What was the last classic martial-arts film you watched?

[tdb]

37 minutes ago, sym8 said:

Drunken Dragon-1985

Directed by Chu Chung-Hing

Starring Ko Fei,Leung Kar Yan,Suen Kwok-Ming

The director has worked as assistant action director on The Miracle Fighters and Dreadnought and it shows in this bizarre film which has an even more bizarre story.Magic,weird costumes,some kind of camera used as some kind of weapon and Ko Fei with some kind of metal/hammer fist claw on a spring(I shit you not).Leung Kar Yans fighting skills are no where to be seen here but the saving grace if there is one are the hits,falls and wire pulls that the stuntmen put themselves through.Ko Fei is his usual great bad guy and along with the star pull off some great shapes but that doesn’t really save this bizarre mess.

 

I've got this disc (and some version is available on Prime/Youtube). I'm gonna plug it in tonight.

Edited April 4, 2020 by tdb

[saltysam]

Fists Of The Double K

I've reviewed this plenty of times  but here goes again, just gave this basher another watch and as ever it never fails to engage me.It's got a better story than most of these films, Henry Yue makes for a stalwart hero, it's got great music, an epic mid movie fight between the hero and pigtail laing, and an awesome quarry set climax with a great cast of villains. It's a pity the german DVD ,while having english audio, also has mandarin but no subtitles.

[Tex Killer]

10 brothers of shaolin. from german dvd, print is quite ok tho dubbed(had this subbed with chinese language track on vhs). What a joy to see movie again after so long time..it`s quite standard story but fights are terrific. Chang Yi is excellent as general who gets to do lot fights but also have chances to display ability in acting too

Spoiler

specially sorrow when son is killed

..with kao fei, wang tao and leung kar yan in cast too one does not go wrong with this.

Sometimes memory forges movie does not turn out that great as thought it was but here it definitely delivered..

[ShawAngela]

The heroine 1975

Nice little comedy-action movie.

Most of the fights are taken as comedic fights, until the ending fight, which is more serious.

Shan Kuan Ling Fung easily defeats her opponents by funny tricks. I don't know what is said in the English version, but in the French version, it's mentioned that the rich guy looks for his THREE children, and later just for his daughter, so, it's a little bit confusing...

And it's unusual to see Chang Yi fearing his fiancée because of her strong jealousy ! It's not the kind of role one is used to see him in, either in the Shaws' movies, either in the Golden Harvest ones.

[ShawAngela]

Taoïsm drunkard 1984

I laughed a lot in this one, but less than is Shaolin drunkard. Very inventive movie, though, with a lot of funny moments.

 

[saltysam]

One By One

Courtesy of NoKUNGFUforYU  i watched this previously unknown to me 70's basher with Yusuaki Kurata and Kam Kong . They play two prisoners who escape but are chained together so can't go their separate ways. Kurata thinks Kong is a cop,Kong insists he isn't. Pretty much the whole movie is the two of them engaging each other in fight after fight. Enjoyable but exhausting. They must have enjoyed it so much they reteamed for Fatal Strike which is more of the same.

[ShawAngela]

I discovered today that I had A PURE GEM in my many boxes that had waited for years to be watched : Magnificent chivlary 1971.

What a superb movie, with some of my favourite actors Tien Yeh, Wang Yu and Chang Ching Ching, plus some familiar actors who only have short roles such as Sit Hon, Wang Lai, Chan Wai Lau and Miao Tian.

There is a major twist at around 55mn of running time that makes this movie very touching and even more interesting.

I recommend it.

[Tex Killer]

2 minutes ago, ShawAngela said:

I discovered today that I had A PURE GEM in my many boxes that had waited for years to be watched : Magnificent chivlary 1971.

 

I have it/had not sure what situation is now but seems to recall too it was fine one...

Spoiler

jimmy probably does not survive although can be I mistake this to invincible sword.

 

[ShawAngela]

I just can tell you that you are mistaken for the last part of your comment, @Tex Killer...You should rewatch it, you'll surely enjoy it again !

