Bruce Lee, Bobby Kim, Kam Chun-Pak & The Korean Connections

[J.J. Hayden]

8 minutes ago, DragonClaws said:

Whang In-Sik talks about using the kicking shields with Bruce Lee, among other training aids. In his Bruce Lee Conversations Interview, but he doesnt mention any of the above. According to him, the pair met shortly after The Big Boss was released in Hong Kong.

And this raises the other eyebrow, lol, everyone's got their own version, it's like being in court. I'm sure I'll be doing a deep dive on Hwang In-shik myself at some point, maybe I'll get to the bottom of it. But when it comes to legends like Bruce Lee, the truth often takes a back seat.

Cheers

[dionbrother]

Tentatively scheduled to interview Bobby next month along with another interviewer/documentarian.  If anybody has questions, post them here and I'll try to ask them.

[J.J. Hayden]

13 hours ago, dionbrother said:

If anybody has questions, post them here and I'll try to ask them.

Hi

In response to your post, I came up with a list of potential questions that I'd be interested in the answers to:

 

Does he have any details about his childhood, when did he begin studying martial arts and what inspired him to do so?

After teaching martial arts in Korea, what made him decide to emigrate to the US?

How did he come to meet the late Jhoon Rhee and how was their relationship?

Had he always had the idea of being an actor or was it simply because his brother came to him with an opportunity?

Did his brother introduce him to Richard Park, if not, how did they meet and how was their relationship?

Were there any other Korean actors or crew that he developed relationships with or enjoyed working with?

While in Korea did he open a Dojang and teach, or did he train with the other actors and stuntmen at someone else's Dojang, if so, where, did he train with the Ottugi team?

Overall, what did he think of his experience in the Korean film industry?

Was he aware of the “Korean Charles Bronson” moniker and if so, what were his feelings about it?

 

What made him decide to return to the US after Mark Of The Black Dragon 1(1979)?

According to IMDB, his first US film was Manchurian Avenger (and I believe his brother was the writer) or was his first US film Kill The Ninja teaming up again with Richard Park? Either way how did he come to work in the US film industry and how did he find the experience?

Did he prefer working in the Korean or US film industry, what were the differences and which films did he prefer as end products?

Among his film catalogue, does he have a favourite and/or one that he enjoyed making the most?

Since the mid 90s not done much in the way of movie making, has teaching martial arts always been his true passion?

Where any of his students inspired to pursue a career in film-making? If so, who?

 

That's all I could think of.

Cheers

[dionbrother]

JJ, will note all of these, but I can clarify one question.  KILL THE NINJA was a retitling of his first film "Jugeumui seunghu"(released in Canada as DEATH GAME).  Just watched it last week and want to ask him about that movie the most!

[J.J. Hayden]

14 minutes ago, dionbrother said:

KILL THE NINJA was a retitling of his first film

Ahh, I would've found that out if I'd only clicked on it, lol. But I was busy trying to solve a puzzle surrounding a different movie.

I hope the interview goes well.

Cheers

[DragonClaws]

 

On 5/23/2022 at 7:43 PM, dionbrother said:

Tentatively scheduled to interview Bobby next month along with another interviewer/documentarian.  If anybody has questions, post them here and I'll try to ask them.

 

This is great news, I'd love to hear about his thoughts on Kwan Yung-Moon & Hwang Jang-Lee and any other Korean screen kicker's. Also how heavily was he invovled with the fight choreogrpahy during his 70's movies?. All the best with your documentary project.

 

On 5/24/2022 at 9:14 AM, J.J. Hayden said:

Was he aware of the “Korean Charles Bronson” moniker and if so, what were his feelings about it?

 

There's a cover from Taekwondo Times magazine feautring Bobby Kim, with an article title Bobby Kim: The Oriental Bronson Master's Rockies' Hollywood - September 1984 issue I think?.

 

Edited May 25, 2022 by DragonClaws

[dionbrother]

Unfortunately, the documentarian had to cancel, so I'm pursuing an interview on my own.  Contacted Mr. Kim yesterday, made it clear I want to talk about his South Korean movie work in detail and he's interested.  That we both live in Denver really helps.  I regret that I've lived here for 23 years and taken this long to get in touch with him, but things are looking up!

 

[J.J. Hayden]

24 minutes ago, dionbrother said:

things are looking up!

That's too bad that things got more complicated. But happy to here you're still trying to push forward.

Good luck.

[DragonClaws]

 

"He then moved to Hong Kong, married his wife, Sue Yun, and opened the Flying Tiger Hapkido Studio, the largest martial arts studio in the city. In 1973, after appearing in Hong Kong Television, he was cast by Kea Fa International Film Corporation as the leading man in his first martial arts movie "Tiger". With it's tremendous success all over Southeast Asia, he became the star in seven other movies "The Mandarin", "Black Guide", "Valley of the Double Dragon", "Jet-do Karate", "Code Name Panther", "Dae Ha Drama" and "Evidence". During this time, all the major studio stars and stuntmen practiced at his martial arts studio.Some names of note are Jackie Chan, Angela Mao, Sammo Hyung, Chan Na, Wang Kum Bong and Chuan Jun."

txt/photo source- http://www.gumying.com/gm-kim-jin-pal.html

 

Valley of the Double Dragon (1973).

