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

[Josh Baker]

On 5/30/2023 at 4:49 PM, Django said:

Tiger And Crane Fist

First time watch! Loved it. For me it's up there with Master of the Flying Guillotine as Wang Yu's best. 

Yes, I enjoyed the film when I first watched it.

[kuenfist]

1 hour ago, Django said:

What versions are available of this film?

The only full uncut version in real widescreen is the old dutch Lightline Video Tape. There is a UK DVD by Moon Stone which is 1.66:1 (squeezed) widescreen uncut same as the US NTSC DVD by Pathfinder. The german DVD is about 2.20:1 (not anamorphic) widescreen cut 7 minutes.  One of the movies i wait for years for a nice release on Blu.

Edited June 3, 2023 by kuenfist

[shukocarl1441996347]

1 hour ago, kuenfist said:

The only full uncut version in real widescreen is the old dutch Lightline Video Tape. There is a UK DVD by Moon Stone which is 1.66:1 (squeezed) widescreen uncut same as the US NTSC DVD by Pathfinder. The german DVD is about 2.20:1 (not anamorphic) widescreen cut 7 minutes.  One of the movies i wait for years for a nice release on Blu.

Mine is the R4 Madman dvd  widescreen , nice print subs in yellow, Japanese cut.

[Killer Meteor]

1 hour ago, shukocarl1441996347 said:

Mine is the R4 Madman dvd  widescreen , nice print subs in yellow, Japanese cut.

Wait,, there's a widescreen DVD of TATTOO CONNECTION?

[ShaOW!linDude]

The End of the Wicked Tigers (1974) stars Charles Heung, Wilson Tong, Sammo Hung, Han Ying Chieh

I've never seen this, so I was game. The movie starts off with Tong and Sammo harassing so girls washing clothes in a creek, and turns into a rape scenario. Um...wow. Glad that's over with early. Moving on: overall, it's okay. The choreography is kind of basher style, but there are some good bits every now and then. Wilson Tong gets a lot of action here as he plays the villain's ruthless son. Sammo plays his right-hand goon, so he gets a fair amount of action as well. Oddly enough, Sammo just kind of disappears in the finale. You never see him take a beatdown from the heroes. 

Enter the Panther (1978) stars Bruce Li, Tsao Chen, Tso Lan, Pai Yin

An early Bruce Li film and he is scrawny! The choreography here is also kind of bashery and very poorly shot. There are obvious misses due to poor camera work. And it's oddly undercranked, sometimes having the Donnie Yen feel. Additionally, this has one of the longest, yawn-inducing beatdowns I've ever seen as Bruce Li is knocked all over the place by the villain. Cropping that segment would cut 10 minutes from the movie, I bet. He certainly went on to do better stuff fortunately.

Watched them both on Tubi. You're really not missing anything if you never see either of these.

[shukocarl1441996347]

3 hours ago, Killer Meteor said:

Wait,, there's a widescreen DVD of TATTOO CONNECTION?

Think I replied to the wrong message! Iwas talking about Zatoichi meets the One Armed Swordsman. Sorry

[ShawAngela]

49 minutes ago, ShaOW!linDude said:

The End of the Wicked Tigers (1974) stars Charles Heung, Wilson Tong, Sammo Hung, Han Ying Chieh

I've never seen this, so I was game. The movie starts off with Tong and Sammo harassing so girls washing clothes in a creek, and turns into a rape scenario. Um...wow. Glad that's over with early. Moving on: overall, it's okay. The choreography is kind of basher style, but there are some good bits every now and then. Wilson Tong gets a lot of action here as he plays the villain's ruthless son. Sammo plays his right-hand goon, so he gets a fair amount of action as well. Oddly enough, Sammo just kind of disappears in the finale. You never see him take a beatdown from the heroes. 

Well, you do'nt even mention the hero Lee Ka Ting ? In my opinion, he shines here, and, unless I'm mistaken, it's maybe  one of the only movies in which he is the good guy and the hero, together with Tiger 1973. I was very impressed by his performance and I loved this movie. And I'm ashamed to say that I didn't even remember that Wilson Tong was in it ! 

[saltysam]

The kuenfist 1:85:1 custom of Tattoo Connection I got from Cinemageddon is the best version ive come across

[kuenfist]

7 hours ago, shukocarl1441996347 said:

Mine is the R4 Madman dvd  widescreen , nice print subs in yellow, Japanese cut.

