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

[DrNgor]

45 minutes ago, Burnout29 said:

One Foot Crane / One Legged Crane.

Didn't finish it.  They rushed the first part lets call it thus I didn't care for the main protagonist.  Pretty sure her sifu didn't even say anything and her training lasted like 30 seconds. 

When I see a film with that title starring Lily Li, I want to see her using the crane style, not a sword, dadgummit!

 

Edited September 2, 2021 by DrNgor

[saltysam]

Bruce The Hong Kong Master

Bruce Liang! Sammo! Carter Wong!Dean Shek! Bolo! rubbish at times incoherent trash!

[ShawAngela]

1 hour ago, saltysam said:

Bruce The Hong Kong Master

Bruce Liang! Sammo! Carter Wong!Dean Shek! Bolo! rubbish at times incoherent trash!

What is this movie ? I can't find this title on hkmdb.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

1 hour ago, ShawAngela said:

What is this movie ? I can't find this title on hkmdb.

https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=5611&display_set=eng

[saltysam]

Maybe i was a tad harsh, Bruce kicks some ass in the latter stages of the 75 minute run time. For the talent involved, not a good movie.

[Yihetuan]

The Cannibals [1972] - Dir. Kao Pao-shu

Generic basher from actress/producer/writer/ director, Kao Pao-shu. Chang Yi plays the hero who is investigating the death of his brother at the hands of a gang boss played by prolific Shaw actor, Chen Hung-lieh. Fight choreography and action scenes are fairly standard for the era and there is nothing new here or gimmicky that sets it apart. I enjoyed it mostly for Taiwanese actress, Chen Chen who always appeared to me to be a prettier version of Li Ching.

[Django]

 

 Buddha's Palm and Dragon Fist

I was very impressed with this one. I believe this was the last out of the three (?) films Li-Yi Min did with Shih Hao Ko as a director (Shaolin Iron Claws and 7 Commandments of Kung Fu being the other two). With 7 Commandments of Kung the director made Kung Fu take on the Spaghetti Western "Day of Anger", and this one is certainly very inspired by two other heavy hitters in the Spaghetti Western genre: "For A Few Dollars More" and "Death Rides a Horse". Two bounty hunter going against each other (For a Few Dollars..), out for the very same bandits, who they track down to take out one by one (Death Rides..). It's a real fight fest with some real nice choreography in my opinion. Thoroughly an entertaining watch, and a little gem of Taiwanese indies!

 

 

 

 

[DragonClaws]

On 9/16/2021 at 1:19 PM, Yihetuan said:

The Cannibals [1972] - Dir. Kao Pao-shu

 

Was Kao Pao-shu the only female director to do a basher movie?.

Has there ever been a release of Win Them All (1973)?.

 

[ShawAngela]

1 hour ago, DragonClaws said:

 

Was Kao Pao-shu the only female director to do a basher movie?.

Has there ever been a release of Win Them All (1973)?.

 

I don't know if she was the only one, but the one she directed were all GREAT !

Since there have been some dvds-rip of this movie, I guess that there has been at least maybe a vhs release.

[Yihetuan]

10 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

 

Was Kao Pao-shu the only female director to do a basher movie?.

Has there ever been a release of Win Them All (1973)?.

 

Good question. @JDecloux did a bit of research on Kao Pao-shu in his Gold Ninja Blood of the Dragon blu ray as one of the featurettes and he does mention Win Them All but I can't recall if there ever was a release? I'll have to watch it again to see what he says about it.

^^

@ShawAngela  is correct. the only release I can find is the Omni Video VHS one. Although jamal did put out a dual audio version and there is another dual audio custom available but it is 4:3 and not WS like the others. Just save yourself the trouble and watch it on Amazon Prime if you have access.

https://www.amazon.com/Win-Them-All-Wong-Yuan/dp/B07C54L76R

Edited September 19, 2021 by Yihetuan

[saltysam]

Golden Needles

Much maligned actioner from the Enter The Dragon team, i have a soft spot for it. Joe Don Baker specialsed in these drunken brawler types in the 70's ,here he plays the atypical role hunting for the aforementioned Golden Needle statuette. Jim Kelly appears mid way through, has a fight scene in a health club then disappears again ,he's probably in it 25 minutes tops. I enjoyed seeing some familar faces, Roy Chiao is the lead villain, the gurning henchman from Bruce's Deadly Fingers is a chauffer and i think Baker's business partner is the guy from Fists Of The Double K. The new blu ray from Kino looks good,an improvement over the MOD DVD.

