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

[Duel to the Death]

58 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

Snake in the Monkey’s Shadow (1979) - I’m just going to come out and say it: this is NOT a good movie. Not even remotely. Even if I forgive it for it’s typical plot (as I do many kung fu films), the fight scenes are so fucking boring. The fight choreography feels clunky and simple. Even slow at times. More like a 1976 film than a 1979 film.

I have no idea why this film is so universally loved. Movies like Crystal Fist, Daggers 8 and Seven Steps of Kung Fu crap all over Snake in the Monkey’s Shadow.

This is a two star movie and not the 4 or 5 star classic some people claim it is. In my opinion, of course.

I need to see that movie again to remember it better. Is this movie with the monkey getting bit by the cobra? If it is, that's the only part i remember. A terrible movie that i like is Monkey Kung Fu,. 

[Drunken Monk]

1 hour ago, Duel to the Death said:

A terrible movie that i like is Monkey Kung Fu,. 

The Shaw Brothers movie? That’s a masterpiece compared to Snake in the Monkey’s Shadow.

[Duel to the Death]

1 hour ago, Drunken Monk said:

The Shaw Brothers movie? That’s a masterpiece compared to Snake in the Monkey’s Shadow.

Oh no, not close to that caliber. This schlock here. The version i watched was dubbed. 

 

 

[paimeifist]

2 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

The Shaw Brothers movie? That’s a masterpiece compared to Snake in the Monkey’s Shadow.

Funny, I rate both of those movies about the same. The Shaw brothers movie of course has higher production value, but that’s about it.

[ShawAngela]

Yesterday, I watched :

Hitman in the hand of Buddha : I got it from @TheKungFuRobber and the subtitles helped to better understand the movie, that I had only watched in German from a German boxset with a lot of Hwang Jang Lee's movies in it.

Sword of justice : A movie in the same vein as Take the rap, Denouement of Chu Liu Xiang, Flying Sword Lee, with several Taiwanese actors I already saw in some Taiwanese series (for instance Ching Pang, who also played in the 1985 Chu Liu Xiang series with Adam Cheng and Michelle Yim), the same kind of music, and even the same scenery with a bridge, a "dying" sun and a lot of trees with Autumn leaves, and some duels, in particular on a bridge, also reminded me of Ti Lung's ones in Magic Blade (if I'm not mistaken), with the sentence "Lung San Lang is really Lung San Lang" similar to "Fu Hung Xue really is Fu Hung Xue". The English and Chinese subtitles were covered with Korean subtitles, which didn't help from time to time, and of course it occurred when a useful explanation was given !

[sym8]

2 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

A Fistful of Talons and Kung Fu Zombie.

Fistful of talons is a must but Kung fu zombie is not so good,from what I can remember the undercranking is way over the top

[Drunken Monk]

A Fistful of Talons (1983) - This film is so well made. It's beautifully shot with genuinely interesting camera work and some of the sets are lavish and impressive. It really feels different. Sadly, it's not a very good kung fu movie.
Billy Chong's martial arts talents are horribly underused as there's on a small smattering of fights found throughout (until the finale). They feel more like scuffles than flat out kung fu fights too. There's not an awful lot to be impressed by.

About an hour and ten minutes in, things start to heat up. The action is quite brutal and scrappy rather than focused on complex exchanges. But I'm not complaining as it's genuinely fun to watch Hwang In Shik lay the smack down.

Then there's the infamous eagle scene. It really is atrocious that it's included in the movie. It might be as bad as, say, Cannibal Ferox but it's still very shocking and understandably upsetting.

A fine movie. Not terrible but certainly not great.

[ShaOW!linDude]

2 hours ago, sym8 said:

Fistful of talons is a must but Kung fu zombie is not so good,from what I can remember the undercranking is way over the top

Yeah, I found Kung Fu Zombie to be a major letdown after having seen Fistful of Talons. But if someone is into something along the lines of the Yuen clan's Taoist Drunkard films, they would probably dig it. It's pretty wacko.

[Drunken Monk]

1 minute ago, ShaOW!linDude said:

But if someone is into something along the lines of the Yuen clan's Taoist Drunkard films, they would probably dig it. It's pretty wacko.

I love Taoist Drunkard! Now I have to give it a go.

[ShaOW!linDude]

I've finally been able to run down a couple of the films Carl Scott was in, specifically Soul Brothers of Kung Fu (1977) with Bruce Li and Sun Dragon (1979) with Billy Chong.

SBoKF is a good Bruce Li vehicle. Not a lot of Scott in there, and usually he's getting his butt kicked, though he has some moments.

Sun Dragon is a strange but good film. It's like it's supposed to be a Western, but then it's not. I'm mean, everyone rides horses, but the clothes are either Old West or 70's style. There are Western styled houses and towns, but power lines and electric lamps, and in one scene what appears to be a power plant. Weird. I would buy a turn of the century setting if not for the tank tops, medallions, and designer blue jeans some actors wore.

Billy Chong's fights are solid and well worth seeing. Scott is really good here and displays some very nice Leopard style. This will definitely be one to revisit. 

