Member Secret Executioner Posted February 5, 2015 Member Share Posted February 5, 2015 I have a copy of Secret Ninja Roaring Tiger and its not bad for a low budget film. Must be a good few years since Ive sat down and watched the Hollywood DVD release. Picked up Martial Monks Of Shaolin Temple & Five Pattern Dragon Claw around the same time. All three feature Hwang Jang Lee as the villain and Dragon Lee playing the hero. I think there all Asso-Asia productions too?. SNRT and FPDC definitely are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted February 5, 2015 Member Share Posted February 5, 2015 Secret Ninja Roaring Tiger is worth watching for the presence of Jack Lam too. That guy had some great kicking skills. He cracks me up in Ninja Terminator as Jaguar Wong. Lam should have reprised that role in another film. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted February 5, 2015 Member Share Posted February 5, 2015 That's true, it is a crime that there was never a sequel with Jaguar Wong. But I do know of a way to see more of him. If anybody can ever get a copy of the original Korean movie that Ninja Terminator comes from, then surely it will have more Jaguar Wong scenes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted February 5, 2015 Member Share Posted February 5, 2015 Id love to see the full film just for the presence of Jack Lam. There might even be more scenes featuring Hwang Jang Lee in that super stylish blond wig. Leopard Fist Ninja starring Lam is not a classic but he gets to show of his skills. One of those guys who deserved to have a better career. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member paimeifist Posted February 5, 2015 Member Share Posted February 5, 2015 Id love to see the full film just for the presence of Jack Lam. There might even be more scenes featuring Hwang Jang Lee in that super stylish blond wig. Leopard Fist Ninja starring Lam is not a classic but he gets to show of his skills. One of those guys who deserved to have a better career. Indeed, is there any word on why he basically didn't have a career? O_o The guy clearly had exceptional screen fighting ability if nothing else. A shame he couldn't even be an extra in a bigger budget movie.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted February 5, 2015 Member Share Posted February 5, 2015 Jack Lam is definitely awesome in Ninja Terminator - great fighter, but also the only guy who makes a car chase occur just cause he bumped into an ex gf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted February 6, 2015 Member Share Posted February 6, 2015 Indeed, is there any word on why he basically didn't have a career? O_o The guy clearly had exceptional screen fighting ability if nothing else. A shame he couldn't even be an extra in a bigger budget movie.. I don't know anything about the guys background or film career. He appeared in a few of the IFD Asso-Asia productions and little else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted February 6, 2015 Member Share Posted February 6, 2015 Jack Lam is definitely awesome in Ninja Terminator - great fighter, but also the only guy who makes a car chase occur just cause he bumped into an ex gf. Godfrey Ho should have put Jack Lam in more starring roles. Leopard Fist Ninja features Lam as the star but its one odd film. They gave all that screen time to Richard Harrison in other IFD films and he cant even throw a half decent punch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted February 6, 2015 Member Share Posted February 6, 2015 He has a great cameo in Postman Strikes Back where him and Kwan Il Soo fight Chow Yun Fat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted February 8, 2015 Moderator Share Posted February 8, 2015 Champ Against Champ (1979) - Godfrey Ho packed his bags and headed to Korea for this one, a standard tale of a hero who has his poisoned leg amputated, and ends up being healed by the girl who just happened to have a one-legged grandfather that created a kung-fu style for such disadvantaged heroes. 'Champ Against Champ' features an all-Korean cast headed by Bruce Lee clone Dragon Lee, and featuring familiar names like Eagle Han, in a movie which looks like it was made in the middle of the Korean winter. This isn't just given away by the snowy landscapes, but even on the indoor scenes when characters are sitting around in restaurants, their breath is clearly visible with every word they utter. & what awesome words they are! Clearly dubbed by a group who were having a great time, someone is called some type of fool every 5 minutes - stupid fool, worthless fool, wretched fool - as well as more elaborate insults, such as when one character is called a "treacherous mule headed old bastard", and then a "pox ridden old bastard", within the space of just a few minutes. 