Despite being panned by people who were mainly ignorant, the important cultural/historical aspects and moral clarity of the TV series "Kung Fu" make it as excellent today as it was in the late 70s when it was a smash hit. First, the movie accurate presents Daoist philosophy with its overlay of Buddhism in a way that westerners (to wit, Americans) could grasp. Secondly, the plots were interesting and historically accurate. Thirdly, David Carradine has to be one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood history. He proved himself not only in "Kung Fu" but also in "Bound for Glory," playing American songwriter and social activist Woody Guthrie. I could never understand why he has not been more appreciated for his art and abilities. Forget the personal life-- some of Hollywood's greatest actors have been as much or more on the edge as David Carradine. Maybe it takes that kind of mind to be sensitive to the characters that the artist has to portray on screen. But over and above all, in "Kung Fu," Carradine successfully and beautifully plays an exiled Shaolin monk in America, where the Chinese and other ethnic minorities were hated and exploited. The moral clarity of the program is evident from the beginning; there is a high ideal to which the monastic order strives in China, and the character Kwai Chang Caine (who is half-American in the story) remains faithful to Daoist teaching throughout some extreme provocation. By the way, the Dao De Jing is the second best-selling book in the world, exceeded only by the Bible. It is therefore one of the world's greatest pieces of wisdom literature, and it's too bad that the people who made fun of this excellent TV series were too ignorant to understand what they were seeing. The focus was mainly on the fact that for the first time, martial arts suddenly became something more than an arcane skill known only to a few, and rapidly achieved the status of a national craze, just as women's gymnastics did after Nadia Comanice's Olympic performance. Now even small towns in America have martial arts studios and most people are aware that there are many different types of this difficult and demanding discipline, kung fu being one of many far eastern versions of self defense. However, the moral lessons of each program are as true and worthwhile today as they were 2000 years ago, and it is a shame that this aspect of the series is so universally overlooked.
