Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins by Guy Hamilton (1985)
As I near 50, I find it really enjoyable to watch films that I never got a chance to see as a kid. Maybe it’s an attempt to make up for some lost bit of childhood, but in any case, I’m a sucker for films that might’ve played on Omaha’s KPTM during the late ’80s and early ’90s. Which brings us to Remo Williams. Had I seen it as a 6th grader, I might’ve had some nostalgic attachment. Seeing it now, though, I seriously wonder if even my inner 6th grader enjoyed this film about a cop who’s death is faked so he can become a secret assassin for the President. I enjoyed seeing the late Fred Ward in action; he actually performed many of the film’s impressive stunts. However, a film in which the hero kills people at the behest of the President with no accountability or oversight leaves me feeling a little queasy here in 2025 with a President who sees accountability and oversight as anathema. And then there’s Joel Grey’s performance as Korean martial arts master Chiun, who trains Remo in the deadly (and fictitious) art of Sinanju with the help of insults like “He moves like a baboon with two club feet” and “Your reflexes are pitiful! The seasons move faster.” Grey was decidedly not Korean, though, making Chiun one of the most cringe-inducing examples of yellowface this side of Mickey Rooney’s Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
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