Lights, Camera, Action!

Asian immigrants and post second World War US servicemen returning from overseas were the first exponents of martial arts in the West. But only when the martial arts were depicted on the silver screen and in television did they explode in popularity. Mr. Moto and James Cagney's Blood On The Sun featured early portrayals of some slick judo action in movies. Later, when Bruce Lee's character of Kato on TV's The Green Hornet first aired, it was just the beginning. The viewing public had never seen such acrobatic martial mayhem before. The role of Kato was the perfect showcase for Lee's talents, as he began to teach a prototype of his jeet kune do to Hollywood's elite. The normally secretive Chinese community were extremely displeased with Lee's open teachings of what they perceived to be "their" martial arts, but Lee himself saw his road to success in the film industry.

Lee's contributions may have helped set the stage for the popular weekly 70s show Kung Fu. The role of the wandering Kwai Chang Caine was a first; the martial arts were presented in a character who was deeply philosophical and the series was curiously set in a late nineteenth century Old Western background. Kato, Billy Jack, et al, though they were cast as the good guys, left little doubt that fighting fire with fire took precedence over ethereal flashbacks to Shaolin temple anecdotes. Nevertheless, Caine always delivered one or two memorable fight scenes per episode. Cowboys and kung fu made for an entertaining and very interesting mix.

Comedy has found its way into the most unlikely subjects in movies and TV (remember Hogan's Heroes?) and the martial arts were not to be excluded. Jackie Chan was trained in Chinese opera as a child and was later influenced by silent movie legend Charlie Chaplin, which led him to create a genre of movies that combines martial arts, humor, and spectacular stunts - mostly performed by Chan himself. Chan has been called the Evel Knievel of martial arts for the myriad of stunt related injuries he's incurred through his years of movie making.

While Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has been hailed as a milestone film, on the opposite end of the spectrum we have the likes of A Fistful of Yen - a parody of Lee's classic Enter The Dragon which concludes with the same closing scene from The Wizard of Oz! Columnist and author Dave Barry once remarked "karate is a form of martial arts in which people who have had years and years of training can - using only their hands and feet - make some of the worst movies in the history of the world." I wonder if Barry has ever seen the epic Kung Fu Hustle?