James Garner Makes a Fine Marlowe

Garner as Chandler's detective.

Having consumed the Philip Marlowe novels as a teenager, I'm typically hard on the film adaptations of Raymond Chandler's hard-boiled detective. The only one that truly captures Chandler's cynical protagonist and his unflattering portrait of L.A. is Murder, My Sweet. That 1944 version of the novel Farewell, My Lovely holds up well thanks to Dick Powell's sharp performance and Edward Dmytryk's moody direction. My choice for runner-up, Marlowe (1969), may be a surprise, certainly for fans that prefer the more conventional Big Sleep (1946).

At first blush, James Garner may not seem like the ideal Philip Marlowe. But in screenwriter Stirling Silliphant's update of Chandler's The Little Sister (1949), Garner channels his dry wit into an enjoyable, effective performance. It's just a shame that the producers selected one of the lesser Marlowe novels for their movie.

Marlowe's client is Orfamay Quest (Sharon Farrell), a naive young woman from rural Kansas who is searching for her missing brother Orrin. Marlowe tracks the latter to a seedy seaside hotel, but learns his quarry has departed--and the desk clerk has been murdered with an ice pick. When Marlowe later follows up on another lead, he discovers a second body stabbed with an ice pick. Before the police appear on the scene, the detective searches the room and finds a film processing ticket under the dead man's toupee.

Garner and Gayle Hunnicut.

The photographs show television sitcom star Mavis Wald (Gayle Hunnicut) in a compromising position with gangster Sonny Steelgrave. Marlowe suspects blackmail and soon finds himself immersed in a web of deceit, greed, and jealousy.

Raymond Chandler's intricate plotting is one of his trademarks. In fact, in the Marlowe novels, he often integrated the plots of some of his earlier short stories. Personally, I find Chandler's complex mysteries easier to follow in print than on film. In Marlowe, Silliphant remains faithful to Chandler novel, but has trouble tying up all the loose ends. The conclusion, in particular, is messy, though male fans can at least find solace in a tasteful Rita Moreno striptease.

Bruce Lee destroys Marlowe's office.

Still, there's much to like in Marlowe, from Garner's strong performance to the ease with which Silliphant has transplanted the character to the late 1960s. One of the film's highlights is Bruce Lee's supporting turn as one of Steelgrave's henchman. He first visits Marlowe's office to offer the private eye money to back off from Mavis. When Marlowe refuses, Lee's baddie displays his impressive martial arts skills by smashing up the detective's office. Later, the two have another entertaining (though too short) encounter on a rooftop.

It's a shame that Garner wasn't cast in additional Marlowe movies. I would have especially liked to have see him in an adaptation of The Lady in the Lake, my favorite Marlowe novel, which has only been filmed once (as Robert Montgomery's gimmicky first-person Lady in the Lake). Of course, Garner later channeled some of his Marlowe persona into a TV detective named Jim Rockford. That turned out pretty well for him.

Longstreet: The Way of the Intercepting Fist

In the 1971 made-for-TV movie Longstreet, James Franciscus played a insurance investigator who lost his wife and sight during an explosion intended to kill him. Determined to find the criminals responsible, Mike Longstreet has to learn first how to live with his blindness. He gets ample support from his assistant Nikki (Martine Beswick), best friend Duke (Bradford Dillman), and Pax, a white German Shepherd that becomes his seeing-eye dog.

Marilyn Mason and Franciscus.

As was often ABC's practice, the movie doubled as a pilot for a prospective TV show. The regular series debuted that fall with Marilyn Mason replacing Martine Beswick and Peter Mark Richman taking over as Duke. Set in New Orleans, the premise had Longstreet investigating various cases, often for the Great Pacific Insurance Company (where Duke worked). Stirling Silliphant created the series, which was loosely inspired by a series of novels by Baynard Kendrick about a blind private detective.

A prolific script writer, Silliphant's best television work was on Route 66, which he co-created with Herbert B. Leonard. Silliphant's teleplays on that show featured some of the elegant (but far from realistic) prose ever written for the small screen. For the most part, Longstreet seems far too straightforward for a Silliphant series, but some episodes were exceptions and the best example is the first one: "The Way of the Intercepting Fist."

