[Three and a half stars out of five] Best effort of all the Kung Fu movies. Radames Pera once played on Hawai'i Five-0!
Pear and half brother Keith Carradine both
played young Caine in here. Followed by
Kung Fu: The Movie (1986 **.5 out of four
stars), w/ Mako and Brandon Lee. Interesting
in that his story about half American/ half
Chinese Shaolin Monk, who escapes Royal China
after killing Royal Newphew, who's guard's
killed his Kung Fu teacher, another ex-Hawai'i
Five-0 vet, Keye Luke, was first offered to
Lee's late father, Bruce! But ABC wanted more
American looking martial arts guy. Carradine,
who is one quarter Chinese got call but knew
nothing about martial arts until taking lessons
during filming on this from Sefu Kam Yuen, who
helped Carradine with Tai Chi videos later!
Dave also did eulogy when young Brandon was
killed on set of Actioner-Phantasy 'The Raven',
in '93...

kung fu:the legend begins
this is the one that you see in commercials and in other movies and in clips on the show of the same name.a very influential movie!theres a small kid who goes into kung fu training with an old blind man.then he gets big and goes to america after killing his masters killer.he gets a job in the railroad and runs into problem after problem the whole movie long!kids like it.its better than the karate kid movies and a lot of the newer jackie chan movies although jackie has better too.it beats out anything by chuck norris or van damme or segal.bruce lee does better.you can actualy learn a lot of the basic things about kung fu by listening to the old man talk.the star is david carridine.he does quite well in his role.i liked death race 2000,and the kill bill set better but liked this one better than cannonball.

Stands the test of time
Excellent series still stands up for modern viewing. Still a refreshing take on the "Western" as a concept with some wonderful anti-racism statements. Only one clunker episode in the set: "The Tide," which seems more like a Bonanza script than anything else. High-calibre scripts and direction.

Hope they put the whole series on DVD
I have loved this series for years. I just love the little thought provoking things that Caine, the main character says. I've watched it since I was a little kid, and when I was in my twenties, it came on at 4 am on a channel once a week so I'd stay awake just to see it. I really hope they put the whole series on DVD. I'd buy it in a minute.

I love the quiet demeanor of Caine. I enjoy his humility and his respectfulness. The Caine character proves that you don't have to be "bad" to be cool. The pilot movie is definitely worth watching.

Unique Western flick.
This is certainly by no means an all-time favorite movie of mine, but it's an excellent little flick nevertheless -- especially considering that it was made-for-TV, the pilot for the "Kung Fu" TV series. My wife and I just saw it tonight and quite enjoyed it. At a mere 74 minutes, it's short and sweet, kinda the way I wish more movies would be! It's definitely a Western, as it takes place out West in the late 19th century, but it's unique for this genre in that it incorporates Eastern philosophy/wisdom and martial arts -- sorry, no quick-draw shootouts here.

A great scene appears near the beginning wherein Caine walks into a saloon after walking (!!) across a desert to get some water. Naturally some redneck dork wants to start a fight with him 'cause he's one of them "slant-eyes." Three times the guy attempts to attack Caine and three times Caine swiftly and decisively repels the attacks. The guy wisely decides not to attack again as Caine finishes his water and humbly walks out of the saloon leaving the saloon patrons in astonishment.

There's more martial arts action toward the end, but, it should be noted, this is by no means a standard martial arts flick. The movie teaches humility and respect for elders & all fellow human beings.

Despite the fact that they have very little dialogue, Caine develops a close father/son relationship with blind Master Po.

Some scenes have such a reverent and touching quality to them that they actually brought tears to my eyes .

In Brian Garfield's "Western Films" guide he criticized this film as "Juvenile tripe." With all due respect for the brilliant Mr. Garfield, this film is neither juvenile or tripe! As far as Westerns go, it's quite mature and original. Good Eastern-style music too.