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

[Duel to the Death]

Tiger's Claw Here is a movie that is a total Schlock Fest thanks to it's terrible dubbing, possibly the worst dubbing in the history of dubbing. Even the Kung Fu is sloppy. But the end fight is still entertaining. The choreography is not fancy. It's more like a gritty down and dirty kung fu street fight and i like it. I forgot that Mr. Han from Enter the Dragon plays Tiger. I know this movie is terrible but i still like it. The story is interesting (but basic). Kid busts a guy out of prison just to fight him to prove he is the best. That's it. There are some plot twists along the way but that's pretty much the whole plot. Simple and to the point. I also like the movie for being Schlock just like i like the movie Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. 

Something i didn't realize until today is that Sek Kin (Mr. Han) plays the Foot Monster in Buddha's Palm. That is a movie i fell in love with and talked about in this thread not long ago. Now that makes the movie even more awesome knowing that. 

So how bad is the dubbing in this movie? I put together this 47 second clip

 

 

Edited July 24, 2020 by Duel to the Death

[ShawAngela]

I rewatched Tiger's claw two or three days ago on a French language DVD release and the dubbing was a little bit better, but the original credits with some scenes from the final fight were cut. Also, it's not a movie with too much dialogues, so, whatever the dubbing is, it's not really important, here, and French dubbing aren't that good in a lot of martial arts movies...

For instance, according to the English version I had watched a few weeks ago, I was convinced that the girl was Cliff Lok's fiancée, while in the French language, he presents her as his sister, which is totally illogical since when she asks Shih Kien to loose the fight, she confesses that she loves Cliff Lok !

[Liersi]

Last night on my Tommy Lee kick it was The Eagle's Killer's turn. Terible idea. At least Goose Boxer had some well put together fights to redeem itself, but this thing is straight up garbage. Yeah, it has John Cheung and Huang Zhengli (Hwang Jang Lee), but the latter's only in it for a few minutes and the finale. It has the audacity to serve up 25 minutes of excruciatingly bad comedy right off the bat, without any action worth mentioning. Whoever's still awake by that point gets another 35 minutes worth of low effort back-and-forth between our talented errant-boy (John Cheung) and Zheng Kangye's spoiled brat of a rich man's son. It goes absolutely nowhere, and we pretty much forget Huang Zhengli is even in the movie. It isn't until 60 minutes in that Simon Yuan Xiaotian-replacement Fan Meisheng takes pity on us and starts teaching John some moves. Their relationship is the only good thing in the film, as it eschews the usual submissive teacher-pupil routine (John's looking for the "right teacher") in favour of a mutually supportive friendship that happens to include kung fu lessons. There's little passion in the specifics as John goes through routine training that makes him better in no time at all. The same lack of specifics and passion plagues the final confrontation with Huang Zhengli, who spends the second half of his one day on set looking unbeatable for John Cheung's skills. I'm convinced that Tommy Lee showed up for that one day together with Huang, while the remaining 80 minutes were filmed without them. John Cheung can't keep up with them. Huang has to hold back his terrifying speed and accuracy to leave enough room for John's angry antics. It is only by insistence from the script that the fight ends the way it does. Watching it makes no sense. Goose Boxer was awesome in comparison.

Next up in Tommy Lee world is The Green Jade Statuette. Please let that be better. It can't be worse.

[Drunken Monk]

Looking for a simple little watch, I decided to put on 7 Commandments of Kung Fu this morning. While I'd seen it before I didn't remember loving it this much! This entire movie is just one big excuse for a slew of fight scenes. There's action every ten minutes and it's of incredible quality. What's more important is that it does not go for incessant comedy. There's a bunch if diarrhea based hijinks early on but, after that, it takes a more serious tone. It's becomes a tried and true kung fu movie.