James Franciscus and Bruce Lee.

It opens with Longstreet being assaulted in an alleyway by a crooked longshoreman and his cronies. A young Asian man named Li Tsung (Bruce Lee) fends off the attackers with an impressive display of martial arts. Later, Longstreet seeks out Li, an antiques dealer, and asks to become his martial arts student. Initially, Li refuses by saying: "The usefulness of a cup is its emptiness." However, he eventually relents and not only teaches Longstreet how to defend himself, but also about himself. The episode ends with Longstreet confronting and defeating the longshoreman. That act, we're led to believe, will end the villain's influence and lead the police to the businessman behind a large-scale hijacking scheme.

As with many of Silliphant's Route 66 episodes, the plot is secondary to the characters. It affords Lee the opportunity to describe jeet kune do, his "system" of martial arts and philosophy. In 1973's Enter the Dragon, Lee describes it succinctly as "the art of fighting without fighting." Still, it's this episode of Longstreet that includes perhaps Lee's best analogy: "Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. Now, if you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. Put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow, or creep or drip or crash. Be water, my friend."

Lee in Marlowe (1969).

If there is much of Bruce Lee in "The Way of the Intercepting Fist," that's no surprise as he worked on the script with Silliphant. The two had becomne friends after Silliphant sought out Lee in the late 1960s to learn martial arts. In fact, it was Silliphant who had Lee hired as fight choreographer and henchman in 1969's Marlowe. (Lee isn't in much of the movie, but has a most memorable encounter with James Garner.)

Lee earned strong reviews for his guest appearance on Longstreet and reprised his role in three more episodes. Yet, despite a likable cast and interesting setting (though the show was not shot on location like Route 66), Longstreet only lasted one season. Television audiences just didn't seem that interested in insurance investigators. (Despite that, George Peppard played one the following year in Banacek, though it only lasted for two seasons totaling 17 episodes.)

Meanwhile, Bruce Lee--who had previously rejected offers to make Asian "kung fu" movies--signed a contract with Raymond Chow to make two films. The first one, The Big Boss (aka Fists of Fury), was released the same year as his Longstreet appearances. It became an unexpected worldwide smash and made Bruce Lee an international star.

James Franciscus starred in two subsequent short-lived TV series: Doc Elliot (1973-74) and Hunter (1976-77). Interestingly, he later played a crooked politician in Good Guys Wear Black (1978), one of Chuck Norris' first martial arts films. Franciscus worked steadily in film and television until his death in 1991 at age 57 due to emphysema.

The 5 Best Sidekicks in a Film/TV Series

Sidekicks in a series can be an essential ingredient to a film or TV show. The best sidekicks will enhance the story and characters, whereas the not-so-good ones are fruitless, empty vessels just taking up space. Still others, through no fault of their own, may wind up stealing the spotlight from the person(s) intended as the star. The following is a list of sidekicks that my wife and I assembled. These so-called sidekicks are people (or furry things) with whom we wouldn’t mind sharing adventures -- which should explain the absence of Robin from the TV series, Batman, who can stay at Wayne Manor with Bruce... not that I’m verifying that Bruce Wayne is Batman...