'Champ Against Champ' also delivers some entertaining fight action. Dragon Lee tones down the Bruce Lee mannerisms here, essentially playing a non-clone character, and his performance is a lot better for it. Like most Korean kung-fu movies, the fights are kick heavy thanks to the taekwondo influence, and everyone involved seems like a competent screen fighter. There are some nice exaggerated blows, and the random appearance of stuff like a fire breathing bad guy, and Dragon Lee suddenly revealing a never before mentioned (or seen again apart from a single scene) smoking hand technique, mean there is never any fear of our attention drifting. All in all the consistently entertaining dubbing, combined with frequent and above average fight action, make 'Champ Against Champ' a decent enough entry in the low budget kung-fu genre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted February 8, 2015 Member Share Posted February 8, 2015 Sounds like a fun ride just for the crazy dub. On a sidenote, I would question whether Godfrey Ho directed this. Much like Five Pattern Dragon Claws (another Godfrey Ho/Dragon Lee movie that also stars Hwang Jang Lee as the villain), I guess it may be a Korean film some HK company like Asso Asia or Filmark distributed after altering it (new dub and so forth) and Godfrey Ho is credited as the director but barely did a thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShaOW!linDude Posted February 8, 2015 Member Share Posted February 8, 2015 Champ Against Champ (1979) - Godfrey Ho packed his bags and headed to Korea for this one, a standard tale of a hero who has his poisoned leg amputated, and ends up being healed by the girl who just happened to have a one-legged grandfather that created a kung-fu style for such disadvantaged heroes. 'Champ Against Champ' features an all-Korean cast headed by Bruce Lee clone Dragon Lee, and featuring familiar names like Eagle Han, in a movie which looks like it was made in the middle of the Korean winter. This isn't just given away by the snowy landscapes, but even on the indoor scenes when characters are sitting around in restaurants, their breath is clearly visible with every word they utter. & what awesome words they are! Clearly dubbed by a group who were having a great time, someone is called some type of fool every 5 minutes - stupid fool, worthless fool, wretched fool - as well as more elaborate insults, such as when one character is called a "treacherous mule headed old bastard", and then a "pox ridden old bastard", within the space of just a few minutes. 'Champ Against Champ' also delivers some entertaining fight action. Dragon Lee tones down the Bruce Lee mannerisms here, essentially playing a non-clone character, and his performance is a lot better for it. Like most Korean kung-fu movies, the fights are kick heavy thanks to the taekwondo influence, and everyone involved seems like a competent screen fighter. There are some nice exaggerated blows, and the random appearance of stuff like a fire breathing bad guy, and Dragon Lee suddenly revealing a never before mentioned (or seen again apart from a single scene) smoking hand technique, mean there is never any fear of our attention drifting. All in all the consistently entertaining dubbing, combined with frequent and above average fight action, make 'Champ Against Champ' a decent enough entry in the low budget kung-fu genre. I have this in a 4 movie dvd set of of him. I agree with everything you said here. I know Dragon Lee tends to get dissed a lot on the forum (so it seems to me anyway), but I've always thought him to be a skilled MA and better mimic of Bruce Lee's mannerisms than the other clones. (This is the one where he learns the 18 Kicking Styles & has a metal leg, right?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted February 8, 2015 Member Share Posted February 8, 2015 Dragon Lee is fun to watch and a competent on-screen fighter, I agree. That said, I'd say I prefer Bruce Le as far as Bruce clones go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted February 8, 2015 Member Share Posted February 8, 2015 He has a great cameo in Postman Strikes Back where him and Kwan Il Soo fight Chow Yun Fat. I didn't know about his cameo in The Postman Fights Back. More reasons to buy to this now. The guy deserved to get more work. It would have been great to see him in a film choreographed by Sammo Hung with a decent director. