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

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

6 hours ago, ShawAngela said:

I know that Wu Tang Clan isn't very popular here and with reason, but thanks to their channel, I just finished to watch the french language version of Bamboo Brotherhood for the first time, after having searched for it for ages...

I LOVED IT from the movie to the music to the actress to Yu Tien Lung !!

A pure gem !!

I'm not sure that some scenes were in the right order, though, but was a superb movie, a must watch !

Wu Tang Clan is fine.... Wu Tang Collection is another matter.

[ShawAngela]

16 hours ago, TibetanWhiteCrane said:

Wu Tang Clan is fine.... Wu Tang Collection is another matter.

I thought that they were the same...I must confess that I didn't really paid attention to which channel I watched it, I was too happy to have found it !! So, maybe I made a mistake and it was from WT collection...

[ShawAngela]

Ok, this evening, I did something wrong : I watched a movie on WT Collection...Mea Culpa...

But I ENJOYED it a lot, a lot, a lot !!!

It was Thief of thieves, aka Shaolin thief, with my other idol Yu Tien Lung again. What a superb movie, in which everybody shines and with a lot of very good fights.

Another pure gem...

[ShawAngela]

Double movie this evening :

Duel with the devils : too bad that Angela Mao didn't have a bigger role, but it was a very good movie.I also think that the plot should have developed why Tan Tao Liang's wife was so look alike Chen Fu Hung's friend, and it would have been great if Doris Lung had had a few fights too...

Funny kung fu : I thought that Pai Piao was the hero, but he quickly disappears from the movie and the hero is Jackie Liu (credited as Jacky Chun in the film). The fights are very good, but how I hate this English dubbing full of shouts "ha, ho, ha" and so on...And Michelle Yim doesn't fight at all in it !

[saltysam]

Master Of The Flying Guillotine

Glorious sequel to One Armed Boxer. Jimmy Wang Yu having survived his face off with two Tibetan lamas is back home ,now running a martial arts school and practicing the art of jumping. Meanwhile the fearsome Kam Kong has found out his two disciples have been killed and he sets out for revenge, though blind he is armed with his lethal flying guillotine.  An early indication of his prowess comes when he comes across a one armed drunk in an inn passing himself off as the boxer himself. The film then settles into a lengthy tournament mode, a knock out tournament where it's win or be killed. One armed boxer refuses to enter and eventually leaves to head back home. All roads then lead to a showdown between Jimmy and Kam Kong.

Great movie, i rebought the original Pathfinder DVD as though PQ is inferior to the oz release and is non-anamorphic, it's uncut and retains the original score. I'd love a HD version of this, alongside a 10 disc Kam Kong box set.

[ShawAngela]

22 minutes ago, saltysam said:

Master Of The Flying Guillotine

Glorious sequel to One Armed Boxer. Jimmy Wang Yu having survived his face off with two Tibetan lamas is back home ,now running a martial arts school and practicing the art of jumping. Meanwhile the fearsome Kam Kong has found out his two disciples have been killed and he sets out for revenge, though blind he is armed with his lethal flying guillotine.  An early indication of his prowess comes when he comes across a one armed drunk in an inn passing himself off as the boxer himself. The film then settles into a lengthy tournament mode, a knock out tournament where it's win or be killed. One armed boxer refuses to enter and eventually leaves to head back home. All roads then lead to a showdown between Jimmy and Kam Kong.

Great movie, i rebought the original Pathfinder DVD as though PQ is inferior to the oz release and is non-anamorphic, it's uncut and retains the original score. I'd love a HD version of this, alongside a 10 disc Kam Kong box set.

I hadn't even recognized Kam Kong !!

