted to spend time with my lady love and lost track of the day.  Today I wish to focus on Jackie Chan’s second starring role after Snake in Eagle’s Shadow.  Because the unparallel success of this film lead to his second movie of an coming of age and growing with wisdom with some antics, bit of violence and in the end perhaps a change for the better.  So master your Kung Fu, don’t hide the rice wine from the old sot and NO BACK TALK!  This is Drunken Master.

Hey, that's dirty!

You must harness the 8 drunken spoilers to defeat any opponent!

Our story centers on a lad name of Wong Fei-hung (Jackie Chan of Enter the Dragon, New Fists of Fury, The Young Master, Cannonball Run II, Police Story, Supercop, Operation Condor and Rumble in the Bronx), a undisciplined spoiled boy who gets in all sorts of mischief.   Flogging an arrogant and overbearing Kung Fu assistant teacher is viewed as amusing but his father Wong Kei Ying (Siu Hung Cham of Dai Mung Sing, Mad Monkey Kung Fu, The Young Master, Killer Wears White, The 36 Deadly Styles and Man tian shen fo) chastises him and warns him of his ways.  He fails to take his Kung Fu spiritual training to heart and is a bully to most those around him.  To impress his buddies he hits on a young girl when her older guardian thrashes him profusely in front of his boys.   As he arrives home from his childish way he is introduced to his aunt and cousin only to find out that they are the same two women he had his confrontation with.

Ow! Okay, your hair does not make you look like a girl!

As if that was not enough he soundly beats a punk son of a highly influential man in town and is forced to train even harder in his martial arts by his father.    Wong’s father sends for his uncle Su Hua Chi (Siu Tin Yuen of Deadly Snake Versus Kung Fu Killers, Boxing Wizard, The 36^th Chamber of Shaolin, Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow and Heroes of the East) a notoriously vicious trainer that has been known to break his students and with that knowledge Wong escapes his father’s home.   He heads to a local diner and proceeds to stuff his face and cons a fellow to pay for his meal only to find out that the man is the owner of the restaurant and dives into a fight to with the waiting staff and ends up drawing a drunkard old man into the fight and they both escape.   The drunk reveals himself to being Wong’s new trainer and Su works Wong like a dog.

Tired of this torturous training and runs away to bump into an assassin Thunderleg by accident and ends up in YET another fight.  Seriously this kid just needs to learn a bit of common sense or manners.  Thunderleg beats him like a gong and humiliates him so Wong heads back to Siu to throw himself into his training for a rematch.

 I had just a bit of comments on the film.   Jackie damn near had a detached retina from Kung Fu master Hwang Jig Lee (Thunderleg) snap kicked his head.  Siu Tin Yuen was 66 in this movie and some of the more athletic sequences was done by his two sons, future directors Cheung-Yan Yuen (Ghost Mansion, Coupe de Grace, Yao guai du shi, The Tai Chi Master and Kung Fu Hero) and Woo-ping Yuen (Dance of the Drunken Mantis, Tiger Cage, Tiger Cage 2, Tai-chi Master and Wing Chun) as stunt doubles. It was fun, ridiculous amounts of violence this side of an anime film and in general I had a load of fun watching this one again. 

Uh oh, Ryu got in the Sake....again.

Kung Fu Theater Week: The Chinese Connection

Greetings readers to Kung Fu Theater Week and I thought I would start us off with a Bruce Lee film that received a lot of love not unlike that of Enter of the Dragon.   America took notice of this leading man with his look, style and mastery of Wing Chun with incredible speed.  Our feature is Lee’s second starring role after Fists of Fury a.k.a. The Big Boss and provided excellent action and impressive story.

So grab your gi, claim your Gong and Qiang and ready yourself for battle.  This is The Chinese Connection a.k.a. Fist of Fury.

You see I shan't be turning Japanese. I really think so.

Chen: Tell me the spoiler. No more lies. If I turn myself over to you, will you leave the Ching Wu School alone? The truth!

Inspector: You have my word on it. Don’t worry, on my word of honor.

Chen Zhen (Bruce Lee of The Green Hornet, The Big Boss, Longstreet, The Way of the Dragon and Enter the Dragon), a young master of Wing Chun returns to Jingwu School before marrying his fiancée.  Tragic news informs in him that his master Huo Yuanjia has passed away due to illness.  As the funeral progresses as a rival school based in a Japanese dojo shows up to hurl insults and taunt the students.

Alone, Chen proceeds to the dojo to throw down and throw down he did wiping the walls with the entire school.  After flogging the bejesus out of the less than disciplined dojo Chen went for a walk in the park when angered by a Japanese man and his buddies giving him a load of crap so Chen threw them a beating as well. 

