When young martial artist, Cord The Seeker (Cooper) loses a competition which will give him the right to fight the great wizard Zetan who guards the book of all knowledge, he decides to ignore the warnings and take on the quest anyway. Along the way, he will have to undertake several strange tasks that will be thrown at him by both allies and enemies, and will test his brains as well as brawn. Thankfully, he encounters a blind shepherd (Carradine) who is not only filled with knowledge about the journey, but he is also a very capable fighter. Cord decides to learn from the man who be believes could possess the wisdom that will enable him to complete his quest.

Although the essential idea behind 'Circle Of Iron' was that it would be a lesson in Eastern philosophy and the martial arts, its clear that the finished product is far from being what Lee had originally envisioned. Instead, this is more of a fantasy adventure that is closer to the likes of 'Conan The Barbarian' than the teachings of the Buddha. However this is not necessarily a bad thing as the film exhibits that kitsch entertainment value that infused Hollywood action cinema from the 70s and 80s. It also boasts a strong leading performance from David Carradine (who impressively fills four roles) and is beautifully shot in a number of lavish desert locations.

Much like the story, the action in 'Circle Of Iron' is certainly a step down from what it could of been if Bruce Lee had been on board. Whilst I have always found Carradine to be an entertaining actor, his skills in the martial arts (which he didn't start learning until after he took the role in 'Kung Fu') have never exactly set the world on fire. If you've ever seen him in action before, you will know exactly what to expect here as he exhibits quite sedate movements and doesn't appear to have much physical dexterity. Likewise, the majority of other actors demonstrate very few legitimate skills in the martial arts and when combined with the poor editing, make for a number of very amateurish looking fight scenes.

It may not be quite as thrilling a prospect as it could of been with Bruce Lee in the leading role, but 'Circle Of Iron' still retains a number of likeable qualities. If you are fan of David Carradine or are after a slice of nostalgia that is akin to the likes of 'Kung Fu', then 'Circle Of Iron' certainly hits all of the right notes.

The story centers around a warrior named Cord (Jeff Cooper), who loses his village's tournament to see who will seek a powerful fighter named Zetan (Christopher Lee). Cord decides to head out anyway, and soon meets up with a mysterious blind man (David Carradine), who guides him along the trials blocking the way to Zetan. At first brash and bold, Cord soon learns that force is not always the best way to solve problems, and that the legend of Zetan holds more questions than answers.

Now, this plot sounds like it would fit in perfectly fine with a Bruce Lee movie -- if it had been filmed in Asia as he originally intended. The produicers wanted to set their movie apart from the flood of kung fu films flooding theatres in the late 1970's. So they changed to shooting location to Israel and gave the story a more "fantastic" feel. What does that mean? Apparently, David Carradine dressed up in monkey makeup. Really bad looking monkey makeup.

The main problem with the approach the film-makers took is that the producers were working with a tiny budget -- this is definitely not Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, or even Clash of the Titans territory here. And so everything looks terribly cheap, even with Israel's stunning landscapes providing an impressive backdrop. Try as they might, the film-makers just couldn't concieve a believeable and interesting world for the characters to interact in. It's hard to get lost in a "fantasy" movie when everything is so obviously fake.

It's also hard to take Circle of Iron too seriously with Jeff Cooper in the lead role. First off, the role of Cord -- a headstrong and naive man -- seems to call for someone younger, not a forty-something with the beginnings of a receding hairline. Also, he's just not physically impressive enough to be taken seriously as a great warrior -- not only is he too skinny, he's far too clumsy-looking in his fight scenes. Finally, Cooper just isn't that good of an actor. Circle of Iron was, not surprisingly, one of his only films, landed after years of appearing in bit parts on TV shows.

Despite these problems, Circle of Iron is still fairly enjoyable in a 70's cheeseball sort of way. It moves at a fast clip, has a decent amount of action, and David Carradine's performance is actually quite good. Sure, die-hard Bruce Lee fans expecting this to be some sort of holy grail of Lee's legacy will most likely be disappointed. But keep an open mind (and perhaps a few beers on hand) and you should have a good time with Circle of Iron.

Note: Circle of Iron, despite not being a box-office success, has proven to be influential in the years after its' release. Robert Rodriguez used the trailer in From Dusk Till Dawn and Quentin Tarantino reprised Carradine's "blind man" character in the Kill Bill movies. Shades of the film can also be seen in popular video games, most notably the Mortal Kombat series, in which one of the bosses, Shang Tsung, is named after one of the characters in the film.