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

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

I think LKL was actually only 16, Sammo was 17 on Golden Sword.

[Drunken Monk]

13 hours ago, TibetanWhiteCrane said:

I think LKL was actually only 16, Sammo was 17 on Golden Sword.

That’s incredible.

[ShawAngela]

Golden gun : nice spy movie, but I never saw a golden gun, but I enjoyed the James Bond's music !!

[ShawAngela]

Chiu Chow Kung Fu : I was convinced that I had already watched this movie, but I realized that I mistook it with the movie On the waterfront.

This is a GREAT non stop action movie, in which the actress Kuo Xiao Chuang (from the movies Tiger Tiger Tiger and Chow Ken) shines and takes on a whole Japanese and Chinese traitors bunch almost all alone ! Another of my favorite actors, Kang Kai, also plays in it, but doesn't have enough fighting scenes, in my opinion...

[JackieRome]

The Invincible Armour : A very funny movie. Even if the means available were few, Yuen Woo Ping does an excellent job in the choreography and the quality can be seen. Corey Yuen, Yuen Biao and Yuen Shun Yi, practically can and reappear in each scene. There is no stupid comedy, because it was the year before the big change, so it's nice for that too. Music stolen from The Days of Anger by Tonino Valeri (great movie). Vote: 7.5/10

[ShawAngela]

Lady flying dragon : A spy movie with Connie Chan, Wu Fung, Ng Kwan Lai and the eternal bad guy Shih Kien.

A little bit confusing : it seems that it has been downloaded in several parts, and that the guy who mad the disc didn't assemble the different parts in the right order at certain moments...

[ShawAngela]

I got a King Hu's  boxset from the Taiwanese films Institute (or something like that).

I watched Anger, the second part of the movie Four moods (from what I understood, due to copyrights issues, it was the only part that they could restore and release.

Nice "inn movie", with Hu Chin, Chen Hui Lou, Sit Hon and Cao Qian.

[Drunken Monk]

I could only squeeze in one kung fu film today and so I watched 1978's Revenge of the Shaolin Kid. The plot starts off simple: Chi Kuan Chun aims to take revenge on the killers of his mother and father. Partway through the movie, we're told he's betrothed to the daughter of so and so. That so and so just happens to be the dastardly Lo Lieh. It all gets a bit screwy and all over the place once towards the end. Chan Sing pops up as a doctor, Chiang Tao seems to have a big role and then...um...doesn't.

Beyond the plot though, the fights are really good in this one. Far better than I thought they would be when I first started watching. I've always been a fan of Chi Kuan Chun but his films seem to miss more than they hit. His non-Shaw Brothers stuff anyway. Here he looks great and there are plenty of scuffles along the path to end final showdown with Lo Lieh.
I thought the final fight was a bit underwhelming but everything else is solid. It won't get legendary status in anyone's mind, I'm sure, but it's a nice little kung fu flick regardless. Better than some, worse than others.
 

[DrNgor]

10 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

I've always been a fan of Chi Kuan Chun but his films seem to miss more than they hit. His non-Shaw Brothers stuff anyway. Here he looks great and there are plenty of scuffles along the path to end final showdown with Lo Lieh.

I'm not a huge fan of Chi Kuan-Chun, but his films usually promise some 5 Animals techniques, including the underused panther style, so I always appreciate that.

[Duel to the Death]

The Invincible Armour is a mixed bag. It's my second time seeing it. The fight scenes are good but some of the acting is terrible. It would probably be better if i could hear it in it's original language, the version i have is dubbed. The dub is just awful. A bad dub can make a good movie hard to watch. 

One of terrible parts is right at the beginning when our main character has been falsely accused of murder. Then the group escorting him runs into another group of people who somehow already knows about the murder that just happened seconds before. And they were coming from a different direction. How on earth did news spread that fast? lol

Hwang Jung-Lee is great as always. I would of never recognized him without seeing the cast list. Yuen Biao is in it but such a small part. What a waste of great talent. He should of been the lead character instead.

Overall it's a mediocre movie but has some good parts and good fighting. 

[ShawAngela]

The best secret agent with Pai Hung and O Chun Hung. Wang Hsieh, Wei Ping Ao, Li Ming Lan, Miao Tian and Got Siu Bo are also mentioned in the cast, but I never saw them ; surely, I didn't recognize them since it's an early movie.

