Customer Reviews

Green Hornet - Vol. 1

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I have to echo the comment sof the last reviewer of this movie. First off, the editting of the bits and pieces of the episodes is terrible. The film jumps from one bit to the next with no apparent order. Secondly, the producer promote this product as being made from remastered prints. That's a laugh! The film looks like it was made to resemble an old Hong Kong martial arts film. The lighting was low and dark and the overall color had a yellosish quality. As for the audio, the editors tripped on this one to! There are scenes with Kato fighting where his yells and kicking sounds are conspicuously missing from the final edit. The Green Hornet is a great TV series! Once and for all, if the distributors of classic tv shows want to please the fans, release this and other great shows in the original broadcast format. Anything less is any insult to the fans!

This DVD (despite it's reference on the cover as a theatrical release in 1974) is actually 4 episodes from the series sandwiched together (including the two parter that actually were the last 2 episodes of the series). I would rather see all the episodes in proper order. By the way, 1 clip from another 2 parter also appears in this disc. This is the dumbest mistake as there is no reference to the particular character. One who hasn't seen the series in 1966 on ABC or the reruns on FX in 1994 would think the Green Hornet just diverted to knock another bad guy down, just for the sake of it, while en route to the real crime. Buy the DVD and it's pending sequel to preserve the series, yes, but know what you're getting first. By the way to the person who quoted the opening above, that opening was done by William Dozier NOT Gary Owens (doesn't anybody watch Batman anymore?)

First of all to set the record straight to correct a few common mistakes by reviewers here...This DVD is the first of 2 films originally released to theatres back in 1974 to cash in on BRUCE LEE's death in 1973, & the huge popularity of the film, "ENTER, THE DRAGON". FOX took 4+ episodes of their 1967 half-hour television series, THE GREEN HORNET, & chopped & spliced them together into a 90-minute mishmash, making fans think this was an all-new feature starring BRUCE. "THE GREEN HORNET", as titled, was released in some areas as part of a double bill with some AIP-style BlackSploitation vehicle in 1974(I was one who was dropped off on a saturday afternoon at a now long gone theatre at Beach 20th/Cornaga in Far Rockaway, NY, & sat through it almost twice while my mother was shopping for nearly 4 hours. I have no idea what the other film was except I remember an in-bed naked love scene, tons of cursing & shoot-ups, & being the only lone 10-year-old/kid in the theatre. Most likely it was something along the lines of BLACK CAESAR or SHAFT). About a year later, I saw all "5" PLANET OF THE APES films in this same theatre for a buck! What an amazing time to be a kid! I guess this first "Hornet" film did the job cashwise as the second film was released soon-after, titled: "FURY OF THE DRAGON", which sounds like an all-desperate last attempt title to "cover up" that this film is just more poorly-edited GREEN HORNET episodes, & not some newly discovered major unreleased feature of BRUCE LEE in all his glory like the newspaper ads made it seem.(FURY OF THE DRAGON is about to be released on DVD any day now here in the US,& has been on DVD for some time now in JAPAN & is also available in the UK). It would be great for the original "GH" series to be released on DVD(as well as the 1966 BATMAN TV series), yet it seems that TV shows that only lasted One Season(like the G.H.) & were not syndicated well, were considered flops & losers money-making-wise by the studios. If the show was never officially released on video & never syndicated on Cable or Network TV, these two DVD's of the 1974 films may be the only way we are going to see the 1967 GREEN HORNET for a long, long time. Hopefully not. FOX did such a great job of the 1966 BATMAN Feature film on DVD, that a BATMAN/GREEN HORNET DVD BOX would be amazing, & I am sure would sell very very well. This DVD, though, is very good. For a gooey gumbo of a cash-in, this film is presented here in excellant quality on the DVD, & includes a Widescreen matte(as theatrically released), which cuts the top & bottom off a bit, yet is interesting to see in this format. Being that I have about 10 grey market episodes of the Original series, to see it like this is a-plus, for the quality is far way-superior than any copies of the show available on the grey market. Actually, this is the closest & best way to see the 1967 GREEN HORNET for now. So I recommend this & the FURY DVD when released, to see a so-so representation, yet EXCELLANT audio/visual quality. Again, as someone else corrected here,...it is Producer WILLIAM DOZIER's voice who announces the opening narration..."ANOTHER CHALLENGE FOR THE GREEN HORNET"...Not Gary Owens. Also, it was Car Customizer DEAN JEFFREYS, not GEORGE BARRIS, who created & built the "BLACK BEAUTY" Car for the show. As someone else mentioned, it would be great to find episodes of other late 60's shows that BRUCE LEE appeared in, like LONGSTREET. Now that's a rare treat.

The fact that this is episodes of the TV series edited into a "movie" is insulting, but not the worst part. The fact that the cover blurbs make it sound like Bruce Lee made a series of "Green Hornet" movies, and never mentions the TV series, is also insulting, but again, not the worst part. The worst part is that they added black bars to the top and bottom of the screen in a lame attempt to make us think that it's in widescreen format. Did they think we wouldn't notice every time somebody's head disappeared off the top of the picture? Additionally, the editing looks like it was done with an axe. The only thing worse than a scam is a poorly-executed scam. Avoid this.

This tape consists of 3 episodes from the "Green Hornet" t.v. series which were made into a 1974 theatrical release movie (according to the description on the back of the tape box). The film was edited to highlight some of Bruce's fight scenes from the t.v. series.

The Green Hornet is similar to the "Batman" t.v. series of the 60's but not quite as hokey. It is quite fun to see Bruce as Kato and brings back memories of seeing the series when I was a kid. Kinda cheesy but fun!

