# David Carradine and Kung Fu



## Manny

I want to ask, did David Carradine knew Kung Fu? I just saw the movie Kill Bill and also know Mr.Carradine did the TV serie Kung Fu (I recall those years when I was a boy and saw that tv show) and one of the best fight coreographies for me was the one Chuck Norris had with Mr. Carradine in the movie Lone Wolff McQuade and in this movie Carradine play Kung Fu very well.

What kind of Kung Fu Mr. Carradine trained?

Crane? Mantis?

Manny


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## Xue Sheng

No, David Carradine did not know any style of Kung Fu when he filmed the TV Series

From here


> Martial artist
> 
> Carradine knew nothing of the practice of kung fu at the time he was cast in the role of Kwai Chang Caine, instead he relied on his experience as a dancer for the part. He also had experience in sword fighting, boxing, and street fighting on which to draw. For the first half of the original series, David Chow provided technical assistance with kung fu. Later, Kam Yuen provided the expertise. It was not until after the series was canceled that Carradine began to study martial arts, first from Yuen and eventually from Rob Moses, a student of Yuen's. He never considered himself a master of the art, but rather an "evangelist" of kung fu. By 2003 he had acquired enough expertise in martial arts to produce and star in several instructional videos on Tai chi and Qi Gong. In 2005, Carradine visited the Shaolin Monastery in Henan, China as part of the extra features for the third season of the Kung Fu DVDs. During his visit, the abbot, Shi Y&#466;ngxìn, said that he recognized Carradine's important contribution to the promotion of the Shaolin Monastery and kung fu culture, to which he replied, "I am happy to serve."


 
IMO he was never that good and as for his Taijiquan.... he did not know it.

He was a good actor though


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## Touch Of Death

Xue Sheng said:


> No, David Carradine did not know any style of Kung Fu when he filmed the TV Series
> 
> From here
> 
> 
> IMO he was never that good and as for his Taijiquan.... he did not know it.
> 
> He was a good actor though


Yeah, I always felt he could have used a stunt double.
Sean


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## clfsean

...... it's not polite to speak ill of the deceased ....


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## Touch Of Death

clfsean said:


> ...... it's not polite to speak ill of the deceased ....


I am just saying what is real. I didn't call him an acid head or anything.
Sean


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## clfsean

Touch Of Death said:


> I am just saying what is real. I didn't call him an acid head or anything.
> Sean


 

Naw man... you're good. :headbangin: I was talking about me... :angel:


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## mograph

Loved him in Kill Bill. He was so comfortable in that role.


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## Aiki Lee

Personally, I hate Kill Bill, but I loved Kung Fu despite some of the hideous choreography.


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## Xue Sheng

Himura Kenshin said:


> Personally, I hate Kill Bill, but I loved Kung Fu despite some of the hideous choreography.


 
I am not a fan of the Kill Bill movies either but I have to admit it was kind of cool seeing Sonny Chiba and Gordon Liu (Chia Hui Liu) in the first one and Gordon Liu (Chia Hui Liu) in the second one but beyond that I did not much like the movies.


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## WC_lun

Suppossedly he knew praying mantis and tai chi.  Though to be honest, I did not like what he showed to have a solid understanding of either.


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## geezer

Carradine's portrayal of Quai Chang Cain did about as much to popularize kung-fu in the early 70's as Bruce Lee's movies. Both sparked my interest in martial arts. But in the case of Carradine's character in the TV show, it was kind of a double-edged sword. That show was overwhelmingly responsible for linking kung-fu with the woooo-wooo, magical-mystical, hippy-dippy new age movement. Maybe that was part of why kung fu became so popular, but it was a distortion of what the martial arts are, and has been a difficult association to shake-off. I mean look what it's done to taijiquan. _Xue_, you gotta know what I'm talking about. How many times have we all run into some guy carrying a flute and wanting to live the life a of a kung-fu monk "...like David Carradine!"