O Yau Man is also in it at the beginning.

It's a solid spy movie.

Sorry, I just realized that I should have posted this in the new thread on non martial arts Asian movies.Can a Moderator move it, please ? Thanks.

[Duel to the Death]

5 hours ago, Duel to the Death said:

The Invincible Armour is a mixed bag. It's my second time seeing it. The fight scenes are good but some of the acting is terrible. It would probably be better if i could hear it in it's original language, the version i have is dubbed. The dub is just awful. A bad dub can make a good movie hard to watch. 

One of terrible parts is right at the beginning when our main character has been falsely accused of murder. Then the group escorting him runs into another group of people who somehow already knows about the murder that just happened seconds before. And they were coming from a different direction. How on earth did news spread that fast? lol

Hwang Jung-Lee is great as always. I would of never recognized him without seeing the cast list. Yuen Biao is in it but such a small part. What a waste of great talent. He should of been the lead character instead.

Overall it's a mediocre movie but has some good parts and good fighting. 

Did i mention Invincible Armour stars Bill Hader? I swear i'm not lying.

 

[paimeifist]

13 hours ago, Duel to the Death said:

The Invincible Armour is a mixed bag. It's my second time seeing it. The fight scenes are good but some of the acting is terrible. It would probably be better if i could hear it in it's original language, the version i have is dubbed. The dub is just awful. A bad dub can make a good movie hard to watch. 

One of terrible parts is right at the beginning when our main character has been falsely accused of murder. Then the group escorting him runs into another group of people who somehow already knows about the murder that just happened seconds before. And they were coming from a different direction. How on earth did news spread that fast? lol

Hwang Jung-Lee is great as always. I would of never recognized him without seeing the cast list. Yuen Biao is in it but such a small part. What a waste of great talent. He should of been the lead character instead.

Overall it's a mediocre movie but has some good parts and good fighting. 

Anything starring John Liu, by nature, can not surpass mediocre, even when featuring other great performers.

John Liu = wooden acting, repetitive fighting, mostly with one leg, and... I just don’t like him. 
 

If a movie featuring John Liu is decent, it’s because of Wong Tao or Legendary Superkicker Hwang Jang Lee. (Did I do that right, @DrNgor?)

[DrNgor]

53 minutes ago, paimeifist said:

Legendary Superkicker Hwang Jang Lee. (Did I do that right, @DrNgor?)

Yes, my Padowan.

That said, Invincible Armour is an all-time old school classic in my eyes. I'd probably put it in the Top 50 MA films of all time.

Edited July 8, 2020 by DrNgor

[Drunken Monk]

I've been semi-lucky in my recent foray into lesser known old school gems. Well, today my luck ran out. I decided to watch 1978's Game of Killers and it now easily sits in my top five worst kung fu movies of all time list.
I'll say one thing: the fights aren't bad. In fact, they're pretty good. A bit of undercranking here and there but nothing egregious. When the action rolled around I was pretty happy.

However, EVERYTHING else about this film is pure garbage. From the mind meltingly annoying characters to the interminable music (Pink Panther theme included) to the grating comedy. There is nothing to like about this movie. It's a fucking nightmare from start to finish. This is one of those kung fu movies the fights simply cannot save. Not even close. 

I need something good to watch after this one. I have my fingers crossed my next cinematic endeavor will be an enjoyable one. This one truly deserves hate.

[DrNgor]

1 hour ago, Drunken Monk said:

However, EVERYTHING else about this film is pure garbage. From the mind meltingly annoying characters to the interminable music (Pink Panther theme included) to the grating comedy. There is nothing to like about this movie. It's a fucking nightmare from start to finish. This is one of those kung fu movies the fights simply cannot save. Not even close. 

That's how I feel about Kung Fu Rebels. Yes, that's a challenge.

[Drunken Monk]

Sticking with kung fu comedy (bad idea?), I decided to give Kung Fu vs Yoga a first time watch this afternoon. Firstly, the title is pretty misleading. While there is yoga in the movie, it could just as well be titled "Kung Fu vs Transgender Prostitute" because there's plenty of that too. The yoga is reserved for the finale, really.