1. Chewbacca (the Star Wars series) Chewbacca, affectionately dubbed Chewie, belongs to a species known as Wookiee, from the planet Kashyyyk. He was the sidekick to Han Solo in the Star Wars original trilogy (1977-83). Chewie’s presence is an amazing union of ferocity and geniality. He’s both lethal and lovable. It’s perfectly reasonable that stormtroopers might flee at the sight of Chewbecca, but as he’s one of the good guys, it would be difficult as part of the Rebel Alliance to not monopolize time on the battlefield giving Chewie sneak-attack hugs. Chewbacca’s euphonic and beloved growls are actually a language, Wookieespeak (or, more formally, Shyriiwook). Speakers of Galactic Basic (a common tongue in the Star Wars world and similar to English) can understand Wookieespeak but, due to anatomical distinction, cannot necessarily speak it, in the same way that Chewie comprehends Basic but cannot physically articulate the language. This is how Han Solo and Chewbacca can have arguments in their native tongues. The 7’3” Peter Mayhew portrayed Chewie in the original trilogy and appeared in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and the infamous The Star Wars Holiday Special broadcast on TV in 1978. He also voiced Chewie for the animated series, The Clone Wars.
2. Daigoro (the Lone Wolf and Cub series) The Lone Wolf and Cub films (1972-74), based on a popular manga, detail the lives of Ogami Itto and his son, Daigoro. After his wife is killed and he is disgraced, Ogami offers Daigoro the choice of a sword or a ball: follow his father and wander as an assassin, or be with his mother. Daigoro, who is merely a year old, crawls to the sword. Ogami chauffeurs Daigoro (around three years of age when the series begins) in a wooden carriage that’s armed to the teeth. In an unforgettable scene from Baby Cart at the River Styx (the second of the series and a fan favorite), father and son are halted by a line of would-be assassins. Ogami pulls weapons from the cart and pushes it, with Daigoro, towards the samurai. Daigoro’s tiny foot triggers blades that protrude from the cart’s wheels and slice through a couple of ankles. In the same film, the little boy tends to his injured father by bringing him water and food. In one of the most endearing moments, Daigoro takes rice cakes from the foot of a Buddha statue, and drapes his vest over the Buddha as an exchange. Akihiro Tomikawa plays young Daigoro in all six films, made within three years. Shogun Assassin (1980), sometimes listed as a seventh entry, is actually a composite of mostly the second film and some of the first, and dubbed in English. Sequels to said movie were likewise reedits.

3. Dr. John Watson (Sherlock Holmes) One of the earliest examples of a sidekick, Dr. Watson almost acted as a sounding board for the brilliant mind of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s literary sleuth, Sherlock Holmes. But Watson was more than a simple assistant. He was also a moral compass for Holmes, an intelligent man of action, and a friend to the socially awkward detective. Nigel Bruce played Watson, with Basil Rathbone as Holmes, in the popular series of films beginning in 1939 with The Hound of the Baskervilles. Some fans, however, did not appreciate the interpretation, as Watson was little more than comic relief. Frequent Hammer Films star Andre Morell fared much better in his portrayal of the doctor in Hammer’s 1959 Baskervilles adaptation, with Peter Cushing as the detective. Audiences were likewise receptive to David Burke in the first British TV series featuring the renowned Jeremy Brett, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984-85). Burke stayed true to the nature of Watson’s literary roots, while Edward Hardwicke appeased fans with a winsome, affable Watson in three additional series that ran to the mid-90s, for a total of 28 episodes (and five of those feature length).
4. Fozzie Bear (The Muppets) Fozzie is, for all intents and purposes, a walking, talking teddy bear. He’s fuzzy and squeezable, and much like a teddy bear always by a child’s side (or an adult’s side, for those who weren’t so cruel as to neglect a faithful and cuddly companion), he often accompanies Kermit the Frog. They regularly appeared with one another on the TV series, The Muppet Show (1976-81), but perhaps their greatest pairing was in The Muppet Movie (1979), when Kermit, on his way to Hollywood, is picked up by Fozzie Bear. This leads to Fozzie’s now classic line: “A bear in his natural habitat -- a Studebaker!” Fozzie was a stand-up comedian, and though the Muppet audience was generally unappreciative, his honest nature and cheerful confidence put a smile on the faces of those watching at home. Created by Jim Henson, father of the Muppets, Fozzie was originally voiced by Frank Oz, who also voiced fellow Muppets, Miss Piggy and Animal, Cookie Monster in Sesame Street and Yoda in the Star Wars films. Oz moved on to directing humans, and Eric Jacobson is now the voice of Fozzie, as well as Miss Piggy and Animal.