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## Touch Of Death

geezer said:


> Carradine's portrayal of Quai Chang Cain did about as much to popularize kung-fu in the early 70's as Bruce Lee's movies. Both sparked my interest in martial arts. But in the case of Carradine's character in the TV show, it was kind of a double-edged sword. That show was overwhelmingly responsible for linking kung-fu with the woooo-wooo, magical-mystical, hippy-dippy new age movement. Maybe that was part of why kung fu became so popular, but it was a distortion of what the martial arts are, and has been a difficult association to shake-off. I mean look what it's done to taijiquan. _Xue_, you gotta know what I'm talking about. How many times have we all run into some guy carrying a flute and wanting to live the life a of a kung-fu monk "...like David Carradine!"


I saw comedian talking about the show once, "Dude... You get into a fight every week. *It's you man!*"
Sean


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## Aiki Lee

I'm in my 20s so I didn't see Kung Fu when it was on TV. My dad really loved it though and got him involved in martial arts, which in turn got me into it.

Without that show, I don't know if I'd ever had become a martial artist.

My dad got the whole series on DVD a few years ago, and every day when I finished class and he was on lunch break we'd watch an episode.

It was good bonding time.


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## Domino

WC_lun said:


> Suppossedly he knew praying mantis and tai chi.  Though to be honest, I did not like what he showed to have a solid understanding of either.



I heard the same. The rest he imitated and copied.


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## Touch Of Death

Himura Kenshin said:


> I'm in my 20s so I didn't see Kung Fu when it was on TV. My dad really loved it though and got him involved in martial arts, which in turn got me into it.
> 
> Without that show, I don't know if I'd ever had become a martial artist.
> 
> My dad got the whole series on DVD a few years ago, and every day when I finished class and he was on lunch break we'd watch an episode.
> 
> It was good bonding time.


I remember the incident, and even the conversation of my getting exposed to the Martial Arts. My step Father had returned from the war, Kung Fu was on, and he began to explain how he had seen a guy start tapping on a guys head with his index finger and no matter what the tapee did, the man was able to continue tapping on his forehead. At five years old that sounded way cool. He even demontrated on me, though he was no Martial Artist. Good Times. LOL


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## Senjojutsu

Himura Kenshin said:


> I'm in my 20s so I didn't see Kung Fu when it was on TV. My dad really loved it though and got him involved in martial arts, which in turn got me into it.
> 
> Without that show, I don't know if I'd ever had become a martial artist.
> 
> My dad got the whole series on DVD a few years ago, and every day when I finished class and he was on lunch break we'd watch an episode.
> 
> It was good bonding time.


Several years ago I had the first season DVD of the ABC series and tried to watch episodes with my teenage sons to catch the magic.

Well.... sad to say it did not become a bonding experience... Within the first hour they started to complain... DO THEY ALWAYS HAVE TO TALK IN METAPHORS!!?????

Out of the mouths of babes... I really didn't have a comeback to that.  :uhohh:

I remember an 80s comic had a routine mocking Quai Chang Cain's frequent flashbacks whenever he was in a tense/confrontational situations. _"Man - those Shaolin Monks must have dopped some serious acid back at the Temple..."_

But nothing beat the "non-bonding" moment when I tried to watch the first BILLY JACK movie with my sons (not the prequel - The Born Losers) but 1971's BILLY JACK.

I have to admit that movie has not aged well... not to mention the two BILLY JACK sequels had to be some of the worst movies made during that decade... which is a pretty high bar to clear IMHO.


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## Touch Of Death

Senjojutsu said:


> Several years ago I had the first season DVD of the ABC series and tried to watch episodes with my teenage sons to catch the magic.
> 
> Well.... sad to say it did not become a bonding experience... Within the first hour they started to complain... DO THEY ALWAYS HAVE TO TALK IN METAPHORS!!?????
> 
> Out of the mouths of babes... I really didn't have a comeback to that.  :uhohh:
> 
> I remember an 80s comic had a routine mocking Quai Chang Cain's frequent flashbacks whenever he was in a tense/confrontational situations. _"Man - those Shaolin Monks must have dopped some serious acid back at the Temple..."_
> 
> But nothing beat the "non-bonding" moment when I tried to watch the first BILLY JACK movie with my sons (not the prequel - The Born Losers) but 1971's BILLY JACK.
> 
> I have to admit that movie has not aged well... not to mention the two BILLY JACK sequels had to be some of the worst movies made during that decade... which is a pretty high bar to clear IMHO.


