Korean Old School Kung Fu Movies

[DimMakDevil]

1 minute ago, J.J. Hayden said:

The original Korean film is called Osaka Godfather, but it's cut into the IFD film Ninja Operation 5 - Godfather The Master (aka The Power Of Ninjitsu) which is much easier to find.

Thank You So Much For Your Knowledge .

[J.J. Hayden]

4 minutes ago, DimMakDevil said:

Thank You So Much For Your Knowledge .

Mo man tai  

[Whoishe]

I never expected myself to post here, but yesterday I was going through my HD looking for a never-before-seen movie (or two) worth watching.

I've took an extended look at "Dragon from Shaolin" (https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=15597) featuring Seo Yeong-Ran and later I've decided to complete my Korean evening with "10 Shaolin Disciples" (https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=9096) featuring Kim Myung-Ah.

I don't have anything very good or very bad to write about either movies... but Kim Myung-Ah has to be one of the most attractive actresses I've ever watched in Kung Fu flick. She seemed to move quite well in action scenes (but her big hat would help with having a double in some scenes...), so I am a little bit disappointed that she only has a few movies listed.

Seo Yeong-Ran seems like a better Martial Artist (at least based on her agility/flexibility) though, maybe will check (re-watch?) "Legendary Strike" (https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=5937) as she seems to have a support role there.

[Chu Liu Hsiang]

DEADLY ROULETTE - I rarely say that bc I love the genre so much that I tolerate a lot but this movie is rather awful, despite Lo Lieh. It also includes some dog fight scenes (I cannot tell if the dogs were really fighting hard though bc I averted my eyes but just the idea puts me off).

Spoiler

The scenes were where Bobby Kim fakes being heartbroken are much too long and pathetic and not at all fit into this kind of movie and thus at some point make it obvious that it is a trick but you still have to sit them thru.

The plot is full of holes but still foreseeable. All in all not a must.

[DragonClaws]

 

Can anyone I-D this Hwang In-Shik movie role?.

Image source - https://www.newton.com.tw/wiki/黃仁植

[J.J. Hayden]

It's from Tomb For A Strongman [1975], here's the full pic featuring co-star Charles Han Yong-cheol.

[One Armed Boxer]

I recently dug into the history of the Korean Taekwon-action genre through the lens of some of its most popular stars in the 1970's and 1980's, feel free to check out my feature over at COF -

https://cityonfire.com/fists-kicks-kimchi-a-history-of-the-korean-taekwon-action-genre-in-the-1970s-1980s/

[J.J. Hayden]

14 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said:

https://cityonfire.com/fists-kicks-kimchi-a-history-of-the-korean-taekwon-action-genre-in-the-1970s-1980s/

I thoroughly good overview of the Korean martial arts movie genre for new comers.....and to established fans too for that matter, as it's rare to find so much in depth information, even in Korea   I recommend it to all.

Cheers

Edited January 19 by J.J. Hayden

[One Armed Boxer]

After the passing of director Lee Doo-yong last month, posting here the links to 3 of his taekwon-action movies posted on the Korean Film Archives YouTube channel in the last year, along with my reviews for them over at COF.

• The Manchurian Tiger (1974)

Review: https://cityonfire.com/the-manchurian-tiger-1974-review-streaming-free-korean-kung-fu-han-yong-cheol/

Full movie: 

• Returned Single-Legged Man (1974)

Review: https://cityonfire.com/returned-single-legged-man-aka-the-korean-connection-1974-review/

Full movie: 

• Returned a Single-Legged Man 2 (1974)

Review: https://cityonfire.com/returned-a-single-legged-man-2-1974-review/

Full movie: 

 

[DrNgor]

Continuing my "Month of the Dragon" with a review of the surreal (and surreally bad) Firefist of Incredible Dragon (1982) - https://abeautifulfilm.blogspot.com/2024/02/firefist-of-incredible-dragon-1982.html

[sadisgate]

Seven Star Grand Mantis 1983

Very goofy kung fu comedy from South Korea. Stars Benny Tsui who spends most of the first half of the film (and quite a lot of the other half actually) getting the shit beat out of him. He trains with an old man called the white cane beggar and a young female water collector to defeat an evil gang. Mostly focuses on the slaptick and over the top mugging but does contain some good fights in the latter half. Overall pretty entertaing.

