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

[Vices of Terror]

The last film of a horrendous year 2020 was a spectacular film Shaolin & Wu-Tang (1983). Definitely better than your average kung fu flick. With a strong, charismatic villain and a story of rivalry through brotherhood it stands out in the kung fu jungle. The fighting combining the... "Shaolin shadowboxing and the wu-tang swordstyle" makes the fights diverse and thrilling to follow. Also including an interesting soundtrack and possibly the first of a kung fu movie that I remember afterwards. And perhaps, one of the things making this one memorable is the English dub sampled all around the Wu-Tang Clan debut album which I so dearly love.

[DragonClaws]

 

On 12/26/2020 at 2:26 PM, ShawAngela said:

And Ko Fei is GREAT !! He uses so many techniques in this movie !! Even a kind of exorcism technique !!

 

I love how Phillip Ko-Fei's character Mi Ti  uses an hour glass, whenever he challenges anyone to a fight.

 

On 12/30/2020 at 5:20 AM, DrNgor said:

So how did it perpetuate itself? By sneaking into a Hicksploitation action-drama with a dose of 70s Fadsploitation (the CB radio craze).

 

What started the late 70's C.B radio craze?, was it Sam Peckinpahs Convoy(1977)?.

[DrNgor]

5 minutes ago, DragonClaws said:

What started the late 70's C.B radio craze?, was it Sam Peckinpahs Convoy(1977)?.

According to one site:

Quote

As the [oil] crisis intensified into 1975 a novelty Country and Western singer who penned under the alias of C.J. McCall, released a highly catchy tune called ‘Convoy’.  Telling the tale of a group of rogue truckers battling to get their loads delivered, the song instantly topped both the US country and pop charts in Jan 1976 and ignited the CB touch-paper. The song created an instant surge in sales and use of CB Radios by the US public which was sweetened when the government also lowered the licence fee from $40 to $4. By 1977 there were estimated to be over 20 million CBs in use in the US alone. Soon others artists and movie producers were jumping on the CB bandwagon as well, with the most notable being the movie version of ‘Convoy’, The ‘Smokey and the Bandit’ movies, ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ and a song titled ‘The White Knight’ by Cledus Maggard.

 

[DragonClaws]

On 1/3/2021 at 9:31 AM, DrNgor said:

According to one site:

 

Thanks for that @DrNgor, do you think that song had influence on Peckinpah's movie of the same name?.

[saltysam]

7 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

 

Thanks for that @DrNgor, do you think that song had influence on Peckinpah's movie of the same name?.

The movie is based on the song,which plays over the end credits

[wuxiaman]

Tiger (1973) featuring Kim Jin Pal.

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

3 hours ago, wuxiaman said:

Tiger (1973) featuring Kim Jin Pal.

Did you find a better print (this is all anyone has found so far....)? Hope upon hope!

 

[wuxiaman]

58 minutes ago, NoKUNGFUforYU said:

Did you find a better print (this is all anyone has found so far....)? Hope upon hope!

 

That's the one I watched this past weekend! Thank you for uploading this!

I have been looking up films featuring Kim Jin Pal, as my Hapkido master traces his lineage through him. The quality may not be most desired, but I do greatly appreciate you uploading this. I spoke about this film with my master today, and he was surprisingly pleased that I was able to watch this at all.

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

13 minutes ago, wuxiaman said:

That's the one I watched this past weekend! Thank you for uploading this!

I have been looking up films featuring Kim Jin Pal, as my Hapkido master traces his lineage through him. The quality may not be most desired, but I do greatly appreciate you uploading this. I spoke about this film with my master today, and he was surprisingly pleased that I was able to watch this at all.

There may be a release of one his other films. We did a custom of the Manchu/Godfathers of Hong Kong with the German VHS (Which was very high quality) a while back. The movie is in German and Chen Hung Lieh on this site was kind enough to translate. Then FLK stole it. There is also The Rats, but that isn't as fight filled and more of detective/policier.

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

 

[wuxiaman]

17 minutes ago, NoKUNGFUforYU said:

There may be a release of one his other films. We did a custom of the Manchu/Godfathers of Hong Kong with the German VHS (Which was very high quality) a while back. The movie is in German and Chen Hung Lieh on this site was kind enough to translate. Then FLK stole it. There is also The Rats, but that isn't as fight filled and more of detective/policier.