[ukrevrend]

12 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

I love Taoist Drunkard! Now I have to give it a go.

Don't do it!      Trust me, it's not worth wasting a hour & half of your life!   The undercranking makes it unwatchable. 

Bless

[Graeme Of Death]

Watched When Taekwando Strikes the other night, first kung fu film I've watched in about a month. It was ok, loads of familiar faces and Sammo was good with his long hair as the villain. Was kinda getting distracted with my phone so I might watch it again at the weekend.

 

[DrNgor]

A Touch of Zen (1971) - My thoughts on this are the same as they were 15 years ago: the first 150 minutes are the among the best filmmaking of all time. The last 30 minutes are a bit of a misstep, as I suspect that much of what the director *wanted* to say is contained within these final scenes, but the decision to do so (and thus resolve the external conflict) through a set of newly-introduced villains and a group of supporting characters feels like bad storytelling. It's even more baffling that King Hu would allow this happen, especially given that the film's Chinese title is 'Chivalrous Lady', or 'Heroine'.

[Drunken Monk]

I decided to just randomly pick a film I hadn't seen today. I took a brief look at the cast and went for Two Wondrous Tigers (1979). I don't know how everyone else feels about this film but I really, really enjoyed it.
It's your standard kung fu comedy but it's paced very well, giving the audience little humorous moments followed by fight scenes. I'll be honest, the first fight scene between John Cheung and Phillip Ko felt "off" to me. Like it wasn't rhythmic enough. I think the sound on the Prime Video version is off my a quarter of a second. Nevertheless, the rest of the movie's fights are fantastic, iffy sound or no iffy sound.

If I want to delve into Sharon Yeung Pan Pan's best work, where do I start? She's phenomenal in this film, from empty handed stuff to spear work. She blew me away.

This movie does have the classic trope of the main bad guy appearing for five minutes at the start and then not popping up again until way, way later in the movie. But I kind of like that.
The last half an hour is pure fighting. Tiger Yang's in this one, Wilson Tong appears... There's loads of talent on board. The choreography is amazing too. While I didn't love Snake in the Monkey's Shadow, John Cheung shines here. But it's Sharon Yeung Pan Pan that steals the show.

One of the best kung fu films I've seen recently.

[DrNgor]

53 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

If I want to delve into Sharon Yeung Pan Pan's best work, where do I start? She's phenomenal in this film, from empty handed stuff to spear work. She blew me away.

 

Try A Kung Fu Master Called Drunk Cat and Angel Enforcers.

[ShawAngela]

1 hour ago, Drunken Monk said:

I decided to just randomly pick a film I hadn't seen today. I took a brief look at the cast and went for Two Wondrous Tigers (1979). I don't know how everyone else feels about this film but I really, really enjoyed it.
It's your standard kung fu comedy but it's paced very well, giving the audience little humorous moments followed by fight scenes. I'll be honest, the first fight scene between John Cheung and Phillip Ko felt "off" to me. Like it wasn't rhythmic enough. I think the sound on the Prime Video version is off my a quarter of a second. Nevertheless, the rest of the movie's fights are fantastic, iffy sound or no iffy sound.

If I want to delve into Sharon Yeung Pan Pan's best work, where do I start? She's phenomenal in this film, from empty handed stuff to spear work. She blew me away.

This movie does have the classic trope of the main bad guy appearing for five minutes at the start and then not popping up again until way, way later in the movie. But I kind of like that.
The last half an hour is pure fighting. Tiger Yang's in this one, Wilson Tong appears... There's loads of talent on board. The choreography is amazing too. While I didn't love Snake in the Monkey's Shadow, John Cheung shines here. But it's Sharon Yeung Pan Pan that steals the show.

One of the best kung fu films I've seen recently.

I enjoyed this one as much as you when I watched it a few weeks ago. Ko Fei and John Chang paired very well in this movie.

And Yang Pan Pan is one of my favorite actresses too. I haven't this movie, but I saw that she also appears in Duel of the seven tigers.

To watch more of her skills, you should try to get hold of her TV series, in which she is great.

[ukrevrend]

1 hour ago, Drunken Monk said:

 

If I want to delve into Sharon Yeung Pan Pan's best work, where do I start? She's phenomenal in this film, from empty handed stuff to spear work. She blew me away.

 

Kid From Kwantung & Duel of the 7 Tigers

Bless

[Drunken Monk]

As per the good doctor's orders ( @DrNgor that is), I decided to give Kung Fu Master Named Drunk Cat (1978) a watch this morning. I'll admit, I watched the trailer for this one and didn't feel like I'd enjoy it. Just didn't seem like my cup of tea. I'm glad to report I was wrong.
While it does feature some "out there" comedy, it's mostly very enjoyable despite being silly. This film just has a good spirit to it. Even a fight between John Cheung and a dwarf (can I say dwarf? Or is it little person?) is really fun...and actual features some pretty great choreography!

