"King Boxer," a.k.a. "Five Fingers of Death," starring Lo Lieh.

Have heard mixed reviews about this one.

Anybody seen it?

FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH (aka KING BOXER) is, of course, one of the seminal films of the kung fu genre and required viewing for all fans. It was the first kung fu film (and, hence, the first Hong Kong film) given a mass release in the United States and it opened the floodgates for everything that followed. On March 20, 1973, Warner Bros. announced free screenings of it at the Loew's State Theater on Broadway between 45th and 46th Streets in Times Square, the evening before its official opening. I was there that night and nothing beats sitting with a packed, enthusiastic audience experiencing something new and wonderful for the very first time. (I still have the "Five Fingers of Death" sticker I got that night, but I don't know what happened to the poster that came with it.)

I saw it a couple more times that season and then didn't get back to it until 1998, 25 years later. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it held up well, even as I was in the midst of discovering all sorts of other old-school kung fu that I'd missed back in the day. Granted, it may not be a kung fu masterpiece like the films directed by Lau Kar Leung and Chang Cheh, but it's still a good one and, because of its place in history, should indeed be seen by anyone interested in these films. It's also one of the very few times that Lo Lieh got to play the central hero role. Because of his role in this film, old-school buffs have always had a soft spot in their hearts for this versatile, underrated performer.

On a related side note, the old Loew's State Theater was torn down around 1987 and replaced by a skyscraper office bldg. whose ground floor is occupied by the Virgin Megastore. In the basement of the Virgin Megastore is a multiplex theater called...the Loew's State. I was at this theater last week to see...HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS. The tradition continues.

On more of a tangent, but still related, I was at a family Christmas Eve gathering last night and met my niece's new boyfriend, a personal trainer and practitioner of wushu. So the conversation immediately shifted to Jet Li and, soon, to old-school kung fu. This 22-year-old started rattling off names like Lau Kar Leung and Hwang Jang Lee and we bonded immediately. I was very impressed. Interestingly, one of my gifts to my nieces (who are half-Chinese) was a package of Hong Kong movies on DVD, including PEKING OPERA BLUES and two Michelle Yeoh movies, one of which the boyfriend mentioned in the conversation. So now I know at least one of my nieces will watch them. What a nice Christmas Eve.

Oh, and by the way--Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all.