Damn i had read your later post no japanese DVD of Tattoo Connection.

@saltysam

Thank you if you like my custom DVD i made some years ago.

Edited June 4, 2023 by kuenfist

[Yihetuan]

Two Assassins of the Darkness - Dir. Ting Chung [1977] (Hong Kong)

A mediocre shapes film starring Don Wong Tao and Doris Lung. Definitely has a Spaghetti Western influence or feel to it but not sure if it was the editing, bad dubbing or just the lame script or a combination of all three but it was rather boring with no tension or build up. The only decent fight was the finale with the weapons. Overall just a middling effort. The version I watched was a German print titled Zwei  Gelbe Höllenhunde and I think this was also a @kuenfist custom in which he added the English audio from the VHS. If it was, thanks @kuenfist for putting this out.

 

 

Edited June 4, 2023 by Yihetuan

[kuenfist]

12 minutes ago, Yihetuan said:

Two Assassins of the Darkness - Dir. Ting Chung [1977] (Hong Kong)

A mediocre shapes film starring Don Wong Tao and Doris Lung. Definitely has a Spaghetti Western influence or feel to it but not sure if it was the editing, bad dubbing or just the lame script or a combination of all three but it was rather boring with no tension or build up. The only decent fight was the finale with the weapons. Overall just a middling effort. The version I watched was a German print titled Zwei  Gelbe Höllenhunde and I think this was also a @kuenfist custom in which he added the English audio from the VHS. If it was, thanks @kuenfist for putting this out.

 

 

Long time ago i did.... wanted to buy a new PC for mastering video and dubbing but my car broke down and to fix it was very expensive. Hope to buy one at the end of the year and start my old hobby again.

[Super Ninja]

8 minutes ago, kuenfist said:

Hope to buy one at the end of the year and start my old hobby again.

Those are pleasent news sir!

[Jizzmaster Jerry]

Seven to One- some good fights at the start but becomes stale after that.  There’s a decent plot twist that’s sloppy in execution and the final fight is a letdown.  More chasing than fighting.  The way the bad guy dies was satisfying.  Might be worth a look for some.  Seeing Polly Kuan kick butt in bellbottom jeans made my day.  
 

Picture quality on the AFGA Blu Ray is rough. Severely damaged at times.  But anybody who grew up watching crappy vhs is going to be happy with this.  It’s not too bad.  To me it looks pretty good.  English dubbed 2.35 and a run time of 84:50.  
 

 

Shaolin Invincibles- this one is pretty close to being a classic.  It’s definitely a classic in the weird kung fu genre because of the 2 invincible gorillas, and their trainers.  It has an all star cast, lots of good fights and beautiful locations and sets.  
 

This print is a lot better than Seven to One.  Looks great especially in the closeups on the actors.  In Mandarin with burned in subs, 2.35 and a runtime of 90:16.  Pretty much the same run time as the Tai Seng DVD.  3 seconds longer.  

 

 

[shukocarl1441996347]

Four Real Friends (1974) I love Jimmy but his character is really annoying  in this one but that doesn't take away the sight of Jimmy, Chang Yi, Kam Kang and Chen Sing squaring off with Luk Chuen, San Mao, Lung Fei and numerous goons with baskets on their heads!

[sadisgate]

Eagle Shadow Fist (1973)

Most notable for featuring a young Jackie Chan. Even though he's only in a supporting role he makes the best of it and you can see the makings of a star. The plot is the same ol Japanese are all bastards routine, with pretty much nothing that hasn't been done in better films. The final fight kinda drags, with the big bad laying smackdown after smackdown on the hero until he just inecplicably gouges his eyes out. Recommended only for big Chan fans.

 

[shukocarl1441996347]

Pray for Death (1985?). Hadn't seen this since the heavily cut VHS release. Much better this time!

[lilmanjs]

Warriors Two

Thanks to everyone who told me I would love this. On the whole this is pretty serious stuff but Sammo's signature comedy doesn't bring this down at all. I love how they have callbacks to the training once they go after the villains. This is worth it even if just to see Sammo and Dean's fight at the end. That had me laughing so hard how Dean's character kept giving him clues on beating him. A true classic for sure.