Technical fyi: the tape has been digitally re-mastered from a 35mm print in the original 1:1.85 theatrical aspect ratio, and also includes a documentary featurette on "Black Beauty"; Green Hornet's special custom car.

Okay, here is the deal for all you other reviewers. Bruce Lee shot to fame in this country AFTER HIS DEATH. He had a huge hit with the movie "Enter the Dragon" which was released here after he had died. In the months that followed he picked up a huge cult following as other dead celebrities like Marilyn Monroe and James Dean had before him. Many studios were looking to cash in on his fame. An American biopic was discussed but did not materialize until "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story" was released two decades later. Columbia Pictures was busy making deals with Lee's Hong Kong movie studio to release Lee's incomplete masterpiece "Game of Death" which would later be butchered in order to splice in new scenes with Hollywood stars. Another cheap film distributor managed to grab up the rights to three of Lee's HK martial arts films, and retitled one of them "Return of the Dragon" in hopes that it would be mistaken as a sequel to "Enter the Dragon". This would be followed by "Fists of Fury" and "Chinese Connection", and I wont go into how the distributor bungled the film titles in the English language release.

It was about this time that 20th Century Fox realized that Bruce Lee had starred for them in a failed television series back in the 60's called "The Green Hornet". Made after the success of the Adam West "Batman" television series. It was well made but unlike "Batman" was not a comic book parody, and therefore did not catch on with their audience. After about half a season it was cancelled, and did not have enough episodes to be offered into syndication.

Now nearly a decade later the studio was thinking about re-releasing the episodes as television movies. It was common practice by the mid 70's to reedit popular but short lived series into movies. Fox had done so with their "Planet of the Apes" series editing two episodes back to back as one film. But somewhere along the line they realized that Bruce had been given little to do as the Hornet's Asian sidekick and decided not to bother. Instead they sold the footage to another company who decided it was good enough for a theatrical release.

The episodes picked were based on how much screen time Bruce Lee was given. About three episodes were shown back to back. But the problem was that unlike the Batman series, the fight scenes in Green Hornet were usually brief. So footage from other episodes was edited in to lengthen the fight scenes in the movie. Some of you who have seen the movie may have noticed the continuity error of the Green Hornet & Kato fighting men at a marina with small boats inter-cut with them fighting on a dock with large ships.

The movie was released and failed miserably at the box office. Still looking to make a fast buck the same company edited more Green Hornet footage together and released it as "Fury of the Dragon". The movie poster showed a shirtless Bruce Lee in a fighting stance looking like he was giving off one of his famous screams. Even the opening credits did not give away that this movie was actually Green Hornet episodes. It was animated in the same style as the title credits in Bruce Lee's Asian movies. It was only after the opening credits ended that you saw Bruce Lee as Kato chauffeuring Green Hornet that you realized you were suckered.

As for the Green Hornet not available on video, the main thing holding everything up is the Trendle estate. George W. Trendle had created and owned the character, and has sold the television rights to Fox under the agreement that it would not be campy like "Batman" was. After the series aired Trendle accused them of camping up his character, possibly he had seen the Green Hornet's guest appearance on Batman. He tried taking steps to revoke Fox's rights to the character, but once the series was cancelled for bad ratings he decided there was no reason to bother. Years later Fox's rights to the character expired and reverted to his estate. Allegedly they are the ones who kept Fox from releasing Green Hornet on video. [ 20th Century Fox's video company CBS/FOX had much success releasing the Bruce Lee films and wanted to continue the trend ] I know that Good Times home video released this movie and eventually had to pull it after the Trendle estate threatened a lawsuit. I am not surprised that they stopped Brentwood from releasing the sequel. But then again as the rights to this character pass from one Trendle family member to another, it won't be long before one of them prefers money over family honor.

Despite what other reviewers may think, the original 26 episodes of The Green Hornet are still in syndication by 20th Century Fox Television. In recent years the series has run in the USA (on the ACTION Channel), Australia (Fx Channel) and in the UK (Bravo Channel).

Fox seem reluctant to release their old TV shows on DVD. Why?? Who knows??

I have to agree with eric and anyone else who thought this was lousy made as this dvd had three episode in one and was very hard to follow So I did not like it and would not plan on buying the next issue unless you can prove that there is separate episode that goes all the way though.....

Did P.T. Barnum pioneer the idea of slapping together several random episodes (out of an ORIGINAL 28) of a once-excellent series, just for a few unsuspecting victims who might buy it? Usually POLITICS cancelled good series at the network level, NOT viewer popularity, or lack thereof; hasn't Star Trek haunted NBC long enough? The Green Hornet DID run a full season; there WERE re-runs back then, too. While I like and respect Bruce Lee, watching too many of his movies becomes like being stuck in a revolving door; they start to look too much alike. This was NEVER the case with Green Hornet episodes. I am blessed with the bootleg versions-all 30, including the two 'crossover' ones with Batman. The Black Beauty and Batmobile in each of two shows together? WHAT MORE CAN YOU ASK?!?! Sadly, that's certainly NOT what you're getting here...

This was released as a theatrical release to cash in on Bruce Lee's death. I actually saw it at an old drive-in that no longer exists in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It's exactly as it was shown it the theater and was so butchered up that it was almost unwatchable. But with Van Williams, Bruce Lee, Wende Wagner and the rest of the cast, along with the high quality for a half-hour series from the sixties, it was worth it. The Action Channel still shows the Green Hornet (along with Time Tunnel and Combat) and I also truly wish they would release the episodes complete on DVD. But, until then, if you don't have the Action channel - this will have to do !!