[Yihetuan]

On 9/26/2021 at 12:14 PM, saltysam said:

Golden Needles

Much maligned actioner from the Enter The Dragon team, i have a soft spot for it. Joe Don Baker specialsed in these drunken brawler types in the 70's ,here he plays the atypical role hunting for the aforementioned Golden Needle statuette. Jim Kelly appears mid way through, has a fight scene in a health club then disappears again ,he's probably in it 25 minutes tops. I enjoyed seeing some familar faces, Roy Chiao is the lead villain, the gurning henchman from Bruce's Deadly Fingers is a chauffer and i think Baker's business partner is the guy from Fists Of The Double K. The new blu ray from Kino looks good,an improvement over the MOD DVD.

I recently gave this a re-watch (the KL Blu ray like yourself) after many years & now I can see why it is much maligned! I don't ever remember it being this bad when I watched it as a kid. Joe Don Baker just stumbles through his role here - as if he was just sleep walking through the whole thing. He was sort of bad ass in Walking Tall but he looks so awkward here.

I checked and JDB's business partner Kwan is played by Tony Lee Wan-miu and I don't see him listed in Fists of the Double K but he does look similar to Lee Wan-chung who was in Double K.

^^

I watched it again with the audio commentary by Howard Berger & Chris Poggiali and I have to say it was quite informative. I follow Chris on his Temple of Schlock blog & looking forward to his Kung Fu book that he did with Grady Hendrix. I can listen to these guys jabber on about genre film all day. So positives for me were the thankfully short run time, seeing Richard Ng's first acting gig & Burgess Meredith chewing up some scenery. Biggest disappointment is Jim Kelly's all too brief fight scene and not very well choreographed either.

Edited October 1, 2021 by Yihetuan

[Yihetuan]

On 9/18/2021 at 10:48 AM, DragonClaws said:

 

Was Kao Pao-shu the only female director to do a basher movie?.

Has there ever been a release of Win Them All (1973)?.

 

Here's the US double bill for Win Them All which was re-titled The Bad and The Bloody. Battle of Shaolin aka Bandits, Prostitutes, & Silver aka The Damned is renamed here as Black Hornet.

 

Edited October 1, 2021 by Yihetuan

[saltysam]

12 hours ago, Yihetuan said:

I recently gave this a re-watch (the KL Blu ray like yourself) after many years & now I can see why it is much maligned! I don't ever remember it being this bad when I watched it as a kid. Joe Don Baker just stumbles through his role here - as if he was just sleep walking through the whole thing. He was sort of bad ass in Walking Tall but he looks so awkward here.

I checked and JDB's business partner Kwan is played by Tony Lee Wan-miu and I don't see him listed in Fists of the Double K but he does look similar to Lee Wan-chung who was in Double K.

^^

I watched it again with the audio commentary by Howard Berger & Chris Poggiali and I have to say it was quite informative. I follow Chris on his Temple of Schlock blog & looking forward to his Kung Fu book that he did with Grady Hendrix. I can listen to these guys jabber on about genre film all day. So positives for me were the thankfully short run time, seeing Richard Ng's first acting gig & Burgess Meredith chewing up some scenery. Biggest disappointment is Jim Kelly's all too brief fight scene and not very well choreographed either.

It's not a good movie by any means but i have a soft spot for it, 70's Jim Kelly,made by the Enter team, familar faces. I liken it to Jaguar Lives! another not very good movie that i have a strange affection for.

Edited October 1, 2021 by saltysam

[ShawAngela]

I watched Black samurai  a few weeks ago and...well...How to say it...

I felt that it was a kind of remake of Enter the Dragon, with Jim Kelly even mimicking some of Bruce's postures and shapes, and almost the same story. Even the beginning sequence with the boat looks like Bruce's arrival in Han' s isle.

The beautiful Essie Lin Chia is awfully washed here : except walking besides Jim Kelly and being kissed by him, she doesn't do nothing...When she is kidnapped, she looks at her bodyguards being killed without throwing a single kick and she waits  ! I even thought that she didn't have a fighting role here!

And then, at the end of the movie, she has a mini fight with the other woman of the movie that is so short that if you turn your head for a few seconds, when you look again, it's already finished !!

I'm really disappointed by this movie..

[saltysam]

45 minutes ago, ShawAngela said:

I watched Black samurai  a few weeks ago and...well...How to say it...

 

I'm really disappointed by this movie..

