Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted October 27, 2015 Member Share Posted October 27, 2015 (edited) Ga Hoi does have that fight with Peter Chang at the end of Mantis Under Falcon Claws, but I don't remember anything else good about the movie. It's a bad one for sure. Edited October 27, 2015 by Morgoth Bauglir Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted October 27, 2015 Member Share Posted October 27, 2015 (edited) Felt the same after buying this on the Vengeance Video label. I couldn't find any good reason to revisit Mantis Under Falcon Claws. Gave my copy to the local charity shop only for me to acquire it again in the Mill Creek 100 movie box set. It keeps coming back to haunt me. I expected better from actor/choreographer Ga Hoi who handled the action scenes in the superior The Mars Villa. He teamed up with Wong Gwok Chue (Shanghai 13) for MUFC, but it just doesn't deliver in terms of action or anything else. The worst part is that (according to hkcinemagic) it was written by Wilson Tong, and seeing the movies this guy's been involved in I guess this one must have been a brain fart or something. I guess I can count myself lucky though cause I only got it once, and it was on the Flying Fists of Kung Fu 12-movie pack from Mill Creek - the worst of the pack for sure, the only other lousy film on this pack is Tigers at Top (Taiwan, 1975). At least it has that weird stuff (that I dubbed Psychedelic Fu) you see in my signature and it uses cues from Enter the Dragon, but that's still enough to make it better than Mantis under Falcon Claws; Edited October 27, 2015 by Secret Executioner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted October 27, 2015 Member Share Posted October 27, 2015 The worst part is that (according to hkcinemagic) it was written by Wilson Tong, and seeing the movies this guy's been involved in I guess this one must have been a brain fart or something. I guess I can count myself lucky though cause I only got it once, and it was on the Flying Fists of Kung Fu 12-movie pack from Mill Creek - the worst of the pack for sure, the only other lousy film on this pack is Tigers at Top (Taiwan, 1975). At least it has that weird stuff (that I dubbed Psychedelic Fu) you see in my signature and it uses cues from Enter the Dragon, but that's still enough to make it better than Mantis under Falcon Claws;His writing skills are not in the same league as his physical ones. If he had appeared in the film it may have been watchable. Godfrey Ho was the production manager according to the HKMDB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted October 27, 2015 Member Share Posted October 27, 2015 His writing skills are not in the same league as his physical ones. If he had appeared in the film it may have been watchable. Godfrey Ho was the production manager according to the HKMDB.The movie was produced by Tomas Tang and Godfrey Ho is credited as an executive producer on hkcinemagic, the production manager being (according to them) Joseph Lai's brother George. Yeah, that and the movie being a Filmark release almost explain why it sucks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted October 27, 2015 Member Share Posted October 27, 2015 (edited) The movie was produced by Tomas Tang and Godfrey Ho is credited as an executive producer on hkcinemagic, the production manager being (according to them) Joseph Lai's brother George. Yeah, that and the movie being a Filmark release almost explain why it sucks... Filmark title's do often suck, but at least some suck in an entertaining way if you get me. It just needed a good dose of ninjas and Jack Lam to help liven it up a little. Edited October 27, 2015 by DragonClaws 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted October 27, 2015 Member Share Posted October 27, 2015 I got Mantis under falcon claws years ago on a French dubbed VHS and I remember that I was pretty disappointed and angry to have bought such a bad movie ! And the French dialogues were so annoying !! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Lady Jin Szu-Yi Posted October 31, 2015 Member Share Posted October 31, 2015 (edited) City Ninja - or CWM comes this close to being in soft porn or something. I was frustrated by the cuts between Chan's Wang Lee (a successful boxer - hrm) and the young character Jimmy (Okay if this is Casanova Wong consider me schooled....) Whenever something interesting or sex filled almost happens with Chan, boom they cut to the kid. Whose idea was that anyway? There are some good fights in the mix too (no I did not know CWM was fighting Casanova Wong.) Combine this with exploding ninjas, something about a necklace which two gangs have parts of and uh..weeeeee! And yet I cannot find a print of The Hand Cuff which matches the pristine opening sequence posted on YouTube. I tell you, it isn't easy being a CWM fan gal. Edited November 1, 2015 by Lady Jin Szu-Yi 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted November 1, 2015 Member Share Posted November 1, 2015 City Ninja - or CWM comes this close to being in soft porn or something. I was frustrated by the cuts between Chan's Wang Lee (a successful boxer - hrm) and the young character Jimmy (Okay if this is Casanova Wong consider me schooled....) Whenever something interesting or sex filled almost happens with Chan, boom they cut to the kid. Whose idea was that anyway? There are some good fights in the mix too (no I did not know CWM was fighting Casanova Wong.) Combine this with exploding ninjas, something about a necklace which two gangs have parts of and uh..weeeeee! And yet I cannot find a print of The Hand Cuff which matches the pristine opening sequence posted on YouTube. I tell you, it isn't easy being a CWM fan gal. Chan Wai Man clearly didn't just use a boxing ring for sparring. That's one thing I learned from watching City Ninja. What did you think of the epic showdown? