MARTIAL ARTS BIOGRAPHY MOVIES part 2

Alright, another bio-pic that is a good movie, but not the factual story is FIGHTER IN THE WIND.   This is the story of Mas Oyama founder of Kyukushinkai; or as he’s called in this Korean project “Choi Baedai”.  It wasn't "well known" that the founder of Kyukushinkai was Korean.

            I don’t know if this was apocryphal or true, but stories tell that in the late 1950's/early 1960s, General Choi approached Oyama to head up the new national Korean art called Tae Kwon Do.  Oyama had an incredible reputation as a fighter and martial artist.  Oyama had not only beaten fighters from all over the world, he was known for going one on one with bulls and winning, often taking their horns as victory trophies.  But he was still building his Kyukushinkai.  He turned General Choi down.  Now there’s a story!  

            Anyway; FIGHTER IN THE WIND is a fictionalized account of Oyama’s beginnings and start of Kyukushinkai.  Plot twists and other cinematic aspects were added to make the story more dramatic.  Again, anyone familiar with Oyama and Kyukushinkai may be surprised and angered by the changes.  For one thing Oyama’s Korean name was Choi Yong Eui (or romanized Young Eui Choi) The main thing to remember when watching this movie is that it is a movie!  It is not a biography or means to learn history.  The fight scenes in this movie are incredible, and are essentially accurate in their depictions of Oyama’s techniques.  But it is based on the stories and legend of Oyama, not the true story of the man. 

            How many versions are there of the gunfight at the O.K. corral?  Was Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday good friends?  Did Doc Holliday die at the O.K. corral as told in one of the more famous film versions, MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, starring Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp and Victor Mature as Doc Holliday?   Or was the version starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer respectively more accurate?  Probably neither!  If you want the facts, read the historical journals and such, do not rely on the various movies. 

            Even those movies that people have sworn to be a biography have huge glaring holes in their accuracy.  DRAGON the Bruce Lee story is another example.  First of all, Bruce Lee did not fight like Jackie Chan, doing acrobatics flips, jumps and so on.  Those techniques actually go against the Jeet Kune Do philosophy.  But in that movie this is style that Jason Scott Lee, the actor portraying Bruce Lee, uses in the fight scenes.  And once again, anyone familiar with Bruce Lee, especially if you grew up in the Bruce Lee era watching the GREEN HORNET, LONGSTREET, HERE COME THE BRIDES and other shows and movies, reading article about him or written by him in various magazines; the timeline in the movie is off.  Though I will admit it was cool to see Van Williams, who played the Green Hornet to Bruce Lee’s Kato, in the movie portraying the Green Hornet’s director. 

            This was based on Bruce Lee’s story; it was not his “actual, factual” story.  But it wasn't a bad movie.  In fact I enjoyed it a lot.  Just like I enjoy watching TOMBSTONE or KARATE BULLFIGHTER (Sonny Chiba’s version of Mas Oyama’s story),  THE KILLING MACHINE starring Sonny Chiba aka Sadaho Maeda  (story of Doshin So and Shorinji Kenpo), RAY (story of Ray Charles), MALCOLM X (SPike Lee' & Denzel Washington's movie about the legendary figure), ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA # 1 thru WHATEVER, DRUNKEN MASTER and many other films about Wong Fei Hung.  All of them are enjoyable movies, but not “the true history”.

Until next time....