Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 9780790776187
Format: Anamorphic
ISBN: 0790776189
Item Dimensions: Array
Label: Warner Home Video
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
MPN: WARD24250D
Number Of Items: 3
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2004-03-16
Running Time: 780
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1972-10-14

He is a man of peace in a violent land. He is Kwai Chang Caine, schooled in the spirit-mind-body ways of the Shaolin priesthood by the blind, avuncular Master Po and the stern yet loving master Kan. Caine speaks softly but hits hard. He lives humbly yet knows great contentment. He is the Old West's most unusual hero. But hero is not a word Caine would use. He would simply say, "I am a man."
Everybody was kung-fu fighting after the 1972 premiere of this mystic western starring David Carradine (snatching the role from Bruce Lee) in his signature, Emmy-nominated role as Caine, a stoic Shaolin monk forced to flee China after killing the royal family member who slew his Master. Our wandering hero roams the west in search of his long-lost brother, while eluding American and Imperial bounty hunters, and imparting his ancient wisdom on those he encounters and is compelled to aid. Kung-Fu was never a ratings force, but its cult status was assured long before Samuel L. Jackson referenced it in Pulp Fiction. Along with the inaugural 15 episodes, this three-disc set contains the feature-length pilot that establishes the series' iconography: the inscrutable aphorisms ("When you cease to strive to understand, then you will know without understanding"); the flashbacks to Caine's youth, where the orphaned half-American and half-Chinese boy served as disciple ("Grasshopper") to the Old Man; and, of course, the anticipated moments when the peaceful Caine, like Billy Jack, is reluctantly compelled by some frontier bigot to use his fighting skills. Look for appearances by father John Carradine and brothers Keith and Robert in the episode, "Dark Angel." That's 11-year-old future Oscar-winner Jodie Foster in "Althea." Other notable episodes include the Emmy-winning "An Eye for an Eye" and "Chains," featuring an Emmy-nominated turn by Michael Greene as a not-so-gentle giant to whom an imprisoned Caine is chained. "With each ending," Caine observes in the episode, "The Third Man," comes a new beginning." Kung Fu's new beginning comes on DVD. Thanks to the timeless frontier setting and the uniqueness of its genre-bending concept, Kung Fu dates better than other '70s series. As these episodes demonstrate, the show still has plenty of kick. --Donald Liebenson

Customer Rating:
Summary: Kung Fu - Complete first season
Comment: One of the best T.V. series of all time! A young orphan boy,of Chinese-American parents is accepted into a Chinese monastery,Where he learns the life of a priest.But because of the brutal murder of one of his teachers,he in return murders the killer & has to flee to America!There he searches for his family.Series includes stars John Saxon,Brandon Cruz & John Carradine.David Carradine stars an exceptional actor!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Groundbreaking Classic
Comment: One of the best TV shows ever made. I purchased this DVD set for my teenagers to watch. I wanted to give them a little bit of something that changed the way I thought about myself and everything around me when I was their age. This show started it all for me!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: excellent life lessons
Comment: We watch as a family and enjoy discussing the story-lines. Not gory, not violent for violence's sake.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Too bad they can't make TV shows like this today
Comment: Turn on the TV today and all you see is Reality (I call them Un-reality shows), game shows, sex in the city (park, garage, or anywhere else you can imagine) or crime scene investigations. The Kung Fu series and other such types of series are long gone with the past. This show was about a boy who became a real man - a man that cared for others, believed in leading a simple spiritual life, and dealt with a world filled with people who had warped ideas of what a real man was. The series was great - even my teenage kids are hooked on it. The behind the scene stuff is very interesting and the spiritual beliefs of the Shaolin Temple and Priests are inspiring. Well done production - highly recommend. Can't wait until I get the next season.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Where can I get full-screen version?
Comment: THIS is why DVD's will not be around much longer. Edited product, framed incorrectly. Why does it seem that the smaller companies, such as Blue Underground, put out beautiful product, while bigger companies completely miss the point of why people would want to own these shows. The sixties version of DRAGNET is one of my favorite shows, but when it was released on DVD, they sent it to Mexico to be produced, and many of the sets had to be returned, resulting in low sales and the unlikelyhood of any more glorious seasons. Where can I find KUNG FU's first season in a full-frame format? Thanks in advance to anyone who knows.

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