I honestly rank this one up there with some of the best late 70's shapes movies. Li Yi Min is on top form, there are ridiculous training sequences (the giant mantis figures are such a weird choice) and there's even a bit of honor from the villain at the end. Even Lung Fei, who I'm not a massive fan of, has a great fight sequence here.
If you're looking for a pure kung fu movie, you can't go wrong with this one. I might even prefer this to the likes of Drunken Master though, admittedly, I should revisit that movie before making a definitive statement.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

15 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

Looking for a simple little watch, I decided to put on 7 Commandments of Kung Fu this morning. While I'd seen it before I didn't remember loving it this much! This entire movie is just one big excuse for a slew of fight scenes. There's action every ten minutes and it's of incredible quality. What's more important is that it does not go for incessant comedy. There's a bunch if diarrhea based hijinks early on but, after that, it takes a more serious tone. It's becomes a tried and true kung fu movie.

I honestly rank this one up there with some of the best late 70's shapes movies. Li Yi Min is on top form, there are ridiculous training sequences (the giant mantis figures are such a weird choice) and there's even a bit of honor from the villain at the end. Even Lung Fei, who I'm not a massive fan of, has a great fight sequence here.
If you're looking for a pure kung fu movie, you can't go wrong with this one. I might even prefer this to the likes of Drunken Master though, admittedly, I should revisit that movie before making a definitive statement.

A pretty good one once it gets started, but yeah... inane toilet gags followed by a Kung Fu remake of Day of Anger.

[Duel to the Death]

The Fatal Flying Guillotines A fun popcorn kind of movie. I have seen 3 flying guillotine movies so far. Master of the Flying Guillotine (My favorite), The Fatal Flying Guillotines (2nd favorite) and The Flying Guillotine (My least favorite). I just didn't care for the Shaw Brothers one but i should eventually watch the sequel. The story just didn't do it for me. It's definitely a more polished movie than this one being a SB movie. But this one is more fun. I like the idea of a crazy twisted guy having the guillotines. I also like the Shaolin stuff. It's not the best made movie and sometimes the fighting is sloppy, not all the time, but it's definitely more fun. 

[Killer Meteor]

On 7/24/2020 at 5:32 AM, Duel to the Death said:

Tiger's Claw Here is a movie that is a total Schlock Fest thanks to it's terrible dubbing, possibly the worst dubbing in the history of dubbing. Even the Kung Fu is sloppy. But the end fight is still entertaining. The choreography is not fancy. It's more like a gritty down and dirty kung fu street fight and i like it. I forgot that Mr. Han from Enter the Dragon plays Tiger. I know this movie is terrible but i still like it. The story is interesting (but basic). Kid busts a guy out of prison just to fight him to prove he is the best. That's it. There are some plot twists along the way but that's pretty much the whole plot. Simple and to the point. I also like the movie for being Schlock just like i like the movie Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. 

Something i didn't realize until today is that Sek Kin (Mr. Han) plays the Foot Monster in Buddha's Palm. That is a movie i fell in love with and talked about in this thread not long ago. Now that makes the movie even more awesome knowing that. 

So how bad is the dubbing in this movie? I put together this 47 second clip

 

 

There's a few titles with these dubbers - Ma Su Chen, The Hero and even Shaw's Return of the One Armed Swordsman. They sound authentically Asian, but the English is terrible! I guess they were only used when all the other dubbing houses were busy.

[paimeifist]

5 hours ago, Duel to the Death said:

The Fatal Flying Guillotines A fun popcorn kind of movie. I have seen 3 flying guillotine movies so far. Master of the Flying Guillotine (My favorite), The Fatal Flying Guillotines (2nd favorite) and The Flying Guillotine (My least favorite). I just didn't care for the Shaw Brothers one but i should eventually watch the sequel. The story just didn't do it for me. It's definitely a more polished movie than this one being a SB movie. But this one is more fun. I like the idea of a crazy twisted guy having the guillotines. I also like the Shaolin stuff. It's not the best made movie and sometimes the fighting is sloppy, not all the time, but it's definitely more fun. 

This is a cool movie. I’ve always enjoyed “The Flying Guillotine” (SB), as a fast paced action thriller/drama.

 

The second one with Ti Lung is a convoluted mess, if you’re gonna skip out on a Guillotine flick I’d make it that one. I remember hearing there were some issues during production, so it ended up being “patched together” and it shows.

 

Check out Vengeful Beauty instead.

