The quirky, strange and utterly sagacious meditations of David Carradine written during the making of Quentin Tarantino's contemporary classic. This journal captures the two years David spent making the two-part feature film Kill Bill. Moments where he had some of the most fun in his career :-) Chronicling some of the best experiences in this great artist's life. A mixture of autobiography, biography, and behind-the-scenes account’s Carradine has always had a reputation for being enigmatic, but here he comes off both humble and remarkably multifaceted. Give this one a chance; it will surprise you.

“My life has been filled with action, adventure, glory, and disgrace, romance, farce and pathos, damnation, and salvation-illustrating the best and worst of life on Earth. I’ve led a life full of extremes. I’ve gone as far as I can go in many respects-sometimes right over the fucking edge. ” - David Carradine

Had Holden Caulfield grown up, met Hunter S. Thompson, gone on the road with Jack Kerouac, and finally studied with Master Po - well, perhaps that would embrace the spirit of Carradine's own writing style. He has been, in his own words, fraud, genius, holy man, movie star, martyr, monster, fool, hero, whore, neurotic, poet, burnout, beauty, beast - but always a Legend.

I encourage any fan of David's to read his book if you wish to learn more about the man. It can be a challenge to find, but it's WELL worth the read! :-)

SO YOU DID IT IN BANGKOK

I watched the news this morning
and the headline story was about a big, brown bear
that wandered into civilization and created a problem.
The police shot it full of tranquilizers
and moved it up into the mountains.

The next story was about my brother.
My brother, Bill.
Bangkok dead.
I’m thinking now of all the stories people will tell of him
and all the world will tell of him.
Remember this.
Remember that.
And oh god, remember the time he did this.
Or remember the time he did that.
‘72’ is a ripe old age and Thailand was a good choice for an exit.
When I was there I didn’t want to come back either.

After driving the kids to school,
I stopped on PCH and got out of the truck
and walked down to the edge of the water,
and stood for a while to watch some waves break,
trying to make some sense of what happened—
and came to no conclusion.

At home, the phone keeps ringing.

When I turned to go back from the sea,
I saw my footprints in the sand.
They reminded me somehow of a filmography.
David had one of those.
Even as a trapeze artist with Liv Ullman.
I didn’t see that one.

I wonder what Quentin will say.
I wonder what I will say
or anyone will say, for that matter.

The phone keeps ringing in Malibu.

I guess he was found hung,
So I guess he didn’t care about who comes out on top in the NBA,
or Obama’s visit to Cairo,
or whether that big asteroid will hit the earth in 2012.

I couldn’t help thinking of the story about the bear.
Maybe David just needed to go up in the mountains for a while.
David Carradine,
Kung Fu quiet now.
I love you
and I will miss you,
and may God rest your weary soul.

—Michael Madsen 6/04/09

His eyes pierce your brain, carefully analysing each and every word you utter, calculating a response like an alligator waiting to snap its jaws. He possesses a brooding demeanour, craggy face, wispy long grey hair and gunslinger walk. His gravitas is undeniable, style impeccable. If this man’s notch was turned one louder, it could have been an encounter with a psychopathic killer rather than an actor, writer, director and musician. Though moody persona may belie a desert-dry wit and mischievousness, when David Carradine tells you his eponymous, snake-charming Kill Bill character is entirely him except killing, you believe without question. Certainly, you wouldn’t want to pick a fight with the guy.

Particularly surprising then, when over dinner a spectacled solicitor-type sauntered over to the martial arts expert of forty years and accused him of rudeness for chain-smoking American Spirit cigarettes in a restaurant. It was almost the story of Pai Mai and the massacre at the Shaolin Temple all over again.

“Why didn’t you move to another table? There’s an ashtray here. So we’re smoking. Get the fuck out of here!” murmured Carradine as the surrounding tables fell silent.

“Just because you are a celebrity, doesn’t mean you should have any special treatment,” he meekly replied, rubbing his sweating brow.

The son of legendary horror and western actor John Carradine paused. The dust settled and he gave the solicitor a look that would turn black hair white.

“Just fuck off,” he slowly enunciated with hands twitching in his chair. “Get the fuck out of here!”

Sat beside him was manager Jay Habakangas and Dawn Of The Dead actor Ken Foree, who quietly laid down their cutlery. At this point, Tarantino would cut to an extreme close-up of Carradine’s cold, twitching eyes. The solicitor muttered something unintelligible and imagining the potential newspaper headlines of the following day, his friend grabbed his squealing companion by the arm and speedily dragged him to the nearest exit.

“Man, I’m glad he didn’t make me have to stand up,” grinned the guru-like personality to the rest of the table.

The unlikely location for our showdown was Swindon, where Carradine had just finished a frenetic five-hour signing session at Infinitely Better, a mightily impressive autograph and memorabilia store bringing world-class guests to the West Country. The double vodkas had been knocked back all day and I joined his entourage in a stretched white limousine for a champagne-heavy interview that rolled into the wee small hours of the morning at the hotel bar. Between unprintable dirty jokes, conversations about the best cheeses from around the globe and debates over the health benefits from drinking your own urine - apparently it “teaches the body how to clean itself”- we somehow managed to also talk about his career in the entertainment industry.