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Lady Jin Szu-Yi Posted November 1, 2015 Member Share Posted November 1, 2015 Chan Wai Man clearly didn't just use a boxing ring for sparring. That's one thing I learned from watching City Ninja. What did you think of the epic showdown? Epic showdown DragonClaws indeed; an insane kicking fest. I would not want to be kicked by Casanova or Chan. Ouch. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted November 1, 2015 Member Share Posted November 1, 2015 (edited) Epic showdown DragonClaws indeed; an insane kicking fest. I would not want to be kicked by Casanova or Chan. Ouch. Its a great shown down, nearly as epic as Chan Sing's fight with Yusaki Kurata in Tiger VS Dragon. There's a big sense of desperation as both fighters go all out. It reminded me of the kind of fights you see in Iron Dragon Strikes Back. Edited November 1, 2015 by DragonClaws 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted November 1, 2015 Member Share Posted November 1, 2015 And just imagine how good CWM vs Casanova would be if it was wide with good pic quality. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted November 1, 2015 Member Share Posted November 1, 2015 (edited) And just imagine how good CWM vs Casanova would be if it was wide with good pic quality. If only Morgoth, love to see this film in its original aspect ratio with subs. A SE release with a Bey Logan audio commentary would BE nice too. Edited November 1, 2015 by DragonClaws 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Lady Jin Szu-Yi Posted November 1, 2015 Member Share Posted November 1, 2015 I third that, Morgoth and DragonClaws. I swear no one is holding a chopper to my throat about this either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted November 8, 2015 Moderator Share Posted November 8, 2015 Returned Single-Legged Man (aka The Korean Connection) (1974) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted November 11, 2015 Member Share Posted November 11, 2015 The Last Fist Of Fury (1977)You can find my thoughts on the film here Link- http://www.shaolinchamber36.com/kungfufandom/index.php?/topic/21452-november-mutual-movie-review-thread/&page=4#comment-259295 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted November 19, 2015 Moderator Share Posted November 19, 2015 Martial Monks of Shaolin Temple (aka Shaolin Yong-pal) (1983) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted November 29, 2015 Moderator Share Posted November 29, 2015 Raging Master's Tiger Crane (aka Raging Master of Tiger Crane aka Raging Tiger) (1982) - Choi Yu-hyeong, who helmed a handful of kung-fu movies in the late 70's and early 80's (including 'Enter the Game of Death' and 'Shaolin Drunk Fighter'), directed this 1982 production starring Benny Tsui and Hwang Jang Lee. While Korean kung-fu movies normally get a bad rep, usually due to Godfrey Ho slicing and dicing them rather than any fault of the original production, there are 2 names that tend to make me extremely weary - one is Elton Chong, and the other is Benny Tsui. While 'Raging Master's Tiger Crane' doesn't feature Chong, it does have Tsui in the lead role. Both actors movies normally suffer from brain hemorrhage inducing comedy, ear bleedingly awful soundtracks, and debatably entertaining kung-fu scenes. 'Raging Master's Tiger Crane' definitely features the first two elements, however it does make up for it with some impressive fight action that opens and closes proceedings. Getting through the rest of it is a challenge few may be up to taking on, depending on your patience. The plot is some complete nonsense about Tsui having a missing brother, a valuable necklace, and a girl named Betty. Lots of gurning and slapstick ensue, however surprisingly none of it involves Hwang, who looks like he's acting in an entirely different movie, remaining poker faced throughout. Speaking of entirely different movies, one of his fight scenes actually is from a different production, in a bizarre scene which has a monk raining coins down on Hwang while he's in the middle of training, before fighting him and being abruptly killed. The fact that Hwang's hairstyle and clothes don't match at all with the rest of the movie seems to be a minor issue. Tsui does hardly anything in terms of fighting for almost the entire run time, but then he really gets to unleash at the end, in an extended finale which see's him taking on a small army of opponents, before the final confrontation with Hwang. As