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

[ShawAngela]

I discovered a GEM this evening !!

While looking for something in my many boxes, I came across a double feature dvd with the second movie being Snake shadow rivals aka Fierce among strong.

On the cover, I recognized Kang Kai, who is also one of my favorite actors, so, I put it right away in the computer.

What A SUPERB NON STOP ACTION MOVIE !! The last 18 mn show a non stop fight involving Li Yi Min (who really looks like a child here ! I wonder how old he was when he played in it, since there is no birth date mentioned on hkmdb...), Lung Fei and Kang Kai.

Lots of legs techniques here.

Highly recommended,

[ShawAngela]

Well, I just took a look at hongkongcinemagic site, and it says that Li Yi Min was born in 1953.

As he was action director for the movie The patriotic heroine in 1971 and he played in his first movie in 1969, it means that he began his directorial career at age 18 and his actor career at 16 ! No wonder that he looks so young in the above mentioned movie ; in 1975, he was only 22 !!

And I just found that he is the son and nephew respectively of the actors Li Tong Chun and Li Wan Chun. No wonder he fell in the movie industry so young !!

Edited July 9, 2020 by ShawAngela

[tdb]

Watched Matching Escort staring/directed by Pearl Cheung Ling.  I'm not sure if it qualifies as "good", we're talking B-movie here, but it was definitely fun.  As a fantasy wuxia the fights for the most part were decent with some nice kills.  She directed three other movies, Dark Lady of Kung Fu (1981), Wolf Devil Woman (1982), General Invincible (1983) that are all supposed to be worth a look. 

[JackieRome]

Hapkido: Not bad for being a film from 72, with all the limitations of older films. Choreography that I call "woody" with those shots accompanied by that sound that seems like a wood, kicks (many kicks) many do not even touch the target, they persisted in kicking internally and not outward and did not seem beautiful kicks . When Hwang In Shik  arrives in shik the music changes. So many fights, maybe too many. Released the same year as Fist of Fury it also shares the similar storyline. The villain boss makes me laugh out loud as far as he is caricatured. A fun and /interesting film especially for all the faces that will become famous afterwards: including Jackie. Vote: 7.5/10 

Edited July 10, 2020 by JackieRome

[Drunken Monk]

Continued a bit of a Don Wong Tao journey this morning with Death Duel of Kung Fu (1979). How in gods name have I missed this one up until now!? I've had it on VHS for over twenty years and yet I've never gotten around to watching it.
For me, this is a quintessential classics along with the likes of The Secret Rivals and Invincible Armour. I loved this one from start to finish. Sure, it's let down by some very obvious undercranking at times but I can forgive that since the rest of the movie is so good. Shit, this is easily one of John Liu's best. He's got his one leg turned up to eleven here. Great stuff.

The plot doesn't really matter all that much as it's pretty much wall to wall fights. But it does try to do something with it's story, giving us a shady, masked villain, murdered generals and the like. I kind of appreciate it because it's not too big for it's britches. Nor is it complete nonsense. It houses the action well.

For those boob lovers among us, there's a cracking pair of babylons early on. You know, the type you write poems about.

A shout out to Chung Fat and King Lee King-Chu as the amazing guandao swinging bad guys. They may be secondary characters but they do some amazing stuff in this film before getting dispatched.

This one gets a new spot on my top 50 martial arts movies of all time list. Loved it.

[Duel to the Death]

Showdown at the Cotton Mill What a wonderful movie. One of the best. I just watched it for the second time, but it was such a long time ago since i had seen it, i forgot it all so it was like i was seeing it for the first time. The story is great, the fighting is great. It's as good as any Golden Harvest or Shaw Brothers movie around that time. 

But the version i rented a long time ago and the ones on youtube have hard to read burned in subtitles, major print damage and missing lots of frames.  Does a better version exist? This movie needs a remaster badly. 

Unless i'm mistaken, i don't remember seeing a Cotton Mill anywhere in this movie. Maybe i missed it somewhere? 

 

[Killer Meteor]

The opening fight is at the cotton mill, but the bad print possibly splices out the establishing shot.

[ShawAngela]

Sultan Mahmud Magkat Di Julang : Malay Cathay movie.

As usual in these Malay movies (either Cathay or Shaws), it's a mix of action, intrigues and songs and it works well.

[CT KID]

On 7/10/2020 at 9:46 PM, Duel to the Death said:

Showdown at the Cotton Mill What a wonderful movie. One of the best. I just watched it for the second time, but it was such a long time ago since i had seen it, i forgot it all so it was like i was seeing it for the first time. The story is great, the fighting is great. It's as good as any Golden Harvest or Shaw Brothers movie around that time. 

But the version i rented a long time ago and the ones on youtube have hard to read burned in subtitles, major print damage and missing lots of frames.  Does a better version exist? This movie needs a remaster badly. 

