The Lone Ranger (1966)

it seems like the 60s were really the last decade to get the Ranger right.  every recent remake/version has truly sucked sewer water.  the intro is cool, and a nice version of the popular live action version, which was still airing in syndication everywhere.

this is from the cartoon which owed quite a bit to the then popular (and still excellent) "Wild Wild West" series.  heck, the Ranger even gets a miniature villain to battle named "Tiny Tom".  Tonto also got his own segment in the middle of the show which was also pretty cool. 

I'm sure in whatever version finally does get brought back to the screen, big or small, the Ranger and Tonto won't be friends at all.  seems like that can't happen these days.

Ultraman #4 Five Seconds to Detonation

this is a good episode, with a cool monster- Ragon, who showed up in Ultra Q in episode 20.  the Science Patrol knows this, and tries to calm him with music.  he's also got a bomb attached to him, so they can't shoot at him.

the whole Ultra Q issue had to be handled with the dubbing differently, since the first show hadn't been aired in the US. so they couldn't name the beast and had to explain the use of music in a different way.

it worked pretty well, overall.  this was the first really humanoid monster that Utraman has to fight, and it's due the radiation that it has grown so much and become hostile.  it also has developed a beam weapon, which slows Ultraman down for at least a small amount of time.

just enough time to blast him with the Spacium Beam, sending him over the cliff to his doom.

perhaps.  we never see him explode, so I like to think the radiation wore off and he went back to a peaceful existence under the sea.

it's a cool suit, with just enough difference from the Gill-man to be spot on as a giant monster.

Two Champions of Shaolin (1981)

the original US title Two Champions of Death is a better name for this movie, since it's filled with a lot of killing.  and with a Chang Cheh that is saying something.

the movie kind of ties in with the other Shaolin movies he has done, except Hu Wei-Chen (Chiang Sheng) finally gets the spotlight (usually it's Fong Sai-Yuk or Hung Si Kwan). he teams up with Tung Chien-Chen (Lo Mang) to take down the local Manchu people.


I wanted to like this movie more than I did.  it has some great fights in it, and some cool weapons as well.  it's that the plot is a bit confusing.  to it's credit, it doesn't present the Qing/Wu Tang people as completely evil, which leads to the totally downer ending.
spoilers:

Mothra (1961)

sure, this is the US trailer for this fantastic and wonderful film, but it's still great nonetheless.  Mothra turned fifty yesterday (in Japan, of course) and that's pretty amazing in and of itself.

this movie is one of the finest giant monster movies ever made, and a great movie in and of itself.  everything works about it.  I don't actually remember the first time I saw Mothra the movie, just the first time I saw the character.  still, I'm pretty sure it must have aired once or twice while I was growing up. 

there's a great DVD set with this movie in it, I highly recommend it.

Astro 21-25

• 21. Satellite R-45

 Astro is sent to Satellite R-45 to see about stopping space pirates. he is aided by a courageous space captain.

• 22. Sea Serpent Isle

 Astro finds several hundred bottles with messages in them, all asking for help.  with the aid of Professor Elefun they deduce the bottles came from the area of Sea Serpent Isle, which no one goes to any more.  so of course Astro heads out immediately to find out what's going on.

• 23. Deadly Flies

Astro is being framed for several crimes he didn't commit.  the police chief believes him, but the inspector doesn't like robots and wants Astro locked up.  mutant flies are being used to incapacitate people by the X gang.

• 24. Kingdom of the Sea

robots from the bottom of the sea kidnap Astro, Prof Elefun and Mr Moustache, er Pompous and take them to their kingdom.  they believe they are more deserving to rule the world than people.  they were weapons for a war, but were never used.

• 25. The Strange Birthday Present

it's Astro Boy's birthday and his present is a sister, Astro Girl.  when taking her out on the town, she ends up winning the robot heavyweight championship. that leads to trouble!

The Crawling Eye (1958)

watched this movie today.  it was The Trollenberg Terror version, which I think I had read ran a few minutes longer than the US version.  either way, it's a pretty cool little flick with some inspired monsters.  sure, the execution is a little off, but for 1958 it's pretty groovy to see five eyeball monsters menacing people.  the cast is quite effective as well. 

I liked the fact that this whole thing had occurred before the movie started in the Andes, so they are a little familiar with the situation.  it's a nice touch.