5. Kato (the 1966-67 The Green Hornet) Before his rise to stardom in Hong Kong, Bruce Lee earned a starring role in a U.S. TV show, The Green Hornet. In the show, wealthy American newspaper publisher Britt Reid decides to become a vigilante for justice, and, like most people with money and power, has someone else do the majority of the work. Kato, a skilled mechanic, was Reid’s driver and, in essence, his muscle. The series only lasted a season, but Lee’s portrayal of Kato was so popular in Hong Kong that The Green Hornet was aired as The Kato Show. Retrospectively, of course, one can clearly see Lee’s charisma shine through the supporting character, even with Kato in disguise. But Hong Kong saw it first, and Lee made a trio of hugely successful films in said country. He only achieved fame in America with Enter the Dragon (1973), which had been released after his untimely death. With Lee a household name, episodes were edited together and released as feature films, The Green Hornet (1974) and Fury of the Dragon (1976), both movies focusing on Lee’s fight sequences. In the serials, The Green Hornet (1940) and The Green Hornet Strikes Again! (1941), Kato was portrayed by Keye Luke, who also played Charlie Chan’s “Number One Son” in numerous films, dubbed Mr. Han’s (Kien Shih) voice in Enter the Dragon, was a regular on the TV series, Kung Fu (Lee was considered for the lead but lost to David Carradine), and was Mr. Wong in the Gremlins films (1984/1990), unfortunately selling a Mogwai to irresponsible owners. Taiwanese musician/actor Jay Chou was Kato in the Green Hornet feature film in 2011.

Honorable mention: Q (the James Bond series) -- Though he was rarely in the field with 007 (1989’s Licence to Kill is an exception), Q (Demond Llewelyn, who was in nearly every Bond film) provided the MI6 agent with all of his gadgets and weapons. Perpetually exasperated by Bond, Q’s blasé attitude towards the spy is always a welcome sight.; KITT (Knight Rider) -- KITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand), a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with artificial intelligence, was so capable that one can’t help but wonder why Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff) was even necessary. Had KITT any arms or desire to bed women, Michael may very well have been unemployed.

Bruce Lee's Kung Fu Classic "Fist of Fury"

Although Enter the Dragon was the best movie starring Bruce Lee, the best Bruce Lee movie remains the seldom-shown Fist of Fury. Most American viewers compare it unfavorably with Enter the Dragon, because it lacks the latter film's colorful production, James Bond-style plot, and supporting English-language performers. But Fist of Fury doesn't need those trappings—it provides an ideal showcase for Lee's graceful athletic prowess, simmering fury, and surprising adeptness at humor.

Fist of Fury is also Lee’s most traditional genre picture. It even recycles the vintage plot of two martial arts schools pitted against one another. In this case, the setting is Shanghai 1908 and the basis of the conflict is nationality—a Japanese school wants a Chinese school closed and will go to any length.

The film opens with the funeral of the Chinese school’s teacher and the return of Chen (Lee), a former pupil. As the students honor their former teacher, thugs from the Japanese school interrupt the proceedings to deliver a framed sign proclaiming the Chinese martial artists “The Sick Men of Asia.” Several Chinese students, including a smoldering Chen, want to fight the Japanese intruders, but the new teacher convinces them to hold back their anger.

Chen (Lee) takes on a whole school of martial arts students.

Chen complies—initially—but later he returns the sign to the Japanese school and challenges the whole class to a fight. In a spectacular display of cat-like quickness and balletic movement, Chen demolishes the student body. The sequence rates as Lee’s best large-scale fight. The precise choreography and exaggerated camera effects (e.g., cant shots, quick zooms) enhance Lee’s natural charisma. He teases opponents, then stuns them with lightening-fast kicks and sudden blows to the face. He finishes the scene by making his defeated opponents eat the offending sign.

Lee stages a fight with former real-life student Bob Wall.

Later in the film, he duels with the Japanese school’s chief instructor, a promising student from Russia, and the head teacher. This three-fight sequence works with the efficiency of a swift combination punch. Each martial arts match is framed by its surroundings (a room, a courtyard, another room), giving the effect of Chen moving through a game of progressively more difficult levels. The chief instructor is a weak opponent. The Russian puts up a decent fight. The teacher manages to cut Chen with a sword (prompting the famous reaction of Lee’s character tasting his own blood). But none of these opponents can match Chen when he channels his uncontrollable fury into a flurry of lethal blows and kicks.

Lee in disguise in Fist of Fury.

