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

[Drunken Monk]

Sun Dragon (1979) - Well randomly picking kung fu movies to watch, you find some gems, you find some duds. Yesterday was very much a dud day. Today, I started out with this movie and...wow, what a movie!

The fights are frequent and furious (they’re undercranked but not offensively so), the story is simple but engaging and I’ll even give it extra credit for its horrendous dub track. The dialog is fine but those voices! Christ.

Louis Neglia is a beast.

I also give the film credit for splitting time between Billy Chong and Carl Scott. I think Scott is a superb martial artist and it was nice to see him get more screen time here.

I loved this one. One of the better movies I’ve seen lately.

[DrNgor]

43 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

Sun Dragon (1979) - Well randomly picking kung fu movies to watch, you find some gems, you find some duds. Yesterday was very much a dud day. Today, I started out with this movie and...wow, what a movie!

I also enjoyed it a lot. I believe it was my first Billy Chong film. The fight choreographer was Leung Siu-Chung, Bruce Leung's dad.

[ShawAngela]

3 minutes ago, DrNgor said:

I also enjoyed it a lot. I believe it was my first Billy Chong film. The fight choreographer was Leung Siu-Chung, Bruce Leung's dad.

Same here ! I didn't know that Bruce Liang's father was also in the martial arts movies industry.

[DrNgor]

1 minute ago, ShawAngela said:

Same here ! I didn't know that Bruce Liang's father was also in the martial arts movies industry.

http://hkmdb.com/db/people/view.mhtml?id=15153&display_set=eng

Action Director (59 films)
		Rocambole (1967)
		Paragon of Sword and Knife (1967)
		Paragon of Sword and Knife (Grand Finale) (1968)
		The Devil Warrior (1969)
		Sweet Sword (1969)
		Eight for the Border (1969)
		Lightning Sword (1969)
		Lotus Camp (1969)
		The Black Enforcer (1969)
		The Royal Seal (1969)
		Mallow Forest (1969)
		Sword of Emei (1969)
		The One-armed Magic Nun (1969)
		Betrayer (1969)
		The Virgin Sword (1969)
		The Undefeated Sword (1970)
		Quick Swordsman (1970)
		Lady of Steel (1970)
		The Lady Hermit (1971)
		Lady of the Law (1971)
		The Iron Dragon (1971)
		The Long Chase (1971)
		The Golden Seal (1971)
		Pursuit (1972)
		Trilogy of Swordsmanship (1972)
		The Imperial Swordsman (1972)
		The Gourd Fairy (1972)
		The Thunderbolt Fist (1972)
		The 14 Amazons (1972)
		Black List (1972)
		The Fugitive (1972)
		The Casino (1972)
		The Two Cavaliers (1973)
		Gold Snatchers (1973)
		A Gathering of Heroes (1973)
		One by One (1973)
		Black Panther (1973)
		The Two Tigers (1973)
		The Imprudent Iron Phoenix (1973)
		Rage of the Wind (1973)
		Girl Named Iron Phoenix (1973)
		Seven to One (1973)
		He Walks Like a Tiger (1973)
		Tiger (1973)
		The Iron Man (1974)
		The Dumb Ox (1974)
		Land of the Brave (1974)
		The Brother Two (1974)
		Rivals of Kung Fu (1974)
		The Rangers (1974)
		Bruce Lee - True Story (1976)
		Murder on the Wedding Night (1977)
		The Dragon Lives Again (1977)
		The Dragon on Fire (1978)
		Mr. Big (1978)
		Ten Tigers of Shaolin (1978)
		The Master and the Kid (1978)
		Sun Dragon (1979)
		Kung Fu Executioner (1981)

[Duel to the Death]

Last night i watched Project A once again, i have seen it a few times now. Would i be wrong to say this movie was the turning point for Kung Fu movies? I'll admit i'm no expert and not seen as many movies as a lot of the people here have. But since Enter the Dragon has there been a movie that felt so mainstream and had a hollywood feel until Project A? If i am wrong, that's fine, i'm still learning. 

Funny thing is, the first Jackie Chan movie i ever seen was The Cannonball Run. Loved that movie since i was a kid. Still love it today. But i didn't see any of his other movies until at least the 90's

[ShawAngela]

I just spent three hours of PURE ENJOYMENT watching two GREAT, SUPERB, EXCELLENT non stop action movies with two of my favorite actors !

Dragon kid with Yu Tien Long : he really was a great fighter on screen. I don't know if he had a martial arts background, but what a joy watching him kicking and punching !!

