Kung Fu 

The adventures of a Shaolin Monk as he wanders the American West armed only with his skill in Kung Fu.

Creators:

Ed Spielman, Herman Miller

Stars:

David Carradine, Radames Pera, Keye Luke

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 5 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
David Carradine	...	Kwai Chang Caine / ... 63 episodes, 1972-1975
Radames Pera	...	Young Caine 48 episodes, 1972-1975
Keye Luke	...	Master Po 48 episodes, 1972-1975
Philip Ahn	...	Master Kan 40 episodes, 1972-1975

Storyline

Kwai Chang Caine is a Shaolin Monk who is on the run after he killed the Chinese Emperor's nephew after that coward killed his teacher in cold blood with a gun. He flees to America to escape retaliation, and to search for his brother in order to settle down in this new land. However, in his travels in the wild west, he can not help but continually run into trouble from desperados and other ruffians as they oppress the innocent, while bounty hunters pursue the price on his head. Against this, he has his skill of Kung Fu martial arts, which proves to be devastatingly effective in this gun-dominated land.

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Plot Keywords:

man with no name | kung fu | shaolin | monk | temple | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Western

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 February 1972 (USA)

Also Known As:

Кунг-фу

Filming Locations:

Stage 7, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros. Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min (60 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

The only reason this show went off the air was because David Carradine quit the series. He had sustained so many injuries, he felt he could not go on. The show got high ratings for all three seasons that it aired.

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Goofs

In the title sequence, the close-up shots of Caine's arms moving into position over the cauldron show his right arm covering both the dragon AND the tiger.

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Connections

Referenced in The X-Files: Mind's Eye (1998)

User Reviews

Beautiful

Martial arts movies are full of great action and well choreographed fights, from the days of Bruce Lee to the stunning visuals we have with todays wire work and cgi. But Kung Fu is not a martial arts movie/series.....

Kung Fu is about a shaolin monk; Kwai Chang Caine. He travels around the wild west, seeking to help others and avoiding bounty hunters. The amazing thing about kung fu is that the flashbacks show Caine's past, we see that he has been trained to use kung fu, but he is a monk and would not harm a fly if it wasn't necessary. Caine chooses not to fight but when he has no other choice he proves that he can take anyone. The character is really brought to life by David Carradine, it would have been great to use Bruce Lee (Another of my idols) but I don't think the energetic Bruce would have been able to pull of the calmness of Caine.

I was expecting to see a martial arts series in the wild west but kung fu is its own genre. The teachings of Masters Po and Khan are wonderful and make you think about life. Apparently after seeing the series people seeked more information because they wanted to raise their children under the same morals.

It doesn't matter if you don't like martial arts or westerns, you need to see this. It has changed my life and the way I think about life.