annoying as he's been for the whole movie up until this part, the guy has some nice kicking skills, and watching the finale made me wish he'd unleashed much sooner. The fight with Hwang is a real know down drag out affair, with them going at it in a variety of different environments. At one point Hwang even runs up a tree, which must have been considered so cool that a few seconds later he does it again, only it's exactly the same shot, followed by exactly the same kick! I've heard about recycling footage, but recycling it a few seconds after the original footage has been shown!? All in all 'Raging Master's Tiger Crane' is a largely insufferable affair, book-ended by some nice fight action which displays plenty of impressive kicking. Entry at kmdb - http://www.kmdb.or.kr/eng/vod/vod_basic.asp?nation=K&p_dataid=03629#none Hwang in action, wearing a sexy mask - 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShaOW!linDude Posted November 29, 2015 Member Share Posted November 29, 2015 All in all 'Raging Master's Tiger Crane' is a largely insufferable affair, book-ended by some nice fight action which displays plenty of impressive All in all 'Raging Master's Tiger Crane' is a largely insufferable affair, book-ended by some nice fight action which displays plenty of impressive kicking.Hwang in action, wearing a sexy mask - As insufferable as you say it is, based on the clip, now I kind of want to see it. You're sending me mixed messages, OAB! Last night I watched Masked Avengers. Wow, another Shaw Bros. classic I hadn't seen with some killer choreography. I loved the trident action and the costumes. What a fun flick!!!! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted November 29, 2015 Moderator Share Posted November 29, 2015 As insufferable as you say it is, based on the clip, now I kind of want to see it. You're sending me mixed messages, OAB!Ha ha, trust me, if you've sat through 'The Masters Strikes' and 'Master Killers', then chances are you'll be able to sit through this! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted November 29, 2015 Moderator Share Posted November 29, 2015 Raging Master's Tiger Crane (aka Raging Master of Tiger Crane aka Raging Tiger) (1982) Hard Bastard (aka Raging Rivals aka Hands of Lightning aka Chunyong-ran) (1981) 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted November 29, 2015 Member Share Posted November 29, 2015 (edited) Raging Master's Tiger Crane (aka Raging Master of Tiger Crane aka Raging Tiger) (1982) - Choi Yu-hyeong, who helmed a handful of kung-fu movies in the late 70's and early 80's (including 'Enter the Game of Death' and 'Shaolin Drunk Fighter'), directed this 1982 production starring Benny Tsui and Hwang Jang Lee. While Korean kung-fu movies normally get a bad rep, usually due to Godfrey Ho slicing and dicing them rather than any fault of the original production, there are 2 names that tend to make me extremely weary - one is Elton Chong, and the other is Benny Tsui. While 'Raging Master's Tiger Crane' doesn't feature Chong, it does have Tsui in the lead role. Both actors movies normally suffer from brain hemorrhage inducing comedy, ear bleedingly awful soundtracks, and debatably entertaining kung-fu scenes. 'Raging Master's Tiger Crane' definitely features the first two elements, however it does make up for it with some impressive fight action that opens and closes proceedings. Getting through the rest of it is a challenge few may be up to taking on, depending on your patience. The plot is some complete nonsense about Tsui having a missing brother, a valuable necklace, and a girl named Betty. Lots of gurning and slapstick ensue, however surprisingly none of it involves Hwang, who looks like he's acting in an entirely different movie, remaining poker faced throughout. Speaking of entirely different movies, one of his fight scenes actually is from a different production, in a bizarre scene which has a monk raining coins down on Hwang while he's in the middle of training, before fighting him and being abruptly killed. The fact that Hwang's hairstyle and clothes don't match at all with the rest of the movie seems to be a minor issue. Tsui does hardly anything in terms of fighting for almost the entire run time, but then he really gets to unleash at the end, in an extended finale which see's him taking on a small army of opponents, before the final confrontation with Hwang. As annoying as he's been for the whole movie up until this part, the guy has some nice kicking skills, and watching the finale made me wish he'd unleashed much sooner. The fight with Hwang is a real know down drag out affair, with them going at it in a variety of different environments. At one point Hwang even runs up a tree, which must have been considered so cool that a few seconds later he does it again, only it's exactly the same shot, followed by exactly the same kick! I've heard about recycling footage, but recycling it a few seconds after the original footage has been shown!? All in all 'Raging Master's Tiger Crane' is a largely insufferable affair, book-ended by some nice fight action which displays plenty of impressive kicking. Entry at kmdb - http://www.kmdb.or.kr/eng/vod/vod_basic.asp?nation=K&p_dataid=03629#none