travels to Peking, where his blind sifu, Po, stumbles into a royal guard. He’s shot for his mistake, and Caine kills the guards and, of all people, the prince. Then he escapes to America and gets a job on the railroad. From there, the script degenerates into a western Big Boss, but with one added twist. After Caine leads the coolies in a revolt against their corrupt masters, another Shaolin monk appears to challenge him. It seems the temple was destroyed as retribution for Caine’s act, and the monk wants revenge. Caine kills him, bows farewell, and disappears down the road.
“Tom Kuhn , who was in charge of Warner Television at the time, said, ‘Why don’t we try this as a series?’” Weintraub said. “I said, ‘Great. Bruce would be perfect.’ We designed the series for Bruce.”
According to the “official” network story, Bruce Lee ultimately turned down the offer to star in the series, thinking he wasn’t ready yet. Weintraub doesn’t remember it that way. “When he didn’t get the part,” he recalled, “I was stunned. Bruce was heartbroken, and I couldn’t blame him.”
The late Harvey Frand , who told me that he was the executive who was actually given the unenviable task of telling Bruce in person, didn’t remember it the network’s way, either. “Ted Ashley wanted Bruce,” he said, “but the network wanted someone like William Smith [who, ironically, played the Darker Than Amber villain, and was considered for John Saxon ’s role in Enter the Dragon ]. We felt that casting David Carradine made for a good compromise. To tell you the truth, I didn’t think Lee’s English was strong enough yet.”
But his kung fu certainly was. In a vain attempt to try to convince the executive what they were missing, Lee kicked a feather off the bridge of Frand’s nose without touching his skin. It still wasn’t enough. Carradine got the part in the series that ironically succeeded because of Enter the Dragon . And Enter the Dragon succeeded because of Bruce Lee .
Comedian Margaret Cho concurs. She has always felt that the TV series should have another name. “I hated that show, because the lead actor, David Carradine , wasn’t even Chinese,” she said in her comedy act. “That show should not have been called Kung Fu. It should have been called That Guy’s Not Chinese. ”
Lee’s Chinese contribution to Enter the Dragon , however, was telling. Bruce starred essentially as himself, and supervised all the kung fu — using many of the same stuntman he had worked with on Fist of Fury , including, most notably, the pre-superstar Jackie Chan (Jackie had stunted the Fist of Fury villain who was kicked across a stone garden, and, in Enter the Dragon ’s subterranean fight sequence, memorably gets his neck broken by Lee). This was Lee’s showcase, and its every fault only served to bolster Bruce’s participation. He was truly the best thing about the movie. In that respect, it could not have been a better vehicle for him.
To top it off, he also gave the entire film a heart most weren’t aware of. “I don’t think anyone else knows this,” Weintraub told me back in 1984, “but when Enter the Dragon was finished, I completely reedited it. When it was initially done, it was a linear story that started in the United States. But Bruce went back and did the Shaolin Temple sequence. That was his. He did that without me, and I loved it. I took that and opened the film with it. Then I went onto the boat and did flashbacks, which everybody thought I was crazy to do.”
For that memorable, important, prologue, Lee introduced the world to Stephen Tung Wai , who played the young man Bruce was teaching. The child actor grew up to be one of the industry’s most promising new kung fu choreographers. But back at the time, Lee also called upon his friend Sammo Hung Kam-po, whom he had met when first coming to work for Golden Harvest . At that time Sammo had been the studio’s top action director, so he had
“Tom Kuhn , who was in charge of Warner Television at the time, said, ‘Why don’t we try this as a series?’” Weintraub said. “I said, ‘Great. Bruce would be perfect.’ We designed the series for Bruce.”
According to the “official” network story, Bruce Lee ultimately turned down the offer to star in the series, thinking he wasn’t ready yet. Weintraub doesn’t remember it that way. “When he didn’t get the part,” he recalled, “I was stunned. Bruce was heartbroken, and I couldn’t blame him.”
The late Harvey Frand , who told me that he was the executive who was actually given the unenviable task of telling Bruce in person, didn’t remember it the network’s way, either. “Ted Ashley wanted Bruce,” he said, “but the network wanted someone like William Smith [who, ironically, played the Darker Than Amber villain, and was considered for John Saxon ’s role in Enter the Dragon ]. We felt that casting David Carradine made for a good compromise. To tell you the truth, I didn’t think Lee’s English was strong enough yet.”
But his kung fu certainly was. In a vain attempt to try to convince the executive what they were missing, Lee kicked a feather off the bridge of Frand’s nose without touching his skin. It still wasn’t enough. Carradine got the part in the series that ironically succeeded because of Enter the Dragon . And Enter the Dragon succeeded because of Bruce Lee .
Comedian Margaret Cho concurs. She has always felt that the TV series should have another name. “I hated that show, because the lead actor, David Carradine , wasn’t even Chinese,” she said in her comedy act. “That show should not have been called Kung Fu. It should have been called That Guy’s Not Chinese. ”
Lee’s Chinese contribution to Enter the Dragon , however, was telling. Bruce starred essentially as himself, and supervised all the kung fu — using many of the same stuntman he had worked with on Fist of Fury , including, most notably, the pre-superstar Jackie Chan (Jackie had stunted the Fist of Fury villain who was kicked across a stone garden, and, in Enter the Dragon ’s subterranean fight sequence, memorably gets his neck broken by Lee). This was Lee’s showcase, and its every fault only served to bolster Bruce’s participation. He was truly the best thing about the movie. In that respect, it could not have been a better vehicle for him.
To top it off, he also gave the entire film a heart most weren’t aware of. “I don’t think anyone else knows this,” Weintraub told me back in 1984, “but when Enter the Dragon was finished, I completely reedited it. When it was initially done, it was a linear story that started in the United States. But Bruce went back and did the Shaolin Temple sequence. That was his. He did that without me, and I loved it. I took that and opened the film with it. Then I went onto the boat and did flashbacks, which everybody thought I was crazy to do.”
For that memorable, important, prologue, Lee introduced the world to Stephen Tung Wai , who played the young man Bruce was teaching. The child actor grew up to be one of the industry’s most promising new kung fu choreographers. But back at the time, Lee also called upon his friend Sammo Hung Kam-po, whom he had met when first coming to work for Golden Harvest . At that time Sammo had been the studio’s top action director, so he had
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