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

[DrNgor]

On 2/19/2021 at 3:11 PM, Drunken Monk said:

...a hideous looking Liu Ming (her make up in this film is enough to make your eyes bleed)

I don't think she's ever really looked good. She seems to have spent her career playing brothel madams and mothers, like New Fist of Fury. They should have gotten Yeo Su-Jin back for that role.

[HeavenSword]

Is the Aces Go Places series any good ? Been thinking of checking those films out next . 

[DrNgor]

On 4/23/2021 at 8:10 AM, paimeifist said:

A Taiwanese actioner directed by Wong Chung, with only two other films credited to him as director, featuring Carter Wong and Lo Lieh heading the bill - like I said, risky pick!

 

The movie opens with Lo Lieh conning a group of petty thieves into helping him rob some government-owned gold. He blackmails them with the corpses of a couple he murdered, telling them they're accomplices to murder if they don't help him get the gold. After they successfully make their heist with laughable ease, Lo Lieh's TRUE accomplice (Lung Fei) shows up to kill all of the small-time criminals and split the goods with Lo Lieh. Naturally, Lung Fei runs a casino in town, and this is the first place the police, "wandering do gooders" (Carter Wong), bandits, and the niece of the murdered couple (Nancy Yen) search for the gold and/or clues to the crime.

 

The plot was fairly generic, but there was one surprising twist, so that was cool. I went into this film with low expectations, given that no one in the cast is known for great on-screen martial arts talent. To my surprise, the action was pretty good. At times the fights were marred by poor editing, and the hand to hand combat does leave something to be desired. With that said, there is some nice weapons work, featuring a nice variety including swords, a guandao with a retractable handle, batons, and a roped iron-hand thing. 

Sounds interesting. I might check this out during my second go-around for my project.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

2 hours ago, HeavenSword said:

Is the Aces Go Places series any good ? Been thinking of checking those films out next . 

If you like 80's HK action comedy then yes.

[Chu Liu Hsiang]

Wang Yu triple with FURIOUS SLAUGHTER, THE TWO CAVALIERS and ONE ARMED BOXER VS FLYING GUILLOTINE. The first two I had not seen before. In FS, Wang Yu is soo cool he should be able to stop global warming all alone! What I still don't like about OABVFG is the "hot house" scene, I wish he would have defeated the Thai fighter in another way. 

[WangYu]

4 hours ago, Chu Liu Hsiang said:

What I still don't like about OABVFG is the "hot house" scene, I wish he would have defeated the Thai fighter in another way. 

Oh really? This is exactly what I love from many Wang Yu films, the inventive ways he dispatches his outlandish foes. It is as if he says"look I know I don't know kung fu, that's why I have to cheat my way to beat my opponents".

Any more words on "Furious Slaughter"? It is one of the kung fu films on my most wanted (to watch) list!

[Chu Liu Hsiang]

 

2 hours ago, WangYu said:

Oh really? This is exactly what I love from many Wang Yu films, the inventive ways he dispatches his outlandish foes. It is as if he says"look I know I don't know kung fu, that's why I have to cheat my way to beat my opponents".

Any more words on "Furious Slaughter"? It is one of the kung fu films on my most wanted (to watch) list!

Yeah this trap is very inventive, it's just not the kind of screen violence I do enjoy. Regarding FURIOUS SLAUGHTER, it's really good, lots of atmosphere and action, a nice plot variant with some dramatic moments, noticeable characters, and many Wang Yu vs 50 fights.  I'd like to see it in a better version, the one I watched was dub and dub and fullscreen oh my!

Spoiler

The end of the dub version is actually silly because WY says, it's worth dying as long as this gambling den gets closed ... while everyone knows someone  else will open it up again the very next day. I wonder what he says in the original version. The true dramatic moment happens after that, with the treacherous boy saying that he didn't even get the money he needed for his sick mother. 

 

[saltysam]

Fist Of Fury

A stone wall classic, arguably Lee's best. Probably a little draggy in it's middle sction, could've done with another Lee action scene there, but mostly this gets everything right.

