The Green Hornet (1966)

Great Film overall

Admirable film.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Made by the same production team as the successful "Batman" TV series and at around the same time, "The Green Hornet" is similar but different. Okay, so after getting past a similarly child-simple theme tune (though someone must have confused their insects as here we get "The Flight Of The Bumble Bee") we have another masked law-man, with his younger, also masked sidekick, driving around in a customised automobile fighting organised crime, employing gadgets and gizmos along the way, who by daytime is a respected pillar of society. But where "Batman" went for comedy through campness, the Hornet, while definitely still identifiable as a comic-book creation, plays it noticeably straighter, no pun intended.So there are no costumed villains, no "Biff-Bang-Pow" fight scenes or kooky comedy ("Holy Fortune Cookie!") and instead we get twenty five minutes of entertaining, escapist adventure. The big latter-day selling point of interest to film fans of the 70's is the young Bruce Lee appearing as Kato (although I think a change of name from Clouseau's Oriental valet might have been a good idea), the Hornet's martial-arts-expert chauffeur and junior partner. Lee doesn't get to say, or even do much but his kung-fu kicks, flicks and tricks are great fun. Van Williams makes for a good jaw-jutting lead, a campaigning newspaper editor by day and a frock-coated crime-fighter by night.The production values are excellent, although no doubt the superior scene locations, interior sets and even choice of cars were swapped around from time to time with "Batman", so similar do they look at times. Unfortunately the Green Hornet's sting somewhat surprisingly didn't connect with its audience, instead it was his rival in the ill-fitting costume over in Gotham City who cleaned up and got the big viewer numbers and a second series. Even a cross-over episode involving both heroes couldn't save old Greenie. That said, due, I think because they were so well made and also avoided infantile audience-pandering, I think this series holds up very well, some nearly fifty years on.

With the BATMAN TV show a runaway success in the 1960s, it was bound to spawn imitators. The only superhero show to follow, however, was "The Green Hornet," based on an old radio show and movie. Hollywood pretty boy Van Williams, who strongly resembled '60s heartthrob Fabian, played the masked supersleuth who chases down baddies in a souped-up Chrysler and with his sidekick, Kato, played by a very young Bruce Lee. The show was pretty awful, except for Kato's fight scenes, which is understandable for anyone who remembers Bruce Lee. In fact, as kids, we watched the show just to see Lee. Now the character is being made into a feature-length movie for 2010 release. Let's hope it improves on this short-lived TV series. If you catch any episodes of the old show, be patient and watch for Lee as he springs into King-fu mode.

I was a huge fan of The Green Hornet TV series when it premiered in the fall of 1966.Several years ago I bought the complete set of tapes for the show & watched it with great interest having not seen it since it went off the air in '67.It has many wonderful qualities to it.A fine cast,intriguing hardware,and a serious approach.I am still impressed with The Black Beauty,loaded with an array of clever weapons, as it revolves out of its hiding place.The Hornet Gas Gun is a nifty,non-lethal device that originated with the character when he first came to radio.I always loved The Hornet Sting as it telescoped outward in order to use its sonic waves.And what an imaginative premise it was to have a crimefighting duo "appear" as mastermind criminals in order to infiltrate the bad guys orginizations,and thus break them up from within.Yes, the series does have its drawbacks.The 30-minute format does not allow much character development of the cast or guest stars,as well as the plot.Bruce Lee's superb martial arts skills are underutilized,and he was never happy that Kato was a servant.Some of the scripts are formulaic and the crooks of the week routine.Van Williams who played Britt Reid,a.k.a.the Green Hornet,said that the show was renewed for a second season.But there was a dispute between the ABC network & the producers of the show.One wanted to have the series return as an hour show,the other wanted it to remain in its half-hour format.As an hour series it could have corrected its flaws & become a cult classic.Come to think of it,it already is.

If you consider that this one season series ran in the mid '60s and try to remember the quality of the typical TV shows of that era, this was a pretty good show. Bruce Lee (Kato) was able to show off his Martial Arts and acting abilities and Van Williams (Green Hornet) was a better actor than many current actors. It is also clear that the people behind the scenes were the same as those from the 'Batman and Robin' series with the same effects music, same scene transition stills and (NOT A TRUE SPOILER) in episode 13 "The Secret Of The Sally Belle", the thugs are even seen to be watching an episode of Batman on TV. A True Cult Classic that scores a 4 out of 5 in my book.