Land of the brave : with Chang Li and Kitty Meng Chui and some familiar actors form the Shaws' studio.

VERY recommended movies !!

[Duel to the Death]

Ninja in the Dragon's Den Is a really good fun movie. The Ninja stuff is great and the fighting is great. But this movie would be so much better if it could make up it's mind if it wanted to be a serious movie or a comedy. I wouldn't of minded the movie as a comedy but it should of been a way more serious movie from start to finish. It's almost as though they were trying to make 2 different movies and just combined them into 1. And while the final fight scene was wonderfully choreographed and happy to see Thunder legs again, it felt pointless with zero build up. It felt out of place with all the stuff that just happened in the scene before it. I think they should of ended the movie differently. My idea would of been fighting a bunch of ninjas. A big ninja battle 

 

[CT KID]

8 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

Sun Dragon (1979) - Well randomly picking kung fu movies to watch, you find some gems, you find some duds. Yesterday was very much a dud day. Today, I started out with this movie and...wow, what a movie!

The fights are frequent and furious (they’re undercranked but not offensively so), the story is simple but engaging and I’ll even give it extra credit for its horrendous dub track. The dialog is fine but those voices! Christ.

Louis Neglia is a beast.

I also give the film credit for splitting time between Billy Chong and Carl Scott. I think Scott is a superb martial artist and it was nice to see him get more screen time here.

I loved this one. One of the better movies I’ve seen lately.

This is one of my favorites. The fights are fantastic but your right this is one of the worst dubs ever, the way they slur their words it sounds like their smashed. Whoever dubbed Carl pronounces Shaolin Temple as Charlene Temple!

Edited June 18, 2020 by CT KID

[CT KID]

3 hours ago, Duel to the Death said:

Ninja in the Dragon's Den Is a really good fun movie. The Ninja stuff is great and the fighting is great. But this movie would be so much better if it could make up it's mind if it wanted to be a serious movie or a comedy. I wouldn't of minded the movie as a comedy but it should of been a way more serious movie from start to finish. It's almost as though they were trying to make 2 different movies and just combined them into 1. And while the final fight scene was wonderfully choreographed and happy to see Thunder legs again, it felt pointless with zero build up. It felt out of place with all the stuff that just happened in the scene before it. I think they should of ended the movie differently. My idea would of been fighting a bunch of ninjas. A big ninja battle 

 

This is a great movie but the end fight kinda let me down too, wish HJL got to show off more of his kicking without all the silly hocus pocus.

[paimeifist]

On 5/15/2020 at 7:12 PM, JackieRome said:

The Mystery Of Chess Boxing: The copy was as shoddy as all the other copies of this production that are in circulation. The film is uninteresting in any case. Always the specter of Drunken Master hovering in the story and characters. I've heard of it as a film of great reference but it didn't seem like anything much. story already seen, usual bullying in school, usual fight with food, some actors don't even know how to fight, except for the 3 protagonists. Jack Long you can see very little and I wasn't impressed. I prefer 7 Grandmaster. 4,5/10

I too prefer the 7 Grandmasters, although I think this movie is good. Not among the best classic martial arts films, but some great fights, and one of the coolest villains ever, aided by some kick ass dubbing!

[Drunken Monk]

Young Hero (1980) - Easily one of the best kung fu movies I've seen this year and I've watched a lot of kung fu movies this year. While it sticks to the same old formula of learning a style to get revenge, the whole thing feels fresh and interesting. The comedy isn't grating, the characters have actual character and it's genuinely nice to see a father and son team up to take on the bad guy. It also helps that the bad guy happens to be Hwang Jang Lee.
This is a KUNG FU film. Not a comedy with bits of kung fu, not even a kung fu comedy a la the likes of Drunken Master. This film is dedicated to showcasing martial arts which is does every few minutes.

The fight choreography is AMAZING. It feels like classic shapes but it often has the rhythm and power of an early 80's kickboxing style movie. And there's such a mix! They giver you a bunch of eagle claw and then throw in some crazy boot work. And that's before Hwang Jang Lee gets to fight.

The final fight is roughly seventeen hours long and every second of it is perfect. Just minute after minute of fantastic kung fu. I was surprised to see that the fight choreographers (Kwan Yung-Moon, Tino Wong and Wong Shu-Tong) actually have very few fight choreography credits under their belts because the action in this one is bonkers!

Could this be one of my favourite kung fu films of all time? I feel as though it's in my top twenty now. I loved this one.
 