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted February 8, 2015 Member Share Posted February 8, 2015 He acts and fights well in Postman. He definitely should have gotten a shot at something bigger in his career. I'm glad you got to see City Ninja. I love this cheesy movie. What did you think of the ending? GHW where's your review of Robo Vampire? I wanted to give it a full read now that I've seen the movie. I thought it was a lot of fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted February 9, 2015 Moderator Share Posted February 9, 2015 I have this in a 4 movie dvd set of of him. I agree with everything you said here. I know Dragon Lee tends to get dissed a lot on the forum (so it seems to me anyway), but I've always thought him to be a skilled MA and better mimic of Bruce Lee's mannerisms than the other clones. I think his bad rep comes from the movies in which he's playing a Bruce Lee clone. He had a tendency to go overboard with the mannerisms and gestures, which usually results in a lot of unintentional hilarity. Entertanining, but not the best way to be taken seriously as a screenfighter. He has a down and dirty brawl against Hwang Jang Lee in the 90's Korean gangster movie 'Emperor of the Underworld' which is worth a watch. (This is the one where he learns the 18 Kicking Styles & has a metal leg, right?) Good memory! Yes, that's 'Champ Against Champ', and as soon as he gets his metal leg every kick sounds like sheet metal being hammered! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted February 9, 2015 Member Share Posted February 9, 2015 He acts and fights well in Postman. He definitely should have gotten a shot at something bigger in his career. I'm glad you got to see City Ninja. I love this cheesy movie. What did you think of the ending? GHW where's your review of Robo Vampire? I wanted to give it a full read now that I've seen the movie. I thought it was a lot of fun. The ending was nuts in my opinion Morgoth. The whole cast must have been on a diet of pure caffeine and nothing else when they filmed that one. The fight in the pool hall with Casanova Wong was pretty impressive. The over cranking was a bit off putting but you cant really analyze these films too much:smile:. I didn't get the chance to take many notes as I put this on late at night. Id already sat through a couple of non kung fu films pre to watching this. It reminded me a bit of the Tattoo Connection because it managed to cram as many topless shots into the film as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DrNgor Posted February 9, 2015 Member Share Posted February 9, 2015 I think his bad rep comes from the movies in which he's playing a Bruce Lee clone. He had a tendency to go overboard with the mannerisms and gestures, which usually results in a lot of unintentional hilarity. Entertanining, but not the best way to be taken seriously as a screenfighter. He has a down and dirty brawl against Hwang Jang Lee in the 90's Korean gangster movie 'Emperor of the Underworld' which is worth a watch. Good memory! Yes, that's 'Champ Against Champ', and as soon as he gets his metal leg every kick sounds like sheet metal being hammered! Champ Against Champ was my first Dragon Lee movie. It was loopy, but fun. There only two or three Dragon Lee movies available on DVD in Brazil: Mission for the Dragon; Dragon on Fire; and Champ Against Champ (I think). I know of no Bruce Le films which have been released over here. Bruce Li movies that got picked up by some Brazilian distributor are: THE MAN, THE MYTH; RETURN OF THE TIGER; and EDGE OF FURY. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted February 10, 2015 Member Share Posted February 10, 2015 The ending was nuts in my opinion Morgoth. The whole cast must have been on a diet of pure caffeine and nothing else when they filmed that one. The fight in the pool hall with Casanova Wong was pretty impressive. The over cranking was a bit off putting but you cant really analyze these films too much:smile:. I didn't get the chance to take many notes as I put this on late at night. Id already sat through a couple of non kung fu films pre to watching this. It reminded me a bit of the Tattoo Connection because it managed to cram as many topless shots into the film as possible. City Ninja aka Ninja Holocaust...That's true they looked pretty strung out especially Cassanova in the awesome final fight. But I was wondering what did you think of the abrupt ending? It's so weird and badly done, but hilarious. Agreed on Unbeaten 28. Definitely worth a look for its weirdness and good fights. My favorite Meng Fei performance is Boxer's Adventure. A top notch kung fu comedy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted February 10, 2015 Member Share Posted February 10, 2015 City Ninja aka Ninja Holocaust...That's true they looked pretty strung out especially Cassanova in the awesome final fight. But I was wondering what did you think of the abrupt ending? It's so weird and badly done, but hilarious. Agreed on Unbeaten 28. Definitely worth a look for its weirdness and good fights. My favorite Meng Fei performance is Boxer's Adventure. A top notch kung fu comedy. One of my favorite Meng Fei films is Five Superfighters. It did leave me scratching my head a bit. By the time the end rolled round I was trying to make sense of it all. One very random moment in the film is when Chan Wai Man accidentally kills one of his pregnant lovers in front of his girlfriend. He then casually decides to go to Korea and know one in the film appears to care about the dead woman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted February 23, 2015 Member Share Posted February 23, 2015 Recently watched Ninja Heat (Chan Sing) & Champ VS Champ (Dragon Lee). Never thought Id hear Simon & Garthfunkel featured on a Kung Fu film soundtrack. The use of their song El Condor Pasa in the film City Ninja was a bit surreal. Entertaining flick in my opinion Chan Sing & Chan Wai Man were on top form as usual. Champ VS Champ is your usual Ass-Asia madness directed by Godfrey Ho. The dubbing is some of the funniest Ive heard. Dragon Lee is his usual hyped up self as he goes round hitting bad guys with his steel leg. Not the best Martial Arts film I sat through but it you cant say its not entertaining. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted February 28, 2015 Member Share Posted February 28, 2015 I was wondering if anybody had any information on this actor. Loved him in To Kill with Intrigue. He only did 2 other movies according to hkmdb. I've seen The Dragon Lives Again and I don't remember him doing much. What about The Double Crossers 1976? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted March 19, 2015 Member Share Posted March 19, 2015 Finally saw Snake in the Eagles Shadow.. As expected, I loved it. Action packed, cool cast and characters, and an awesome finale. I actually was impressed by Jackie acting in this movie as well, I really felt for him and thought his life sucked early on! Jackies snake style was also great. I watched this with te English dub and original HK soundtrack - man I love the soundtrack to this, especially the main theme that plays often and during the opening demo. I'm not sure what I liked more between this and Drunken Master, it's really close. I think I liked the end fight and the comedy more in DM, I need to watch it again. The Young Master is my favorite of Jackies classic movies still. The Snake In The Eagles Shadow theme sticks in your head for days. Secret Executioners (1982) Directed By- Godfrey Ho Starring- Hwang Jang Lee, Shin Wu Cheol, Chiu Chun, Jim Norris A prime slice of Filmark International B-movie martial arts action. Hwang Jang Lee and his gang are out to make as much money as they can. Out to get them is a lone cop and an array of other gangsters and con artists. You cant describe the plot details too well as its another cut and paste job from maverick director Godfrey Ho. They have inserted some funny scenes featuring foreigners to help sell the film to other markets. We get treated to the skills of actor Jim Norris. One of the worst film fighters to ever grace a cinema screen. I'm not really sure you can call him an actor either. The guy performs the funniest Snake Fist technique Ive ever seen on film. Secret Executioners is far from the wildest or most entertaining Godfrey Ho/Tomas Tang production. However the presence of one Hwang Jang Lee does help the film a lot. The credit sequence claims Hwang was the films fight choreographer. I'm not sure how true this actually is?. 90% of the action is in the style of the early 70's basher's, featuring the swinging arm and leg techniques. This style was very out dated by 1982 and I'm not sure Hwang Jang Lee staged these fight scenes?. There are some stand out action scenes that he may have staged. A scene where HJL has a fight in a sauna changing room is very impressive. This fight is more like style of choreography seen in other 80s films of the time. The scene where he fights the cop in the abandoned building is also a standout moment. Being a Godfrey Ho film there's also some very random moments thrown into the mix. Including a Korean fighter who oozes milk from his mouth when he gets hit. If you don't have high expectations & your fan of HJL then you'll enjoy watching this film. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted March 19, 2015 Member Share Posted March 19, 2015 Secret Executioners (1982) Directed By- Godfrey Ho Starring- Hwang Jang Lee, Shin Wu Cheol, Chiu Chun, Jim Norris A prime slice of Filmark International B-movie martial arts action. Hwang Jang Lee and his gang are out to make as much money as they can. Out to get them is a lone cop and an array of other gangsters and con artists. You cant describe the plot details too well as its another cut and paste job from maverick director Godfrey Ho. They have inserted some funny scenes featuring foreigners to help sell the film to other markets. We get treated to the skills of actor Jim Norris. One of the worst film fighters to ever grace a cinema screen. I'm not really sure you can call him an actor either. The guy performs the funniest Snake Fist technique Ive ever seen on film. Secret Executioners is far from the wildest or most entertaining Godfrey Ho/Tomas Tang production. However the presence of one Hwang Jang Lee does help the film a lot. The credit sequence claims Hwang was the films fight choreographer. I'm not sure how true this actually is?. 90% of the action is in