Fist of Fury exploded on the international boxoffice when first released. It was retitled The Chinese Connection in the U.S., apparently so as not to confuse it with an earlier Lee film (The Big Boss which had been retitled Fists of Fury for its U.S. distribution). Naturally, the the film's producers also wanted to capitalize on the popularity of The French Connection (1971).

A tender scene with Nora Miao.

Bruce Lee's path to martial arts film stardom was one with many pit stops. Although he was born in San Francisco in 1940, Lee grew up in Hong Kong and appeared in several films as a child actor. He moved to the U.S. in the late 1950s and eventually became a martial arts teacher. In 1964, Lee's exciting fighting style attracted attention at the Long Beach International Karate Championships and resulted in a TV deal from producer William Dozier. Lee was eventually cast as Kato in the short-lived Green Hornet TV series starring Van Williams. During that time, Lee also befriended two of his martial arts pupils: actor James Coburn and screenwriter-producer Stirling Silliphant.

Silliphant kept Bruce busy with supporting roles in:  Marlowe (1969) with James Garner; A Walk in the Spring starring Ingrid Bergman; and several episodes of the James Franciscus TV series Longstreet. Concurrently, Lee developed his own concept for a TV series called The Warrior, which mixed the martial arts and Western genres. Although a pilot for The Warrior was never produced, the similar Kung Fu TV series premiered a year later. Bruce Lee was considered for the starring role that went to David Carradine.

Lee as Kato in The Green Hornet.

Frustrated with his acting career in the U.S., Bruce Lee returned to Hong Kong where he discovered that The Green Hornet had made him a star (the series had even been retitled The Kato Show). Producer Raymond Chow, who had recently started his own film company called Golden Harvest, convinced Lee to sign a two-picture deal. The resulting kung fu classics--The Big Boss and Fist of Fury--made Lee a worldwide superstar.

Today, Fist of Fury remains one of the few martial arts films to survive the “kung fu craze” of 1973-75. Although relegated to videotape showings for the most part, it has become a staple for Bruce Lee fans, martial arts enthusiasts, and film historians interested in the cinema of the 1970s. There have been several official and unofficial remakes and sequels, with the best one being 1994's Fist of Legend starring Jet Li.

Back When Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting!

The first love affair between American mainstream moviegoers and the martial arts film genre was a short one, lasting from 1973 to 1975. Ironically, it was a TV series that piqued the curiosity of American audiences and, unknowingly, primed them for big screen battles with crunching fists and crushing feet. That TV show was Kung Fu, of course, which debuted as a made-for-TV movie in 1972 and evolved into a weekly series later that year. Future martial arts superstar Bruce Lee tested for the lead role, but lost the part to David Carradine. The amount of fight footage in the series was actually minimal and often filmed in slow motion.

Hands that glow in 5 Fingers of Death.

In 1973, though, moviegoers got a taste of the real thing when Warner Bros. imported the Shaw Bros. Hong Kong sensation 5 Fingers of Death (known elsewhere in the world as King Boxer or Tian xia di yi qyuan). For martial arts film aficionados, the film still serves as a prototype of some of the genre’s most popular plot devices: conflict between rival martial arts schools and a defeated hero who overcomes his opponent by learning a new fighting technique. For casual moviegoers, though, it was the exciting, tightly-choreographed fight scenes that kept them glued to the screen. But there was one thing missing in 5 Fingers of Death--and that was a charismatic leading man with whom American audiences could identify.

Lee fights a rival school by himself
in The Chinese Connection.

Bruce Lee filled that void nicely with Fists of Fury (aka The Big Boss), which was released the same year. Some filmgoers recognized Lee from his short stint in the 1966-67 superhero TV series The Green Hornet. That introduction didn’t prepare them for Lee’s big screen animal intensity, his stunningly choreographed fight sequences, and his quiet charm. By the time Lee’s second film, The Chinese Connection (aka Fist of Fury), was released that same year, he was an international superstar. His meteoric rise came to a shocking end when he died of unknown causes in 1973. By that time, Lee had completed two more films: the English-language Enter the Dragon (his biggest U.S. hit) and Return of the Dragon (retitled statewide from Way of the Dragon to capitalize on Enter the Dragon).

Wang Fu as the One-Armed Boxer
in Master of the Flying Guillotine.