[DrNgor]

On 4/14/2024 at 1:53 PM, sadisgate said:

Seven Star Grand Mantis 1983

Very goofy kung fu comedy from South Korea. Stars Benny Tsui who spends most of the first half of the film (and quite a lot of the other half actually) getting the shit beat out of him. He trains with an old man called the white cane beggar and a young female water collector to defeat an evil gang. Mostly focuses on the slaptick and over the top mugging but does contain some good fights in the latter half. Overall pretty entertaing.

Is there anything resembling Mantis Kung Fu in this?

Also, I consolidated a few of my recent capsule reviews (for films from 1973) here into a post at my site:

https://abeautifulfilm.blogspot.com/2024/04/3-capsule-reviews-of-kung-fu-films-from.html

[One Armed Boxer]

1 hour ago, DrNgor said:

Is there anything resembling Mantis Kung Fu in this?

There's as much Mantis Kung Fu in 'Seven Star Grand Mantis' as there is Shaolin Drunk Monkey Kung Fu in 'Shaolin Drunk Monkey'. 

The actual title for this one is 'Gay Woman from Shantung', here's the entry over at the KMDB - 

https://www.kmdb.or.kr/eng/db/kor/detail/movie/K/03683

[DrNgor]

1 hour ago, One Armed Boxer said:

There's as much Mantis Kung Fu in 'Seven Star Grand Mantis' as there is Shaolin Drunk Monkey Kung Fu in 'Shaolin Drunk Monkey'. 

Does Revenge of the Drunken Master at least deliver on a "Drunken Taekwondo" form?

[One Armed Boxer]

8 hours ago, DrNgor said:

Does Revenge of the Drunken Master at least deliver on a "Drunken Taekwondo" form?

No, but it does feature Eagle Han Ying obsessively attempting to poke Johnny Chan's belly button.

[DrNgor]

Close Kung Fu Encounter (South Korea, 1976: Kim Shi-hyeon) - Original Title: 대탈출 (Daetachul) - Two men are riding through Manchuria, carrying what appears to be a coffin on one of their horses. After riding through a village in which all the inhabitants appear to have been slain, they stop to rest. They get in a fight and there is only one survivor, whom I think is played by Lee Ye-min. He arrives in a town and visits a nightclub, where the singer, Grace (Jang Soon-ja), gets his attention. This angers the club owner, Mo-Kei (Kim Ki-joo), and a fight breaks out. Although the stranger is initially victorious, the tables turn when the local Japanese official, Suzuki (Hwang In-sik), shows up with his men. The stranger is ultimately imprisoned.

Also imprisoned with him is a fellow named Kang (Kao Chiang), who turns out to be a member of the Chinese resistance. The stranger gives him a map to where the gold--the contents of the coffin--has been hidden. Shortly thereafter, the stranger is executed, but not before Kang escapes. Kang finds the gold and takes it to a farm, where he steals a pig, kills it, guts it, and hides the gold inside, transporting it downstream--something similar happens in Ming Patriots. Kang is captured by Mo-Kei and Grace, who want the gold for themselves. They travel downstream, with Suzuki and his men following behind...

The HKMDB mistakenly identifies this with the South Korean film A Wandering Hero (1975), which has the same director, some of the same cast, and a similar premise. The two movies are different, with A Wandering Hero known in Korean as 방랑의 영웅 (Banglang-ui yeong-ung). This movie is available on Youtube via the notorious Wu Tang Collection, although I wonder if the censor blurs in the film's sex scenes were added by them, or by Korean censors. Pity, since Jang Soon-ja is very pretty in this.