[ShawAngela]

I watched Knockabout this evening, after many years without revisiting it.

I laughed a lot, and I enjoyed the last 45mn even better when the movie became more serious.

Yuen Biao and Beardy paired very well in this movie.

The first time I watched it, I didn't even know who Liu Chia Yung was, and I rediscovered him today. What a superb fighter he is !

[ShawAngela]

Chinatown capers

I had heard that this movie was more or less a sequel to Back Alley Princess and that it was less interesting than this latter.

I discovered that I hadn't watched it as yet and that it was still sealed in a boxx, so, I gave it a try this evening.

Well, I was happily surprised : the plot is good, the fights are good and Shan Kuan Ling Fung shines in this movie, though I don't like when she plays the "I'm super intelligent and super strong boy" kind of roles.

And I didn't know that Sam Hui played fighters in movies, but maybe it's the only movie in which he fought, I don't know.

[saltysam]

The Thunderkick

Like Fists Of The Double K, i have a lot of nostalgic love for this movie, having watched as a youth a condensed Super 8 version endlessly on our projector. Larry Lee is our hero ( Larry reminds me a lot of Unicorn Chan, except with far superior skills) . James Nam and Mars visit Larry's home, hoping to get him to help fight off the local gangsters. After a scrap with local thugs that's sees Bolo soundly thrashed James and Larry become blood brothers, James nonchalantly buys Larry's mum a house but doesn't ask Larry for help. James and Mars head back home where tragedy strikes. Of course,Larry is soon on the case and he's going to sort these gangsters out once and for all. Notable for a great end fight scene where Larry whips out his Tonfus, a rarely seen weapon in these movies. The german DVD is wide but has an awful lot of 4:3 inserts to make it uncut,which can be distracting.

Mandarin Magician

Huang Chung-Hsin trains chinese fighters, he stops to visit his pupil Larry Lee, they are attacked by a group of thugs. Huang ends up in hospital and asks Larry to come with him to Thailand for a tournament against corrupt japanese. Once there Larry goes round for days on end in a red tracksuit, he must've forgot his suitcase. Decent basher with a lot of familar faces (Mars, Sammo, Lam Ching Ying,) and a climax which takes an idea from Game Of Death (Larry fights his way up a mansion armed with his nunchuks) car chases, boat chases, it's all good. Code Red DVD is wide, english dub and has print damage but otherwise pretty good.

Bruce Lee In New Guinea

I've reviewed this before, not going to harp on but it's genius movie making. Bruce Li and sidekick Larry Lee nip off to New Guinea like it's round the corner from Hong Kong, there they meet Chen Sing, Bolo, wizards, snakes, comedy scenes featuring bananas, child cruelty ( the terrifying moment the snake gets chucked on the baby's face) and three western thugs who appear late on looking for the snake pearl.I await a Criterion Collection blu ray but for now the german DVD will have to do.

[JackieRome]

I first saw Odd Couple. I've been lucky all these years I hadn't seen him and didn't know it. Don't forget the good comments I've been reading for years I didn't like it at all. Irony is the sore point of this film, there are the most unbearable demented scenes in this vein. Halfway through the film, the fighting starts to speed up and that was the straw that broke the camel's back (and Ka-Yan Leung, who I never liked on a martial level). but most of all, I can't stand accelerated combat. I'll never get used to the stupid wigs, the hairy moles, the long eyebrows that almost always wear the same actors to look different. I'm very critical of Sammo's classic works, there are very few that I like, the rest I always find the same film made several times. I appreciate the Sammo verse in the 80's with works like Eastern Condor, Millionaires Express etc (those remain small masterpieces). According to My Tastes, the only classic kung fu movies of that period, which raised the level of choreography and made even demented comic scenes "bearable", were those with Jackie or Yuen Biao: I'm clearly talking about Drunken, Snake, Yung Master, Prodigal Son, Knockabout etc; I don't think I would trade any of them for a movie with Sammo like Warriors two, Magnificent Butcher etc, because I find them inferior. Don't hate me, I'm just talking about my personal taste. Can you give me a similar title that is up to the four I mentioned before that I consider the best?

