Fists and Philosophy...

Circle of Iron (1978)

I’ve often wondered how this film would have turned out if it had been made as originally intended. The story was written by the team of Bruce Lee, Stirling Silliphant, and James Coburn. The original intention was to make the movie in 1969, with Coburn, and Lee in the starring roles. This would have been interesting, but it never happened, and by chance, David Carradine got ahold of a copy of the script nearly a decade later, and went about the process of getting the film made with the roles that were originally intended for Bruce Lee played by Carradine himself. Anyone familiar with the history of the Kung Fu TV series; should find this little fact rather ironic, and perhaps even a bit humorous.

Carradine actually portrays four characters, the Blind Man, the Monkey Man, Death, and Changsa, but he is technically not the main character, or the star for that matter. The star is actually Jeff Cooper in the role of Cord the Seeker. Cord is a warrior on a quest to find a mythical book that contains all of the knowledge in the world. As he finds his way to the book, he is challenged by the Monkey Man, Death, and Changsa. He also gains wisdom from the Blind Man, who teaches his lessons in the form of riddles, and the kind of dialogue that one would expect from Confucius, Yoda, or the Buddha.

Although hardly a classic, or even a particularly good movie. Circle of Iron works as a sort of philosophical adventure movie. If you’re able to get on its wavelength, you will find that it has a certain charm to it, but for the most part, it is lacking on almost every other level.