The Green Hornet

"The Green Hornet" first started his long crime-fighting career-and remains to this day-an urban variation of the Western cowboy hero The Lone Ranger. In fact,the popular version of the "Green Hornet",a vigilante superhero,was first imagined by Lone Ranger originator George W. Trindle,and writer Fran Striker in the late 1930's,first appearing on radio,and later on during the 1940's made the transition from radio to theaters with two low budget but very popular multi-part serials which starred Gordon Jones as the heroic Britt Reid and Keye Luke as his ever devoted sidekick Kato. "The Green Hornet" being so very popular in the movies and on the radio made the leap into the comics too. Over the years the character has appeared in comic books series from publishers Holyoke to Harvey Comics,Dell Comics,and finally to coincide with the Gold Key in the 1960's,as part of the TV series,and most recently in DC Comics. As part of the story of The Green Hornet is concerned,the story genealogically speaking,was a man who was bent on fighting for justice and triumphs over the forces of evil. In fact,The Green Hornet,Daily Sentinal owner and millionaire Britt Reid,was the grand-nephew of John Reid,The Lone Ranger. More to the point,Britt modeled his life on his famous ancestor,right down to his life's mission,choice of sidekick and job-related gear. Instead of an Native American sidekick(Tonto),Britt Reid worked with another "ethnic" outsider,the Asian adversary and humble servant and sidekick Kato. Instead of a great white steed named Silver,Britt chased down criminals in a rolling black arsenal called The Black Beauty. Both heroes fought their criminals with masks and hats,to hide their secret identities. The Green Hornet's main nemesis was the mob and corruption,rather than rustlers,nefarious cowboys and Indians,but if you think about it his dedication to fighting crime was about the same as his grand-uncle's in which the setting was the mean streets of the big city instead of the wild west.

Despite these variations,especially during the mid-1960's that "The Green Hornet" continued onward in popularity in the new format of the series created by William Dozier,who was executive producer of this series under his company Greenway Productions and produced through Twentieth Century-Fox Television. In the spring of 1966,after the runaway success of "Batman",every major television network at the time was looking to repeat the success of the Adam West-Burt Ward series which was a huge hit for ABC. Usually with the other silly or campy which consisted of shows like "Captain Nice and Mister Terrific",or for that manner the spy genre of "Get Smart",and "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.", Dozier was behind the brains of adapting "The Green Hornet" for television,though he also had the rights to create other projects for television,DC's Wonder Woman(which wasn't produced until the 1970's),and Dick Tracy. The TV series starred Van Williams as Britt Reid,and Bruce Lee as his loyal companion and fierce sidekick Kato. For the most part,the series was more serious than Dozier's "Batman",since most of the attention went toward Bruce Lee,who would go on to become one of the greatest International action stars of all time,due to this series. But the real star of "The Green Hornet" was a customized 1966 black Chrysler Imperial. As far as the villains were concerned,this was a show that did not have freaks who wore outrageous outfits,but some of the villains on the show were either counterfeiters,bootleggers,thieves, corrupt politicians,drug runners,crooked cops,and arsonists. For the most part this was basically your average "crime drama" with a kick. As far as the action were concern,the fight scenes were often brutal with Bruce Lee showing some of his breathtaking martial arts action,which was the best part of the entire show. The series also starred Wende Wagner,Lloyd Gough and Walter Brooke. Only 26 episodes were produced for ABC-TV which ran for one season from its premiere episode on September 9, 1966 and ended on March 17,1967. The show was on Friday nights and had some stiff competition against the fantastically inventive and popular,"The Wild,Wild West"(CBS,1965-1969), and also against the Ron Ely series "Tarzan"(NBC,1966-1969). It was preceded by the Irwin Allen action/science fiction series "The Time Tunnel"(ABC,1966-1967). In order to save the show and boost ratings,the two superheroes met on an "Batman" episode titled "A Piece Of The Action"(3/1/67),and its continuation "Batman's Satisfaction"(3/2/67)where The Green Hornet and Batman(along with Robin and Kato)take on a diabolical villain played by Roger C. Carmel. As the result of low-ratings,The Green Hornet was cancelled by ABC after just one season,but with the episodes it was rarely run or rarely seen in its original form in syndication,which is still rarely seen today but can be seen again through the advanced technology of video and DVD. Shortly after the demise of the series,the success of Bruce Lee proved phenomenal beyond belief. After his death in 1973,he was still quite popular,and a compilation film consisting of Green Hornet episodes was released here in the states to great acclaim. The films were released between 1973 and 1976. The second Green Hornet film called "Fury Of The Dragon",released in 1976 was a smash hit with audiences.

In recent years,there has been talk of bringing the adventures of The Green Hornet to the big screen,and there is a feature film in the works directed by Kevin Smith and starring Jason Mewes as Britt Reid and Jet Li as Kato.

I just watched the Green Hornet for the first time since MeTv just ran a marathon of all episodes. It was great. I thought it would be as campy and cheesy as Batman (although I grew up on that and still like it), but it wasn't. Yeah, some of the effects were low grade, and the scenes of the Black Beauty driving around town were always the exact same clips, but I still liked it a lot. Bruce Lee is awesome, and Van Williams had to be one of the most handsome guys on TV at the time (or even now). I really can't understand why this show didn't make it. I know that Batman is much more popular, but as far as "cool" ratings go, this show has it beat. Cooler lead character, cooler sidekick (no comparison), cooler car, and cooler music. I got them all on DVR and will probably go through them again this weekend.

You often wonder why this show only was on for one season and how Batman outlived it. This has to be one of the best superhero shows to ever be shown on television and the thing that made it work was that it didn't rely on camp or the crazy quilt of villains that Batman did. Instead, it pretty much was, more or less, a straight crime drama with very little frills unlike other similarly themed shows that were on the air at the same time. Also, Van Williams and Bruce Lee showed that you can have good acting in a superhero show. Too bad that this show never really was given a chance to catch on. If given the time it deserved, it probably would have outlived Batman.

I ordered the entire series on VHS (pirated) and this show is great! It's definitely not everybody's taste, since it is a little hokey, but NOT campy. It really is a treat to see Bruce Lee before he'd made those great movies, even though in most episodes he has about 2 lines. It's kind of obvious that 60's American TV wasn't ready for a real chinese action star. (the show Kung Fu anyone??)But even so it's a fun show and it would have been even better if they'd let Bruce show them what he can really do. The best episode has to be the Preying Mantis where Kato totally stole the show!

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.