Pretty New to the Genre (Need Recomendations)

[Jd84]

Hello all. I have been viewing through the forums for a few days and decided to join the site. I am fairly new to the Kung Fu Genre. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions to get me started? I am pretty familiar with some of the Mainstream Shaw brother movies, but have not seen many of them. I look forward to everyone's recommendations.

Thanks!

[Fang Shih-yu]

Any of the Shaw reissue DVDs with commentary tracks are good starting points. Look for these:

MediaBlasters

1)Heroes Two

2)The Brave Archer

Dragon Dynasty

1)Come Drink with Me

2)The One-Armed Swordsman

3)My Young Auntie

4)Heroes of the East

5)The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

6)The Five Deadly Venoms

Happy shopping!

[ShaOW!linDude]

Welcome, jd84!

Well, there's a lot of good stuff out there. Here's a few:

Jackie Chan

Drunken Master*

Fearless Hyena

Spiritual Kung Fu

Police Story*

Heart of Dragon

Miracles*

Sammo Hung

Iron-Fisted Monk

Close Encounters of a Spooky Kind*

The Victim

Two Warriors

Eastern Condors*

Yuen Biao

Dreadnaught

The Prodigal Son*

The Iceman Cometh

Righting Wrongs/Above the Law*

Chan/Hung/Biao

Project A (1 & 2 though 2 is all Chan)*

Dragons Forever*

My Lucky Stars

Twinkle, Twinkle, Lucky Stars*

Shanghai or Millionaire's Express (no Chan)

Others:

Master Killer

Heroes of the East*

Legendary Weapons of Kung Fu

Thundering Mantis

The Buddhist Fist*

That's like 25 and those films aren't even current. The folks here will weigh in with more, I'm sure. You won't feel badgered or belittled in the slightest. We're all lovers of the genre and this is a forum to pool resources and share knowledge. We don't know much but we know good kung fu!

* indicate what I think would be priorities on this list.

[make believe]

This thread isn't a bad place to start for some ideas..

http://www.kungfucinema.com/forums/showthread.php?t=506

[Jd84]

Thanks for all the replies so far. I will have to check some of these out. As for the classic thread movie thread, that thing is massive. It seems that every post in the classic thread has a different movie in it. I guess for now I am looking for the movies that seem to make everyones list.

[The Dragon]

Hello all. I have been viewing through the forums for a few days and decided to join the site. I am fairly new to the Kung Fu Genre. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions to get me started? I am pretty familiar with some of the Mainstream Shaw brother movies, but have not seen many of them. I look forward to everyone's recommendations.

Thanks!

Check this out:

Fist of Fury

[bratty]

let's see ...

Jackie Chan : Wheels on Meals, Drunken Master

80s 'trash' : Eastern Condors, Righting Wrongs

'whacko' style : Taoism Drunkard, Shaolin Drunkard

old school Golden Harvest : Stoner, Beach of the War Gods

if you are interested in old school kung fu movies with enjoyable English dubs, I really liked 10 Tigers of Shaolin, Crane Fighter

and then there's about 300 Shaw movies you could pick up .. most likely you'd be happy with any of 'em (I am)

[Noelle Shadow Kick]

I actually disagree with a lot of the above posters. There's definitely a lot of good movies listed, but not necessarily for someone getting started in the genre. I'd recommend starting with films like Jet Li's Fearless and Ip Man with Donnie Yen and then working backwards from there to adjust to the genre. Other great Jet Li films to check out are Fist of Legend, Once Upon a Time in China, and Tai Chi Master. Bruce Lee is of course always a good choice, just make sure that Bruce Lee is actually in the film and it's not false advertisement. In fact, stick with Enter the Dragon to be safe. Then I'd say jump into the Shaw Bros movies. Movies with Gordon Liu or the Venoms actors are typically good. So I'd recommend 5 Deadly Venoms and Heroes of the East.