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

4 hours ago, saltysam said:

Master Of The Flying Guillotine

Glorious sequel to One Armed Boxer. Jimmy Wang Yu having survived his face off with two Tibetan lamas is back home ,now running a martial arts school and practicing the art of jumping. Meanwhile the fearsome Kam Kong has found out his two disciples have been killed and he sets out for revenge, though blind he is armed with his lethal flying guillotine.  An early indication of his prowess comes when he comes across a one armed drunk in an inn passing himself off as the boxer himself. The film then settles into a lengthy tournament mode, a knock out tournament where it's win or be killed. One armed boxer refuses to enter and eventually leaves to head back home. All roads then lead to a showdown between Jimmy and Kam Kong.

Great movie, i rebought the original Pathfinder DVD as though PQ is inferior to the oz release and is non-anamorphic, it's uncut and retains the original score. I'd love a HD version of this, alongside a 10 disc Kam Kong box set.

I saw this in a cheap cinema with my patient girlfriend back in high school. Everyone had better form then Jimmy, but he was a thug, so that was his rationale ("Everyone knows I can fight!") Anyway, I think the remaster looks better then the beat up print we saw, but it was on a huge screen, so it was pretty epic. At least the tournament.

[Killer Meteor]

MOTFG is one of my top five films of the genre. Besides the great atmosphere and quality fu, it also introduced me to the legend that is....

 

 

[ShawAngela]

The Master strikes 

What a crazy amazing movie ! I laughed a  lot and the fights are good, and the comedic parts are really amazing and crazy !

[ShawAngela]

My Kung fu 12 kicks

It's the second movie in which I see Ku Feng co-starring with Bruce Liang and Hon Kwok Choi, and the three of them did a good job : a little bit of funny comedy, a little bit of training and really good fights and good choreography.

Edited February 11, 2021 by ShawAngela

[morpheus]

Born Invincible (1978)

Another Joseph Kuo Nam Hung film with a load of talented martial artists that seemed to be his "regulars."  Jack Long Sai Ga, Mark Long Kwan Wu, Nancy Yen Ju Ju, Corey Yuen Kwai, Carter Wong Ka Tat, and Lo Lieh grace this film.  Lo seemed to be doubled during a lot of the complex fight scenes, and the story line is fairly typical.  But over all, the action and choreography by Yuen Woo Ping is outstanding.

 

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

From The Highway from Kung Fu Robber. I've seen it before, but his version was a really nice upgrade. Basically it's a western with a few Kung Fu fights. It was a huge hit for Cathay. One of the interesting points is that they went with Peter Yang Kwan instead of their usual stars. While he is no Ti Lung, he can scowl with the best of them. There are some plot points from Movies like Shane, but the hero He only comes in in the final two thirds. If there is anything to say about the martial arts there's definitely the view of the internal vs external styles. The village martial arts teacher does the flashy Shaolin style, yet the more effective villain does more deft and direct forms as does the hero He. Best line of the movie  "IF you had 3 heads and 6 arms, I'd still fight you!"

[paimeifist]

One Armed Swordsman vs 9 Killers

 

A fun enough “traveling swordsman” wuxia style film featuring Jimmy Wang Yu. Ironically, he doesn’t really use a sword, so they could have called this “One Armed Boxer vs 9 Killers.”

 

The story was a bit hard to follow. It started off as if it basically didn’t have a story, then kind of all of a sudden a bunch of plots and characters are thrown out. Factor in subbing and the fact that it is clearly very cut up, and it made it hard for me to follow. Jimmy Wang Yus Dad was killed by the 9 Killers and their boss and he’s out to get them. I picked up that much. 😂 

As expected there is no connection between this movie and the other One-Armed movies outside of the title and Jimmy Wang Yu.

 

The fighting is actually pretty solid. Say what you want about the mans skills, but his intensity often made up for his short coming in martial arts prowess or flashyness, this movie is an example of that.... given he does get the handicap of fighting with one arm.

 

I watched this on Prime and it seemed to be severely cut up. The fight with Lo Lieh ends abruptly without actually seeing how they defeated him. This is one example among many.

 

 

If you like Jimmy Wang Yu and the One-Armed movies, this is worth a watch.
 

Definitely not as good as the Shaw One-Arm Swordsman films, or two One-Armed Boxer movies, but worth a watch.

