John Ampalas is or is not Martinez?

[darth los]

Guys you're forgetting the mother of them all. David Carradine, a white actor with no martial arts training played a young Chinese monk on the tv series kung fu. A part that was originally written for and by bruce lee.

[Yojimbo]

Guys you're forgetting the mother of them all. David Carradine, a white actor with no martial arts training played a young Chinese monk on the tv series kung fu. A part that was originally written for and by bruce lee. How could I have forgotten that one? Funny thing, though, growing up I always thought he was eurasian, so maybe that's why it never registered as funny.

[darth los]

How could I have forgotten that one? Funny thing, though, growing up I always thought he was eurasian, so maybe that's why it never registered as funny. I guess that he played the character so well that it was seemless. Plus you were a boy at the time, so it's understandable. Alot of things go right over our heads when we're young. For example i was watching the original 1933 version of king kong a few months back and i came across a blatantly racist statement that as a kid i never noticed. When they're back in new york and kong is on display 2 patrons, a man and a woman,are talking about what this mysterious beast is. The man say to the woman "i think it's a gorilla." The woman replies " we've got enough of those in the city already." I was like WOW!! That was racist!! Gotta love that ignorance.

[Yojimbo]

I guess that he played the character so well that it was seemless. Plus you were a boy at the time, so it's understandable. Alot of things go right over our heads when we're young. For example i was watching the original 1933 version of king kong a few months back and i came across a blatantly racist statement that as a kid i never noticed. When they're back in new york and kong is on display 2 patrons, a man and a woman,are talking about what this mysterious beast is. The man say to the woman "i think it's a gorilla." The woman replies " we've got enough of those in the city already." I was like WOW!! That was racist!! Gotta love that ignorance. You're right! I remember that quote (wife and I saw this last weekend) and the racist overtones went right over our heads.

[darth los]

You're right! I remember that quote (wife and I saw this last weekend) and the racist overtones went right over our heads. I guess it affects adults as well. I'm glad to see someone else knows what i'm talking about though.

[Yojimbo]

I guess it affects adults as well. I'm glad to see someone else knows what i'm talking about though. It's almost too easy to pick apart old hollywood films and find racism and eurocentric views, isn't it? The trick, I guess, is recognizing the propaganda and racism in today's politically correct hollywood films. But I gotta tell you. I find it equally racist when I see a commercial or sitcom or whatever of recent times when you see the racially balanced group of protagonists. Commericals where there is an african american, an asian, a middle-eastern persian guy and a white guy all eating pizza and shaking hands with an "alternative lifestyle couple" (male or female, you pick it) are insulting to my intelligence and in a way a bit of reverse racism IMHO. I grew up as a child actor in the "racially equal" 1970's and was typecast as "Oriental Boy", and at interviews there were always the same group of ethinic kids, the "Black Boy" the "White Boy" and the "Hispanic Boy" I got to say it seems a shame that we haven't really moved away from than in nearly 30 years.

[darth los]

Unfortunately because of the way this country was founded race will always be an issue. There's no other way around it. When there's a group of people that were oppressed for so long who now are equal, on paper anyway, there's bound to be resentment on both sides.

[Philly_SWAT]

I grew up as a child actor in the "racially equal" 1970's and was typecast as "Oriental Boy", and at interviews there were always the same group of ethinic kids, the "Black Boy" the "White Boy" and the "Hispanic Boy" I got to say it seems a shame that we haven't really moved away from than in nearly 30 years. Very interesting. Hopefully your life in turning out better than a lot of other child actors I have heard about. Have you been in anything I might have seen? Even if it was just commercials or something, I have a pretty good recall on things like that. I would be interested to know.

[Yojimbo]

Very interesting. Hopefully your life in turning out better than a lot of other child actors I have heard about. Have you been in anything I might have seen? Even if it was just commercials or something, I have a pretty good recall on things like that. I would be interested to know. I was not a child actor of much consequence, did a few Japanese-Language broadcast and some regional commericals that I would be surprised if anyone remembers, let alone saw. Only things that folks might remember was a national commercial for Mattel's first release of the Godzilla toy, a season on Villa Alegre (a now defunct bilingual educational kids show) and an episode of Wonder Woman. (I still get residual checks from that like half a spit once in a long while) As far as turning out tragically like the other child actors I knew from the 70's, I am currently a funeral director in Los Angeles, so you can make your own judgement about that.

[darth los]

Funeral Directors man. They creep me out.

[RustyHicks]

Yojimbo is obsessed with the dead He watches the Dead Trilogy and works with the Dead Just messing with ya Yojimbo

[Yojimbo]

Yojimbo is obsessed with the dead He watches the Dead Trilogy and works with the Dead Just messing with ya Yojimbo One of the only problems with being a funeral director is that I cannot decorate my office with Dawn of the Dead posters and memorabilia! In a different life at a different time I was a unit manager for an urgent care clinic at a local hospital, and upper managment got bent out of shape because I put up the "I Believe" X-Files poster up in my office as a sort of "mulder" joke, so I can only imagine that upper management here at the mortuary would react violently to a poster of a decaying, bloody bald headed ghoul.

[Harold W Brown]

I always took it as an in-joke. "Martin" was playing "Martinez"...

[Yojimbo]

I always took it as an in-joke. "Martin" was playing "Martinez"... Brilliant! I never got the connection. It could be that this is why Romero chose to name the character "Martinez" I guess that he played the character so well that it was seemless. Plus you were a boy at the time, so it's understandable. Alot of things go right over our heads when we're young. For example i was watching the original 1933 version of king kong a few months back and i came across a blatantly racist statement that as a kid i never noticed. When they're back in new york and kong is on display 2 patrons, a man and a woman,are talking about what this mysterious beast is. The man say to the woman "i think it's a gorilla." The woman replies " we've got enough of those in the city already." I was like WOW!! That was racist!! Gotta love that ignorance. After your post last night, I discussed this scene with my wife and she pointed out to me that in that particular scene (the theater audience) right before the woman makes the statement about having enough gorillas in the city, there is a white male audience member attempting to make his way down the row, presumably to his seat, and in the process he jostles this woman causing her to react with irritation at which time she makes this statement. It is my wife's contention that the gorrilla quote, in this regard, was directed at the rude man who jostled her like a gorrilla would. I vaguely recall this happening, but would have to rewatch to verify. Actually, given that I have such a fondness for King Kong (one of those rare movies that I watched as a kid and still find watchable now as an adult) I am glad that this little bit of racism (and there are other moments in the film) might possibly not have been in there after all.

[Philly_SWAT]

, a season on Villa Alegre (a now defunct bilingual educational kids show) Da, dada da da, dada da, da, dada, da, da, Villa Alegre!!