The sad and awful death of cool-guy David Carradine comes with a bit of irony.
Throughout his career, Carradine played wise and disciplined men who'd learned the ways of life and transcended them.
This dates back, of course, to his early days of fame as "Kung Fu's" Kwai Chang Caine, a seeker and purveyor of knowledge from spiritual planes. That 1970s TV series steered many a baby boomer toward the martial arts and Eastern philosophy.
Carradine said he felt his career was "like a mission. A holy one." His next film job had him playing a priest.
This week we learned that Carradine was plenty mortal, as he was found dead with a rope around his neck in a Bangkok hotel room. He's being mourned by pretty much everyone with a love of action and genre movies.
Carradine made many films, more than 100 -- some quite good, others not so good. We forgave the stinkers and we dug that funny yellow pages TV ad.
He was 72 and by most accounts a happy man. He died with six movies in post-production.
Here's a look at a half dozen Carradine touchstones, along with what's what on the DVDs/Blu-rays.
Circle of Iron: Bruce Lee wrote this strange piece of business but was unable to get it made. After the martial arts superstar died, the project resurfaced with Carradine in the Lee role(s). Jeff Cooper ("Dallas") plays a young warrior on a quest to find a legendary book. Standing in the way is Carradine, who pops up in four roles, including Death. The actor shows off his new martial arts chops and remains the reason to see the movie. "Circle of Iron
" reached out to martial artists and lightweight seekers, but ended up playing to stoners, who appreciated its persistent weirdness. Don't miss Eli Wallach as a man forever sitting in a vat of oil, in hopes of soaking off his dick. Blue Underground released this oddity on Blu-ray only a few weeks ago, following up on its DVD from a few years back. Carradine participates in the extras, which stretch over two hours.
Kill Bill 1 & 2: Quentin Tarrantino name-checked "Kung Fu" in "Pulp Fiction" and then went to the source for his two-part pop-art martial arts epic. Carradine plays the titular Bill, a wealthy and self-actualized villain who runs a squad of femme fatale assassins. His protege and ex-squeeze, Uma Thurman, returns from the near-dead with revenge on her mind. Her shopping list of people to kill lists Bill as the main event. Carradine does most of his work in the second film, delivering long speeches originally written for Warren Beatty. The film gave Carradine a late-career supercharge of hip, which lasted until his death. The "Kill Bill" Blu-rays
came out via Miramax last fall. The DVDs date back to 2004.
Boxcar Bertha and Bound for Glory: Both available on older MGM DVDs that lack extras. "Boxcar Bertha" (1972) captures Carradine and real-life lover Barbara Hershey as Bonnie and Clyde-like robbers in the Depression-era South. Carradine does a great job as a union organizer turned jaded and larcenous. Hershey has done better work, but the beauty all-star sheds her duds with frequency. Notable as the big-screen debut of director Martin Scorsese, working cheap for Roger Corman. "Boxcar Bertha" was included in the "The Martin Scorsese Film Collection
" (MGM, 2005) and came out solo with upgraded a/v in 2002. "Bound for Glory" (1976) is perhaps Carradine's most highly regarded performance, as folk icon Woody Guthrie. Hal Ashby directed. Word on the street is the transfer is junk. (MGM's films are in better hands these days.)
Also ... Roger Corman got his hands on Carradine again in 1975, for the B-movie classic "Death Race 2000
." The movie came out on DVD as part of a Corman series in 2005, via Buena Vista.
so many Kung Fu fans (such as myself) wanted to grow up to be like David Carradine
Posted by: Tobamel | June 08, 2009 at 11:24 PM