King Eagle ( 1971 )
Ti Lung is the hero known as King Eagle, an unbeatable swordsman who has no desire to involve himself in any conflict. An evil member of a clan is killing off the chiefs so he can be the clan leader. A dying swordsman who had been tasked with warning the other clan leaders, but was ambushed on the way to the head chief's stronghold, begs King Eagle to finish his mission. King Eagle refuses because he doesn't want to get involved. Of course he evil clan members are sure that King Eagle will get involved, so set up an ambush at the restaurant King Eagle frequents, killing his friends who were waiting there for him. King Eagle fights them off, but still refuses to get involved in the clan's conflict. A swordsman friend of his shows up ant tries to talk him into getting involved because the clan leaders getting killed off are righteous. But once again King Eagle doesn't want to get involved. The bad guys set up another ambush where they push a heavy cart full of rice sacks down a hill into a group of playing children. King Eagle jumps in front of the cart and stops it, but not before a child gets trapped under one of it's wheels. While he is stuck holding the cart back from crushing the child the bad guys kill his swordsman friend, then tease him before attempting to kill him too. A swordswoman shows up and drives them back, then helps pull the child out from under the cart. King Eagle kills the henchmen who set up the ambush, but still refuses to get involved in the conflict despite having to burry another friend. He falls in love with the swordswoman, who turns out to be another chief from the clan the bad guys are taking over. King Eagle tries to convince her to walk away from the clan, but she insists she has to do something. So finally he gets involved, just in time to decimate the bad guys in the final reel.
This was not among Chang Cheh's best films, but still a very entertaining potboiler from his swordplay phase of his career. Once again a film with a hero who is far superior to the villains who is reluctant to act until the final reel. I guess I can understand why. If he went after the villains in the first reel then there would be another 80 minutes to fill with no villains left for the hero to confront.
The Spirit ( 1987 )
And now the last of the Spirit films. Well, actually this franchise only had two entries. The big budget Frank Miller adaption from 2008, and this forgotten television pilot movie from the 80s. The pilot was ordered by ABC, but had the unfortunate luck of the entire ABC executive branch being replaced after the company merged with Capital Cities Communications. The new executives didn't want a comic book series and shelved the pilot. They finally ended up airing it a year later, but by then the cast had been released from their contracts and the sets had been torn down. Even if the pilot got decent ratings, it is doubtful ABC would have picked it up as a series. It wasn't promoted prior to broadcast. Most of those who had seen it over the years were those who bought bootlegs of the movie at comic book conventions. Recently Warner Archives officially released the film on DVD.
The movie does suffer from what was then the typical television budget. For example, the graveyard where The Spirit lives is extremely fake looking, has an obvious painted backdrop, and really fake looking fog that rolls no higher than a few inches off the ground. The graveyard set from the original Ghostbusters Saturday morning series is more realistic, and that show was really low budget. The villain's extravagant plot is forging and replacing artifacts at a museum. Had the series been picked up, the villains would have been of the Barnaby Jones variety and not supervillains. And yet, despite rewriting the origin so that it would fit within the budget restraints, the movie was very faithful to the original comic book. Okay, so it is trying to be funny but instead comes off corny. but it all kind of worked. And I am sure if a Spirit television series had been made, I would have enjoyed it as much as Greatest American Hero and the first Flash television series.
Running Wild ( 1927)
Another of the WC Fields silent films. This has the same basic problem as the other Fields silent movies, and that is that you cant hear Fields. The lot is both familiar. and predictable. Fields is a timid man who is abused by his second wife and his stepson, and treated shabbily by his boss who hasn't given him a raise in over 20 years. After accidentally tossing a "lucky" horse shoe through a florets window, he is chased by the owner into a theater and ends up on the stage during a hypnotist act. There he is hypnotized into believing he is a mighty lion. Suddenly with the courage he never had before, he takes on his wife and his boss, eventually ending up with he respect of both. There are a few funny moments, but this movie could have been among his classics if only it was made during the sound era.