The greatest movie ever made..!

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

This is one of the strangest westerns I can recall--and for many reasons. First, the cast is odd. Jack Lord is the star and his friend is played by none other than Mel Tormé! It's also interesting that a Hawaiian of Japanese ancestry (James Shigeta) would play a Chinese man. And, the leading 'Chinese' lady in the film (Nobu McCarthy) was Japanese. Second, the plot is just odd...very, very odd. The film begins with a slave auction in California circa 1870 (give or take). When Linc Bartlett learns about this, he's appalled. He's even more upset to see a poor girl who is obviously very humiliated being stripped and sold. He steps in and buys the girl--intending to set her free. However, what happens next is completely unforeseen. I'd say more but it's just something you should probably see for yourself.To me, this film was quite enjoyable but was also intended less as a history lesson and more a metaphor for the changing civil right atmosphere in the US in 1960. Still, it's pretty good--and quite interesting. One of Lord's few starring roles before vaulting to super-star status with "Hawaii Five-O".

I recently had the opportunity to watch "Walk Like A Dragon" on Turner Classic Movies. It had been some 48 years since I had first seen this little gem that was way ahead of it's time. Back in the day, I was really impressed with singer Mel Torme's acting performance as a deacon turned gunfighter baddie. Some things change over the years while other things do not. Looking back on it now, Torme's performance that I once thought was "top of the line" turned out to be as disappointing as it was amateurish. Perhaps that was the reason he was reduced to just doing various bit parts on television roles thereafter. Having said that, kudos are in order for director/writer James Clavell for his wonderful "cross over" story. The plot involves a young man named Linc that rescues a young Chinese woman Kim Sung (Nobu McCarthy)from being sold as a slave by buying her. During the process of the film, he begins to overcome his own prejudice and begins to see her as a person, and soon falls in love with her. Keep in mind at this point in time the Chinese "coolies" and their women were looked down on, and were considered to be less than human. To complicate matters, a young Chinese man, journeying with Linc, Cheng Lu (James Shigeta) shares the same affections for her, and wants to buy her. Consequently, he hires a gunslinger, the deacon, to teach him how to use a firearm as he plans to kill Linc and take his woman for himself. The gunfighter (Torme) attempts to stop him, but in the process is killed. Now the Chinaman must face off with the man who trained the gunfighter (Linc) to take possession of the woman (Kim Sung). This film deals with a lot of issues regarding "slavery" "freedom", as well as "racism". In a sense, it is just as innovative a film as "Guess Who"s Coming To Dinner" that hit the screen seven years later. Consequently, it covers a lot of lingering issues that are as real today as they were then. Questions such as "How will two people deal with all the prejudice and racism that will surround them in the future?" and "Will it be possible for them to find the acceptance and tolerance that will allow them to live a normal life?" are showcased for the viewer to ponder. It took a brave group of filmmakers to make these two remarkable films as that risked the loss of box office revenue for the sake of principle back then. Heavy stuff to be played out in an Old West setting. To my way of thinking, the film passes my 48 year test while good old Mel Torme's performance does not.

This film is set in Gold Rush California. The protagonist is an exiled Chinese who will stop at nothing to get the girl - he finds it utterly unfitting that his countrywoman is interlocking with a foreign devil (played by Jack Lord). The disgruntled Chinese vows to make himself equal in stature to the ignorant bigoted white men around him; as he puts it, "I will walk high, like a dragon". He apprentices himself to the gun-toting town deacon, who does duty as local clergyman as well as local amateur law enforcer. We know why he enters into this project: of course, he looks forward to a bloodily successful showdown with his caucasian nemesis, whose chief sin is being engaged to the Chinese woman whom he also loves and regards as too good for a white man. When the planned gunfight occurs, however, the pesky white rival is victorious, and the uppity Chinese appears to have little chance of recognizing his ambitions. In the end, however, the fact that he and the girl are of the same nation-in-exile is what prevails: the Jack Lord character loses the girl because blood is thicker than water. And yet, to make a necessary point, the Chinese man has to conclude the film by making a culturally impossible demand of her, which she executes. This suggests irresistibly some kind of symbolic castration - in a sense it takes away his Chinese nationality. He has chosen a life of exile in America, where he has made is fortune among enemies and anti-Chinese bigots, over the possibility of returning to China with his bride.Not that it's easy for her to make the choice. The Lord character saved her from a life in a brothel. But still . . . And while Lord doesn't get the girl, he certainly gets the best line: "Who do you think taught the deacon?"!!

I happened across this movie years ago on a independent t.v. station in the middle of the afternoon. I first watched because of Mel Torme, but I found myself thoroughly enjoying a western... *shock*. The one thing I recall most was how very "un-Mel" Mel was. His portrayal of a gunslinger was very low-key and VERY effective. If I ever get a chance to see this again, I'll have a tape ready to role. I strongly recommend it.