The Silent Flute Details

[Highly rated reviewer]

Not The Film It Could Have been.

This film was based on an idea by Bruce Lee and James Coburn and would no doubt have starred Lee if it weren’t for his untimely death. It is certainly a different kind of martial arts movie. Filled with Zen style philosophy but only second-rate fighting this ends up as little more than a curiosity piece. David Carradine stars in what would have been Lee's role and it certainly seems like strange casting to me as he is no close substitute, while Jeff Cooper as the everyman looking for wisdom comes across as wooden at best and quite frankly shows no real fighting skills at all. Famous faces like Christopher Lee, Roddy McDowell and Eli Wallach crop up for just a few minutes screen time each giving this some star power if nothing else. This may be worth checking out if you are a Bruce Lee fan just to hear some of the life lessons thrown out during the story, but otherwise it may well be best avoided.