Edited June 11, 2022 by DragonClaws

[DragonClaws]

 

 

[dionbrother]

Had a great lunch with Bobby today and he's open to filming an interview(he told me "I'm retired and not doing anything else").  Looks great and fit at age 80, which he credits to daily stretching and pushups.  Sharp as a tack, too. He's looking for a copy of INVITATION TO HELL, as that's the one he can't find.  To answer a few questions, he was never trying to look like Bronson, that was just his personal style and he was spotted by Korean movie producers at a TaeKwonDo demo. He was asked to screen test and they came up with the Bronson billing.  He was friends with Chen Chang Ho and did an interview at Shaw Brothers but decided not to accept the offer.  Bobby did not care for the Chinese style of choreography with all the hand techniques.  He preferred the Tae Kwon Do kicking techniques for movies.  Thought they looked better.  That seemed to be his reason for never doing a Hong Kong movie. Decided to come to the US after submitting demo pics of himself doing flying kicks to karate schools in America.  He'd find their addresses in Black Belt magazine.  This was back in the 60s, and there were fewer schools but a tighter network of communication and Black Belt was really the national bulletin board for dojos and dojangs back then. 

Working on getting that interview done in the next few weeks, with the best possible tech.  At this point, I may put it up as a Youtube video.  We'll see.

 

 

 

[J.J. Hayden]

7 minutes ago, dionbrother said:

Working on getting that interview done in the next few weeks, with the best possible tech.  At this point, I may put it up as a Youtube video.  We'll see.

Awesome stuff, looking forward to it.

[DragonClaws]

 

 

[DragonClaws]

 

 

 

 

[DragonClaws]

 

 

[DragonClaws]

 

 

[PandaPawPaw]

Imagine BL and co going up there fighting the guards and stuff. What a shame more wasn't filmed.

[DragonClaws]

4 hours ago, PandaPawPaw said:

Imagine BL and co going up there fighting the guards and stuff. What a shame more wasn't filmed.

 

Maybe the rehearsal footage is all that remains to be seen?, some of which has been briefly shown to fans online. One of his former stunt team, who was present for some of the G.O.D filming, said Lee rehearsed his screen fights at his home?. I wonder how much of this was filmed for G.O.D?. Did he do this for Fist of Fury, Way of The Dragon & Enter the too?. Can anyone confirm if the New Territories footage was to apart of a reel, shown to the team of Martial Artist heading to the island?. In the case of the Whang In-Sik and Dan Innosanto clips, I’d say yest. However, the Chi Hon-Choi fight with Whang In-Sik etc, may have been an actual scene that was intended for another part of the movie?. Is Chi teaching his student some moves techniques?, or are they being punished for some reason?.

I wonder if any other Korean Martial Artist would have appeared among the cast list for this one?.

 

[PandaPawPaw]

@DragonClaws Do you by any chance remember a Youtube video posted on here where some guy says he has seen bits of the WOTD BTS and deleted scenes footage? I can't remember what video it was.

[DragonClaws]

Just now, PandaPawPaw said:

@DragonClaws Do you by any chance remember a Youtube video posted on here where some guy says he has seen bits of the WOTD BTS and deleted scenes footage? I can't remember what video it was.

 

Thats a video Ive never been aware of, maybe someone else here on the forums can hlep you out?.

 

[PandaPawPaw]

13 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

 

Thats a video Ive never been aware of, maybe someone else here on the forums can hlep you out?.

 

Thanks. I guess I'll do a deep search on here and try to find it.

[dionbrother]

Bobby Kim has filmed an interview for a pal's upcoming documentary about Charles Bronson clones. This documentary is likely to be released for free on Youtube, but I'll let you guys know its release in whatever form beforehand.

[DragonClaws]

11 hours ago, dionbrother said:

Bobby Kim has filmed an interview for a pal's upcoming documentary about Charles Bronson clones. This documentary is likely to be released for free on Youtube, but I'll let you guys know its release in whatever form beforehand.

 

He was a lot more than just a Charles Bronson clone, he could do moves neither Bruce Lee or Bronson could do.

[dionbrother]

1 hour ago, DragonClaws said:

 

He was a lot more than just a Charles Bronson clone, he could do moves neither Bruce Lee or Bronson could do.

I think remastering his early movies like KILL THE NINJA could allow for a serious re-appreciation of his work.  Kim told the Korean Film Archive was remastering his second movie, INVITATION TO HELL, which never got a video release anywhere.

[J.J. Hayden]

19 minutes ago, dionbrother said:

I think remastering his early movies like KILL THE NINJA could allow for a serious re-appreciation of his work.  Kim told the Korean Film Archive was remastering his second movie, INVITATION TO HELL, which never got a video release anywhere.

That's great news, I also said to them they should release more of the classic Korean martial arts films, as they're so rare and being forgotten, but I'm just me, happy to hear Kim's on the case.