Hwang in action, wearing a sexy mask - Saw this one a couple of years ago on a French DVD: I was really puzzled by how it went - the cool opening with HJL killing people, the scene with HJL in the middle and the ending all make it appear like a dark film, but then we follow some guy who keeps getting in supposedly funny trouble (I admit some of the slapstick made me laugh, but I'm a sucker for bad Fu films with ridiculous stuff). As weird as the whole thing may seem at first (I was really puzzled when I realized HJL would barely appear anymore and that instead we'd focus on that whimpy guy who IIRC had a brother who hid a jewel HJL is after or something), I found this one very enjoyable as HJL was really badass (as usual one can argue) and the scenes with Benny Tsui are overall quite funny. And on a sidenote, I find Elton Chong very fun so don't you badmouth him. Edited November 29, 2015 by Secret Executioner Alteration of the picturesque kind. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted November 30, 2015 Moderator Share Posted November 30, 2015 And on a sidenote, I find Elton Chong very fun so don't you badmouth him. It seems you're not alone - 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member lungfei Posted December 9, 2015 Member Share Posted December 9, 2015 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted December 13, 2015 Moderator Share Posted December 13, 2015 7 Star Grand Mantis (aka Gay Woman from Shantung) (1983) - This Korean production was the final installment in director Kim Seon-gyeong's ('Magnificent Wonderman from Shaolin') loosely related Shantung Trilogy. The first two installments consisted of 'Incredible Shaolin Thunderkick' (aka 'Water Retailer of Shantung') and 'Shantung Chinese Restaurant', both from 1982. All the movies feature the same principal cast, headlined by Benny Tsui and Eagle Han (who also takes on action choreographer duties on all three), and are what could be called broad kung-fu comedies. In popular opinion '7 Star Grand Mantis' seems to be regarded as the weakest of the three, and despite having personally not seen the previous two, having recently got through giving it a watch it becomes easy to see why. Benny Tsui plays a blabbering talentless fool, much like he did in 'Raging Master's Tiger Crane', who meets an old beggar played by Eagle Han, who of course is a kung-fu expert and eventually trains Tsui so that they can drive out some villains from the town. It's worth noting that there's also another principal cast member, an actress who plays the character of the original film title, however on both kmdb and hkmdb there are no details listed as to who she is. It's a shame, as she brightens up the movie considerably, thanks to being both attractive and able to kick butt. I have a shallow mind. The comedy is teeth gratingly bad, and takes up a torturous hour plus of the run time. It's also absurdly sexual in nature. The beginning has a bunch of bad guys stripping both Tsui and Han, and then later on Tsui cross dresses to disguise himself as a girl. He ends up being assaulted by a rather robust henchman with pigtails, who not realizing it's a guy, attempts to rape him (onscreen it comes across a lot less serious than it does in writing), however that's not the absurd part. The absurd part is that there's a couple of henchmen watching on, one of whom is bald, and as they're watching one proceeds to start caressing the bald ones head, before kissing it and falling out of view behind some rocks. Weird. Tsui also distracts an opponent later on by kissing him. The action itself ranges from the mediocre to actually quite decent. Tsui spends all but the finale basically being beaten up whenever he comes across the bad guys, until of course he masters what's referenced as the 7 Star Grand Mantis. The style actually has nothing to do with mantis kung-fu at all, it's Korean so of course is all about the kicks. The title is referenced only in the dubbing, and was slapped on for US distribution with little or no regard for it relating to the movie itself. Tsui doesn't really get to let loose here like he does in the finale of 'Raging Master's Tiger Crane', however Eagle Han adequately compensates, with some rapid fire exchanges and acrobatic kicks against Gwon Seong-ryong. The finishing move of the final fight though is definitely more comedy than kung-fu, and will likely leave you flabbergasted. & yes, if you're looking at the poster below and wondering if there's a scene in which the cast get semi-naked, cover themselves in gold paint, and wield a random selection of pots and pans, you'd be correct. Entry at kmdb - http://www.kmdb.or.kr/eng/vod/vod_basic.asp?nation=K&p_dataid=03683 Clip (Spoiler Warning - This is the finale, so if you still want to check out the movie, I'd avoid watching the below) - 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted December 13, 2015 Moderator Share Posted December 13, 2015 7 Star Grand Mantis (aka Gay Woman of Shantung) (1983) (Spoiler: Finale) Mission for the Dragon (aka Rage of the Dragon aka Cheer) (1980) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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