Episode 13: “Five Fingers of Death” and “Enter the Dragon” with Grady Hendrix and Chris Poggiali
A podcast about the great movies.
We’re back with our latest episode of Guide for the Film Fanatic! In each episode, Jason Bailey and Mike Hull invite a guest from the world of film (including filmmakers, authors, critics, actors, and more) to select one of the 1600+ “must-see movies” collected in Danny Peary’s seminal 1986 book, Guide for the Film Fanatic. Bailey, Hull, and their guests deep dive on each film, discussing its history, themes, style, performances, initial reception, and legacy, taking a fresh look at some of the most beloved titles in cinema history.
This week, for our first-ever two-guest double-feature show, we’re joined by film historians and authors Grady Hendrix and Chris Poggiali to discuss the two movies that broke kung fu big with American audiences — Five Fingers of Death (aka King Boxer) and Enter the Dragon — as well as the new, revised edition of their five-star book These Fists Break Bricks: How Kung Fu Movies Swept America and Changed the World.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. We’ve partnered up with One Heat Minute Productions on this show, so we’ve migrating it over to their feed; subscribe now if you haven’t already.
We’re also putting our new episodes up on YouTube! Watch the show on our YouTube channel, @guideforthefilmfanatic, for visual accompaniment and bonus stuff and who knows what else:
Five Fingers of Death is streaming on Amazon Prime, MUBI, Arrow Player, and Plex. Enter the Dragon is available for digital rental or purchase; it also just got a very good 4K UHD from Warners, or you can watch it in Criterion’s excellent Bruce Lee box set.
These Fists Break Bricks: How Kung Fu Movies Swept America and Changed the World is out now. If you’d like to check out the YouTube page for Mike’s other podcast, Black Diplomats, it’s here. And Jason’s new book Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend is OUT NOW, and you can order it from MZS Press, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, or wherever you get your hardbacks, ebooks, and/or audiobooks.
Last but not least, if you’d like to make a little donation to support us and the show, you can do that at Ko-fi!