[Killer Meteor]

On 6/14/2023 at 5:48 PM, sadisgate said:

Eagle Shadow Fist (1973)

Most notable for featuring a young Jackie Chan. Even though he's only in a supporting role he makes the best of it and you can see the makings of a star. The plot is the same ol Japanese are all bastards routine, with pretty much nothing that hasn't been done in better films. The final fight kinda drags, with the big bad laying smackdown after smackdown on the hero until he just inecplicably gouges his eyes out. Recommended only for big Chan fans.

 

To the accompaniment of music by The Moody Blues!

[sym8]

Two on the road(fearless dragons)-1980

The comedy is a bit annoying at times but the action is top draw,this is one of them films I just put on and fast forward to the fights especially the finale where Wang lung Wei,Ko Fei and Beerdy go at it in a great two on one throw down.

[sym8]

The Valiant ones-1975

Not really a fan of this type of choreography but did enjoy this one about Japanese pirates being thwarted by a loyal group of patriots led by Roy Chao.Great scenery which is beautifully shot and anyone who was anyone past present and future is in this,Sammo,Yuen Biao,Mars,Tung Wai and Simon Yuen,the list goes on 

 

[saltysam]

Way Of The Black Dragon

First half of this one is a seedy,depressing tale of young girls sold into prostitution and drug smuggling,virtually no action until the 41 minute mark when Special Agent Ron Van Clief shows up.From there the movie switches into an inpressive action fest culminating in the three heroes storming baddie Charles Bonet's mansion. Carter Wong also features. The print i have is widescreen taken from a VHS,this needs a remaster.

[ShawAngela]

I just finished to watch Return of the Chinese Boxer 1977.

Well, I saw a clip showing the ending fight between Lung Fei and Wang Yu, and I realized that I didn't have this movie in my collection. I almost regret to have bought it.

First, I don't understand why FilmArt doesn't use the Mandarin language with English subtitles, because this English dubbing was awful ! People spoke like if they couldn't pronounce more than 10 words at one go, and, as usual, their accent upset me...

The story... Well, which story ? Of course, there was a kind of plot, but for me, this movie is only a succession of fight scenes which aren't related to the main plot, with mainly a tournament looking like the one in One-armed boxer vs the flying guillotine.

The music uses the one from the tv series Kung Fu, among other themes...

Of course, it was enjoying to see Wang Yu fighting, he even uses a Tan Tao Liang look alike kicks at a moment when he fights Lung Fei. BUt the movie by itself disappointed me...

[ChillyChong]

Showdown at cotton mill.

loosely connected to CC shaolin cycle movie or two,  shaolin disciple Hu Huei Chian(Chi Kuan Chun) gives serious trouble for Chings and Wu Tang(=kills their men) expert fighter Kao(Tan Tao Laing) is brought to deal with him. There is no cotton mill in movie but scene copied from 2 champions of Shaolin, when Hu displays his power by ripping off tree from ground enemy attacks from behind. Excellent movie and no comedy.

 

(edit;actually Cotton was made before 2 Champions)

To call rarescope dvd even average would be flattery. Vertical lines, flickering, interference, subs are hard to read at times. I suspect it`s cut or more like missing bit, in 1 fight scene enemy of Hu ends up to cart it looks Hu perhaps sweeps his legs but that is not shown.

At least it is proper widescreen not cropped. And nice special features with interviews and martial art displays.

Edited July 31, 2023 by ChillyChong

[Chu Liu Hsiang]

DAGGERS 8 - I don't know why I saw this only now, definitely one to rewatch. Got really mad about Lily Li's demise, so I was not sorry at all when Wilson Tong killed Meng Yuen Man's grandfather. Didn't get who made the contract on him though. Another super abrupt ending. We can just hope that MYM goes back to the girl.

[ShawAngela]

2 hours ago, Chu Liu Hsiang said:

DAGGERS 8 - I don't know why I saw this only now, definitely one to rewatch. Got really mad about Lily Li's demise, so I was not sorry at all when Wilson Tong killed Meng Yuen Man's grandfather. Didn't get who made the contract on him though. Another super abrupt ending. We can just hope that MYM goes back to the girl.

From what I remember and understood, maybe it's his granfather himself who put the contract on him, but I'm not sure. He didn't want him to learn martial arts, so, that may be it.

I have a Mandarin rip, but I don't remember what it said.

And I was furious about Lily Li's fate as well !!