Edited April 9, 2020 by JackieRome

[ShaolinMapache]

雪嶺劍女 Vengeance of a Snow Maid aka A Daughter's Vengeance (1970) not to be confused with the Shaw Brother movie Vengeance of a Snowgirl (1971). A Taiwanese film staring the beautiful Chen Chen 甄珍. A woman flees her cheating abusive husband to the snowy mountains pregnant with a daughter. She is rescued by an old lady but dies in childbirth. The old lady raises the snow maiden to be an expert at throw-darts. One day the old lady drunk on wine reveals the truth of how her mother perished and the snow maid dedicates her life to seek out vengeance on her devilish father. 

[ukrevrend]

IRON MONKEY 1977 Uncut  w/s  Shamrock Media Eng Dub

Chen Kuan Tai, Beardy, Chi Kuan Chun, Wilson Tong & Kong Kam

Revisited this classic for the first time in about 5 years! Decided to watch the w/s version I have, from Shamrock Media, as it's the only uncut version available, basically they've inserted a few scenes from a dodgy looking mandarin w/s print and added Eng Subs!

This was actually directed by Chen Kuan Tai and i'll be honest, he does a decent job, action packed with a star studded cast, where even the great Chi Kuan Chun takes a back seat and only has a couple of fights, this is all about Chen Kuan Tai & his monkey fist.

The plot is to be expected for the time of production, 1977, you killed my family, I must get Revenge! So this is sets it up perfectly to watch the training of the monkey style and those scenes alone make this a classic!

Great cast and excellent fight scenes!

4/5

  

 

[ShawAngela]

Could you show the cover of the DVD of this uncut version, please ?

Edited April 10, 2020 by ShawAngela

[saltysam]

50 minutes ago, ShawAngela said:

Could you show the cover of the DVD of this uncut version, please ?

this is the uncut german version i have

[ShawAngela]

Thank you very much for the picture !

[paimeifist]

@Ah_Tao, you've been watching some good stuff! Why are you surprised you liked Dynamo? Dynamo is awesome! It's interesting you find Challenge of the Masters to be your favorite Gordon Liu film. I watched it recently for the first time also and really enjoyed it, but man...Gordon has headed some fantastic flicks!

@JackieRomeWhile I greatly enjoy Sammos classic fu movies and don't feel as averse to them as you seem to, I agree with you that none of them really match similar films featuring Jackie or Yuen Biao. I have yet to see The Odd Couple, but it is one of the movies I have been wanting to see for a long time, as Lau Kar Wing is one of my favorite screen fighters.

As for myself, just finished 10 Brothers of Shaolin.

The movie is about as generic as the title is. Some shaolin monks are escorting a Ming rebel they've been protecting, while being hunted down by a Ching commander and his men. There are a couple of plot twists with zero impact due to a complete lack of character development, an ambush at an inn, like I said, pretty generic stuff. Thankfully, generic kung fu movies are pretty sweet, and typically provide some decent fights and unintentional laughs. The dub was pretty humorously bad in this one, with many completely unnecessary grunts and groans, and nonsensical statements. I don't mean grunts during fighting, I mean in the middle of the dialogue.

BUT STILL, it features some really good fights in the second half of the movie. It certainly doesn't live up to the hype generated by its talented cast including Wong Tao, Judy Lee, Beardy, Phillip Ko, and Chang Yi. With that said, it's still about a 45 minute fight fest with above average fights. Wong Tao is his explosive self, and Judy Lee gets to strut her stuff a little, but not nearly as much as I was hoping for. Beardy is actually wasted, he gets some action but it seems Gam Ming (credited as Action Director) didn't know how to make use of his abilities. The finale between (mostly) Wong Tao, Phillip Ko, and Chang Yi is again, fairly routine stuff, with a "Pai Mei" style ending, but still enjoyable.