[Duel to the Death]

5 hours ago, Killer Meteor said:

There's a few titles with these dubbers - Ma Su Chen, The Hero and even Shaw's Return of the One Armed Swordsman. They sound authentically Asian, but the English is terrible! I guess they were only used when all the other dubbing houses were busy.

That i did not know. Cool

[Duel to the Death]

4 hours ago, paimeifist said:

Check out Vengeful Beauty instead.

I'll check that one out.

[Liersi]

The Green Jade Statuette. Enjoyed this one a lot. The plot is pre-DM comedy hijinx and almost brought a tear to my eye. This is so effective in comparison! It's swordplay intrigue by way of fists and feet, and every single character has a story, a direction and a way they're trying to fight to get there. A green jade statuette stolen in a robbery cum family murder from a year ago is thought to be held by brothel madame Hu Jin. Thought to be by someone who has retained the services of famed killer Meng Fei to get it back. Also in town is a mysterious stranger with a rose, and soon enough everyone's knee deep in a lethal game of cat and mouse.

Like Along Comes a Tiger, this marks an entry in the narrative type of fight choreography for Tommy Lee. It's a story told through fights. Instead of laying all their cards on the table from the beginning, characters have a vested interest in not letting each other know exactly what they're capable of. Deception is the name of the game. Despite an ample amount of fights throughout the film, the action is restrained in scope and complexity until the end. That is not to say it isn't good. I quite enjoyed the way Tommy characterizes each fighter by their terms of engagement and the weapons they use. There's just never that testosterone moment where two guys meet in a field and only one of them goes home 20 minutes later. The fights serve the story, not the story the fights.

The cast is very good, although Lee stalwarts like Gao Fei and Long Fei are relegated to playing small parts. Plus they have Beardy with them! Qi Guanjun and Meng Fei are capable protagonists, but not quite on the level of the aforementioned mimes. Qi does his best righteous indignation kung fu, looking muscular and flailing his arms line in his Shaw days. Meng Fei and Wang Guanxionbg acquit themselves with a bit more finesse, but also often lack the precision and timing of movement that gets my pulse racing. Still, Tommy Lee's inventiveness and attention to detail is always a pleasure. Tommy himself is also in the cast as one of the villains, again with his odd preference for hunched backs and crooked teeth. Just watch this man work with the other actors. You can tell who he's comfortable with. The timing gets crisper, the moves faster and closer and the exchanges more intricate. Tommy also once more shows his skill as an orchestrator of two-on-one battles (Long Fei and Beardy vs Qi Guanjun and Qi and Meng Fei vs Tommy) and the usage of inventive weaponry (bladed shoes, a bladed telescopic stick).

All in all a very brisk and enjoyable watch due to the lack of unfunny comedy and the richness in character interactions. Personally I enjoy character kung fu and don't mind the dials not turned to 11 all the time. Yeah, it's a tease to have Beardy and Gao Fei right there, those two could have rocked my boat all night. But this isn't that film. If you're ever in a swordplay mood, but also in a kung fu mood, this could be your jam.

Edited July 25, 2020 by Liersi

[Liersi]

10 hours ago, paimeifist said:

The second one with Ti Lung is a convoluted mess, if you’re gonna skip out on a Guillotine flick I’d make it that one. I remember hearing there were some issues during production, so it ended up being “patched together” and it shows.

 

Check out Vengeful Beauty instead.

Seconded on Vengeful Beauty. IIRC the flying guillotine connection is tenuous, but it's a very well-rounded film that grows out of strong characters. Fatal is a lot of fun, as Duel said. I quite liked the action in the second guillotine, although its production history is readily apparent in the final product. The first has always been the least appealing to me. I like it fine, but found it to have neither the characters nor action or themes that resonated with me, although direction and set design are beyond the others.

[saltysam]

Secret Rivals Part 2

Wong Tao is absent from this sequel apart from a reprise of the first film's climax. John Liu and Hwang Jang Lee return and it's a solid sequel. I preferred the first though.

