Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Captain Kirk teaches Judo

For fans of the original Star Trek, here's William Shatner as captain Kirk showing young Charlie X a thing or two about judo*:



Gotta love those Federation gis!

Although Shatner does a reasonably good roll, the rest of his judo leaves quite a bit to be desired, in my view.  I'd certainly back legendary tough guy actor and judo black belt James Cagney against him (click the link for an awesome clip), and similarly British judoka and Bond Girl Honor Blackman:



Unfortunately I couldn't find the clip from Goldfinger of Blackman as the fabulously named "Pussy Galore" throwing Bond (Sean Connery) all over the shop.  Maybe someone can help me out?

*Spotted on Sensei Strange's aikido blog.

3 comments:

Sue C said...

Men in tights, eh! (and socks). I can't comment on the standard of the judo but making someone disappear just by looking at them? That sounds like a good self-defence strategy to me - where can I learn it?

Littlefair said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuAz6DXUopw

Spoilt somewhat by 'playful' incidental music. Also makes me uncomfortable as what I see is a man forcing himself on a woman. I'm not overtly P.C. but this sort of portrayal of women as 'prey' who can be convinced into an amorous encounter doesn't work for me.

How does the judo look Dan?

Dan Prager said...

Thanks for pointing this out Chris.

Apropos the judo:

Nice projection throw from Honor Blackman, more commonly seen in aikido nowadays. Sean Connery's throw is also a bit aikido-ish, and there's a camera-cut at the critical moment to show how far she's thrown.

Is there an earlier Bond-Pussy fight scene, too?