However, this is a pretty fun movie. The plot is simple: a dude has to complete three tasks in order to bone his wife (honestly). These three tasks basically involve three lengthy fight scenes and that is that. Simplicity at its best.
In some people's hands this film could have been horrible but the comedy is mostly fun and doesn't tend to grate all that much. I mean, who can argue with Fung Hak On as the aforementioned transgender lady of the night? It's good stuff.

The fight choreography is handled really well too. While some of the fight scenes are comical (dare I say most?), they're not annoyingly comical. They're not totally silly and there's still some sense of danger involved. Plus, we're treated to good old fashioned shapes work that looks great. I was a fan.
Weirdly, even the yoga gimmick works as Dunpar Singh's body does some CRAZY stuff. He seems to adapt to choreography really well. The final fight is gimmicky but pretty solid.

Then there's the elephant in the room. Yes, there is black face in this movie. In today's political climate this movie would be considered the work of the devil. But 1979 was a different rime and Hong Kong was a different culture. It's objectively offensive but you can roll your eyes at it and move on. At least I could.

I enjoyed this one.
 

[Drunken Monk]

At 77 minutes in length, I was able to cram in Iron Ox, the Tiger's Killer (1974) this afternoon. I was expecting absolutely nothing from this one. I didn't recognize anyone in the cast, I'd never heard of it... It could have gone either way.

Another one with a super simple plot. Wang Kuan Hsiung's master is murdered and, long story short, he goes on a vigilante rampage, beating the shit out of anyone he can. This one is frothing over with fight scenes. It feels like there is one every five minutes and they go loooooong. The last bit is meant to be somewhat of a negative as since we're dealing with mid-70's choreography, there isn't a ton of variety. With that said, at no point was I bored. The fights are ferocious even if Wang Kuan Hsiung can't kick.
The last fight is a particular joy as it switches up environment now and again and doesn't give us the same old duty plain so many of the other fights are filmed on.

The only truly negative thing about this film is that is borrows Enter the Dragon's soundtrack and even that isn't much of a crime. If you're looking for a basher style fight fest, this one will definitely satiate your hunger.

[CT KID]

On 7/7/2020 at 5:10 PM, Duel to the Death said:

The Invincible Armour is a mixed bag. It's my second time seeing it. The fight scenes are good but some of the acting is terrible. It would probably be better if i could hear it in it's original language, the version i have is dubbed. The dub is just awful. A bad dub can make a good movie hard to watch. 

One of terrible parts is right at the beginning when our main character has been falsely accused of murder. Then the group escorting him runs into another group of people who somehow already knows about the murder that just happened seconds before. And they were coming from a different direction. How on earth did news spread that fast? lol

Hwang Jung-Lee is great as always. I would of never recognized him without seeing the cast list. Yuen Biao is in it but such a small part. What a waste of great talent. He should of been the lead character instead.

Overall it's a mediocre movie but has some good parts and good fighting. 

I know alot of people don't care for John Liu but I always enjoyed his kicking displays, especially in Incredible Kung Fu Mission. There's a few where he didn't look so hot though like Mars Villa. Love Invincible Armour though, l consider it an oldschool classic.

[paimeifist]

5 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

Sticking with kung fu comedy (bad idea?), I decided to give Kung Fu vs Yoga a first time watch this afternoon. Firstly, the title is pretty misleading. While there is yoga in the movie, it could just as well be titled "Kung Fu vs Transgender Prostitute" because there's plenty of that too. The yoga is reserved for the finale, really.

However, this is a pretty fun movie. The plot is simple: a dude has to complete three tasks in order to bone his wife (honestly). These three tasks basically involve three lengthy fight scenes and that is that. Simplicity at its best.
In some people's hands this film could have been horrible but the comedy is mostly fun and doesn't tend to grate all that much. I mean, who can argue with Fung Hak On as the aforementioned transgender lady of the night? It's good stuff.

The fight choreography is handled really well too. While some of the fight scenes are comical (dare I say most?), they're not annoyingly comical. They're not totally silly and there's still some sense of danger involved. Plus, we're treated to good old fashioned shapes work that looks great. I was a fan.
Weirdly, even the yoga gimmick works as Dunpar Singh's body does some CRAZY stuff. He seems to adapt to choreography really well. The final fight is gimmicky but pretty solid.

Then there's the elephant in the room. Yes, there is black face in this movie. In today's political climate this movie would be considered the work of the devil. But 1979 was a different rime and Hong Kong was a different culture. It's objectively offensive but you can roll your eyes at it and move on. At least I could.