Again, I only say this because starting with old shaw bros movies could be jarring to anyone not familiar with the genre. I think it's a much better idea to get used the genre first. Anyways, hope this helps!

[Drunken Monk]

I typically introduce people to the genre with moves from the 80's. While Noelle's idea of watching modern kung fu films has merit, I feel like it can disappoint a lot of potential fans and lead them in the wrong direction as it's too easy to leap from "Fearless" to, say, "Romeo Must Die," putting them off for good.

80's Jackie, Sammo and Yuen Biao should steer you right. "Wheels on Meals," "Dragons Forever," "Project A 1 & 2," "Police Story 1 & 2," "Eastern Condors," "Armour of God" and the like are all good places to start. Perhaps even "Operation Scorpio, "Pedicab Driver" and "In the Line of Duty 4."

I'd then suggest some well rounded old school style films that still have the ballistic action: "The Prodigal Son," "Duel to the Death," "The Odd Couple" etc.

[QueMuchita]

Whenever I lend somebody 4 or 5 Kung Fu movies, I always throw Invincible Armour in there and nearly every time without fail they come back saying Invincible Armour was the one they liked best.

[Hamsworth]

If you are thinking of starting a collection of kung fu movies, the first thing I would do is buy a good multi-region DVD player so you can pick and choose the best releases of the movies you want to get.

Unfortunately a lot of the "Three Brothers" films are way out of print and hard to come by, but most of them are essential viewing. For me, the big breakthrough for when I realised I wanted to collect more kung fu films was after I saw 36th Chamber of Shaolin, so make sure you add that one to your wishlist!

Drunken Master is also widely available and that's a must-see of course. I saw it as a kid and it always stuck with me. Not just for Jackie but also for Hwang Jang Lee! He is supremely badass and it's a good introduction to my favourite kind of fighter; the "superkicker"!

[Jd84]

I appreciate everyone who has posted. I will def check out some of the titles listed. Where are some good places to get the dvds for good prices other than ebay, amazon, etc?

[ShaOW!linDude]

I recently used these guys for the first time.

http://www.asianjunction.com/home.php

Ninety-five cents shipping charge regardless of order size. They delivered promptly at 7 days dead on the money. I'll be shopping there again.

[make believe]

I recently used these guys for the first time.

http://www.asianjunction.com/home.php

Ninety-five cents shipping charge regardless of order size. They delivered promptly at 7 days dead on the money. I'll be shopping there again.

Not sure what you purchased but some of there stuff definitely appear to be bootlegs, so be careful. A couple of other items seem to be priced a bit too cheap as well making it seem too good to be true.

[make believe]

As for the classic thread movie thread, that thing is massive. It seems that every post in the classic thread has a different movie in it. I guess for now I am looking for the movies that seem to make everyones list.

If you read through the thread you do notice some consistency where mostly everyone tends to agree on specific titles.

It's best to grab a handful of selections, new / more present day films and old school / period films and see what direction you'd like to follow for now. This is one genre of movies that is way too overwhelming with how much there is to see and know.

[make believe]

let's see ...

80s 'trash' : Eastern Condors, Righting Wrongs

Both of these are essential viewing but I wouldn't put either of these under the 'trash' category. I'd leave that spot for something like zombie vs ninja.

[teako170]

Where are some good places to get the dvds for good prices other than ebay, amazon, etc?

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Many questions can be answered by using the search feature.

Here is a good thread that answers your Q above.

http://kungfucinema.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7713

[ShaOW!linDude]

Not sure what you purchased but some of there stuff definitely appear to be bootlegs, so be careful. A couple of other items seem to be priced a bit too cheap as well making it seem too good to be true.

Say it isn't so! Say it isn't so!

The copy of the ones I've watched, with the exception of one, have been good as far as I can tell. The exception appears to be copied from a vhs tape but I couldn't swear to that. Probably my luck they're all bootlegs.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Get Legend of a Fighter aka Secret Master. Best movie ever made.