Carradine was always something of a wild child it seems, growing up on the tough streets of Manhattan, working as a labourer, and openly experimenting with a wide variety of psychedelic drugs. While studying music theory at college, he discovered his own passion for the stage, joining a Shakespearean repertory company, leading to his eventual casting in a short-lived western TV series of Shane (1966), based on the Alan Ladd movie. So began his association with anti-establishment drifter-type characters.

A starring role in Martin Scorcese’s Boxcar Bertha (1972) as tough union worker during the American depression later became a cult success, but it was not until his performance of Caine in the phenomenal television series Kung Fu (ABC, 1972-5) that he became internationally famous. It was a performance that sparked a spiritual journey with Eastern philosophy, leading to his writing of books on the subject and presenting videos on Chi Energy. As for films, “People always ask me about the trashy ‘b’ movies. Nobody wants to know about Bound For Glory or Ingmar Bergman’s The Serpent’s Egg,” he complains, though still talks admiringly about his genre work.

Talking of eggs, one trashy fan favorite was with maverick exploitation director Larry Cohen in Q – The Winged Serpent (1982), where Carradine plays a surly policeman attempting to solve a series of bizarre killings. The perpetrator is a giant, flying reptilian Aztecan bird called Quetzalcoatl who builds a giant nest atop the Chrysler Building and dispatches victims in a variety of gruesome and gory ways.

“I’d always wanted to do a detective film. Q was good, but it could have been a great movie if it wasn’t for the damned bird. The relationship between the characters worked so well.”

He had previously worked in another ultra-violent cult classic with madcap, sex-crazed director Paul Bartel on Deathrace 2000 (1975). The film presents a satirical view of the ‘future’ millennium where a fascist world president entertains the masses by a murderous inter-continental road race. Carradine is Frankenstein, the scarred cyborg hero of the people, clad head to foot in black leather. When he reveals his face to show he’s not hideously deformed at all but just simply David Carradine in a mask he says, “What do you expect, another pretty face?”

“After I first read that line, I put down the script, called my agent and told him I’d do it,” he chuckled.

Gruff anti-heroes and conscientious killers are perhaps his trademark, exemplified by his recent casting in Tarantino’s kung-fu masterpiece Kill Bill that pulled him from a recent straight-to-video limbo. But Carradine was probably unconcerned, quite happily following his own path of exploration. As he mused while sipping on his vodka, “I’m an iconoclast. I walk my own way, someone who makes their own journey.”

Trust these words of David Carradine, for his face will no doubt be drifting onto cinema screens very soon. In the meantime, if one day he passes you on a street and glances in your direction, make sure you return the generosity. You really don’t want to piss this guy off.

Many thanks to Jay Habakangas and Steve from Infinitely Better.

(Words and Photography - Copyright Mark Berry)

Originally published in SFX Magazine

It’s HELL RIDE! The Quentin Tarantino produced biker revenge movie that stars three Kill Bill alumni in Michael Madsen, David Carradine and of course the great Larry Bishop (who also wrote and directed the movie).

Also Staring: Vinnie Jones, Eric Balfour and Dennis Hopper in what is something of a geek fanboy’s dream…

http://www.hellridemovie.com/

Sundance Review: Quentin Tarantino Presents Hell Ride

January 22, 2008
by Alex Billington

If you loved Grindhouse, then you're in for a treat. Hell Ride is a biker flick produced by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Larry Bishop that pays homage to the old school biker movies of the 60s and 70s. It's one 83-minute non-stop biker party that exploits the three Bs: bikes, beer, and booty. If you've been anxious for another edge-of-your-seat grindhouse fix until Tarantino and Rodriguez team up again for the sequel (if it ever happens), then this is it! I'll say it plain and simple: Hell Ride was a fuckin' blast!

In Hell Ride, two rival biker gangs, the Victors and the Six-Six-Sixers, have been at war for years. On July 4th, 1976 the Six-Six-Sixers kill and burn the Victors' president's wife, now 32 years later they're getting revenge. The Victors are headed up by the gang's president, Pistolero (Larry Bishop, who played the "asshole on the elbow" guy in Kill Boll Vol. 2), The Gent (Michael Madsen, who played Budd in Kill Bill Vol. 2), and recently added member Comanche (Eric Balfour). The Six-Six-Sixers is lead by Billy Wings (Vinnie Jones), a ruthless biker who uses an air powered crossbow that's as badass as Anton Chigurh's cattle stun gun in No Country for Old Men.

I love movies that can keep up the energy and action the entire way through and never let down and it's rare to find these nowadays. For the exact same reasons that I loved Grindhouse last April, I love Hell Ride. It's full of so much intensity, endless hot women, awesome gun fights, and badass characters that you wouldn't dare mess with. If anyone calls Hell Ride boring, than they've got some serious ADD issues, because this is packed with more guns, tits, and action than even all of Grindhouse. I owe Larry Bishop quite a bit of respect for creating one of my new favorites of 2008!

I said it before and I'll say it again, Hell Ride is a fuckin' blast. I loved every last minute of this film and can't wait to see it again. It's Grindhouse but with bikers and endless hot women. Hell Ride is a full-on 83-minute thrilling ride to hell and back.