Product Description

After Bruce Lee s untimely death in 1973, and the global success of Enter The Dragon , two 90-minute feature films were created to capitalise on Lee s worldwide stardom. The first of these films, The Green HornetTM, was release theatrically in 1974. Starring Bruce Lee as Kato and Van Williams as The Green HornetTM, the film capitalised on the existing popularity of the 1960s crime-fighting duo. Edited with Bruce Lee s star power in mind, the film has an abundance of spectacular fight scenes. Digitally remastered from a brand new 35mm print in it s original 1:1:85 theatrical aspect ratio, The Green HornetTM represents the last of the unreleased Bruce Lee feature films. Included in this special presentation is the documentary short, The Black Beauty, an astonishing look into the design and restoration of The Green Hornet sTM unique car/battle machine.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25359 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-08-04
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Dolby, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
A single season TV show, originally aired in 1966-7, The Green Hornet was produced by William Dozier as a stable-mate for his more popular Batman series. Originally a 1940s radio character (and the grand-nephew of the Lone Ranger), the Green Hornet was another masked crime fighter with a secret identity and a sidekick (not to mention a cool car, the Black Beauty, and a memorable theme, a jazzy riff on "Flight of the Bumblebee"). Newspaper magnate Britt Reid (Van Williams) dons a mask and slouch hat to fight corruption in the big city. In place of Robin or Tonto, GH has Kato (Bruce Lee), a martial arts expert-chauffeur whose name inspired Inspector Clouseau's assistant and who seems to blow the secret identity gaff by using his real name in both civilian life and masked adventuring. While Batman was a colourful exercise in camp, with over-the-top villains played for laugh and a pop art hipness, The Green Hornet was a mundane pulp adventure with very little humour and very little in the character and plot departments.

After the superstardom and early death of Bruce Lee, 20th Century Fox decided to cobble together a couple of theatrical feature films from this property, of which this 1974 effort is the first. The bulk of the film consists of four episodes crudely spliced together. Scattered throughout are bizarrely irrelevant fight scenes from other episodes, which make the already disjointed plotting quite surreal. The television image was cropped to make a widescreen film, which means the tops of heads and hats are lopped off the frame with alarming regularity. Though an interesting curio, fans might have preferred a release of individual episodes.

On the DVD: This letterboxed transfer is probably the best the film could ever be made to look, considering it was probably shot on 16mm, then blown up and cropped for widescreen release. The quality varies notably from scene to scene, suggesting that the source episodes were in wildly different shape. The extras include thorough cast notes on Williams, Lee and under-used heroine Wende Wagner, still-image and film photo galleries, a quarter-hour featurette on the Black Beauty (flawed by the fact that the current owner is one of the dullest speakers in America), some shots of the Black Hornet Corgi model (oddly available in the UK in the 1960s, though the show didn't air on British television), a solid essay on the history of the character, notes on "The Bruce and Brandon Lee Association" and a funky if incomplete trailer for Black Samurai. --Kim Newman

Special Features
1.85 Wide Screen
Region 0
Documentary
Profile Bruce Lee
Profile Van Williams
Featurette
Photo Gallery

Synopsis
This film, starring Van Williams and martial arts legend Bruce Lee, consists of episodes of THE GREEN HORNET TV show edited together into a feature that focuses on Lee's Kato character and his remarkable fighting skills. The movie was originally released in 1974, a year after Lee's untimely death.

Customer Reviews

The Kato show
If like me you grew up watching kitch drama made in the 1960s and 1970s then you'll probably love this. The main feature comprises scenes from a number of episodes, so you really get a feel for the series. Bruce is wonderful, it's no wonder they called it the Kato show in Hong Kong. I can't wait for the second feature film to be released!

Why but this when you can watch paint dry?
I think the question above about sums up this "film". To be perfectly honest if I could have given this film 0 stars out of 5 I would have. Compared to this alleged film Boredom Beaters 3 is a masterpiece. And no, I'm not remaining annonymous for fear of repurcussions. It's because I had this DVD as a Christmas present(more like a Christmas puniahment!) and wouldn't want to offend anyone. I hope this review will act as a warning to future people intent on buying crappy presents for people. BORING!