[paimeifist]

3 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

Young Hero (1980) - Easily one of the best kung fu movies I've seen this year and I've watched a lot of kung fu movies this year. While it sticks to the same old formula of learning a style to get revenge, the whole thing feels fresh and interesting. The comedy isn't grating, the characters have actual character and it's genuinely nice to see a father and son team up to take on the bad guy. It also helps that the bad guy happens to be Hwang Jang Lee.
This is a KUNG FU film. Not a comedy with bits of kung fu, not even a kung fu comedy a la the likes of Drunken Master. This film is dedicated to showcasing martial arts which is does every few minutes.

The fight choreography is AMAZING. It feels like classic shapes but it often has the rhythm and power of an early 80's kickboxing style movie. And there's such a mix! They giver you a bunch of eagle claw and then throw in some crazy boot work. And that's before Hwang Jang Lee gets to fight.

The final fight is roughly seventeen hours long and every second of it is perfect. Just minute after minute of fantastic kung fu. I was surprised to see that the fight choreographers (Kwan Yung-Moon, Tino Wong and Wong Shu-Tong) actually have very few fight choreography credits under their belts because the action in this one is bonkers!

Could this be one of my favourite kung fu films of all time? I feel as though it's in my top twenty now. I loved this one.
 

Thanks @Drunken Monk, sounds like I need to go ahead and put this one on the list.

[JackieRome]

22 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

Young Hero (1980) - Easily one of the best kung fu movies I've seen this year and I've watched a lot of kung fu movies this year. While it sticks to the same old formula of learning a style to get revenge, the whole thing feels fresh and interesting. The comedy isn't grating, the characters have actual character and it's genuinely nice to see a father and son team up to take on the bad guy. It also helps that the bad guy happens to be Hwang Jang Lee.
This is a KUNG FU film. Not a comedy with bits of kung fu, not even a kung fu comedy a la the likes of Drunken Master. This film is dedicated to showcasing martial arts which is does every few minutes.

The fight choreography is AMAZING. It feels like classic shapes but it often has the rhythm and power of an early 80's kickboxing style movie. And there's such a mix! They giver you a bunch of eagle claw and then throw in some crazy boot work. And that's before Hwang Jang Lee gets to fight.

The final fight is roughly seventeen hours long and every second of it is perfect. Just minute after minute of fantastic kung fu. I was surprised to see that the fight choreographers (Kwan Yung-Moon, Tino Wong and Wong Shu-Tong) actually have very few fight choreography credits under their belts because the action in this one is bonkers!

Could this be one of my favourite kung fu films of all time? I feel as though it's in my top twenty now. I loved this one.
 

they are impulses of enthusiasm that involve. I have to get it back.

[ShawAngela]

Secret mission : A very good rebels/spies against bad warlord in a small town movie, here, with a lot of familiar faces in it, though not even mentioned in the English credits I saw : Ma Kei, Yi Hung (mentioned), Hsieh Hsing in the second good guy role I see him, Lei Jun, Suen Yuet (mentioned).

Suen Yuet is ranked the 5th in the cast on hkmdb and he appears at 52 mn of running time and has barely 5 mn of screen presence, though he is the only other actor mentioned in the credits (and the first name that appears) ! I guess that there must be some cuts in the copy I watched, because he is supposed to go somewhere with one of the rebels and we never see what happened, but near the end of the movie, someone tells the warlord that he is dead...Also, the hero fights and doesn't seem to be wounded, but on the last scene, when he joins the rebel girl at the rendezvous place, he looks badly wounded and we never see when nor where he was so badly wounded...

[Duel to the Death]

Warriors Two I love this movie. It has some of the best fight scenes. The Mantis Style is so bad ass. Love the way he floats forward. And that legendary kick across the table. I have seen the ending to this movie on youtube more than i've seen the movie itself. I forgot how great the rest of the movie was. 

The version i have HKL has the annoying added sound effects and a Cantonese version Don't Be Cruel by Elvis LOL. So terrible. The Region 1 version i rented like 13 years ago also had those annoying sound effects added in, i'm almost positive. Not sure if there is a quality release without them? I see it's on Blu Ray in Scandinavia and it fixes most of these issues, but it's only the english dub. It was so close to being a good release it looks like http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=51766

[Killer Meteor]

On 6/15/2020 at 8:42 AM, One Armed Boxer said:

I got through watching this one recently, however unlike @saltysam I saw it with the English dub thanks to the vintage Iron Fist Frenzy 50-pack from a few years back.  During lockdown I've discovered there's quite a few gems in this set!  (Yes, I'm one of those people who buy these 50-sets then never watch anything in them).  It warranted the full review treatment, so check it out via the link over at COF - 

https://cityonfire.com/the-magnificent-1978-review/

I think that version is missing a Dragon Lee nunchaku scene.