The action is okay, but spoiled by the frequent excessive undercranking. I mean, it reaches levels that makes Donnie Yen's 1990s output look restrained in comparison. Hwang In-sik kicks up a storm at the end, fighting Kim Ki-joo and then Kao Chiang, but ends up being less impactful than his other films because he is unnecessarily sped up. The film also suffers from a lot of missing frames, which makes regular scenes (and their accompanying music or sound track) look choppy. Thankfully, those flaws become fewer as the film progresses. Final rating: **/*****

[Killer Meteor]

On 5/14/2024 at 5:31 AM, DrNgor said:

Close Kung Fu Encounter (South Korea, 1976: Kim Shi-hyeon) - Original Title: 대탈출 (Daetachul) - Two men are riding through Manchuria, carrying what appears to be a coffin on one of their horses. After riding through a village in which all the inhabitants appear to have been slain, they stop to rest. They get in a fight and there is only one survivor, whom I think is played by Lee Ye-min. He arrives in a town and visits a nightclub, where the singer, Grace (Jang Soon-ja), gets his attention. This angers the club owner, Mo-Kei (Kim Ki-joo), and a fight breaks out. Although the stranger is initially victorious, the tables turn when the local Japanese official, Suzuki (Hwang In-sik), shows up with his men. The stranger is ultimately imprisoned.

Also imprisoned with him is a fellow named Kang (Kao Chiang), who turns out to be a member of the Chinese resistance. The stranger gives him a map to where the gold--the contents of the coffin--has been hidden. Shortly thereafter, the stranger is executed, but not before Kang escapes. Kang finds the gold and takes it to a farm, where he steals a pig, kills it, guts it, and hides the gold inside, transporting it downstream--something similar happens in Ming Patriots. Kang is captured by Mo-Kei and Grace, who want the gold for themselves. They travel downstream, with Suzuki and his men following behind...

The HKMDB mistakenly identifies this with the South Korean film A Wandering Hero (1975), which has the same director, some of the same cast, and a similar premise. The two movies are different, with A Wandering Hero known in Korean as 방랑의 영웅 (Banglang-ui yeong-ung). This movie is available on Youtube via the notorious Wu Tang Collection, although I wonder if the censor blurs in the film's sex scenes were added by them, or by Korean censors. Pity, since Jang Soon-ja is very pretty in this.

The action is okay, but spoiled by the frequent excessive undercranking. I mean, it reaches levels that makes Donnie Yen's 1990s output look restrained in comparison. Hwang In-sik kicks up a storm at the end, fighting Kim Ki-joo and then Kao Chiang, but ends up being less impactful than his other films because he is unnecessarily sped up. The film also suffers from a lot of missing frames, which makes regular scenes (and their accompanying music or sound track) look choppy. Thankfully, those flaws become fewer as the film progresses. Final rating: **/*****

The UK VHS of this can sometimes be seen in the living room of Onslow, Daisy and Rose in classic Brit sit-com "Keeping Up Appearances."

 

 

 

Edited May 15 by Killer Meteor

[sadisgate]

Warriors of Kung Fu (1982)

Casanova Wong plays a blind swordsman who reunites with his deaf/mute brother to get revenge on the villain who killed their father and injured them. I though the movie wasn't bad but kinda expected a bit better. The brothers fight through the villains henchmen who each have some quirk (fat drunken fighter, darts thrower ect) but there wasnt really a stand out for me at least. The final battle was obviously the best, with Wong getting pretty beat up. There is a female character but she really dosn't do much throughout the film and only really exists to give Wong someone to talk to.

[sadisgate]

Martial Monks at Shaolin Temple (1983)

Another Godfrey Ho Cheapy. Must have been filmed the same time as 5 Pattern Dragon Claw becauses it's basicilly the same film. Hwang Jang Lee kills the Shaolin Abbot and wants to take over the Shaolin School. Dragon Lee spends a lot of time largely dicking around before joining up with a shaolin monk to investigate. There was a nice twist that I actually didnt see coming and the fights are frequent enough to be entertaing. Hwang still shines as the big bad who dominates 90% of the final battle only to be bested due to outside intereference. Weird how I always root for him even when he's the villain.

 

[sadisgate]

South Shaolin and North Shaolin (1984)

Casanova Wong plays a shaolin monk who is set to compete with a rival school but ends up rescuing an exiled prince who is being hunted by a villainous Qing general. The films keeps a fast pace and rarely a few moments go by without a fight. Wong seems better suited here than in Warriors of Kung Fu, even though this film way overdoes the sped up footage. The big reveal is that Wong is also a prince and is the princes brother but this barely seems to matter at all.