 

Don't rush to see it, but if you've been into the genre for a while, you could do a lot worse.

Edited April 10, 2020 by paimeifist

[saltysam]

paimiefist I'm a big Sammo fan, it's JackieRome who isn't 

Edited April 10, 2020 by saltysam

[paimeifist]

1 minute ago, saltysam said:

paimiefist I'm a big Sammo fan, it's JackieRome who isn't 

Haha, whoops. Let me edit that! 

[Ah_Tao]

@paimeifistHey! Yeah it's not really surprising to me, it's just I've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to watch anything. Just college, work, and sleep (not much time for anything). I liked 10 Brothers of Shaolin too tho it wasn't the best film. I remember watching that one and then The Best of Shaolin Kung Fu afterwards (with Cliff Lok and Carter Wong as the bad guy). 

[ShawAngela]

The reckless cricket

It's more or less a  vengeance story mixed with comedy scenes showing how the hero Ho Kwok Choi becomes a skilled martial artist, but unfortunately, the most important part of the movie was totally unwatchable from 1h of running time due to bad issues, so, my future review won't be very detailed on this movie...

[JackieRome]

15 hours ago, paimeifist said:

@Ah_Tao, you've been watching some good stuff! Why are you surprised you liked Dynamo? Dynamo is awesome! It's interesting you find Challenge of the Masters to be your favorite Gordon Liu film. I watched it recently for the first time also and really enjoyed it, but man...Gordon has headed some fantastic flicks!

@JackieRomeWhile I greatly enjoy Sammos classic fu movies and don't feel as averse to them as you seem to, I agree with you that none of them really match similar films featuring Jackie or Yuen Biao. I have yet to see The Odd Couple, but it is one of the movies I have been wanting to see for a long time, as Lau Kar Wing is one of my favorite screen fighters.

As for myself, just finished 10 Brothers of Shaolin.

The movie is about as generic as the title is. Some shaolin monks are escorting a Ming rebel they've been protecting, while being hunted down by a Ching commander and his men. There are a couple of plot twists with zero impact due to a complete lack of character development, an ambush at an inn, like I said, pretty generic stuff. Thankfully, generic kung fu movies are pretty sweet, and typically provide some decent fights and unintentional laughs. The dub was pretty humorously bad in this one, with many completely unnecessary grunts and groans, and nonsensical statements. I don't mean grunts during fighting, I mean in the middle of the dialogue.

BUT STILL, it features some really good fights in the second half of the movie. It certainly doesn't live up to the hype generated by its talented cast including Wong Tao, Judy Lee, Beardy, Phillip Ko, and Chang Yi. With that said, it's still about a 45 minute fight fest with above average fights. Wong Tao is his explosive self, and Judy Lee gets to strut her stuff a little, but not nearly as much as I was hoping for. Beardy is actually wasted, he gets some action but it seems Gam Ming (credited as Action Director) didn't know how to make use of his abilities. The finale between (mostly) Wong Tao, Phillip Ko, and Chang Yi is again, fairly routine stuff, with a "Pai Mei" style ending, but still enjoyable.

 

Don't rush to see it, but if you've been into the genre for a while, you could do a lot worse.

See him quietly, everyone should see the ones where Lau Kar Wing is. Probably it's a fault of mine not to bear too much the demential irony (which then depends on how you do it, in Drunken and Snake I'm fine with it). The film contains a lot of cute fight scenes that many people find exceptional; unfortunately I have another defect towards gun fights, I love bare-knuckle fights more. I'm not going to hide the fact that after a while, I sped ahead fast to see the final fight. Anyway see it, maybe you'll like it anyway.

[sym8]

On 4/9/2020 at 10:39 PM, JackieRome said:

but most of all, I can't stand accelerated combat.

Yet you like Young master,knockabout and Prodigal son which all contain undercranking,especially Young master.And aren’t you the same person who said the venoms fight scenes where to slow?What do you like and want from a Kung fu movie?