Way Of The Dragon

Always had a soft spot for this one,a change of pace from Lee's earlier efforts.i love the non-actors like Jon T. Benn ,it's just great though it goes dark at the end. Anyone noticed that the "Steve Martin" guy at the end of FOF steps off the plane ahead of Chuck Norris here?

Blind Fist Of Bruce

Ignore the title, this later Bruce Li effort belongs in the chansploitation category. Li is a well to do but dim banker who is learning kung fu from two con men. Eventually he's thrashed and forced to hand over his bank to vicious bandits. He comes across blind old master Simon Yuen who takes him on so he can gain revenge. Quite different to most Li efforts, very good end fight. Unfortunately i've never seen a decent version of this one, i have the german DVD which at best is acceptable, barely wide.

[ShawAngela]

4 hours ago, WangYu said:

Oh really? This is exactly what I love from many Wang Yu films, the inventive ways he dispatches his outlandish foes. It is as if he says"look I know I don't know kung fu, that's why I have to cheat my way to beat my opponents".

Any more words on "Furious Slaughter"? It is one of the kung fu films on my most wanted (to watch) list!

 

1 hour ago, Chu Liu Hsiang said:

 

Yeah this trap is very inventive, it's just not the kind of screen violence I do enjoy. Regarding FURIOUS SLAUGHTER, it's really good, lots of atmosphere and action, a nice plot variant with some dramatic moments, noticeable characters, and many Wang Yu vs 50 fights.  I'd like to see it in a better version, the one I watched was dub and dub and fullscreen oh my!

  Hide contents

The end of the dub version is actually silly because WY says, it's worth dying as long as this gambling den gets closed ... while everyone knows someone  else will open it up again the very next day. I wonder what he says in the original version. The true dramatic moment happens after that, with the treacherous boy saying that he didn't even get the money he needed for his sick mother. 

 

Furious slaughter is one of my favorite Wang Yu's movies, with it's sequels Ma Su Chen, Queen Boxer and Kung Fu Mama. All great punches and kicks movies !

I'm not sure, but I might have the Mandarin language version for Furious Slaughter, I'll have to check.

[WangYu]

2 hours ago, ShawAngela said:

 

Furious slaughter is one of my favorite Wang Yu's movies, with it's sequels Ma Su Chen, Queen Boxer and Kung Fu Mama. All great punches and kicks movies !

I'm not sure, but I might have the Mandarin language version for Furious Slaughter, I'll have to check.

Oh I had no idea it was part of a series of films. Have you seen "knight errant"? It is also supposedly a quite good basher film with Wang Yu.

[ShawAngela]

Just now, WangYu said:

Oh I had no idea it was part of a series of films. Have you seen "knight errant"? It is also supposedly a quite good basher film with Wang Yu.

Yes, and I enjoyed it a lot !

Well, actually I don't know  if it's a series of films, but they all share the story of Ma Yong Zhen, the same as in Boxer from Shantung. In Ma Su Chen, he has been saved from the fight that takes place at the end of Furious Slaughter and asks for his sister's help Ma Su Chen., so, at least this movie should be a direct sequel.

In Kung Fu Mama, his mother, his sisters and all his clan family are out to look for him and to avenge him when they learn that he has been killed.

In Queen Boxer, it's again his sister Ma Su Chen who seeks revenge for his death.

There is also a Mainland movie : Ma Su Chen takes revenge.

And two other ones : The sister of Shantung boxer (or Heroine Susann the sister of Shantung boxer), with Wang Ping and Charlie Chin, and A brave girl boxer in Shanghai with Doris Lung, that talk about Ma Su Chen's revenge.

There must be other ones that I'm not aware of or that I have forgotten.

There is also two ATV series called Ma Yong Zhen (Ma Wing Ching on yesasia) and Master Ma that also tell the story of Ma Yong Zhen the hero.

And a Chinese series called Generation of Dignity too.

 

And I now realize that I have the Mandarin version of Furious Slaughter indeed, since it exists as a Hoker dvd release !

And did you watch Rage of the masters ? If not, I strongly recommend it to you !

