A 1978 fantasy martial arts film directed by Richard Moore. The original screenplay was written in 1969 by Bruce Lee, with James Coburn and Stirling Sillphant; then titled The Silent Flute, it was intended as an exploration of Eastern philosophy and martial arts and a starring vehicle for Lee, who died before he could film it. Silliphant re-wrote the story with Stanley Mann, and filmed it with David Carradine playing the lead (the second time that Carradine would play a role Lee attempted to play). Also in the cast are Christopher Lee, Roddy McDowall, and Eli Wallach.
The main character is Cord (played by Jeff Cooper, better known for his roles on soap operas The Young and the Restless, and Dallas), a martial arts practitioner who rejects the restrictions of a formal school, but prefers to develop his own martial arts style; mirroring Bruce Lee's own work on Jeet Kune Do
. At the opening of the film, Cord is competing in a martial arts tournament to earn the right to set off on a quest for the legendary Book of Enlightenment, a book that contains all the wisdom of the world, and is guarded by a master named Zetan. Though Cord wins the contest, he does so by violating the highly restrictive rules, and his opponent, Morthond, is granted the quest. (Though not made clear, it is apparent that information on how to find Zetan and the Book of Enlightenment is only supplied to the contest winner). Cord tags along with Morthond, insistent on finding Zetan and the book.
Along the way, he encounters a number of "trials", physical conflicts which serve as metaphors for Cord's spiritual journey to enlightenment, as well as furthering his education in the martial arts. Not all of Cord's trials involved combat; in fact, at least half of them require resisting various temptations, both hedonistic and ascetic. Passing each of the trials earns Cord further information on how to find Zetan and the Book. Morthond fails the first trial and dies, leaving Cord alone to pursue the quest.
Along his travels, Cord encounters a blind beggar played by Carradine, who plays a flute that only Cord is able to hear; and who displays a level of skill far beyond Cord's despite his blindness. Reluctantly the beggar becomes Cord's teacher and guide, helping him with both his physical and spiritual development.
Ultimately, Cord reaches Zetan and is permitted to view the Book of Enlightenment; only to find not a book of wisdom, but reflections of himself.
All of the combat-based trials involve defeating a specific person, each one of which is also played by Carradine.
The philosophy behind the movie is based heavily on the Chinese Chan Buddhism, which is better known in the West in its Japanese form, Zen Buddhism.
Not a critical or popular success, it was widely criticized for both the poor quality of the martial arts, and the poor quality of the acting. Since then, it has achieved a moderate cult status.
This film provides examples of:
- Action Prologue: The film starts during a martial arts tournament.
- Anti-Climax: An in-universe example with Cord's final encounter with Zetan. After all Cord's efforts to improve his martial arts mastery for his final showdown against Zetan, the latter has no intention of fighting him. Instead, he happily hands over the Book of Enlightenment, and even offers to step down as guardian of the book and give the position to Cord.
- Armor-Piercing Response: When Cord asks the beggar how long has he been blind, the beggar retorts with the same question.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Cord is very much this at the start of the film.
- Barbarian Hero: While most people in the film dress in random but realistic manners, Cord goes around in a loincloth and furry boots, sometimes with a matching vest, and sports long and wild hair. It underlines the utter freedom of his ways. Lampshaded during the tournament, where the master points out Cord is not even wearing a martial arts uniform.
- Barefoot Sage: The beggar goes around barefoot, possibly as a form of asceticism.
- Blank Book: The Zen Buddhist variation of Type 4. Once Cord finally reaches Zetan and the Book of Enlightenment, he opens to find nothing on any page but mirrors. "There is no enlightenment outside one's own self." In Zen, understanding is the same as enlightening - you don't toil to reach enlightenment, but to realize you were already enlightened in the first place.
- Bloodier and Gorier: Bruce Lee's original version was much more graphically violent than the version which was eventually filmed.
- Bloodless Carnage: By contrast, there is almost no blood in the film, even during the most brutal combat scenes.
- Boring, but Practical: Cord is the only fighter in the prologue's tournament who fights without elegant pirouettes and mystic movements. He just picks well his shots and hits very hard, and clearly knows how to take a punch and recover quickly. Naturally, he wins the whole thing... or would have won had he chosen to respect the rules.