The Gamers: Dorkness Rising (2008)

this movie was just great. sure, it helps if you know the gaming terms and such, but it can be enjoyed easily by just about anyone. it's funny and sweet and pretty action packed. I thought it would be a bit too long and self indulgent, but I actually found myself wanting to know more about the characters. it is not a high budget movie, but I have not enjoyed a movie this much in quite some time. highly recommended! I will be seeking out more productions from this crew.

I wrote that for a Netflix review a few years ago, and since I just watched it again today (thanks to a sprained ankle) I wanted to see if I still agreed with the overall sentiment.

I do, and it's even better the second time around.  the story is quite good and touching.  the DVD has a lot of cool extras, which are fun as well. 

I only ever played D&D once or twice in my life, which tends to surprise many people.  it's mostly because of things like this, which I thought to was too funny for words at the time.

Poison Ivy

this is Poison Ivy of The Cramps.  she's a great guitarist and really hot.  I mean, she's playing guitar and wearing a mask.  could that be any cooler?

Aquaman opening

this is still one of my favorite adaptions of Aquaman. it's pretty true to the comics of the time, and probably made a few people look for them.  Aquaman did survive a long time, even if he is not one of DC's "Big Three".  this is the voice I always hear in my head when reading the comic books.

Shrek Forever After (2010)

like the first three Shrek movies, #4 is full of sight gags and clever in jokes about tons of movies and fairy tales. and like the last three, it's not as fun as the first one, but it's still pretty good.

at least worth the 90 minute running time!

the plot is Shrek having a mid-life crisis, and not thinking things through when he signs a contract with con artist Rumpelstiltskin to have one day as a scary ogre again.

it's pretty predictable, but seeing an army of ogres as the good guys is pretty cool.

on a viewing level, at least the camera movement has slowed down a bit, not twisting and turning and shaking at every possible moment so you can't tell what is going on.  it's pretty well shot.

I liked the movie and I liked the series, though it's probably a good thing this is the last installment in this series.  guess they could go and have the kids grow up...

comedy break!

things like this never happen to the Hulk...



yes this is a funny sequence.  made me a fan of the show, actually.

12. The Guaranteed Showy Samurai

Joe (Gokai Blue) goes out to confront the cyborgized Cid, and that leads to the beatdown we all expected him to receive, as he tries to reason with Barizorg and make Cid return to life.

he gets a little depressed when it doesn't happen right away, or at all.

meanwhile, the rest of our heroes tend to Marvelous' wounds. he assures them Joe will be back once he is finished.  Walz Gil is upset with his wound, and sends Deratsueiger to destroy the pirates. 

since there are only four of them, we get quite the battle with the villains.  we see Ohranger, Denjiman, Abaranger and even more various sentai members around.

it's a great battle.  one of the good things about having to use a lot of cg for the robot battle is that there seems to be a lot less used for the hand to hand fights. there's some wirework, but overall, the fisticuffs rock.  and even our heroes in their human forms take on the baddies.  impressive.

there are a few flashbacks here and there with Marvelous and Joe, which fills in some more of the back story.  it's a nice touch.

Latitude Zero (1969)

today- or tomorrow, really, celebrates the release of this wild and wonderful movie.  I never saw it growing up- not even on the celebrated KWGN Channel 2. it wasn't until 1989 that I saw it on Channel 31, late night, and they aired it twice in about a month.

it's full of gadgets, cool ships and monsters, plus it's all in English.

I would have loved it as a kid.  I remember my cousin Todd telling me about it, describing the gloves with all the powers they had in them. and of course the pictures in Famous Monsters #114 were cool as well. I greatly enjoy it now, and knowing all the back story behind the movie makes me amazed it even got made. 

I'm still more astounded it got a legit R1 DVD release here in this country.

Comic Con Sunday

I had a little more time on my hands Sunday, so I got to see some more stuff.  well, not too much more, as the Con is now so large that one can't get through everything in one or two days, at least not in the dealer's room. hall. arena.  whatever.

and no panels for me this time, though I think I would have enjoyed attending "Buffy: the musical". haven't seen it since it first aired many years ago.

but I did think about being able to cover the con back in "the old days" and then I found this picture.  anyone else remember this made for VHS promo video?  I saw them about three years in a row, and they got to know me.  it's not a great movie, but it's a lot of fun and the entire crew busted their butts to do a good job.

anyway, I would like to see a true comic book convention return to San Diego, but I don't think it's going to happen.  still, the convention is fun for a lot of reasons overall, and Sunday was nice since there were a lot less people there.  better deals, too.

