How Did They Kill Bill?

Did someone Kill Bill, after all? The symbolic imagery was all around him, as seen in the background.

An elementary decoding of the Carradine family's history and ties to certain groups makes David Carradine's death more mysterious than most.

93, 93/93. 09/3/6. Carradine died in 2009, on 3 June, in Thailand. According to his family, he might have been killed because he was investigating "secret societies."

Dr. Michael Baden, the former New York City chief medical examiner and lead investigator of the House Select Committee's review of the JFK assassination, has determined that Carradine's did not die by suicide.

So, what happened?

Is it time to synchromystically observe the man in the movies?

Now comes the tributes in which his films are being screened anew. No marathons of Carradine's series "Kung Fu" yet, but Spike TV is paying tribute to David Carradine with a movie marathon Saturday, June 13, 2009, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m Eastern. Such a movie marathon allows for a thoughtful viewing of the deeper themes of two of his more recent marital arts-related projects.

First up, at 2:00 p.m. is Kill Bill: Volume 1, in which Carradine played the leader Bill of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. Bill's codename is "Snake Charmer." The Bride/Beatrix "Black Mamba" Kiddo (Uma Thurman) is a female assassin, a trained killer who has been betrayed by the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad led by her former boss Bill (David Carradine) who gunned her down at her wedding, leaving her for dead. The Bride wakes up four years later and sets out to begin her quest for vengeance. With the help of one of Bill's former tutors, retired sword-maker Hattori Hanzo (Sonny Chiba), The Bride sets out to eliminate the first two targets on her list: Vernita Green/"Copperhead" (Vivica Fox), who has retired from the Deadly Viper Assassin Squad and has a daughter and O-Ren Ishii/"Cottonmouth" (Lucy Liu), who is now the kingpin of the Tokyo criminal underworld and leader of the "Crazy 88" crime gang. The major bloodbath of Volume 1 occurs at the House of Blue Leaves.

The number of overtly hidden connections to other films in the Kill Bill movies is phenomenal. From the links to The Manchurian Candidate (1962), where the introduction of the fight between Thurman and Fox parallels the fight between Sinatra and Silva, to the Al Hirt theme music from "The Green Hornet," which is heard when The Bride rides her motorcycle through Tokyo, there are many. The Kato masks worn by The Crazy 88s are also taken from the one worn by Bruce Lee on that 1966 television show, which references Lee's precursor role to Carradine in "Kung Fu." Was it about Lee's death too?



The overall storyline of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill - a woman seeks revenge on a group of people, crossing them off a list one by one as she kills them - is adapted from Lady Snowblood, a 1973 Japanese film in which a woman kills off the gang who murdered her family. The film also references Samurai Reincarnation (1981) by quoting its iconic line "If you encounter God, God will be cut."


Kill Bill: Volume 2 follows at 4:30 p.m. When this chapter in the saga begins, The Bride has already encountered some of her targets, as she continues battling her way up the chain of command, knowing it will ultimately lead her to her main goal: her chance to kill Bill. Elle Driver/"California Mountain Snake" (Daryl Hannah) and Bill's brother, Budd/"Sidewinder"(Michael Madsen) are important characters in Volume 2. (In real life, Carradine and Madsen were good friends.)

Both Kill Bill films are rebroadcast at 7:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.

At 1:00 a.m. is Kung Fu Killer.


David Carradine and Daryl Hannah reunited in a film for the first time since their roles on the big screen in Kill Bill to star in the two-part original movie miniseries, Kung Fu Killer, which was first broadcast on Spike TV in August 2008.

Set in late 1920s in China, before Communist rule, Kung Fu Killer tells the story of White Crane (Carradine), an orphaned son of Western missionaries who was raised as a Wudang monk to become a spiritual leader and master in martial arts, and his ultimate journey for revenge and justice.

In the first installment, Crane’s peaceful world is shattered when Kahn Xin (Lim Kay Tong) and his mercenaries raid his temple and slay his mentor. In search of his master’s murderers, Crane infiltrates the Shanghai underworld where he encounters Jane Marshall (Hannah), a lounge singer from Brooklyn, who is on a mission of her own – to find her lost brother, who is being held captive by Kahn. Realizing that Kahn’s evil plans are more intricate and widespread than originally thought, Crane teams up with Jane in order to enter Kahn’s inner circle. From there, they tread carefully in order to dismantle Kahn’s destructive plans before assassinating him. Soon, Crane’s battle becomes a moral one, as he finds himself torn between his peaceful Wudang upbringing and the cold-blooded life of an assassin.

The second installment, Kung Fu Killer II shifts gears to a more personal drama as Crane returns to help rebuild his shattered temple. However, the peace is short-lived as, back in Shanghai, nightclub singer Jane is kidnapped by Bai Yang, an old classmate and rival of Crane’s who plans to employ her in the sex trade. It is up to Crane and his young protégé Lang (Osric Chau) to save not only Jane, but Lang’s true love Wei.

Kung Fu Killer was shot entirely on location in China at the Zhejiang Heng Dian World Studios and the towns of Fong Yang and Heng Dian. The miniseries marked the first time a production of this scale was produced by a Western production company utilizing an almost exclusively Chinese crew.



Complete schedule for the Marathon, Spike TV, June 13th:

2:00pm

Kill Bill: Volume 1

4:30pm

Kill Bill: Volume 2

7:30pm

Kill Bill: Volume 1

10:00pm

Kill Bill: Volume 2

1:00am

Kung Fu Killer