Snuff Bottle Connection

Great movie, John Liu and Meng Fei up against Hwang Jang Lee and Russian badasses Roy Horan and Robert Kerver.

Snake In The Eagle's Shadow Part 2

Great cast (Wong Tao, Chen Sing, Carter Wong, Lung Fei, Li Quin) in this decent but definitely should have been better sort of sequel, played a bit too much for comedy and underusing Carter Wong and Chen Sing. Nice German Blu Ray, English Dubbed.

 

[Killer Meteor]

Is the SEITES2 blu-ray uncut?

[ShawAngela]

I'm so glad to still find some GREAT MOVIES to watch after so many years of collecting and watching !

I watched Fearless Golden Dragon this evening. I thought that I had already watched it because I owned the dvd since years, but I discovered that I hadn't watched it at all.

I ENJOYED IT A LOOOOTTT !!!

The only familiar faces here are Nancy Yen, who has very good fights, but not enough for my taste, Blacky Ko, who has only one fight, who begins à la Beggar So, goes on with a real snake as weapon, goes on in a tree and finally ends after a lot of very good moves, and maybe the guy who plays the minister.

The hero and one of the other fighters played only in this movie, and that's really too bad because they are great, as well as a third one.

This movie is a pure gem (yes, another one, at least in my opinion) with non stop action, a very good plot and some subplots and great fights.

I strongly recommend it.

[ShawAngela]

In my dvd of Fearless Golden Dragon, there were some previews of other movies and I saw the trailer for Revenge of the kung fu master. I had already watched it in French language dvd years ago (if I'm not mistaken) but I totally forgot it except Tan Tao Liang and his handcuffs, but seeing this trailer made me furiously eager to revisit it again !!

[JackieRome]

On 7/24/2020 at 1:27 AM, paimeifist said:

Haha, I'm not touchy man. I'm just saying, I find it hard to believe that you "can't understand" how it "enjoys positive opinions"! If nothing else, the action is straight dope, and that's undeniable! There are movies that I can't stand, but I can still see how others would enjoy them. 

I basically believe that sometimes they exalt a little too much of the things that seem (if you want to say "they seem to me", so nobody is offended) of the clearly minor products, which have few salvable elements. I'm sorry but it hasn't exalted me like many of you: my perplexity was born from here. Anyway, I understand the reasons you listed and I take note of it.

Edited July 26, 2020 by JackieRome

[saltysam]

20 hours ago, Killer Meteor said:

Is the SEITES2 blu-ray uncut?

It's got the 82 minute version and the 92 minute version with SD inserts as an extra

[paimeifist]

4 hours ago, JackieRome said:

I basically believe that sometimes they exalt a little too much of the things that seem (if you want to say "they seem to me", so nobody is offended) of the clearly minor products, which have few salvable elements. I'm sorry but it hasn't exalted me like many of you: my perplexity was born from here. Anyway, I understand the reasons you listed and I take note of it.

Lol..

[Duel to the Death]

The Dragon and the Tiger Kids aka The Hell's Wind Staff Is a mixed bag. It's got Hwang Jang-Lee and his great kicking. But the 2 kid leads are lackluster. It's like they are trying to be Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao. And the one kid actually looks like Yuen Biao in the face a little, but with more of a pudgy muscular face. Neither one of them have any charisma. The one who looks like Yuen Biao has slightly more charisma but not enough. This is a movie where i wished the end fight scene was Pai Piao vs Hwang Jang-Lee but instead they tried shoving these 2 kids down our throat. The end fight would of been much better, but circumstances prevented that. As great as Hwang Jang-Lee is, the end fight was real sloppy overall. It had some great moments for sure. But the choreography felt off or something. I blame these 2 kids. lol

[Killer Meteor]

Yeah, Hell'z Windstaff is a film that would have been great had it been made two years earlier.

[DrNgor]

10 hours ago, Duel to the Death said:

But the 2 kid leads are lackluster. It's like they are trying to be Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao. And the one kid actually looks like Yuen Biao in the face a little, but with more of a pudgy muscular face.

