The Green Hornet: The Preying Mantis (1966)
Season 1, Episode 10
7/10
A memorable GH episode for the right reasons
11 May 2011
Warning: Spoilers
While i'm not pretending this is great - in the Green Hornet context - and more importantly - in the context of martial arts in western films and TV - it is one of the most famous and inspiring shows

it has martial arts Asians against martial arts Asians - one of the first - if not the first - example in on US television

of course Mako wasn't a barehands fighter - what little he had to do passed muster simply cuz it was so little - and at the climactic fight - Bruce Lee's student Danny Inosanto stood in - producing a whale of a fight scene

we even get to see Bruce wield several different weapons - giving western audiences their first glimpse of these exotic devices

my only regret is that the standards of TV back then didn't allow more time for Bruce and Mako - they were both magnetic actors - and would brought the intensity level up several notches - instead - they played lap dogs to the white guys - which was a little demeaning - but made up for by the importance of the martial arts skills their characters brought
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