By The Radio Reaper
Welcome, all lovers of martial arts movies! Welcome to my Radio Spot Reliquary.
The 1970s was an interesting decade of movies and TV shows. Theatrical movies exhibited a new kind of freedom, both in subject matter and screen permissiveness. Teen angst, biker movies, sexploitation, blaxploitation, social issues, and graphic horror all began to explore new boundaries. Believe it or not, one solitary TV show, airing as a pilot movie and later turning into a series because of popular demand, created a genre which took Hollywood by storm, and opened up a whole new world of viewing excitement.
In February, 1972, an ABC-TV/Warner Brothers made-for TV movie called Kung Fu hit the airwaves. When it was shown again in the summer, its popularity skyrocketed. Demand was overwhelming, and a new TV series was born. It was a new concept: a half-Chinese, half American fugitive named Kwai Chang Caine flees to Old West America after having been raised as an orphan in a Shaolin temple in China. The movie featured flashbacks showing his education in the Tao Te Ching ancient Taoist philosophy and of his training in the Chinese martial art of Kung Fu. After killing the Chinese emperor’s nephew in revenge for murdering his beloved master Po, Caine flees to America with a bounty on his head, and also to find his long lost half-brother, Danny. The movie blended the ancient Chinese wisdom with the ruggedness of the Old West and Caine’s attempts to fit into this alien world. Audiences embraced the principles taught and marveled at his fighting skill, showcasing the five fighting styles of Kung Fu he had learned: the Mantis, the Crane, the Snake, the Tiger, and the Dragon. This was unlike anything TV audiences had seen before, and they went nuts over it.
The series ran for three seasons, ending in April, 1975. But it’s what happened during that time that was incredible for the motion picture industry.
In February, 1973, Warner Brothers Studio took a financial gamble on a 1972 Hong Kong Shaw Brothers Studio martial arts film called King Boxer and released it in the US as Five Fingers of Death in March, 1973. It was unlike anything American theatergoers had seen or heard before. Fans were amazed at the fighting techniques shown with its overly-loud contact sounds and the various “ki-yas” of the fighters. This movie took Kung Fu’s restrained fighting scenes to a whole new level, and fans ate it up. Plus, it had a story of an underdog overcoming all kinds of odds to become victorious, so it had a good moral lesson as well. It went on to be one of the most profitable films of 1973.
Five Fingers of Death was responsible for beginning the North American Karate/Kung Fu movie craze of the 1970s, with over 30 martial arts films being released in 1973 alone. Today, no action movie exists without heavy doses of martial arts fighting, whether it’s Karate, Kung Fu, Wing Chun, Muay Thai, Aikido, or any blends and combinations thereof. All heroes today are skilled in martial arts of some sort.
I remember when Five Fingers of Death came out in 1973, and it caused a sensation. Everybody went to see it, and martial arts schools began opening up everywhere. People had heard of Karate – about busting boards and having your hands registered with the police department as lethal weapons – but little else, and not much about Kung Fu, which held onto its tradition of teaching only to full-blooded Chinese. That would soon change as the 70s wore on, especially after another certain martial arts film masterpiece opened later in 1973. Thankfully, people eventually learned about the discipline, honor, and skills the arts taught and a lot of the exaggerated claims and false perceptions disappeared.
So now, though, put on your gi or your Kung Fu uniform, assume your beginning stance, and listen to radio spots for the movie that started it all.
Chi-hao! Ying-ying! Ms. Yen! Master Sung! Master Chin-pei! Chen Lang! Han Lung! Tung-shan! The Iron Fist! Five Fingers of Death!!