 

Edited June 20, 2020 by Killer Meteor

[JackieRome]

When I speak ill of something there is always a doubt: can I say it? is anyone offended? hopefully not, in the end everyone has their tastes. Making it personal is ridiculous.

Anyway, I saw Young Hero and Jade Claw. The first, despite having 1-2 decent fights, there is nothing extraordinary. hardly anyone knows how to act and the story is abused. The second is a little more fun but equally ridiculous. One of the many copies that took advantage of the success of Drunken Master, but copying it in a faded and unconvincing way. Both are by-products (like many) that add nothing to the genre. But Billy Chong is athletically good: can I ask you the best film with him to be recovered that is not another copy of Jackie's films? thank you

[sym8]

31 minutes ago, JackieRome said:

When I speak ill of something there is always a doubt: can I say it? is anyone offended? hopefully not, in the end everyone has their tastes. Making it personal is ridiculous.

Anyway, I saw Young Hero and Jade Claw. The first, despite having 1-2 decent fights, there is nothing extraordinary. hardly anyone knows how to act and the story is abused. The second is a little more fun but equally ridiculous. One of the many copies that took advantage of the success of Drunken Master, but copying it in a faded and unconvincing way. Both are by-products (like many) that add nothing to the genre. But Billy Chong is athletically good: can I ask you the best film with him to be recovered that is not another copy of Jackie's films? thank you

Haven’t seen young hero but Jade claw(Crystal Fist) is a great film,I know it’s the same theme as many Kung fu movies( not just Drunken master) but if you copy something and do it well,which I think jade claw is I think we’re all better off for it.I for one would love it if they made these kinda movies now but those days are long gone.You may wont to check out Sun Dragon(Hard way to die)Billy Chong does the Wild West long before Jackie got there.👍👍

Edited June 20, 2020 by sym8

[ShawAngela]

Billy Chong's good movies : Sun dragon ; Super power ; A fistful of talons.

I've seen all of his movies except Jade claw and Aces go places V, including one of his Indonesian movies, and in my humble opinion, they are all great, but these three are on the top of the list.

Edited June 20, 2020 by ShawAngela

[paimeifist]

2 hours ago, JackieRome said:

When I speak ill of something there is always a doubt: can I say it? is anyone offended? hopefully not, in the end everyone has their tastes. Making it personal is ridiculous.

Anyway, I saw Young Hero and Jade Claw. The first, despite having 1-2 decent fights, there is nothing extraordinary. hardly anyone knows how to act and the story is abused. The second is a little more fun but equally ridiculous. One of the many copies that took advantage of the success of Drunken Master, but copying it in a faded and unconvincing way. Both are by-products (like many) that add nothing to the genre. But Billy Chong is athletically good: can I ask you the best film with him to be recovered that is not another copy of Jackie's films? thank you

I haven't cared much for any Billy Chong film I have seen, and I've seen a few. He is extremely talented, but every film I've seen has been marred by severe undercranking and/or poor editing of fight scenes.

 

Also, none of them are gonna be as good as the best Jackie Chan films, so you may want to steer clear.

[ShawAngela]

Crazy couple : a fun movie that doesn't take itself too seriously, but the fights are very good, and I couldn't help but laugh watching Dean Shek and his gags. And I almost hadn't recognized Fung Hark On with his beard !!

Lily Li has only one mini fight, and the German language only didn't help very much to fully understand the plot, but at least, it was uncut (it was easy to see the added scenes from other releases, and there was even an image with English and Chinese subtitles).

[ShawAngela]

The man from Hell : A Thai movie with Mitr Chabaincha or something like that, I don't remember and the English names of the cast that are mentioned aren't the right ones. And in addition to that, there were at least three actors who looked like each other and it was difficult to follow the plot, with an awful dubbing, of course...

[JackieRome]

11 hours ago, paimeifist said:

I haven't cared much for any Billy Chong film I have seen, and I've seen a few. He is extremely talented, but every film I've seen has been marred by severe undercranking and/or poor editing of fight scenes.