In the wake of Lee’s death, kung fu cinema struggled to another superstar. The first performer to be marketed as the heir apparent was Wang Yu, renamed Jimmy Wang Yu for English-language audiences. Ironically, Wang Yu had been a huge star in Hong Kong cinema before Bruce Lee in hits like The Chinese Boxer and Golden Swallow. Despite his Asian fame, Wang Yu projected a bland personality and stiff fighting style--especially compared to Lee--and Americans never embraced him. However, he encountered some minor success stateside by directing and starring in two exciting “tournament films”: The Chinese Professionals (aka The One-Armed Boxer) and Master of the Flying Guillotine (aka One-Armed Boxer 2). Both films feature him battling multiple villains, each with a unique fighting style. As for Wang Yu, well, he loses an arm in the first film and still manages to crush his opponents using the “iron fist” technique. The second film expanded the premise and features better fights in better locations. It has since evolved in a cult film with fans like Quentin Tarantino, who used a music clip in Kill Bill.

Angela Mao in Enter the Dragon.

The only other Asian stars to achieve even fleeting fame with Western audiences were Angelo Mao and Sonny Chiba. While Angela Mao lacked the feminine appeal of future Asian action stars like Michelle Yeoh, moviegoers enjoyed watching a young woman beating up men twice her size. She scored three modest hits with Lady Whirlwind, When Taekwondo Strikes, and Hapkido. Their success earned her a small role in Enter the Dragon and even an interview on television’s 60 Minutes. As for Chiba, he achieved notoriety in 1974 when his Japanese import The Street Fighter was the first film to rated X solely for violence.

Other established Asian stars, like David Chiang and Ti Lung, tried to keep the kung fu craze alive in America. And ABC even tried to a launch another TV series with Men of the Dragon, a pilot with Jared Martin that appeared on the ABC Movie of the Week in 1974. But, without Lee, popular interest in the kung fu craze fizzled as quickly as it had begun. It would be almost two decades before U.S. would embrace another martial arts superstar: Jackie Chan.

Drunken Master: Jackie Chan Fights to Become a Film Star

In Drunken Master (1978), Jackie Chan is Wong Fei Hung, a young hellion who is constantly in trouble. Fed up with his son's behavior, Fei Hung's father sends him away to be trained by Beggar So (Yuen Siu Tien). Fei Hung considers this a punishment because, not only does the martial arts training require strenuous work, but Beggar So is well known for maiming his students! The young man manages to evade his master's grip, only to be disgraced in a fight with a proficient assassin (Hwang Jang Lee). Fei Hung returns to Beggar So to learn a style of martial arts known as the "Eight Drunken Immortals" so that he can redeem himself and regain his family's honor.

When Jackie Chan and his fellow students (his "brothers") completed Peking Opera school, it was not surprising that they had trouble finding work suited to their skills. After all, the focus of their studies was physical training and performance, which took precedence over academics. Eventually, Jackie and a few of his Peking Opera brothers (most famously, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao and Yuen Wah) found moderate success as stuntmen. All four of them came to work on movies showcasing the rising star, Bruce Lee.

Following Lee's untimely death and the release of his first starring American role, Enter the Dragon, in 1973, Bruce Lee became an international household name. Hong Kong and American audiences wanted to see more, but with Lee gone, studios had to look elsewhere. Unfortunately, the majority of these studio execs wanted to replace Lee, sometimes quite literally, by naming actors Bruce Li or Bruce Le. Other actors would simply attempt to replicate Lee's mannerisms (e.g., that wonderful face he would make when he was truly angered), or studios would cash in on old footage of the star, such as his short-lived TV series, The Green Hornet, being reedited into two feature length films (focusing on Lee, of course), The Green Hornet (1974) and Fury of the Dragon (1976).

When Jackie Chan finally moved from extra/stuntman/supporting player to starring role, he worked with director Lo Wei, who'd helmed Lee's hugely successful Hong Kong movies, The Big Boss (1971) and Fist of Fury (1972). According to Chan, Lo took credit for at least some of Lee's success and resulting popularity. Not surprisingly, Lo wanted Chan to be another Bruce Lee (one of their early films together was the 1976 New Fist of Fury). Chan's resistance to emulating another actor led to many disagreements between star and director, and Lo blamed their string of disappointing box office results on Chan's stubbornness.