[WangYu]

Thanks for the detailed reply ShawAngela

Wow crazy family 🤯 , it all sounds very promising to my ears. Quick online searches yielded no results to watch them. Oh well...

I have seen rage of the masters many years ago in a horrible version, i decided then I should stop looking at copies with a terrible quality and awful dubbing as i knew I wasn’t doing the film any service. 
So rage of the master and many other Wang Yu films f.e. Seaman no 7 (which I loved) are back on my radar but I refuse to watch bad copies any longer.

I basically have dozens of MA films on my wishlist ( the casino, the delinquents, all unseen Wang Yu’s etc etc) , many of whom I’ll probably never see. I have almost zero interest in any MA film with intricate fight scenes or shapes but these happen to he the most popular and easier to find films unfortunately.

The best MA bashers I have seen are all the Angela Mao films from 1971 till 1974, Wang Yu 1967- 1977, bruce lee naturally. I generally also love most of the early wuxia films ranging from 1965 till 1974. But like I said earlier I have too much on my radar still  to watch. 
 

 

[ShawAngela]

I must have a double of Seaman n7 and of The delinquent, if you are interested in, and maybe of Rage of the Master too, I need to check for this one. And I must have some wuxias doubles too. If you are looking for something special, let me know, I'll see what I have.

And did you watch Double double crosser ? Another very good one.

Edited April 25, 2021 by ShawAngela

[WangYu]

1 hour ago, ShawAngela said:

I must have a double of Seaman n7 and of The delinquent, if you are interested in, and maybe of Rage of the Master too, I need to check for this one. And I must have some wuxias doubles too. If you are looking for something special, let me know, I'll see what I have.

And did you watch Double double crosser ? Another very good one.

Oh don’t bother, I’m not willing to pay for movies at this moment in time but thanks for the offer! If you happen to know some fine links for me to stream that would be a whole different martter though...

I’ll put double double crosser on my list too.

[WangYu]

Sorry for derailing the thread btw people... 

Back on topic, today I saw “the fate of Lee Khan”.

I enjoyed it a lot which was no surprise as every King Hu movie imo is top class. I loved the build up to the inevitable climatic battle, it has a lot less action than the 4 other Hu films I have seen yet it never bothered me. The only minor quibble I have is the undercranking during much of the final fight but it didn‘t break the immersion I had during the fight so it is all good.

This is the second time I recognize Hsu Feng in a film and like in “ a touch of zen” she impressed me a lot and she is a true beauty imo

[Duel to the Death]

Snake In The Eagles Shadow

I wasn't sure if i had seen this before and the first half of the movie didn't look familiar to me. But halfway through i started to remember. Now i'm positive i've seen it. 

Pretty good movie. Not my favorite Jackie movie but it has some fun moments. Is it strange that i'm starting to like Dean Shek and his stupid humor? lol

On 4/23/2021 at 6:00 AM, Drunken Monk said:

Snake in the Monkey's Shadow (1979) - I will never understand why this film is universally praised. It has an enjoyable - if standard - plot but the fights aren't good at all. They look so sloppy and nowhere near as crisp as other films around this time. Since this film is all about the fight scenes, it ends up that the majority of it is lackluster. I have no idea what Wilson Tong was going for with this one. Especially since only a year later he'd be choreographing beautiful action in the likes of Snake Deadly Act. 

Snake in the Monkey's Shadow isn't the worst old school kung fu movie. Far from it. But in my eyes, it really is one of the most overrated "classics." 
 

I would not call this a great movie, but i am really entertained by it. It has that cheese factor i like. The character Koo Ting Sang is like a happy go lucky hobo and i find him very likeable but super strange looking at the same time. He looks like your next door neighbor who works on cars and you'd have a beer with. 

There are great movies, mediocre movies, crap movies and very likable crap movies and this is very likeable crap. 

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

2 hours ago, Duel to the Death said:

Is it strange that i'm starting to like Dean Shek and his stupid humor? lol

Yes, I'm afraid that's not allowed... You're simply gonna have to revert that process right now.