 

One Armed SwordsMEN is next on the list.

[ShawAngela]

Yesterday, I watched again Bamboo Brotherhood, in Italian language this time, and the dialogue between the girl and Yu Tien Lung was slightly different than the French language. I don't know how long they stay together in the cave in the original language, but in Italian, she asks him to spare her father for the sake of the child she bears from him while in the French version (if I remember well), she only asks him to spare her father because she loves them both and she doesn't want her brother to kill her lover if this latter kills her father...I wonder what she says in the English language or in the Chinese language...

[ShawAngela]

Today, I watched again Boxer's adventure and it was like if I discovered for the first time how good were Blacky Ko, Jack Lung, Tan Tao Liang and Meng Fei in this movie ! Each of their fight is excellent and I'm still angry with the death of two of the heroes !

A special mention to Lung Tien Hsiang who has some furious fights here, as well as the girls who have short but intense fights.

[Chu Liu Hsiang]

CANTONEN IRON KUNG FU - I enjoyed this much more than the first time I saw it, maybe due to watching the German dub version now which is not that great but I liked it better than the English one. It's such a great example for a late 70s movie with standard plot where comedy and buddy interaction suddently turn into a quest for vengeance.  Is there a version with original language?

[Drunken Monk]

Challenge of Death (1978) - Firstly, this film is also known as Dragon & Snake in the Spider's Web which suits the film far better than this generic title. But that's a minor qualm. Here we have Don Wong Tao (a snake style practitioner) and Dorian Tan Tao Liang (a dragon style practitioner) up against Chang Yi (hilariously billed as "Spider Man" on HKMDB).

If this was just a straight up kung fu movie (you know, fight after fight after fight) I feel as though it would have been something if not special then truly decent. Sadly we're given a convoluted bore that only really picks up once the fights come along. But those fights don't come along nearly as often as they're needed.

It all becomes a drag when side plots involving a hideous looking Liu Ming (her make up in this film is enough to make your eyes bleed) and gambling slow things down far too much.
However, this one can't be knocked for its action. The choreography is quick and sleek with the final fight being particularly enjoyable. Chang Yi's spider style is nuts and should be seen by everyone. He makes an awesome villain here. 

Alas, this one's too unbalanced to truly love. Does it deserve a watch? Eh...only if you've run out of classics and don't mind trudging through some banality to get to the good stuff.

[DrNgor]

36 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

Challenge of Death (1978) - Firstly, this film is also known as Dragon & Snake in the Spider's Web which suits the film far better than this generic title. But that's a minor qualm. Here we have Don Wong Tao (a snake style practitioner) and Dorian Tan Tao Liang (a dragon style practitioner) up against Chang Yi (hilariously billed as "Spider Man" on HKMDB).

This was the spiritual follow-up to The Hot, the Cool and the Vicious. I remember liking it the two times I saw it. I'll probably visit it again in the near future.

 

[Drunken Monk]

I randomly picked a film to watch today. One I'd not only never seen but never actually heard of - Eight Strikes of a Wild Cat (1979)

This was great! I had low expectations going in and it turned out to be a fun, style-filled kung fu movie with pretty solid fight sequences if you can overlook the its major flaw (which I'll get to in a second).
The plot is simple: a bad guy is looking for pieces of a treasure map. To get one piece, they murder Chi Dan-Dan's master and attempt to kill her. She escapes, meets up with an old man and a rogue scholar and proceeds to learn kung fu in order to get her revenge. Simple.

This one is heavy on fights and training sequences so there's not an awful lot of dragging when it comes to plot. The comedy is pretty mild compared to some films too.

It's flaw? The sound effects. The main bad guys do a "rat style" kung fu and the good guys do a "cat's claw" style. Throughout the film there is a barrage of rodent squeaks and cat whines. It's pretty incessant. Those that thought Snake in the Eagle's Shadow was bad will have their brain melt out of their ears with this one.
Me? I didn't mind too much. It's a minor gripe about an otherwise very enjoyable movie. It won't blow anyone's socks off but I feel like I unearthed a gold nugget, if maybe not a diamond.