Godzilla vs the Smog Monster (1971)

Godzilla is firmly established as a hero in this movie. it's also one of the more gruesome and just plain weird Godzilla movies out there.  it was also the second Godzilla movie I ever saw, as recounted here. I still love it.

it's also 40 years old today. it's pretty amazing to me that it's been that long. granted, that's the Japanese version, as the US one wasn't released until April of 72 here, and then almost right away to TV.  I know what I'll be watching today!

Comic Con report part 1

since I was there helping a friend of mine at his booth, I didn't get to see too much of the dealer's room (is it a room when it's bigger than a football field now?).  but there was Star Wars everything everywhere, including shots of the new blu-ray releases.  they look good, by the way.

it was really crowded, at least on the multi-media side of things.  the comic book side was actually quite chilly.

I took several pictures of various items and people.  still lots of Jokers, Batmen and Harleys around, but the newest costume was definitely Green Lantern, due to the movie. 

there were more Captain Americas as well.  too bad they mainly used the awful movie costume.  there was a Miss America also.  complete with shield. Marvel was pushing it's Avengers movie a lot, and Legendary was pushing Superman.  nothing too much about Batman, except for some new game.  nothing about Godzilla in 2012 at all.

I didn't get to any panels, alas.  not a bad day and the crowds seemed to have thinned out by mid afternoon.

Ultraman theme song

can't believe I have never posted this opening theme song.  it's a catchy little tune, allegedly sung by the Serendipity Singers (they put the "dip" in that word for most of their songs).  there's another version of it that's not quite as good. they chose the better version.

Dragnet (1966)

I reviewed season two here, and in that set was the original movie they made to sell the tv series.

it was made in 1966 but not released until 1969.  it runs about 90 minutes and Bill and Joe are after a serial killer (played by Vic Perrin) preying on young women. 

candy bars were six cents back then. and they were frikkin' huge.

anyway,  it's an interesting movie, with a few plot twists here and there, and some side plots.  Bill is retiring, as he can't pass his physical, and this is his last case.  or so they would have us believe. 

Joe does some good work here, as does Bill.  they solve a few extra crimes on the side, by accident almost, but they do have to fill out 90 minutes.

Batman in Japan

here's the opening theme I referenced here.  it's a nifty little song.

Return of the Giant Monsters (1967)

this is the third Gamera movie, and it starts the theme of having a child in a leading role.  it was released to American tv in the late 60s, probably '68 or so.  I never saw it as a kid, so it doesn't quite have the same impact as some of the later ones did.  I saw it in the late 80s when Sandy Frank released it along with four other Gamera movies.

it does boast some of the best effects of the the series though, with plentiful destruction scenes and some interesting monster fights.  Gyaos has cool powers and who knew then it would be the most overused monster in the Gamera series?

the kid isn't the best child in the series, but he's OK. I love how "Operation: ...." is a running theme in  many of these movies.

I have not seen the new DVD of this, but if it looks as good as the Japanese versions it's well worth having.

The Four Assassins (1975)

aka Marco Polo.

this was on "Duel TV" Saturday night, complete in it's widescreen English dubbed form.  I was surprised, as I didn't know there was a tv station called that, and that they played martial arts movies, and that Shaw movies had been licensed like that.

anyway, this Cheh Chang masterpiece deals with the Mongols being in China and the revolution that happens.  it's a nice change of pace from the Shaolin vs Manchu story, though exactly the same!

Sheng Fu leads three other patriots to a town where "pugilism" is taught to get revenge on the Tartars who killed their brothers.  lots of painful training happens, but it pays off in the final battle.  this movie may take place before the actual establishment of "kung fu" so I am not exactly sure if there is an actual style here, but in the long run it doesn't matter. Chia Hui Liu is there in an early role as a villain, and Beardy (Ka-Yan Leung) is also present.

Richard Harrison, star of peplums and spaghetti westerns is Marco Polo, working for Kublai Khan, though won over by the locals in the end.  he's pretty good in the role, though obviously it's not his voice. he has a nice role and gets to interact well with Szu Shih in a memorable scene.

I'm hoping that the movie airing on tv means it will be out on DVD sometime soon, as the copy I have is a bootleg.  be nice to own a real version!

The Dick Tracy Show (1961)

wow, I think I used to see parts of this show here and there with the Archies or something like that.  I remember being disappointed that Dick Tracy was barely part of the show then, and watching it now, I am still disappointed that they barely used him.  just too much "comedy" relief, which is now very racist for many reasons.  Tracy's villains were more prominent than he was.

lame.

