Martial Arts Films

 

 

Martial arts are exciting according to film and television program makers, it is a useful product for making a mediocre production more interesting. I remember when I first started karate, I saw 'Enter The Dragon," "The Big Boss" and the series called "Kung Fu" staring David Carradine the plots were just a vehicle to exhibit this strange martial art called kung fu. I recently watched these films and series on D.V.D., I must admit that I borrowed them from a friend I'm not that much of an anorak! I found that the films and the series were dated, I did not enjoy them as much as when I first saw them so many years ago. But judo and jiu-jitsu were often shown in the second feature films of the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's; I believe that the fight scene in "Bad Day at Black Rock", where Spencer Tracy played the crippled one armed World War II veteran half kills the town bully played by Ernest Borgnine cannot be equalled. Another good film for the fight scene is "Blood on the Sun" where James Cagney plays a crusading journalist in pre war Japan in the 1930's when there was a rise in militarism leading up to the Second World War, the film itself was a blatant piece of American Propaganda but the fight scenes where James Cagney uses judo for fighting was well worth watching; the only part I found unbelievable was when Cagney repeatedly punched his opponent with his bare hands without breaking his knuckles a bit unrealistic, Mike Tyson had a street fight with a former boxer called Mitch Green when he was still the number one contender for the world heavy weight boxing championship and broke his knuckles as he was not wearing gloves and bandages. In the early days of channel 4 there used to be B movies shown staring Peter Lorre playing the fictional detective Mr Moto, the Japanese Detective; a series of these films were produced by R.K.O. Studios as a second feature, the handle these movies had was that there was always a fight where Lorre as Mr Moto defeated multiple larger opponents using judo / jiu-jitsu.

                 For the people who train in military unarmed combat systems the film "Cloak & Dagger" in which Gary Cooper plays a scientist recruited by the O.S.S., Office of Strategic Services. The film was made just after World War II and shows the fighting system taught by W.E.Fairbairn in Camp X, where the O.S.S. agents were trained. The one fight scene where Gary Cooper kills the Italian Secret Service Policeman using techniques out of the manual "Get Tough" or "All In Fighting" as it is named in Britain. The chin jab, shin scrape, and the edge of the hand strike to the throat are shown.
                 Modern films are using the modern martial sport of Wushu to provide martial skills in the film "The Matrix", "Charlie's Angels" and the Chinese action director John Woo produce a superior movie. Wushu the martial art created by the Chinese Government to take the place of traditional kung fu decimated by the Red Guard Students who by their actions destroyed many systems, killing or imprisoning sifus who taught kung fu. Wushu was created from the remaining systems to provide a commonality of techniques which could act as physical culture and keep the Chinese population healthy, not as fighting systems.
 
 
                Yours in budo
 
                                      Ian "Lurch" Durie.  

Martial Arts according to Lurch