[DragonClaws]

On 2/24/2021 at 9:43 AM, Drunken Monk said:

I randomly picked a film to watch today. One I'd not only never seen but never actually heard of - Eight Strikes of a Wild Cat (1979)

 

I have the old Vengeance Video release of this one, I need to dig out and revisit it. That bootleg label exposed me to a lot of films I'd never seen before, but the picture quality was often hit and miss. Some of their releases were heavily pixelated.

[ShaOW!linDude]

Leopard Fist Ninja (aka The Return of Twin Dragons) (1982) starring Jack Lam, Baek Hwang-Ki, Kim Yu-Haeng, Choe Jung-Suk

Lam and Baek are brothers tasked with protecting a secret manual from the Japanese occupiers led by KY-H. That's pretty much the plot. 

The rest of the film is a bunch of fight scenes mainly with Lam until about the midway point when Baek starts to get in on the action. It's a Korean film, so there is a ton of bootwork on display. Unfortunately, it gets pretty repetitive with a rehashing of the same kicks. Some sequences there seems to actually be some thought put into the choreography, with others it's like they're phoning it in. Still, it's pretty solid throughout, and I like the fact that Lam as the hero isn't invincible. I watched this on Tubi, and the English dub is pretty funny in places, which also helped. KY-H as the Japanese villain is obnoxiously funny, and the finale actually has a spattering of overly undercranked moments akin to Donnie Yen's early efforts. There are a few oddly dressed ninjas, but I didn't detect any 'Leopard' style, so the alias title (most likely the original one, too) is definitely more fitting.

And the secret manual isn't in regards to a special martial art style, but how the family pottery is made. That was different. Also, why was everyone referring to it as 'the secret manual' when it obviously wasn't because everybody knew about it? Gotta love those tropes.

[DrNgor]

25 minutes ago, ShaOW!linDude said:

There are a few oddly dressed ninjas, but I didn't detect any 'Leopard' style, so the alias title (most likely the original one, too) is definitely more fitting.

I think we've all learned that you should never go into a Korean chopsockey film with animals in the title expecting actual animal styles on display.

[DrNgor]

Fighting Mad (1978) - In Kill Bill Vol. 1, there's an exchange between Hattori Hanzo and his assistant/colleague that goes like this:

"Oh, so you'd be General, huh? If you were General, I'd be Emperor, and you'd STILL get the sake!"

Tarantino would have stolen it from this film (much like how his version of Ezekiel in Pulp Fiction is taken from the Sonny Chiba film The Bodyguard).

A black soldier stationed in the Philippines helps two colleagues steal gold from a deposit on the base. They betray him after the deal and leave him in the ocean to die. He washes up on an island inhabited by a pair of Japanese soldiers from WW2. One of them teaches the soldier kenjutsu and he goes back to the States to get revenge.

There's a scene in which one of the Japanes soldiers is complaining about always having to catch/clean/cook the fish (the accents are hard to understand and the audio wasn't very good). He says that after 30 years, he should be the general. The other soldier responds:

"Oh, so you'd be General, huh? If you were General, I'd be Emperor, and you'd STILL cook the fish!"

[ShawAngela]

On 2/25/2021 at 11:16 AM, DragonClaws said:

 

I have the old Vengeance Video release of this one, I need to dig out and revisit it. That bootleg label exposed me to a lot of films I'd never seen before, but the picture quality was often hit and miss. Some of their releases were heavily pixelated.

What ?! Vengeance Video is a bootleg company ??!!😨😱

I thought it was a legit one, and even this morning I bought their release of Gambling for head !!

I have several titles From them and I'm as shocked to learn that as I was when I discovered that my Shaws' releases From Bonzai and Red Sun were bootlegs too !!

[DrNgor]

22 minutes ago, ShawAngela said:

Gambling for head

...and the award for most unfortunate kung fu movie title goes to...