It doesn't contain the most fights you'll ever see on screen but there are plenty to sink your teeth into. One thing I absolutely LOVED about this film is that it gave me Yuen Siu Tien with NO STUNT DOUBLE. That's a rarity right there. And he has two fight scenes here.
Sharon Yueng Pan Pan is fine here. I feel like she doesn't really get a chance to shine but when she's given an action scenes, it's always good. John Cheung's great but why they made him an acrobat so he has to be doubled half the time, I don't know.

If you like the idea of a bad guy with a giant cyst on his neck that turns out to be fake and filled with diamonds, you'll like this one.

[ShaOW!linDude]

2 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

As per the good doctor's orders ( @DrNgor that is), I decided to give Kung Fu Master Named Drunk Cat (1978) a watch this morning. 

If you like the idea of a bad guy with a giant cyst on his neck that turns out to be fake and filled with diamonds, you'll like this one.

Well, great. I just threw up in my mouth a little.

[Drunken Monk]

24 minutes ago, ShaOW!linDude said:

Well, great. I just threw up in my mouth a little.

Until it turns out to be fake it’s actually super gross. Way worse than hairy moles and the like.

[Drunken Monk]

This afternoon I watched Shaolin Devil, Shaolin Angel (1978) (also known as Kung Fu of Dammoh Styles and Mask of Death). I'm going to be honest with you, this is not a good movie to have on while you're trying to work. I took three calls in a row and I was completely lost when I returned to the film. It started with a villain going around murdering various families, then some brothel stuff, Don Wong Tao wanders into town... The rest is a bit fuzzy. I'm not saying it's convoluted. It just warrants attention. At it's heart, it's pretty much your standard revenge flick. Then there's a side story involving Stephen Tung Wai learning Shaolin kung fu.

Let me tell you, this film is great. I randomly picked it by typing "Shaolin" into Prime Video's search and I'm happy I stumbled across it. It has absolutely zero comedy in it but some of it is unintentionally funny. Like two bad guys (one's a woman) fighting with stars you'd put on top of your Christmas tree. Chan Sing's special kind of kung fu is nuts too. As is a particularly smooth-as-hell monk.

As for the fights, I cannot believe that Stephen Tung Wai was 24 years old and choreographing stuff like this. I'm 38 and can barely choreograph my pee to go in the toilet. Is there anyone that was directing action at a younger age than him? I'm sure Jackie was pretty young too,
Anyway, the fights are amazing: a lovely mix of swordplay and old school shapes. In my eyes, this is the best Don Wong Tao has ever looked, but then I haven't seen a huge amount of stuff with him in.

This one sags ever so slightly in the middle but I'd definitely say it's an underappreciated gem. Especially when it comes to fight scenes. Seek it out if you haven't already!
 

[ShawAngela]

19 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

I'm 38 and can barely choreograph my pee to go in the toilet.

 

19 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

As for the fights, I cannot believe that Stephen Tung Wai was 24 years old and choreographing stuff like this.

Yu Tien Lung choreographed his first movie at age 19. Take a look at his filmography on hkmdb.

He was born in 1949 and he was action director on the movie King's sword (which must be a very good movie just by looking at the poster !) in 1968.

[ShawAngela]

Yesterday and today, I watched :

Secret of chinese kung fu : I wonder why this English title, since there isn't any secret kung fu in this movie...In addition to that, Lo Lieh is billed ad the lead, and that's true that the story is focused on his bad deeds, but he has only one fight scene !!

Swordsman adventure : I still enjoy Adam Cheng's movies after two or three viewings...

The great general : An historical movie with Meng Fei. I was angry because of his sad fate...

Mandarin magician : Great movie ! The more I watch Larry Lee in a movie, the more I think that he could have been another great Bruce Lee's "replacement" in movies. When one see him posing "en garde", it's obvious that he had a martial arts background and he even has some postures "à la Bruce Lee". That's too bad that he played in so few movies...Or course, my dvd stopped right a few seconds before the end, so, I don't know if he is still alive or not at the end of the story...Does anyone can tell me ?

I got it as part of a Martial Arts Essential boxset, and I also had the same problem with Gambling Ghost !! No ending !! I'll have to try both of them in another player and see if it's my computer that is capricious with a certain kind of dvds...

Edited July 2, 2020 by ShawAngela

[massa_yoda]

46 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

 I'm 38 and can barely choreograph my pee to go in the toilet.

Many have trained, few have mastered.  The 38th Chamber Pot of Shaolin?  

[Drunken Monk]

28 minutes ago, ShawAngela said:

Yu Tien Lung choreographed his first movie at age 19. Take a look at his filmography on hkmdb.

He was born in 1949 and he was action director on the movie King's sword (which must be a very good movie just by looking at the poster !) in 1968.

It turns out Jackie was 19 years old too. He directed the action in the 1973 movies, Police Woman and The Cub Tiger from Kwangtung. Neither of which are any good but hey, it’s an official credit on Jackie’s filmography.

To add to the madness, Lau Kar Leung was 17 years old when he directed the action in Crossing Yuanyang River at Night.