The one who looks like Yuen Biao is Meng Hoi, a longtime collaborator of Sammo Hung and Corey Yuen, who worked on films like Blonde Fury, Royal Warriors, and Brandon Lee's Legacy of Rage. He also played Jackie Chan's best friend in Heart of Dragon.

The other one is Meng Yuan-Man, who was one of the Seven Fortunes who studied at the same school as Jackie, Sammo, Corey and Yuen Biao, but whose career was cut short by an untimely heart attack at a surprisingly young age.

10 hours ago, Duel to the Death said:

As great as Hwang Jang-Lee is, the end fight was real sloppy overall. It had some great moments for sure. But the choreography felt off or something.

Huh. I think it's one of the best old school end fights of all time. 

I certainly enjoy this film a lot more than its follow-up, Buddha Assassinator.

[DrNgor]

23 hours ago, JackieRome said:

I basically believe that sometimes they exalt a little too much of the things that seem of the clearly minor products, which have few salvable elements.

Once you use the adverb "clearly", at least in English, you make it sound like the questionable quality of a film like Dance of the Drunk Mantis is and should be obvious to everyone, and that too much praise is unwarranted. In other words, native English speakers will interpret your remarks as "my opinion is right and you all have no business liking [said movie] so much." That will not gain you sympathy. I understand English is not your first language. As I speak a Latin-based language as a second language (in my case, Portuguese), I understand that saying somethings the way I'd say it in English can carry a different connotation. So take my words as a lesson.

[JackieRome]

11 minutes ago, DrNgor said:

Once you use the adverb "clearly", at least in English, you make it sound like the questionable quality of a film like Dance of the Drunk Mantis is and should be obvious to everyone, and that too much praise is unwarranted. In other words, native English speakers will interpret your remarks as "my opinion is right and you all have no business liking [said movie] so much." That will not gain you sympathy. I understand English is not your first language. As I speak a Latin-based language as a second language (in my case, Portuguese), I understand that saying somethings the way I'd say it in English can carry a different connotation. So take my words as a lesson.

I understand that you like being a schoolteacher, because you play on your field. English is certainly not mine. You take certain speeches too literally, and you do not imagine a guy who, although passionate about the same type of cinema, may have a different taste about films and tries to communicate it by writing with Google translate ... exactly: google translate; apologizing several times if he writes bullshit. I don't know if I'm more stupid or someone trying to correct a guy who expresses himself in this way. Now, I'm glad that you concentrated on me (I keep giving you males because I don't know what sex you are from) but all this attention towards me and my judgments is not needed. Every time I write something, I point out that (they are my opinions and I hope not to offend anyone) but punctually someone is hurt. I can not do anything about it. It is clear that if I have exaggerated answers on films that I don't think much, my answer will be conditioned by this. I'm not a polyglot like you, I'm sorry. I can tell you, thanks for your corrections, but you could do many more if you kept writing. Council to put a rule on the forum where you are invited to write in the sections only if a movie is liked and to put negative opinions only in that topic that I had read once on the contrary opinions ... at least the user can know and regulate himself. thanks again for your attention.

[DrNgor]

26 minutes ago, JackieRome said:

I understand that you like being a schoolteacher, because you play on your field. English is certainly not mine.

Being an English teacher is my second profession. I'm bilingual, not a polyglot.

 

27 minutes ago, JackieRome said:

You take certain speeches too literally, and you do not imagine a guy who, although passionate about the same type of cinema, may have a different taste about films and tries to communicate it by writing with Google translate

You assume you know what I'm thinking. I *know* and *understand* you have the different tastes. I'm making observations about English for your benefit, so that maybe you could understand how certain words will influence how people read and understand your posts.

 

29 minutes ago, JackieRome said:

Council to put a rule on the forum where you are invited to write in the sections only if a movie is liked and to put negative opinions only in that topic that I had read once on the contrary opinions

At no point has anyone in this forum been censured for posting an opinion that went against popular wisdom. Let me remind you that the discussion began with you questioning how anyone could like Dance of the Drunk Mantis, which I graciously and politely provided a list of reasons for. At no point did I attack you for thinking the way you did. I simply expressed the feelings of me and the others who hold the film in high esteem.