[WangYu]

Four real friends 1974

good film with lots of cool fight scenes and some fun lines but the film could do with a bit of wang yu gimmickry in terms of villains. The end fight was definitely a blast!

[Django]

The Buddhist Fist. 

For the first 50 minutes of the film I felt that there was too much silly characters and hysterical comedy, but after that great end fight I am willing to forgive that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Drunken Monk]

The Prodigal Boxer (1972) - A rather dull basher with characters as bland as its plot. It’s your standard revenge flick but it has no meat on its bones whatsoever and the lead just doesn’t deliver.

What’s worse is that the fight scenes are less basher-y and more just straight up brawls. It’s usually either many people fighting each other or one on many. The choreography tends to be either sloppy or uninspired (granted, it was ‘72). When there are one-on-one moments, particularly the fights between Meng Fei and Yasuaki Kurata, they shine. But for the most part, the fights just didn’t do anything for me.

If I can speak frankly, this one didn’t deserve the 4K restoration Pearl River gave it. There are countless other kung fu movies that deserve that treatment over this one.

[Duel to the Death]

12 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

A rather dull basher with characters as bland as its plot.

I'll somewhat agree with that. I do have slight nostalgia for it since i seen it back in the 90's on one of those Kung Fu theater type programs. I taped it off tv so i seen it a few times. I don't think i could bring myself to buy the Blu-ray. They didn't always play the best movies on those shows. A lot of Bruce Li, Bruce Le movies and of course Bolo. 

[WangYu]

I saw two today.

 

broken oath 1977: 

This was a rewatch, good revenge story, one of the highlights of Angela Mao’s career. Sammo Hung gets his ass kicked by her again. 
 

Magnificent Chivalry 1971:

Wang Yu stars here in this film. With a heavy feel of both a samurai flick as well as a spaghetti western. There is an unnecessary side character here and a plot twist coming out of nowhere but it helps raise the stakes. The final fight is different and unseen for the genre. 
 

2 good and entertaining films, it was a good evening  :-P

[Yihetuan]

The Devil's Express aka Gang Wars [1976] USA Dir. Barry Rosen

This is a blaxploitation/chop socky/supernatural horror film and is hilariously bad. Imagine Black Belt Jones meets C.H.U.D. but without the budget or talent. The main dude, Warhawk Tanzania (that can't be his birth name right?) is a dollar tree version of Jim Kelly minus Kelly's charisma and martial arts skills.

Apparently, Warhawk is a real life practitioner of Frank Ruiz's Nisei Goju Ryu Karate and his sensei Ruiz was responsible for the action choreography in this film. The two would work together onscreen in the 1975 film. Force Four aka Black Force. You would hardly know these two were real life martial artists because Tanzania's fighting skills leave a lot to be desired and Ruiz's action direction is pure comedy gold (punches and kicks that miss by three feet, glacially slow movements and stiff block and punch techniques).

The nonsensical plot centers around an ethnic drug turf war between Black and Chinese gangs with a backstory regarding a mystical ancient Chinese talisman which conjures a bloodthirsty demon to the modern world and culminates in a kung fu showdown between Warhawk and said demon in the subways of NYC.

This was akin to bad car wreck, you want to turn away but I felt compelled to watch to the end just to see the next ludicrous plot device, cheap looking special effects, funny jive talk dialog, wooden acting and of course, for purposes of this thread, the ridiculously amateur martial arts fight scenes.

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by Yihetuan

[kuenfist]

I love The Devil's Express aka Gang Wars. For me it is this kind of movie represent the real Grindhouse feeling. Laughing the ass of watching it with friends and some beer. And best as a double feature with Death Promise or Kill Squad.

[saltysam]

The Greatest Plot

Evil Yueh Hua cheats his way to the throne and betrays his friends, who swear revenge, led by Hsu Feng . Some inventive weaponry, shaolin monks and Lo Lieh as a loyal general the king tosses aside (some of this movie has similarities with the far superior Rebellious Reign) the version i saw on youtube was widescreen but seemed poorly edited not sure if it was cut.