Master of the Flying Guillotine (1975)

one of the wildest kung fu movies ever.  it's another crossover from the great Jimmy Wang (from One Armed Boxer (1971) and the Shaw's rather boring movie of the titular weapon.  how Jimmy managed this is still open to speculation.

anyway, it's a tournament style film, with lots of different styles. my pal Chris "Owari" has done some research on the music of the movie (I wanted to provide the actual link, but couldn't find it on his blog, sorry.  enable the "search this blog" button, Chris!) so let's just say he found out lots of interesting things.

Batman and... Space Ghost!

this is really the most awesome thing ever:

probably makes me like this Bat-show more than anything else ever made.  I'll have a review of the episode before too long, but right now I just like seeing that picture.

11. The Serious Rebellion

in which things actually start to get, well, serious.

ShinkenRed (Kaoru Shiba) comes along and demands the Shinken Keys back.  this leads to a duel with Joe, which is interrupted by the Zangyack headed to Earth.  Joe has some flashbacks to his training, which was pretty brutal.

Deratsueiger has shown up, and Walz Gil is now so confident that Earth will be taken over that he personally leads the away mission.  doesn't that fool know that's never a good idea to do?

we get ZyuRanger and Dynaman this time, an interesting combination, since those are really the first two sentai that ever got shown in the US.

our heroes finally figure out they should try to get to Walz Gil so they can end the battle- Deratsueiger is whipping on them pretty well.  mean while ShinkenRed is just standing by watching them battle, offering no help at all. 

I think I missed the part where it says the original sentai can't use their powers.  that makes sense though.

GokaiBlue confronts Barizorg, who of course turns out to be his old teacher, Senior Cid.  this leads to GokaiRed getting a serious slash wound on his back, but managing to injure Walz Gil, causing their retreat.  and then Joe goes off to confront his sempai...

Spectreman opening/closing

I never saw Spectreman when it aired sporadically in the US in about 1978.  I wish I had, since I would like it more than I do now.  I enjoy it, but it doesn't have the impact of Ultraman or Johnny Sokko had on me.  it is a fun show.  I like that they used stop-motion for at least one of Spectreman's monstrous foes.

the dialog between Dr. Gori and Karis is usually pretty funny, thanks to Mel Welles.

living or dead

do they even do things like this any more?  I wonder if they thought characters in a serial (this is from the first Green Hornet serial) were based on actual living people.  seems like you rarely see this any more though.

Dinosaurus!

sure, the title doesn't make any sense, and it's really geared for young viewers, but it's a fun little movie.

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (2010)

more DC goodness from Netflix.  I liked this movie a lot, generally due to all the familiar voices present.  those are the current voices I think of when I see these heroes, and usually end up wishing they were doing the voice acting for all the movies.

not that the others are bad, but these are just awesome.

anyway, this is the story of Supergirl coming to Earth and how she adapts.  the now overused Darkseid wants to brainwash her and make her a general for his army (does this sound familiar to anyone else?) and the Big Three go to Apokolips to get her back.

and Big Barda goes with them, which is a nice touch.  and I still love Edward Asner as Granny Goodness. it's just an awesome touch, since Granny always reminded me of Ed back in the day anyway.

this one is a fun 78 minutes (ooh, they got three more minutes than normal!) and while not as good as All Star Superman, it's worth a look.

War of the Worlds (1953) trailer

one of George Pal's best!



this is one great movie. I saw it on the re-release in probably 1978 (on a double bill with When Worlds Collide (1951) and that was a very cool evening for me and my brother.  imDb says it was released in August 1977, but it probably didn't make it's way to Colorado for some time.  George Pal was the producer, and his output of fantastic films was really only surpassed by Eiji Tsuburaya.

Sister Streetfighter (1974)

about to rewatch this series of movies.  haven't seen them in sometime, and I remember greatly enjoying the first one.  nice to have two or three more subtitled.  and I love the music by Shunsuke Kikuchi so I am looking forward to these.

wish I had grabbed that set of them when I saw it at Frye's though. though Amazon has it pretty cheap now.

Zone Fighter powers

how about a little live action now?



Zone Fighter is a really fun show.  I'm still surprised some fan sub group hasn't done this, since it would be popular to Godzilla nerds, even if they hate the "superhero" Godzilla, since they are completists and would deal with it just to have it.

their loss!