This is gonna hurt..for the other guy.

Master Hiroshi Suzuki (Not the automobile producer) demands the Jingwu School after their embarrassing beating be destroyed.  After trashing the school and fighting yet again with the students they tell them to hand over Chen so they can deal with him.  Chen arrives back at the school to see that his impulse control has gotten the better of him in the need to defend his honor and the honor of the school.  That evening Chen discovered the cook that prepared his master’s meals had actually poisoned him and Chen wails on him and left his body from a lamp post. 

Inspector Lo (Wei Lo of The Pistol, Land of the Brave, The Big Boss, The Golden Sword, Vengeance of a Snowgirl and New Fists of Fury) a local officer trying to keep the peace must capture Chen and bring him in due to several of his beatings on others has taken lives and he must be made to answer to the law, and still Lo feels conflicting emotions. 

I have a few interesting facts about this particular movie.  A young actor as an extra as a Jing Wu student is none other than Jackie Chan at age 17.  Bruce Lee choreographed his own street fight scenes but due to the incredibly racist content of this film Bruce didn’t work with director Lo Wei again after this movie.  This was based on a true story but the actual Chen managed to flee Shanghai without anyone the wiser.

Whirlwind Leg!!!

Sydney Pollack Week: The Yakuza

Subete no kon’nichwa!   Welcome to the continuation of Sydney Pollack Week and have we hooked quite a whopper today.  A story of ill-gotten gains, family struggles, honor and the willingness to follow through, this film marks for an interesting dive into Western and Eastern culture clash.  So shoes off, serve the one next to you and do not hog the spicy tuna roll.   This is The Yakuza.

That is not a happy camper.

Spoilers are as much a gift as a curse…

George Tanner (Brian Keith of Arrowhead, The Parent Trap, The Quest, Hooper, Sharky’s Machine and Hardcastle and McCormick) runs the L.A. docks and foolishly got into bed with the Yakuza (Japanese Mafia), fell behind on payments and now they demand tribute or they will kill his daughter.  Tanner calls his old army buddy Harry Kilmer (Robert Mitchum of Undercurrent, El Dorado, Out of the Past, Cape Fear, River of No Return and The Big Sleep, a private eye that is well immersed in Japanese culture.  Tanner is counting of the life debt of one Tanaka Ken (Ken Takakura of The Path of the King, Golgo 13, Mushuku, The Homeless, Hakkodasan and Black Rain) to lead Kilmer around, defeat the Yakuza and save the girl.   Dusty (Richard Jordan of Rooster Cogburn, Logan’s Run, The Mean Season, Alibis and The Hunt for Red October), Tanner’s personal bodyguard will be traveling with Kilmer as well but he looks to be no more than a gunsel.  Like the man said, “The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.”

Boomstick plus one!

Yeah two guys will be doing all this.  Infiltration, sabotage and a high count of homicide is on the order of the day.    I will also assigning Harry Callahan, John McClain and possibly Martin Riggs for this otherwise insane plan!

To abide an old debt to Tanner, Kilmer must go back to Japan and over 20 years of hurt, remorse and obligation.  During the occupation of Japan, MP Kilmer discovered a black market purchasing of American medical supplies by Eiko Tanaka (FYI Tanaka is the most common surname in Japan.  Think Smith or Jones) who he fell in love with, they romance and he even looks after her daughter Hanako as if she were his own, but for reasons a dopey Western round eye cannot fathom, she cannot marry him.  Sad and bitter Kilmer went back to the states, worked as a cop and then a shamus.   Tanaka Ken is former Yakuza and now a brilliant swords master teaching Kendo in a prestigious institute Kendo Hall in Kiyoto.

This film is a hybrid of Japanese discipline, honor with a smattering of American cynicism.  The story is simple yet elegant, the camera work from day to night is dolly tracked, handheld, long crane shots  and decent pan zooms of which is all hallmarks of a Sydney Pollack movie all shot on a Panavision anamorphic lens 35mm.   With solid collaborations with writers Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver, American Gigolo, Raging Bull and Affliction) and Robert Towne (Chinatown, Heaven Can Wait, The Firm, Mission: Impossible and Mission: Impossible II) this flick has as much action as there is dialogue. 

Blam!

A little side note, I started snickering seeing one of the Yakuza reading a Manga.  Comic books are for kids, buddy.     This thriller is bloody, gunfights and katana a plenty.  This is an interesting mesh of the cultures of honor and violence that both the Americans and the Japanese are capable; it also shows heart, spirit and the willingness to overcome great obstacles.   This film deserves the same restoration love that Peckinpah's The Getaway and Friedkin's French Connection did.   I find no faults in this film with the exception it is now over.