Chan, however, soon proved that he was not the reason for the failures. The very first time Chan was "loaned" to another studio, he and a young director named Yuen Woo-ping made Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978), in which Chan was finally able to display his knack for comedy and stunningly choreographed fight sequences. Director Yuen, who also attended Peking Opera school, would achieve great success later as a filmmaker and action choreographer (and is, sadly, only known in the U.S. as the choreographer of the overrated The Matrix (1999) and Ang Lee's 2000 film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). Snake in the Eagle's Shadow was a success, but it was Yuen and Chan's second picture together (filmed just a few months later), Drunken Master, that made Jackie Chan a star. Both films starred Yuen Woo-ping's father, Yuen Siu Tien. With these films began Chan's comic, kung fu style, as well as the injuries he would sustain in the years to come. In Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, the actor had his arm slashed open by a sword and one of his teeth knocked out, and he nearly lost an eye while filming Drunken Master.

The deal with Seasonal Films (the studio to which Chan was loaned) was only for two pictures, so the star went back to working with Lo Wei. When Chan tried to join the Golden Harvest studio, Lo reportedly attempted to involve triads (the Chinese criminal organization, similar to the Mafia), which unfortunately controlled much of the Hong Kong film industry. The dispute was eventually settled, with the help of actor/director Jimmy Wang Yu. Chan's first film with Golden Harvest (and away from Lo Wei) was one that he co-wrote and directed, The Young Master, in 1980. It eclipsed the box office records held by Bruce Lee's movies. By the time Chan made Police Story in 1985, he was internationally famous.

Wong Fei Hung was an actual person, a legendary Chinese folk hero. He was a martial artist, a physician, and a teacher who dedicated his life to helping the poor and the weak (Chan referred to him as a "Chinese Robin Hood"). Before Chan first portrayed Wong in Drunken Master, Kwan Tak Hing had played the character in approximately 90 films. When he was around 75 years young, Kwan played Wong Fei Hung again in The Magnificent Butcher (1979) and Dreadnaught (1981), the former film which starred Chan's Peking Opera brother, Sammo Hung, and both films which were directed by Yuen Woo-ping and starred another of Chan's brothers, Yuen Biao. The "drunken boxing" which Chan displays in Drunken Master is Zui Quan, which, literally translated, means "drunken fist." It consists of the fighter utilizing movements giving the appearance of drunkenness. This form allows for fluid motions for attack and various distractions to confuse the opponent. Being drunk is not necessarily a prerequisite, but, as the film suggests, it helps considerably.

In 1991, Jet Li starred in his own series of Wong Fei Hung movies, Once Upon a Time in China, directed by Tsui Hark. The star and director made two more films together, and Vincent Zhao took over the role in parts IV and V, the latter film which was also helmed by Tsui. Sammo Hung directed Li in the sixth installment, Once Upon a Time in China and America (1997). Chan performed the song for the closing credits of Once Upon a Time in China II (1992).

Sixteen years after Drunken Master, in 1994, Chan reprised Wong Fei Hung in Drunken Master II. The sequel not only surpassed the original, it's also one of Jackie Chan's greatest films, with splendid comic antics, thrilling fight sequences, and a scene-stealing Anita Mui. The movie was released theatrically in the States in 2000 (after a string of Chan's Hong Kong films were playing to great success on American screens) as The Legend of Drunken Master, cut, dubbed, and re-scored, which, sadly, was a fate that befell the majority of Hong Kong films in the U.S. However, even most Hong Kong DVD copies are either of poor quality, cut, or a combination thereof. Uncut versions really only have one additional sequence, which concludes the film and is, admittedly, a scene of rather paltry taste. Good quality copies of Drunken Master II with the final scene intact are rare and highly sought after commodities. I own such a copy, and yes, I'm bragging.

Random trivia: In this month's Bond Is Forever, I'd mentioned Yuen Qiu, who had a small part in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), starring in Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle (2004) as the landlady. Her husband is played by Yuen Wah, who had attended Peking Opera school with Jackie Chan.