- Boss Battle: Each of the combat trials is treated effectively as one of these.
- Dance Battler: Whenever he fights, Chang-Sha has his entourage play music and moves around following the sound, sometimes even openly dancing. In turn, the musicians play faster when the fight becomes more intense.
- Diabolus ex Nihilo: At one point, Cord and the beggar are attacked by a random band of mounted bandits who proceed to chase them persistently through the forest, even after the two martial artists take out many of them.
- Easily Forgiven: After proclaiming it were his own actions which got Tara killed, Cord forgives Chang-Sha for, you know, killing her, and is all smiling and friendly with him afterwards.
- Facial Dialogue: After sobbing about his attempted castration, the Man in Oil gives Cord a split-second look of tortured desperation before narrowing his eyes in mad conviction.
- Fanservice: Cord's constant shirtless state is clearly intended to be this. For the opposite sex, there is Tara, the Rose of the Desert, who seduces Cord and convinces him to break his vow of chastity.
- Frequently-Broken Unbreakable Vow: Every character who has taken a vow of some sort (chastity, silence, etc.) breaks it eventually. The Man in Oil tells Cord that he himself had repeatedly broken his own vow of chastity, and encourages Cord onto the path of asceticism to avoid doing so as well.
- Handicapped Badass: The beggar is blind, but is still far and away the most skilled fighter in the entire film.Cord: With all my training and both my eyes, I wouldn't last one second against you.
- Heroes Fight Barehanded: Subverted. While Cord fights predominantly with his bare hands, he does use shuriken in a couple fights against mobs of Mooks, while for his part, the beggar fights with a long bamboo staff that also serves as a flute. However, Cord fights strictly barehanded during his trials and matches.
- Hero of Another Story: The beggar turns out to have started much like Cord when he was younger, and experienced similar trials. The monkey man, Chang-Sha and Death are implied to have also passed the trials, if they are even different people to begin with.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: The beggar's explanations about his actions with the boat and the spoiled kid make Cord realize the beggar can actually see through spiritual sight. Subverted because the beggar never really claimed to be blind, he only claimed otherwise in a form of Sarcastic Confession that sounded like philosophical mumbo jumbo.
- Instrument of Murder: The Blind Man has a staff/walking stick that is also a flute. And he fights with it. It has its limitations, though, as he once remarks, "It's hard to kill a horse with a flute!"
- Invulnerable Horses: Averted. During the scuffle against the mounted bandits, Cord spin-kicks the horse of one of them right in the face, causing both animal and rider to crash.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Initially looks like Cord might have won the tournament (well, technically) on account of being clearly the strongest and bulkiest fighter, aside from the most pragmatical, but Chang-Shah later destroys completely a big black dude that was even more muscled than Cord himself.
- Never Bring a Knife to a Fist Fight: Both Cord and the beggar repeatedly fight off much better armed opponents.
- Old Master: The beggar; though less old than the usual example, he is still clearly older than Cord.
- Purely Aesthetic Era: The film takes place in a wholly fictional setting, where ancient, medieval, modern, European and oriental elements mix and match. Aside from a throwaway mention of Buddha, it could perfectly be a Low Fantasy setting a la Conan the Barbarian.
- Shaped Like Itself: When Cord is asked about his school, he replies he is his own school, and the same about his fighting style, which he just calls his own style.
- Shout-Out: Cord and the beggar basically enact Moses and Khidr's story from The Qur'an when they walk into the ferrymen, the spoiled child and the gang, with the only real difference being that the beggar merely breaks the child's nose rather than killing him.
- Super Fly Reflexes: The beggar demonstrates his mastery by casually catching a bee in two fingers, then releasing it unharmed.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Cord is barechested for most of the film, except when he wears occasionally a vest while traveling, or when he briefly throws in a dark tunic after his chapter in the desert.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Cord has a few moments of this under the beggar's tutelage; most notably when the beggar strikes the Beautiful Boy, breaking his nose and spoiling his beauty. Of course, since the beggar is a hidden Zen Master, The Complainer Is Always Wrong.