the style of the early 70's basher's, featuring the swinging arm and leg techniques. This style was very out dated by 1982 and I'm not sure Hwang Jang Lee staged these fight scenes?. There are some stand out action scenes that he may have staged. A scene where HJL has a fight in a sauna changing room is very impressive. This fight is more like style of choreography seen in other 80s films of the time. The scene where he fights the cop in the abandoned building is also a standout moment. Being a Godfrey Ho film there's also some very random moments thrown into the mix. Including a Korean fighter who oozes milk from his mouth when he gets hit. If you don't have high expectations & your fan of HJL then you'll enjoy watching this film. Yeah, that's a really confused movie. When I first saw it, I enjoyed the weird Gwailo part (the only non-Asian characters are Jim Norris and a Black guy with a nice fro and they exchange racial slur before fighting...) and some of the action (hadn't heard of Hwang Jang Lee before and I guess his fights had an impact since he remains one of my fav' MA cinema actors), but this is indeed far from a must see (unless you love Hwang Jang Lee and/or Godfrey Ho). BTW, there's a mistake on hkcinemagic.com as they list this film as Buddhist Fist And Tiger Claws, but this title refers to a completely different Korean movie also starring HJL and distributed by Asso Asia, but that has no Gwailos in it. The trailer is available on youtube, and it's pretty nice - it also features another cool Space tune called "Just Blue": AJnV1CDuHOg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted March 31, 2015 Moderator Share Posted March 31, 2015 Secret Ninja, Roaring Tiger (1982) - I've been on a bit of an old-school Korean kung-fu movie marathon lately, haivng also checked out 'Champ Against Champ' (reviewed in post #966 back on page 97) and 'Strike of Thunderkick Tiger' in recent months. The one thing that all of these movies have in common is that it's sadly impossible to see them in their original language and soundtrack, with almost all of them being purchased for international distribution by Godfrey Ho and his Asso Asia Productions, then re-dubbed into whatever he saw fit and sold off for cheap to the international market. 'Secret Ninja, Roaring Tiger' is certainly no different, originally entitled 'Injamun Salsu', it's been suggested that the movie was originally filmed in 1980, which would put it 2 years ahead of 'Ninja in the Dragons Den', a production which it clearly has a lot in common with. Most likely this information is incorrect though, and it makes much more sense that NITDD was made prior to this, with SNRT being a cash-in for the local Korean audience. (It's worth noting 'Ninja in the Dragons Den' was also re-cut and had new scenes filmed for Korea, which was re-titled 'Black Dragon's Last Warning') So instead of Conan Lee and Hiroyuki Sanada, here we get Dragon Lee and Jack Lam. What does remain the same is the presence of Hwang Jang Lee as the villain. To describe the plot of 'Secret Ninja, Roaring Tiger' would be a fruitless excercise. Something about 2 sisters and one of them doesn't know she has a sister and she's stuck in Tiger Castle under the control of Hwang Jang Lee and his band of ninjas. Basically, Dragon Lee, Jack Lam, and the other sister decide to rescue her. The dubbing is hilarious, the fight scenes range from sloppy, to absurd (one tournament scene has a fighter trying to defeat the other by tickling him, all accompanied by truly irritating sound effects), to actually pretty damn good. When Lee and Lam unleash their kicks, a certain energy is brought to proceedings, and the way every fighter strikes a pose before charging into combat somehow never gets old. Hwang Jang Lee, as in so many of his movies, doesn't get much to do fight wise until the end, however after revealing that his weakness is the naked female body, at one point he's randomly given a sex scene. Not only is it bizarre that Hwang Jang Lee is in a sex scene, but there's also the fact that in the context of the story he shouldn't even be able to get near a woman! Making sense is not the order of the day here, and in place of cohesive storytelling we have Dragon Lee fighting cross-dressers, bulked up muscle-men, and of course, Hwang Jang Lee himself. In all fairness Jack Lam gets in on a lot of the action as well, with many of the fights being double teams with himself and Lee (just like Conan and Sanada in NITDD!). By the end, having watched Hwang meeting his bewildering demise (a mix of topless breast flashing, nonsensical cartwheeling all over a courtyard, and what looks like a yoga move gone wrong), I realised I'd actually been pretty entertained. It may not be what it was intended to be, but as it is, you can do a lot worse than 'Secret Ninja, Roaring Tiger'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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