I enjoyed this one.
 

My main problem with this movie was that the protagonists were both very unlikeable and you basically end up rooting for the yoga guy, who was essentially being harassed And defending himself iirc, haha.

 

Overall I agree that it’s a fairly enjoyable flick though.

[ShaOW!linDude]

Last night I watched The Challenge (1982) starring Scott Glenn & Toshiro Mifune. I didn't realize until watching the credits that Steven Seagal did the MA choreography for this. (Empty hand, not swordplay.) In retrospect, I wish the action was a little MA heavier, but it's solid, and I find the story to be very good.

I have an affinity for this film because I loved it when I caught it on the big screen in high school (Please, don't do the age math. I don't. Stop it. Quit already.) 

[Killer Meteor]

12 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

At 77 minutes in length, I was able to cram in Iron Ox, the Tiger's Killer (1974) this afternoon. I was expecting absolutely nothing from this one. I didn't recognize anyone in the cast, I'd never heard of it... It could have gone either way.

Another one with a super simple plot. Wang Kuan Hsiung's master is murdered and, long story short, he goes on a vigilante rampage, beating the shit out of anyone he can. This one is frothing over with fight scenes. It feels like there is one every five minutes and they go loooooong. The last bit is meant to be somewhat of a negative as since we're dealing with mid-70's choreography, there isn't a ton of variety. With that said, at no point was I bored. The fights are ferocious even if Wang Kuan Hsiung can't kick.
The last fight is a particular joy as it switches up environment now and again and doesn't give us the same old duty plain so many of the other fights are filmed on.

The only truly negative thing about this film is that is borrows Enter the Dragon's soundtrack and even that isn't much of a crime. If you're looking for a basher style fight fest, this one will definitely satiate your hunger.

I first heard about this one in a UK annual for the Kung Fu TV series I found in a second hand bookstore.

[JackieRome]

On 7/7/2020 at 11:10 PM, Duel to the Death said:

The Invincible Armour is a mixed bag. It's my second time seeing it. The fight scenes are good but some of the acting is terrible. It would probably be better if i could hear it in it's original language, the version i have is dubbed. The dub is just awful. A bad dub can make a good movie hard to watch. 

One of terrible parts is right at the beginning when our main character has been falsely accused of murder. Then the group escorting him runs into another group of people who somehow already knows about the murder that just happened seconds before. And they were coming from a different direction. How on earth did news spread that fast? lol

Hwang Jung-Lee is great as always. I would of never recognized him without seeing the cast list. Yuen Biao is in it but such a small part. What a waste of great talent. He should of been the lead character instead.

Overall it's a mediocre movie but has some good parts and good fighting. 

too funny how they recycle Corey yuen, Yuen Biao and the other guy in all the fighting scenes even if they died first.

[Drunken Monk]

I just watched Fatal Needles vs Fatal Fists (1978) for the first time. One thing I will say about this film is it has a really good plot. Don Wong Tao accidentally murders his brother in arms (Lo Lieh) early on in the film and vows to never fight again. In the meantime, some bandits roll into town, stir shit up and Wong Tao has to decide whether to break his vow. It's very simple but it's thoroughly engaging. I really liked it. Then the titular "fatal needles" turn up and the film takes a turn. Not a bad one...just a turn.

My only true issue with this one is that it's incredibly low on fight scenes. There are fights scattered here and there but they're usually very brief. Things don't really kick off until the final ten minutes.
The action is really good though. Half basher, half shapes stuff. There just isn't enough of it. Oh and is it me or, during his brief cameo, does it feel like Lo Lieh is choreographed by someone entirely different to Don Wong Tao? Lo Lieh looks AWFUL in this movie. It's weird as hell.

Chang Yu plays the white haired villain of the piece and he's suitably evil. Sadly, he only fights once and that's in the finale: a fight that's only four minutes long!

I can't say I didn't like this movie. I did. I loved the whole "Should I or shouldn't I?" moral quandary. But if it's straight up action you're looking for, you may want to look elsewhere.

[ukrevrend]

4 hours ago, JackieRome said:

too funny how they recycle Corey yuen, Yuen Biao and the other guy in all the fighting scenes even if they died first.

Yes, that's what I thought!

Classic old school flick though!!

bless