[One Armed Boxer]

12 hours ago, sadisgate said:

Another Godfrey Ho Cheapy.

Worth noting that Godfrey Ho is only responsible for the internationally distributed, dubbed, and re-edited version. The original Korean production is called 'Shaolin Yong-pal' and is directed by Kim Si-hyun. Here's the entry for it at the Korean Movie Database.

[Killer Meteor]

17 hours ago, sadisgate said:

South Shaolin and North Shaolin (1984)

Casanova Wong plays a shaolin monk who is set to compete with a rival school but ends up rescuing an exiled prince who is being hunted by a villainous Qing general. The films keeps a fast pace and rarely a few moments go by without a fight. Wong seems better suited here than in Warriors of Kung Fu, even though this film way overdoes the sped up footage. The big reveal is that Wong is also a prince and is the princes brother but this barely seems to matter at all.

 

Hearing the Ghostbusters music in this really didn't do the film any favours - it just showed how tired and old fashioned it was!

[DrNgor]

Black Dragon River (South Korea, 1976: Kim Seon-gyung) - aka Martial Mates - This film is notable for being the first starring role for Wang Ho aka Casanova Wong, whose only earlier credit was a smaller supporting role in Gate of Destiny (1974). It is also notable for being one of Hwang Jang-Lee's first projects after The Secret Rivals and probably the earliest film to have him in a nominal good guy role. The director, Kim Seon-gyung, did a number of martial arts films in the 1970s, like Black Dragon; Four Masters; and Magnificent Wonderman.

The film is set in Manchuria circa 1932, when the Japanese are still trying to set up Manchuko. There is a farm owned by a Korean Taekwondo master (Hong Seong-joong, of Stoner and The Skyhawk), whose laborers are also his students--the senior student is Il-jae (Hwang Jang-Lee). The only laborer on the farm that is not allowed to study is Gyung (Casanova Wong, of The Mighty Four and Duel of the 7 Tigers), who is an orphan adopted by the master. He is betrothed to the master's daughter, Oh-kran (Jang Soon-ja), and the heir to the farm, but the master refuses to teach him. That does not keep him from learning in secret and getting good at it. But after a fight with the local Japanese thugs, Gyung is more or less forced to pack his bags and leave.

Gyung wanders around and finds himself at a Japanese karate dojo run by Jo Choon (Kill the Ninja and Kill the Shogun). Jo, for once in his career, actually wins a fight and takes Gyung as a student. Sadly, his "karate" "training" consists of him running and screaming blind-folded through a forest trying not to run into trees. When that's done, Gyung becomes a tool of the Japanese (led by Jang Jeong-guk, of Duel at Devil Hill and Hand of Death) to beat up the local masters and harrass the local farmers into giving up their land. The farmers go to the Korean Master to help them, but having been kicked out of Korea, he doesn't want to risk getting kicked out of Manchuria, too. But when the farmers find out that the Japanese secret weapon is a Korean, they come down hard on the Master. He sends Il-jae and Oh-kran out to find Gyung and bring him back. And if they can't convince him, Il-jae has to kill him...

The film's structure is a little strange. The first act revolves only around Gyung, played by Casanova Wong. The second act focuses on Il-Jae and the daughter's journey, with only a few cut-aways to Gyung, who's gotten into drinking to make up for his loneliness. The third act focuses on the build-up to the characters' final showdown, which is partly derailed by Jang Soon-ja's (and her dubber's) overracting and screaming. There is a fair amount of fighting, choreographed by Richard Nam, who also plays a samurai. Casanova Wong gets the best showcase, with his spin kicks and forward-jumping spin kick getting showcased. "Human Tornado," indeed. Hwang Jang-Lee gets more fight time than in his other Korean movie appearances up to this point and does well, although he doesn't quite get the showcase for his infamous aerial boots like in his best Hong Kong movies. There are a few token attempts for Korean Taekwondo actors to fake kung fu, since the film is set in Manchuria. But fans of Korean Taekwondo cinema should enjoy this.