That's a real shame that FLK did that. At least I know I can contact you directly about these films. Many thanks for your guidance! 

[DragonClaws]

21 hours ago, saltysam said:

The movie is based on the song,which plays over the end credits

 

Thanks @saltysam, I'd completely forgotten about the song featured over the end credits.

[Pops]

Just watched 37 plots of Kung fu again. 
 

I think it’s Pops evening tonight?? Starting with Challenge of the Masters. 

[DragonClaws]

 

Recently viewed The Roaring Lion for the first time, click on the link below for my thoughts on this one.

 

 

[DragonClaws]

 

Caught more Cliff Lok, Sek Kin action, with the 1974 production Tiger's Claw. Click on the link below, for some of my thoughts on this one.

 

 

[DragonClaws]

 

Recently watched The Mysterious Heroes, starring Polly Shang-Kuan & Carter Wong among others. Click on the link below, for my thoughts on this one.

 

 

[ShawAngela]

I just finished to watch The bodyguard 1974 thanks to a friend.

What a SUPERB movie !!

Larry Lee is mentioned in first in the cast,n but he isn't the lead at all, he only appears at 50 mn of running time.

The lead is Yang Zi Jiang (credited as Yang Tze Kiang in the credits), and what a great pair they make together (though they don't share the same fights...) : great kicks, great punches,everythingone can ask for in such a movie !

And Bolo is here, doing some nice punches and kicks work, and his fight with Larry Lee is very good !

The movie was sent to me in private, BUT, I just found it in Spanish language on youtube, so, for those who are interested, here it is :

 

The movie I got runs for around 1h12mn and the Spanish one is mentioned as a 1h23mn movie, so,I'll have to rewatch it and see what was cut.

There is a picture on hkmdb that I never saw in the movie...

[DragonClaws]

 

Caught the Chinese Godfather over the weekend, click on the link below for my thoughts on this one.

 

 

Edited January 11, 2021 by DragonClaws

[wuxiaman]

Sword of Justice (1980). Enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would!

[DragonClaws]

On 1/10/2021 at 12:50 PM, ShawAngela said:

And Bolo is here, doing some nice punches and kicks work, and his fight with Larry Lee is very good !

 

I've only seen this footage via Fist of Legend 2: Iron Bodyguards(1996), where they used scenes from this 1974 Larry Lee movie. Thanks for sharing the link here on the forums.

[ShawAngela]

On 1/12/2021 at 2:45 PM, DragonClaws said:

 

I've only seen this footage via Fist of Legend 2: Iron Bodyguards(1996), where they used scenes from this 1974 Larry Lee movie. Thanks for sharing the link here on the forums.

I just rewatched the Spanish language version and I enjoyed it as if it was the first time !! And there are a lot of scenes that weren't in the English version I first watched, for instance, there are explanations on why the hero's father is in prison since 20 years,and there are also a scene explaining why the first magistrate concubine becomes Tien Feng's mistress, a few scenes showing the hero's wife and son, and the most important, the first fight between Bolo and Larry Lee is longer ! Neither Bolo nor Larry Lee are shown using the nunchakus in the English version ! And the way Chu Tit Wo is hurt in his right eye isn't clearly shown in the English version.

Talking about Chu Tit Wo, uless I have forgotten, or I haven't recognized him when I was still a beginner in watching martial arts movies, I think that it's the first time that I see him fighting bare hands, I'm more used to see him in wuxia movies or series, and he is great here !!

I must say that I enjoyed very much watching Bolo's fights in this movie.

I had put on the Spanish subtitles too, and I must say that there were a lot of mistakes, and that the guy who subtitled the movie was not very friend with the Chinese names of the heroes ! For instance, Yang Tze Kiang's character, who is called Su Chun or something like that, is translated as "youtube" !!

[Drunken Monk]

Shaolin Invincible Guys (1978) - I randomly settled on watching this movie today as I didn’t have much else I wanted to watch and wanted a nice, simple kung fu flick. It turns out this was a pretty good one.