This movie features Jim Kelly pretending to be Muhammad Ali. It features Jim Kelly facing off against a Hawk. It features Jim Kelly flying on a jet pack. It's directed by Al Adamson. The film is pure genius .

[FightingFool]

Terrific movie of grudge between earth kicksclan led by pang kang and high kickers. As great as tan tao liang and pang kang are main interest for me was hsia kwan li. Think seen her only in "woman avenger", need to check more movies she is in. Pearl river release is sweet.

[Super Ninja]

On 10/1/2021 at 9:55 PM, saltysam said:

This movie features Jim Kelly pretending to be Muhammad Ali. It features Jim Kelly facing off against a Hawk. It features Jim Kelly flying on a jet pack. It's directed by Al Adamson. The film is pure genius .

Sorry @ShawAngela, I'm with @saltysam on this one, brilliant movie!

Not that it really matters but wasn't it a vulture?

[saltysam]

11 hours ago, Super Ninja said:

Sorry @ShawAngela, I'm with @saltysam on this one, brilliant movie!

Not that it really matters but wasn't it a vulture?

Vulture or hawk it was a kung fu battle vs a bird astonishing. R.I.P. Kelly and Adamson.

[SuperTiaanBro]

I just watched Snake in the Eagle's Shadow yesterday for the first time. It has some crazy choreography and it's really funny. Definitely one of Jackie Chan's best movies.

[ShawAngela]

This evening, I came across a Lee Tso Nam's 1974 movie called Chinese kung fu against godfather.

I haven't heard of it before I took a look at Li Kun's filmography yesterday and sa this title.

Well, it's a great non stop action movie which should be part of a Lee Tso Nam's boxset as someone said in another thread for a future release !

[Killer Meteor]

Shaolin Kung Fu - a bit on the underwhelming side. As with some of the early Taiwanese bashers, it's held back by repetetive fights and a drab look. The unintentional deaths of the hero's loved ones gets a bit silly after a while.

Although there isn't much if any Shaolin kung fu, the hero does appear to do what can best be described as Dolphin Kung Fu!

4/10

Shaolin Kids - I tried this in 2007 courtesy of the Mei Ah DVD, but the shoddy picture and pitiful subs caused me to bail out early. Thanks to Eureka, I can now enjoy what is a visually and aurally sumptuous production (I always enjoy a bit of Ming Dynasty intrigue with traditional Chinese music!) and the fight choreography is varied and exciting.

Not for the first time in my 20 years of kung fu fandom am I baffled by the idea that Polly Shang Kuan Ling Feng can pass off as a boy, but it's only here I noticed Cliff Lok's uncanny resemblance to Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory!

8/10

The Old Master

Well, this was a hoot. In the grand tradition of Way of the Dragon, it has people loudly yelling at each other that they don't understand the other, which is totally negated by the fact everyone in the English dub just speaks English. And Yu Jim-Yuen is doubled more than Bruce Lee was in Game of Death...but he does his own disco dancing.

And, this is a reccomendation!

6/10

Edited November 11, 2021 by Killer Meteor

[Killer Meteor]

World of Drunken Master - Poor Yuen Siu-tien was probably at death's door where he staggered across the beach for the title sequence of this, so it's no wonder he's replaced by two other actors for the remainder of the film! Which I guess makes this the kung fu version of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

Written by Ting Shan-hsi, the author of Come Drink With Me (which also features a drunken hero called Fan Da-pei), the plot finishes a good couple of reels before the movie does, resulting in endless fights that serve no purpose at all (and it appears Ghostface Killer from Mystery of Chess Boxing is back), which is a shame as the romantic story that prompts the rivalry between the two heroes is potentially interesting.

And the very metallic sound effects for the fights really did my head in after a while.

5/10

 

Return of the 18 Bronzemen - I know Carter Wong is supposed to be the evil Emperor and all, but damn, these Shaolin monks are bloody sadists! The poor sap getting repeatedly pummeled on the head with a large weight for failing the coin test was hilarious! This mostly feels like an afterthought to the original to take advantage of the sets and costumes, but has excellent fights, and Wong is very impressive.

6/10

[WangYu]

I would love to see HD releases of some of Wang Yu’s forgotten films. For example “ the lion’s heart”, “ the brave and the evil”, “ the sword”, “ fury of king boxer” and more…

[FightingFool]

Drunken master.

 

It`s not top tier Chan(cannot like or feel sympathy for any character in movie except HJL) but fairly good one. Eureka! BR is great and prefer watching it in cantonese with english dubtitles as dialogue in dub was lot funnier than in more accurate translation.