Unless i'm mistaken, i don't remember seeing a Cotton Mill anywhere in this movie. Maybe i missed it somewhere? 

 

This is my favorite performance from Tan Tao Liang and Chi Kuan Chun, a great movie. The end fight is a great contrast of styles. The Rarescope version is the best print that exists sadly and it needs to be resubbed because the original burnt in subs are pretty much unreadable.

[massa_yoda]

Dragon Inn (1967) - 

I’ve been watching a lot of Shaw films from around this same time, like The Assassin, The Magnificent Trio, Sword of Swords and The Invincible Fist, but King Hu’s Dragon Inn has such a different feel from the other films released at this time.  Stunning photography full of unique locations, such as a rocky landscape for the Inn and the gorgeous mountain side finale.  It’s been a few years since I’ve seen The Fate of Lee Khan, but this one has the same structure IIRC. The first hour is setting up all the friends and foes, while the second hour leads to various showdowns that move beyond the Inn.  I’ll have to watch Fate and Come Drink with Me again to determine my favorite of the King Hu Inn trilogy.  I’m honestly not sure which one I would pick right now...

[ShawAngela]

39 minutes ago, massa_yoda said:

my favorite of the King Hu Inn trilogy.

If you have the luck to get the move Four moods, you'll see a section in it called Anger, which is also settled in an inn, so, one could talk about King Hu's quadrilogy.

It's also available now with English subtitles, as part of a King Hu's boxset (Dragon inn + A touch of zen + Legend of the Mountain + Anger), or as an individual movie.

https://goods.ruten.com.tw/item/show?21805662814452

http://www.dvdstore.com.tw/List-Detail-322404.html

[Duel to the Death]

Snake in the Monkey's Shadow It's a fun little movie. Not the best and it's a little cheesy. But i always liked it. I know it's infamous for the animal cruelty scene. I sure hope that snake was devenomized. Poor monkey. 

But the fighting is good. Snake style vs Monkey style with a little bit of Drunken style thrown in.

And this dude sure looks like he knows how to have a good time and party.

[Drunken Monk]

This morning I watched Blood Child aka Five Fingers of Steel (1982) and holy shit, I wasn't expecting something this good! The plot is muddled: stolen gold, kidnap, rape, a deformed baby, baby murder... It's a little all over the place.

But don't let that put you off. The fights are PHENOMENAL. It has just the right speed of undercranking and features Yen Shi Kwan, Yuen Miu, Kwan Yung-Moon and Hwang Jang Lee. The choreography (by Hwang Jang Lee and Yuen Miu) is beautiful. Shapes, crazy kicks and weapons. It's all here.

If you haven't see it and just want to see some top tier fights, I highly recommend this one. Awesome stuff.

[Drunken Monk]

I managed to get through 45 minutes of Bolo (1979) before turning it off. Pointless, interminable garbage.It's obvious the dub team haven't even tried to make sense of what's going on on screen as they just babble their way through each scene. None of it makes sense. This is up there with the worst I've ever seen.
The fights are no better. All played for comedy. All shitty. I just don't know what purpose this film serves. I'll say that maybe a few comedic scenes are a smidgen clever but, all in all, this was painful to sit through.

If there's an amazing final fight, I'll never get to see it. There's no way I'm pressing play on this one again.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

37 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

I managed to get through 45 minutes of Bolo (1979) before turning it off. Pointless, interminable garbage.It's obvious the dub team haven't even tried to make sense of what's going on on screen as they just babble their way through each scene. None of it makes sense. This is up there with the worst I've ever seen.
The fights are no better. All played for comedy. All shitty. I just don't know what purpose this film serves. I'll say that maybe a few comedic scenes are a smidgen clever but, all in all, this was painful to sit through.

If there's an amazing final fight, I'll never get to see it. There's no way I'm pressing play on this one again.

It's weird.... of the two directorial efforts from him, "Writing Kung Fu" actually has some interesting ideas, cool touches, novel locations, choice of shots etc. while "Bolo" is just a pointless pile of dook.

[Duel to the Death]

1 hour ago, Drunken Monk said:

I managed to get through 45 minutes of Bolo (1979) before turning it off. Pointless, interminable garbage.It's obvious the dub team haven't even tried to make sense of what's going on on screen as they just babble their way through each scene. None of it makes sense. This is up there with the worst I've ever seen.
The fights are no better. All played for comedy. All shitty. I just don't know what purpose this film serves. I'll say that maybe a few comedic scenes are a smidgen clever but, all in all, this was painful to sit through.

If there's an amazing final fight, I'll never get to see it. There's no way I'm pressing play on this one again.