All Star Superman (2011)

this is a really good movie based on this comic book series of the same name.  it's an out of continuity book, so things can actually really happen and be effectively emotional in this.

I have not read the series, though I am interested in reading it now.  good thing Media-con is right around the corner, huh?

anyway, I had no idea what it was about.  I had read a blurb at some point, so after the first ten minutes or so when Superman rescued the solarnauts I remembered what it was about:

Lex Luthor give Superman a yellow sun radiation overdose, and it's killing him.  it gives him a lot of extra powers.  in the books he has a year to live, and in the movie it seems like it's less time. he does a lot of good stuff in both, even with Lois hanging about.

there's a lot of the Silver Age of Superman floating about in this one, kryptonite guns and gravity guns, Superman robots (sorta), the Phantom Zone, a baby Sun-Eater which is Clark's pet, Samson and Atlas (not that I knew exactly who they were in the movie) and even Lex's purple suit show up.

major spoilers!

Spider-man Sunday

swiped from my buddy Fester, here's two episodes of the loads of fun 60s Spider-man cartoon:



to this day, this theme song grabs me like only two or three others do.  I've related the WDCA story many times.

and I love that I have the entire DVD set now.  way better than 13 video tapes.

Power Rangers 1-60

well, Netflix has a ton of seasons of PR (at least 18- how did that happen?) of Power Rangers to watch online now.  I haven't seen any of the originals since they were aired way back in '93.

I enjoyed it somewhat then, mostly because of the Zyuranger content, but watching it now, it's not a bad little show.  sure, there's some cringeworthy humor here and there (usually the way Bulk is humiliated, and really, who would have put up with two morons like that in any high school?) but for the most part it serves it's purpose.

speaking of Bulk and Skull, they get the best lines and really work well together.  I'd never noticed how funny they actually were, much better actors than our heroes.

still, it may be a while before I can get through the first 60 episodes.  I see that in "season 18" they did a "special edition" of the original series, actually adding effects and captions.  did they think kids got dumber in that amount of time?  I watched the first episode and wasn't impressed. 

I would like to see more of Zyuranger now.

Monster Zero trailer

it's also one of the coolest titles of ANY Godzilla movie.  in fact, the first time it aired, I didn't watch it because I didn't know it was a Godzilla movie.  boy did I regret not watching it when I found out at the playground the next day.

Monster Zero

just watched Monster Zero (1965) again, and it's just as good as the first time I saw it, way back on Channel 2.

this would have been an awesome double feature to see in 1970, I'll tell you what.

anyway, it seems to me, that even though this is called a direct sequel to Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster it really can function quite well on it's own, especially since there is no mention of Mothra in this movie at all.

I really do love that the continuity is so loose in these movies, makes it fun to try to connect them as long as one doesn't get bound up by it.

WKRP - Les on A Ledge

this is the third episode of the first season, and some people think Ace Newshound Les Nessman is gay.  it was a big deal in 1978, and they would barely say homosexual or anything.  I'm glad times have changed in this regard.

such a good show.

Swordsman with an Umbrella (1970)

this is not a very good movie.  there's subtitles, but apparently the movie was redubbed sorta.  it sounds newish, but I can't tell.

it's a pretty standard movie,  but the fights are not good and the action so far is hokey.  they were trying to go for the One Armed Swordsman thing... without any of the talent in front of or behind the camera.

the invention of music

unless Hollywood has lied to me, I believe this is exactly how it happened:



I forget how much I love this movie on occasion.  it's just that awesome.

T-Rex: A Dinosaur in Hollywood (TV 2005)

picked this fun little doc up at Target for $5, and it's about worth that price. 

it's definitely not a serious documentary, but there's some good stuff on it, and they talk to both Donald F. Glut and Ray Harryhausen which means they had an idea about getting good information out there.


it's a look at the discovery of tyrannosaurus rex at Hell Creek MT in 1905 to his "stardom" in the movies.  he's sort of treated like a real actor, which is an interesting take.  however, there are some serious stretches of the imagination to make some of the cinematic theropods into t rex, the most egregious of them in calling Gwangi (of The Valley of Gwangi (1969) a t rex. 
Don and Ray both speak of the movie, and I know that they know better than to call an allosaurus a completely different animal.  I've never heard of Gwangi being a t rex, but it seems to be what some people think these days.  of course, some people think the t rex in King Kong (1933) was an allosaurus as well. so go figure.

and Bob Bakker misnames the movie (common mistake, "The Valley of THE Gwangi") and he should also know better.

anyway, it's a fun for what it is, and there is some stop-motion shown.  that alone almost makes up for leaving out Godzilla...