First of all, making your child watch Billy Jack, is almost worth a call to *CPS*:mst:, but now you go and tell me there is a second one! I'll tell you, I watched the first one when I was about ten and my thoughts on it were, "What is this hippy crap?". I did like Easy Rider, only cuz I'm a sucker for a movie with a happy ending.:wink1:... I'm Kidding!
Sean


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## newtothe dark

Billy Jack rules. I wore boots and took them off before a fight one just to try it. Ended up casing the kid and came back after to find my boot gone. HAHA lesson learned.


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## punisher73

I think that David Carradine did attempt to learn some kung fu/chi gung later in life, but as to how much he learned or how good he was at it is anyone's guess.

The TV show "Kung Fu" was what got me first interested in the MA as a child.  I never saw any Bruce Lee movies until I was out of high school.  But, as a young kid in the 70's I was hooked on Kung Fu.  Later, when USA Network used to have "Kung Fu Theater" on saturday morning/afternoon, I would be glued to the TV and then try to practice what I saw on there. LOL


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## MA-Caver

Himura Kenshin said:


> Personally, I hate Kill Bill, but I loved Kung Fu despite some of the hideous choreography.


Imagine how great the choreography would've been had they allowed the series inventor do the show as he initially wanted?


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## CrushingFist

Use to love that show when I was younger, was eager to see tv everyday lol.


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## shaolin_al

I loved Carradine shows and movies so I am not trying to discredit him. I have however been told about one of the styles he was exposed to being beishaolin quanmen. He spent a lot of time on the sidelines watching others train and drinking coffee. Also I have heard some of his kung fu dvd's are laughable.


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## Fing Fang Foom

Are you all kidding me?

"Kung Fu" was the ***** LOL... as you can tell by the bottom of my 'signature', that TV showed influenced me a lot in my love for MA's in general. Who can forget these immortal TV Lines?:

*Master Po:* Close your eyes. What do you hear?
*Young Caine:* I hear the water, I hear the birds.
*Po:* Do you hear your own heartbeat?
*Caine:* No.
*Po:* Do you hear the grasshopper which is at your feet?
*Caine:* Old man, how is it that you hear these things?
*Po:* Young man, how is it that you do not?

That was some of the best "hippie kung fu talk" in the world! I grew up in the late 60s and all the 70's. I had three shows I could not miss in the evening times; The six million dollar man, Wild wild West, and Kung Fu! Kids at school would talk about the show each day at school after an episode had aired the night before. In the midwest where I was raised the TV Show had more influence on kids wanting to learn MA's then Bruce Lee did. We all knew who Bruce was, but only a hand full of us ever saw the movies at the theatre. I never saw a single Bruce Lee movie until the 80's.... For you younger folks you have to remember we had only 3 channels of stuff to watch; ABC, NBC, and CBS...No Cable, No 'good' movies on TV, No DVDs, No VCR's, nothing! And some of Bruce's movies were 'more mature', so even if your parents had a little extra money to take you to the movies you probably didn't get to go to a late show to see a Bruce Lee movie. Back in the day, the more 'adult' movies were always in the evening time after 7pm. All the shows in the day time, even on the weekends were shows like; Bambi, escape to witch mountain, or 1 of a hundred movies with a young kurt russel, or a herbie the lovebug move, etc etc lol.


Also, if you watch or buy the Kung Fu TV box set from warner bro's. (I believe it is on Season 2), there was an extra feature called; "A dinner with David Carradine and friends". It was a discussion with David, Cynthia Rothrock, Rob Moses, Wu Shu stylist Hal Sparks, Vivica Fox, Micheal Madsen, and the shows tech advisor Kam Yuen. It also has (an older) Radames Para! (the man, who when he was little played the young Caine). I believe it talks about how David got the part of Kung Fu, and also explains how he did study MA's later in life. I enjoyed watching it. (way better then billy jack LOL).

So like it or hate it.... I will let you know the fact. Kung Fu, the TV show influenced thousands of people...and it will forever be apart of TV/Americana/and Kung Fu lore.:ultracool


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## stickarts

For more info on David Carradine, he wrote a book " Spirit of Shaolin ". I recall getting it on amazon.com. Not very expensive and i found it to be an interesting read. He describes his training as well as his career.


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