I know very little about Raymond Lui but he plays your average bumpkin hero here. The plot is simple: he aims to pay a brothel madam a few to free the woman he loves from a life of sex work. He loses his money and ends up taking a bodyguard job alongside Chi Kuan Chun. Twists and turns ensue.

The one thing that stands out here is the action. For an unknown film to me, the action was shockingly good: powerful with crisp shapes. Great stuff. Unfortunately there are some lighting issues with some of the fights and it’s hard to see what’s going on exactly.

Another nice little surprise is that there’s a lack of goofy comedy in this one. It plays it straight pretty much all the way through. And it needs that as there’s a distinct sense from the get go that this isn’t a goofy movie.

Everything builds up to a truly epic finale with Chi Kuan Chun doing some of the best work I’ve ever seen. There’s also a fairly macabre twist which was quite enjoyable.

This isn’t a classic but it is a good movie for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

[Super Ninja]

8 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

Shaolin Invincible Guys (1978) - I randomly settled on watching this movie today as I didn’t have much else I wanted to watch and wanted a nice, simple kung fu flick. It turns out this was a pretty good one.

I know very little about Raymond Lui but he plays your average bumpkin hero here. The plot is simple: he aims to pay a brothel madam a few to free the woman he loves from a life of sex work. He loses his money and ends up taking a bodyguard job alongside Chi Kuan Chun. Twists and turns ensue.

The one thing that stands out here is the action. For an unknown film to me, the action was shockingly good: powerful with crisp shapes. Great stuff. Unfortunately there are some lighting issues with some of the fights and it’s hard to see what’s going on exactly.

Another nice little surprise is that there’s a lack of goofy comedy in this one. It plays it straight pretty much all the way through. And it needs that as there’s a distinct sense from the get go that this isn’t a goofy movie.

Everything builds up to a truly epic finale with Chi Kuan Chun doing some of the best work I’ve ever seen. There’s also a fairly macabre twist which was quite enjoyable.

This isn’t a classic but it is a good movie for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

I always thought of Shaolin Invincible Guys as one of Lui's lesser films. Tiger Jump is great for its time, Strife for Mastery is pretty good, but Lui's finest hour is definitely The Crane Figter. I can't recommend Fatal Flying Guillotines because somehow, even after watching it three times, I failed to see what all the fuss is about. I've seen people praising Bloody Mission here, but I'll have to rewatch it before recommending, didn't think much of it when I first watched it.

[DragonClaws]

21 hours ago, ShawAngela said:

and the most important, the first fight between Bolo and Larry Lee is longer ! Neither Bolo nor Larry Lee are shown using the nunchakus in the English version !

 

Sounds your English dubbed print was sourced from the censored U.K theatrical print?. The missing nunchaku footage being a dead give away.

 

18 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

Shaolin Invincible Guys (1978) - I randomly settled on watching this movie today as I didn’t have much else I wanted to watch and wanted a nice, simple kung fu flick. It turns out this was a pretty good one.

 

Good to see you enjoyed this one @Drunken Monk, its one of my favourite Chi Kuan-Chun movies.

[Drunken Monk]

The Crane Fighter (1979) - I thought I’d take @Super Ninja’s advice and give this one a go today. I just say, Raymond Lui definitely knows what his audience wants: FIGHT SCENES. There’s a fight every ten minutes in this film and the choreography is beautiful. As far as action goes, I feel this one is a bit overlooked.

The plot starts off relatively simple with Chia Ling (who’s great) ending up in some trouble with a local bad guy. This evolve and it later becomes an “escaped Shaolin monk” story but it’s all very easy to follow and not too taxing on the brain. The plot basically exists to house the fights.

The only issue with this one is it does feature not one but two idiot characters. Therefore, it features a lot of daft comedy. Over the years I’ve become immune to even Dean Shek’s antics so it didn’t annoy me too much. With that said, it doesn’t exactly add much to the film. Thankfully, at times, the idiots can actually throw down!

Lui himself gets to shine throughout but both he and Chia Ling get to do their thing in the final fight. Why had I never seen this final fight before? It seems like one someone would have mentioned. Anyway, it’s great and has a very interesting gimmick.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one and as I’m on a “two for two” roll with Raymond Lui, I’ll be checking out his others.