I guess i'm a weirdo since i like the movie. I know it's ridiculous. lol

[Drunken Monk]

56 minutes ago, Duel to the Death said:

I guess i'm a weirdo since i like the movie. I know it's ridiculous. lol

I’m all for anyone that can get pleasure from the strange and unusual. Everything can’t be for everyone.

I simply cannot enjoy John Waters’ movies but he has a huge cult following. Good for those people.

[Duel to the Death]

1 minute ago, Drunken Monk said:

I’m all for anyone that can get pleasure from the strange and unusual. Everything can’t be for everyone.

I simply cannot enjoy John Waters’ movies but he has a huge cult following. Good for those people.

Ha ya, i'm not sure i want to even try to get into his movies. He creeps me out just looking at him. lol

[Killer Meteor]

Well, now you don't get any candy!

[Drunken Monk]

Despite being stacked to the gills with a quality cast, 1978's The Legendary Strike failed to entertain. The plot is painfully simple. Everyone's trying to find a particularly special pear and it just may be inside a corpse. That's all you need to know.
Angela Mao, Casanove Wong, Carter Wong, Chan Sing, Paul Chu... Like I said, great cast. And the action is quality. Really, really good stuff. The problem is that there's very little action to enjoy. Brief skirmishes here and there but nothing to write home about. Most of it's saved for the finale which is fine. It's fun but nothing landmark.

Not the worst kung fu film you'll see but certainly not one I'll remember fondly. 

[DrNgor]

4 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

Not the worst kung fu film you'll see but certainly not one I'll remember fondly. 

Most reviews focus on Casanova Wong's kicking and Angela Mao's infamous wink.

[Drunken Monk]

14 minutes ago, DrNgor said:

Most reviews focus on Casanova Wong's kicking and Angela Mao's infamous wink.

Casanova Wong is certainly a highlight.

[ShawAngela]

3 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

Despite being stacked to the gills with a quality cast, 1978's The Legendary Strike failed to entertain. The plot is painfully simple. Everyone's trying to find a particularly special pear and it just may be inside a corpse. That's all you need to know.
Angela Mao, Casanove Wong, Carter Wong, Chan Sing, Paul Chu... Like I said, great cast. And the action is quality. Really, really good stuff. The problem is that there's very little action to enjoy. Brief skirmishes here and there but nothing to write home about. Most of it's saved for the finale which is fine. It's fun but nothing landmark.

Not the worst kung fu film you'll see but certainly not one I'll remember fondly. 

I loved it ! I first got it on French language VHS, then on French language dvd and recently, thanks to @NoKUNGFUforYU, I got the original Mandarin language with English subtitles and each time I watch it, I enjoy it a lot. I love everything : the music, the song at the end (which wasn't in my French language releases), the plot, the fights and of course, Angela Mao !!

[Duel to the Death]

Shaolin King Boxer aka Iron Fists Is an excellent movie. This is my second time seeing it. Story is intriguing, fighting is excellent, and has some great talent. Stars Lau Kar-Wing as the main villain. He may be my all time favorite villain. Top 3 for sure. Also stars Beardy as a villain. And we have 2 heroes the great Chen Kuan-Tai and Mang Fei who plays a shady hero. 

I could be way off on this. But if i didn't know any better i'd swear Mang Fei's character was written for Yuen Baio. It reminds me of a character i seen him play before. Cocky kid with a fan. But then again Mang Fei has also played cocky characters. This movie came out the same year as Knockabout which stars 2 people from this movie. So it's not that much of stretch that he could of been in it. 

The version i have is dubbed and it's full screen. But i don't think a better version exists, or does it? Let me know. As far as dubs go, this one is one of the better ones. There were a couple annoying voices like the waiter and the eye patch guy, but for the most part. pretty good. I'd put this movie in my list of top 5 movies that need to be remastered. 

Edited July 15, 2020 by Duel to the Death

[Drunken Monk]

After @Duel to the Death's glowing review of Shaolin King Boxer, I decided to give it a watch this morning. Since Shaolin isn't mentioned in this once, they should have cashed in on Jimmy Wang Yu's early gimmick and called it One Thumbed Boxer. Makes more sense.

As for the film, it's good. I wouldn't call it great but it's a nice little watch. With Beardy, Chen Kuan Tai, Lau Kar Wing and Mang Fei involved, you know you're going to get some good fights. Though the choreography does feel a little more 77/78-ish than 1979. The complexity is here but it's a bit slow. It's hard to believe this was actually made the same year as Knockabout and other classics.

The plot is simple. It's a revenge flick at it's core with some gold thievery thrown in for good measure. But there are enough fight scenes to keep it exciting and a surprising  number of weapons duels. Lau Kar Wing's preferred weapon is the double swords which I've always found pretty clunky on screen. Few people can wield two swords with finesse. It looks fine here but, again, nothing mind blowing.

A fun movie. Above average. But not a certified classic in my eyes.