 

Also, none of them are gonna be as good as the best Jackie Chan films, so you may want to steer clear.

unfortunately it is as you say. even a good martial artist if he does not have a good direction and a decent editing that follows him, he will still make mediocre films. I still try to see something else with him, maybe I find the pearl in this basket of second-rate films.

13 hours ago, sym8 said:

Haven’t seen young hero but Jade claw(Crystal Fist) is a great film,I know it’s the same theme as many Kung fu movies( not just Drunken master) but if you copy something and do it well,which I think jade claw is I think we’re all better off for it.I for one would love it if they made these kinda movies now but those days are long gone.You may wont to check out Sun Dragon(Hard way to die)Billy Chong does the Wild West long before Jackie got there.👍👍

OK I'll try to see it, thanks. Unfortunately, I know that the whole category of by-products after that magnificent year of 1978, they have focused too much on making films that are too equal, with revenge stories seen 300 times and protagonists who mimic Jackie Chan. I always try to find some element that still saves the vision, but it is very difficult for my standards. As soon as I also see yet another crazy copy of Dean Shek, yet another training for futile reasons, contour characters made up of idiots who laugh or move like little spots; I just can't stand it. At least we, when we wanted to redo "For a fistful of dollars", fished from Shakespeare, from literature in general, even original stories were invented, the identical copies of that film were few.

11 hours ago, ShawAngela said:

Billy Chong's good movies : Sun dragon ; Super power ; A fistful of talons.

I've seen all of his movies except Jade claw and Aces go places V, including one of his Indonesian movies, and in my humble opinion, they are all great, but these three are on the top of the list.

thank you so much. I will try to recover a little bit of everything and we hope there is something good that is worthwhile (even just an idea, a fight, a character)

[ukrevrend]

3 hours ago, JackieRome said:

I know that the whole category of by-products after that magnificent year of 1978, they have focused too much on making films that are too equal, with revenge stories seen 300 times and protagonists who mimic Jackie Chan. I always try to find some element that still saves the vision, but it is very difficult for my standards. As soon as I also see yet another crazy copy of Dean Shek, yet another training for futile reasons, contour characters made up of idiots who laugh or move like little spots; I just can't stand it. At least we, when we wanted to redo "For a fistful of dollars", fished from Shakespeare, from literature in general, even original stories were invented, the identical copies of that film were few.

When Bruce died in the early 70's, studios started doing Bruce Lee type movies hoping to jump on his bandwagon, Bruce Exploitation Movies comes to mind! same can be said for Jackie Chan, once Drunken Master and Snake in The Eagle's Shadow landed every studio wanted a Jackie Chan, hence, 1978, the year they landed, after that everyone was trying to equal or better those money makers!

Bless

[ukrevrend]

On 6/7/2020 at 1:33 AM, Duel to the Death said:

Sleeping Fist and Thundering Mantis Sleeping Fist is the worst of the 2. It's just an alternate take on the Drunken Style but not as good. And that kid is so annoying. I wonder why when they double Yuen Siu-tien they choose someone who's skinnier than him, and 10 times faster. 

Thundering Mantis is a little better. I like the bad guy even though his dubbed voice is so ridiculous lol. But return of the annoying kid. Both have comedy that isn't the best.  The end fight scene is real good and entertaining but ridiculous at the same time. 

I'm a fan of Leung Kar-yan but he's done better movies. He's great in Knockabout and The Victim and good in Legend of a Fighter. Not sure what else he's in i need to see. I do have Dreadnaught in my watch list. 

Sleeping Fist w/s Eng Dub 1979

Starring: Beardy, Yuen Siu Tien, Eddie Ko & Huang I-Lung (The Kid)

First saw this on the big screen back in 1980 (Late Night, London) when I was just a teenager and it blew me away, Classic 'Shapes Fu'! And when Beardy did that Yawn, the cinema erupted!  Gave it another go after reading @Duel to the Death comments above. I haven't changed my mind, this is a Classic Shapes Fu that, for me, hasn't lost it's impact. Beardy & The Kid throwing Mantis Fist every 10 mins and Eddy Ko at his menacing best, I think it's Eagle Claw he's using, as his preferred weapon! Forget the story, this about the Shapes Fu

 I  understanding your reasoning, @Duel to the Death,  this is a take on the Drunken Style, like many others at that time, but I think this one does it extremely well.  Saw this way before I saw the re-teaming  of Beardy, The Kid & Eddy Ko in Thundering Mantis and yes The Kid becomes annoying.

4/5

Bless