Golden Age JSA

well, most of my picture.  my scanner isn't large enough to get the entire thing in.

only cut off the Atom, and he's tiny!  I dunno where Wildcat or Johnny Thunder are, but who's gonna argue with Irwin Hasen who helped create Wildcat?

The Last Dragon (1985)

saw this movie in the theater when it was originally released, and enjoyed it for what it is.  in the middle of America, one did not get many martial arts movies in the 80s.

Sho'Nuff shows his glow

Taimak stars as Leroy Green, who is on his quest to become "the master".  he runs afoul of Sho' Nuff (the late Julius Carry) the Shogun of Harlem.  Julius knew no martial arts, but between him and his double, they faked it well. he was awesome.

anyway, it's a fun movie, with a good cast.  Taimak did a good job as a rookie actor, as did Vanity.  rumor has it a remake is being planned, one I believe I will be happy to skip.  the DVD has a director's commentary, but it's very matter of fact and after 10 minutes I switched back to the movie alone.

Robin-Mite, aka Larry

Superman has Mr. Mxyzptlk, Batman has Bat-Mite and Aquaman even has Qwsp/Quisp. now Robin has...

Larry.

he shows up to bedevil the Titans in one of their cartoons, and isn't nearly as annoying as Bat-mite.  it's not stated he's from the 5th dimension, but since he tells us his real name it's pretty easy to guess.

looking at that wiki page... there are a lot more of those imps running around than I ever thought there were. 

let's see Xeen Arrow...

the origin of Captain America

here's to Independence Day!



since I'm sure the new movie won't be that close to the "real" origin.  this is just the serum, no "vita rays" or whatever the shot is called.  that was added a few years later.  it's great to see Kirby artwork "animated". 

and all a kid had to do was find out the hero's secret ID and he got to be a sidekick.  hopefully if the movie is smart, they won't bother with Cap coming to the present until the sequel, if there is one.

the Black Panther

Netflix comes through again with this entire series, and it's pretty good. you can also buy the disc on Amazon, if you want to.

anyway, the artwork is really cool, and the animation is quite unique, and yet the story is good enough you don't even notice the economy of movement for most of it.

the Dondi Reese thing is kind of stupid... but other than that the acting is good, though I miss the original Batroc the Leaper, silly as he was. I miss costumed villains.  at least the Juggernaut is in his suit.  is he considered a mutant these days?  still lame if he is.

the voice acting is good as well.  I'm definitely enjoying the show.  it runs in 10-12 minute chunks and works well that way.

Secret Origin: the Story of DC Comics (2010)

watched this the other day, and it's a very effective and well done history of DC Comics.  the best thing about it was seeing all the writers and artists talk about various characters and things.  I'd never seen Neal Adams talk before, and Marv Wolfman doesn't quite look like what I remember anymore.

of course, anyone who likes comic books will know most of this if not all of it.  Marvel Comics does get mentioned, a little bit, as Julius Schwartz mostly jokingly takes credit for helping create the Fantastic Four.  Julie was awesome.

so I recommend a viewing, just for fun.  there are no real glaring errors that I saw, except they left out the Multiple Earths completely, which is kind of a interesting thing, since it was a great idea.

The Big Brawl (1980)

this would have made a very good Bruce Lee movie, but as a Jackie Chan vehicle it's adequate at best. 

there are some good fights in here, and one cool one done on roller skates (Jackie was taught by one of my coaches, John Hall, who is credited in the movie but not in imDb, how does one change that?).

however, Jackie plays a Korean, who enters a big brawl to win $15,000 to send to his brother's clinic in Chicago. it's an interesting version of the "tournament" martial arts movie, but the choreographers are stuck in the 1970s a la "Enter the Dragon (1973)" and have Jackie do many similar moves, instead of his completely different style that we are so used to these days.

so the fights look a bit slow, which didn't blow US audiences away in 1980.  what I found more interesting was Jackie was given a love interest and looked good as a romantic lead.  that was very cool.

it's definitely worth a viewing, but it's pretty easy to see why it failed at the BO back then.

8th Man opening

I can't believe that I've never posted the US theme song to this show, since I've talked about it more than once here.  rumor has it Ralph Bakshi had something to do with this, but I don't know any more than that.  it rocks.